Are your cards ===mint=== ???

[dabigyankeeman]

I am so tired of when I tell people I collect old Yankee baseball cards of having them ask me "Are all your cards MINT?"

I explain to them that to have a collection of old Yankees with cards of guys like Ruth, Gehrig, DiMag, Mantle, etc, to own as many as I have in MINT condition, I would have to be Bill Gates. I tell them I have so many, and then I take the time to try to explain the monstrous difference in value from mint cards to lessor condition cards, but they can't or won't understand, and its like they make a face and look down on me and my collection because its not in mint condition, and that horror of horrors, a lot of my cards would grade only a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. Even when I tell them I have cards that go back to the very early 1900's it makes no difference to them.

Thats usually the end of the conversation, they don't even want to talk about my cards because they are not mint.

I realize people outside the hobby just don't understand, but I really do try to explain the whole situation, but at least with the people I know, its like talking to a wall.

Oh well, I am a COLLECTOR, not an INVESTOR, and I will go on loving my collection, but it would be nice if once in a blue moon someone in my life could appreciate or understand what I have even though most are not mint!

[Leon]

Arnie- we understand. Quite honestly, if I was chatting with someone and they told me they had MINT cards I wouldn't be as interested. Unless it's that 1 in a million chance of a Black Swamp Find, then their cards would be new and I don't collect those. (not that there is anything wrong with them)

We love our well-loved cards!!

[hammer]

Thats a great Ruth.

[jb217676]

That's why I collect pre-war baseball postcards. Some are so darn rare you can't be picky when it comes to condition so I never ask. Sweet Ruth Leon!

[MattyC]

I am naturally wary of any old card that is too mint. Additionally, some wear on much older cards looks appropriate, adds charm and character, and thus-- for me-- enhances eye appeal.

Time and again we have seen cards in higher numerical grade (closer to MINT) look worse to the eye than lower grade examples.

I tend to really appreciate a collection that manages to find hugely appealing pieces that are not obvious mint blazers. Sure, if the money is in hand, it's easy to throw big dollars around and obtain a Mint 9 Mantle or Clemente RC. But try finding one that looks great for under 4k. The latter is some challenge.

Conversely, I don't see anything to celebrate when a card labeled MINT 9 or GEM MT 10 is purchased-- but it actually looks overgraded, as many are. I get a sinking feeling when I see a 10 being brandished, that say has obvious tilt or a touched corner.

I love cards with total pops in the 100-range or less, because you are just thrilled to have an example in your collection-- and one with any eye appeal is just gravy! Hence why most of my favorite cards are lowly 1s to 3s LOL.

[DeanH3]

I love cards with total pops in the 100-range or less, because you are just thrilled to have an example in your collection-- and one with any eye appeal is just gravy! Hence why most of my favorite cards are lowly 1s to 3s LOL.[/QUOTE]

This is where I find myself as well. I prefer overall rarity vs condition rarity.

[AMBST95]

The craze of the late 80s, early 90s really created a world full of idiots when it comes to card collecting. Most of my friends who I try to talk about collecting with have the similar mint mindset and still hold on to their shoeboxes full of 91 Topps hoping for a big payday one day because the cards are mint. My parents are like, "that's pretty neat" but always come back to "What is it worth?" That's why I don't regularly share my collection with others. People hear baseball cards and think stocks and bonds rather than strikes and balls.

I've learned to collect what I like, disregard the naysayers who can't appreciate a sweet card and only want to know how much money your collection is worth. They ask if the cards are mint because they equate mint to US Mint.

As long as my cards have good eye appeal who cares, grading is subjective.

[Paul S]

Arnie, your collection sounds a lot like my own -- pre-and-post-war vintage collection...and I'm a lifelong Yankee fan as well. I don't even bother to mention the subject to "outsiders". My dear friends know about it and are supportive even if they don't quite get my enthusiasm, and I hang out on the board with those who "understand".
Here's a couple Minty Ruths:

[brian1961]

Arnie----Hate to say it, but a lot of people aren't intelligent enough to appreciate the merits of vintage lesser grade cards. Don't give up. If you haven't already done so, arm yourself with a bit of quick history of the facts of cardboard life to convey:


-- the paper drives of two world wars
-- the millions of mothers throwing away their children's card collections--- unless the kid himself threw them away during adolescence
-- as millions of people moved to the suburbs in the 40s-50s, and really anytime, objects seen as junk were left behind or pitched. I lost half my childhood collection when my family moved to a different Chicago suburb in 1964.
-- that card preservation holders were not even invented until the 1980s
-- baseball cards were not perceived as valuable until the adult hobby began to organize in about 1969. Collecting Consciousness, whereby everyone started to save everything, began in the mid-1970s
-- long ago, when baseball cards were simply thought of as cheap boys' toys, boys handled them a lot as they loved them, looking over the pictures and the write-ups again and again--improving their reading, math and organizational skills. They played games with their cards--flipping and other thought-up games. They used them to enhance the sound of their bicycles. I remember reading a story in the magazine, Reminisce. Kids would take their collection of Goudey cards and, with a hole-puncher, punch a hole in a bottom corner area, then attach their stack of cards to a sturdy detachable ring. They'd wear their ring of cards around a belt or belt loop. Before and after a neighborhood game, they'd show off their cards, and perhaps work a trade. Yup, cards were loads of innocent fun.

This might help, emphasis on might. If not, throw it back at them with something they might relate to. Is the Barbie you played with as a girl pristine? Why not? Is the car you drive still pristine? And why not, bub?

You collect rare survivors from a time when cards were loved, but often, dis-carded. It is what it was.

--Brian Powell

[conor912]

I found in the past that when you mention your hobby to someone not in the hobby, most of them always ask a question like that, as if "mint" is the only hobby word they know and are just trying to make conversation. Still, i feel your pain. It is one of the many reasons i don't mention it to people anymore. Too many cock-eyed looks and and stupid questions.

[EvilKing00]

I guess a non collector wont know the difference, so maybe A, could be on a scale from A to Z. So the ruth would be on par with the other 2.

[hangman62]

I only collect Pre War cards in NM, NM to MT, MT, MT to Gem MT, and Gem Mint.
My collection is growing

Ralph G

[Bocabirdman]

Mints? I never eat them when handling my collection lest I get some sticky fingerprints on my beauties.

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