First time poster and in over my head. Raw collection inherited.

[8thEastVB]

I have been tasked with selling my deceased father in law’s collection of football and baseball cards from the early 50s. Approx. 1200 cards. My wife nor her sisters have any interest in holding on to these any longer and all proceeds will be split by them. He passed a few years ago but now seems to be the time they want to move on and sell these cards.

I catalogued every card into Vintage Card Prices. Best I could figure out was that system requires a grade, so I entered PSA Auth for each card to manage expectations on potential value of the collection. Nothing at all is graded, last time these have even been looked at until now was over 10 years ago when my father in law showed me his collection.

I understand different approaches have trade offs of time, effort and money. As much as I personally would like to hold onto these, it’s not my call.

I am hoping for some suggestions/advice.

Is it worth the expense (and from what I read, wait) of getting some of these higher end cards graded?

Are online buyers such as JustCollect and Deans Cards reputable and fair in their valuations? I have a local card shop that I plan on meeting with as well.

Is there a company that can help with grading submission, or selling as consignment?

If you were me, what approaches would you take regarding grading, determining what is a fair price, and looking for buyer(s), and selling? I’m willing to invest time, but don’t really know where to start.

Thanks for reading.

Sampling of of scans

[swarmee]

Welcome to the boards. You will definitely get people's attentions with what you uploaded. You will definitely want to get these cards graded, and probably many more.
Here's a great thread that will help you get a handle on some of it. https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=213862

Surely some auction houses will help you with the process, if you agree to sell the cards through them; many will submit to the grading companies for you, and then take it out of your income later. Definitely have someone like JustCollect take a look at it, and they may give you a good enough percentage of true value for the entire collection to take it and reduce your risk and time. You're probably undervaluing cards looking at PSA AUTH prices. Probably want to look at VG-EX or better. Centering plays a role, in addition to grade.

Send me a PM if you want to chat and I can talk about this stuff for hours... ;-)

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Welcome to the boards. You will definitely get people's attentions with what you uploaded. You will definitely want to get these cards graded, and probably many more.
Here's a great thread that will help you get a handle on some of it. https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=213862

Surely some auction houses will help you with the process, if you agree to sell the cards through them; many will submit to the grading companies for you, and then take it out of your income later. Definitely have someone like JustCollect take a look at it, and they may give you a good enough percentage of true value for the entire collection to take it and reduce your risk and time. You're probably undervaluing cards looking at PSA AUTH prices. Probably want to look at VG-EX or better. Centering plays a role, in addition to grade.

Send me a PM if you want to chat and I can talk about this stuff for hours... ;-)

LOL, I am sure after his post he will be overwhelmed with PMs from the AHs since many many members work/own one or are dealers.

[irv]

Welcome to the site.

With the 4 cards you have shown, you have a lot of value there! Do your homework to ensure you're not taken for a ride.

Those 4 you showed would most likely grade between 3 n 5's, maybe/likely higher based on the scans/pics just to give you somewhat of an idea on value.

Good luck.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by irv

Welcome to the site.

Do your homework to ensure you're not taken for a ride.

Dale, this gentleman is a brand new poster. Honestly, he may not have the foggiest notion of how to do his homework. He will probably need a lot of help, beginning to end. The first auction house I thought of which I feel would be the kindest and fairest to him is Love of the Game Auctions.

And so, 8thEastVB, my advice is to contact the president of LOVE OF THE GAME AUCTIONS, Mr. Al Crisafulli. His company email is info@loveofthegameauctions.com. The phone number is (845)750-6366. Being from New York, I'm certain they are on EST.

Al himself has been a collector for over 30 years, and has been running his auction house for over 10 years. I have won one of their items before, and they were very professional. The item was precisely as described and shown. Their fees are fair.

Furthermore, 8thEastVB, nobody asked me to recommend them to you. As a senior, I appreciate good, honest guidance. So, here you are, bro. I too wish you the best. -- Brian Powell

[Arazi4442]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Dale, this gentleman is a brand new poster. Honestly, he may not have the foggiest notion of how to do his homework. He will probably need a lot of help, beginning to end. The first auction house I thought of which I feel would be the kindest and fairest to him is Love of the Game Auctions.

And so, 8thEastVB, my advice is to contact the president of LOVE OF THE GAME AUCTIONS, Mr. Al Crisafulli. His company email is info@loveofthegameauctions.com. The phone number is (845)750-6366. Being from New York, I'm certain they are on EST.

Al himself has been a collector for over 30 years, and has been running his auction house for over 10 years. I have won one of their items before, and they were very professional. The item was precisely as described and shown. Their fees are fair.

Furthermore, 8thEastVB, nobody asked me to recommend them to you. As a senior, I appreciate good, honest guidance. So, here you are, bro. I too wish you the best. -- Brian Powell

Hi all. There are many people on this board with much more experience than myself, but I just wanted to second Brian's recommendation of Love of the Game (if you choose to go the auction house route). I got a little nervous a few months back, getting laid off when COVID hit - I got worried the economy would take a hit and I may have more need of cash vs. cards. I got in touch with Al and consigned approx. 100 cards with his auction. Great experience and very professional.

Granted, all my cards were graded vs. raw - but I'm sure they can handle or assist with a recommendation of what cards should be graded and the grading process.

Just as an aside, I was very happy with the auction house choice vs. ebay. With all the new collectors/investors, there seems to be a dramatic increase in non-paying bidders, returns (for multiple reasons), shill bidding, scams, etc. That stuff can drive you crazy! Auction houses take on all that risk. My second choice would have been the BST (Buy/Sell/Trade) section on this and a few other message boards.

Like Brian said, I am in no way affiliated with LOTG, just letting you know of a good experience I had.

Good luck and feel free to post any questions to this thread. The amount of knowledge on this board can be invaluable.

Scott

[irv]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Dale, this gentleman is a brand new poster. Honestly, he may not have the foggiest notion of how to do his homework. He will probably need a lot of help, beginning to end.

Brain, re-read his post. He found out about this site, he catalogued every card in vintage card prices, and by the sounds of it, to me anyways, he does understand, somewhat, something about grading. Also, and I am only assuming here, however, that in all likelihood, his father in-law likely gave/provided him with some info, possible value back then, about the cards.

In hindsight, instead of writing, "do your homework", I should have wrote, "continue doing your homework" instead.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by brian1961

And so, 8thEastVB, my advice is to contact the president of LOVE OF THE GAME AUCTIONS, Mr. Al Crisafulli. His company email is info@loveofthegameauctions.com. The phone number is (845)750-6366. Being from New York, I'm certain they are on EST.

Consider this post to be me adding myself to the list of people who think contacting Love of the Game Auctions would be a great idea.

Doug "and I would only get them graded if LOTG says to" Goodman

[8thEastVB]

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who read, responded and sent PMs.

I appreciate the insights and thoughts. I still have a lot to learn and more work, homework, due diligence, etc to do. I will say this doesn’t feel like work and I’m looking forward to what the short and long term future will yield.

I feel more confident I’ll find someone or multiple people to help shepherd me through the evaluation phase, determining what to grade or not to grade and how to get these cards into the hands of people who value them.

Glad to have found this board and more to come.

These cards have gone untouched for decades and this isn’t about getting cash fast. That would be the exact opposite of what my father in law would have wanted.

Just sharing a few more as I’m starting to appreciate these more and more- thank you all again.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GasHouseGang]

The way these cards look, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor by getting them graded if you sell them yourself. I think if I was going to use an auction house, I'd let them grade the cards for you, because it is a hassle to get cards graded. Plus, it's been reported that PSA is backlogged and taking months to get cards graded.

[mrmopar]

Originally Posted by 8thEastVB

I will say this doesn’t feel like work.

Just sharing a few more as I’m starting to appreciate these more and more- thank you all again.

Hmm, this is how a new collector starts sometimes...Other than the issues with the split between sisters, it would be a heck of a way to jump into collecting sports cards.

I can't tell you how many fantasies I had (I'm sure everyone else who collects too) about finding an old card stash with someone who had no interest and would end up giving it to me or finding a long lost collection of an older relative.

Of course, harsh reality sets in and nobody I am aware of in my family collected and saved any cards prior to me getting started, never found anyone with cards that were any good and/or that wanted to give them to me!

My best card "gift" I received was a 5K box of 1988 Fleer baseball that a coworker gave me that belonged to her son, who apparently no longer wanted them. There were a few bundles of decent players (I recall Edgar RCs, as he was a local favorite), but it was 88 FLEER after all!

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.

[Seven]

You have some beautiful cards, and I wish you luck in selling them. Many here know much more than I do, on what the best avenue would be to sell them. I am very envious of practically all those cards you've posted though . Especially those Mantles!