What to do with 80's and 90's cards?

[Mountaineer1999]

How many of you still have these cards lying around and how many have tossed, sold or donated them? I tell myself to just throw them out but it never happens. So I am curious how many people have kept them, taken them to the dump or to goodwill?

[Exhibitman]

I gave away tens of thousands of them back when they would still be taken. Even the childrens' hospitals don't accept them anymore. I sold a few 5,000 count boxes for peanuts at a garage sale. I still have several thousand stars and HOFers. I keep a few cards from the players I like from the 1980s. I can't bring myself to throw them out. I will probably put them out at a show for a quarter a card and let the pickers go at it.

[ZachS]

My parents just gave me a couple of boxes of stuff that has been at there house since I was in high school. In addition to the piles of 80's and 90's cards I already had, I now have even more. I'm going to have to start burning these things or something.

[Buythatcard]

When I first started in the business of selling cards, I purchased over 100,000 cards from that time period. Didn't know much about the value of cards back then. I paid very little for it and thought I would make a killing. After a few weeks, I realized that these cards were worthless to an investor.
I had a friend who was a pediatric oncologist at the local hospital. I asked him whether any of the kids would enjoy having these cards. He said they would.

So, I donated all the cards to the hospital. Knowing that this made some sick child happy made it all worth it to me.

[z28jd]

I still have mine, just plan on keeping them and looking through them when I'm old and bored. It would be nice if some people started destroying them to thin out the population for us savers, but donating them is also good. Handing them out at Halloween is also a good idea, maybe get some new collectors out of it.

[Bestdj777]

I still have my childhood collection, which fortunately was not that large. I love going through my old binder and looking at the cards I "carefully" placed in there as a kid. I don't have any plans to get rid of them as it brings back memories every time I go through them

My brother just picked up about 50,000 80s/90s cards for me so that I could flip through them and relive some memories. For those, I really don't have any attachment. I will likely hold on to some of my favorite players and donate the rest, if someone will even take them. I'm assuming I would be able to find someone on Craigslist that would pick them up. Either way, I'm looking forward to going through "new" cards.

[brewing]

I have tossed most of the commons.

[DHogan]

I finished my Topps sets from 1986 to 1995 for the most part. I gave some to the Childrens Hospital (when they were still accepting them) in Boston. The rest of my cards from the late 80's (86-89), I threw away about 8,000 of them.

[EvilKing00]

Im really a combo vote, i do still have alot, and i did toss some out cause i needed room and i did donate some.

[Orioles1954]

Easy. Ship them to the auction house of your choice (on their dime) and auction them as a large lot.

[iwantitiwinit]

Had them up to 3 years ago. Had a dumpster in the driveway for remodeling, threw them all in, probably about 100,000 worthless cards. Had 5 unopened 1987 topps vendor cases in there, couldn't give em away or get anyone to buy them even for postage cost.

[almostdone]

I finally decided to do something with the closet full I had around 12 years ago. I was going to put them in a yard sale for $10 per 5000 ct box but I thought I would spend some time reliving the memories of popping all those packs first.

As it turned out 99% of what I had was organized trash but in looking through my doubles box from sets I had built I found 5 extra 1993 Upper Deck SP Derek Jeter rookies in nrmt shape! I used them in trade at a show for vintage cards I always wanted but never thought I would have.

That's really what started me into vintage cards and haven't bought a pack since.

Drew

Btw, I sold every one of those 5000 ct boxes at the yard sale too!

[bnorth]

Well looks like I am the lone fool that still collects 80's/90's junk.

[stat192]

I use mine for autographs. The face of the Topps cards from the 80's are perfect for them.

[Brian Van Horn]

Fireplace.

[sycks22]

I still have my box of my Frank Thomas cards as he was my favorite player and look at them every couple years. Sad to know some of the cards used to be worth $50 are now worth 75 cents. I also have some rookies from that era that I've kept.

[CobbvLajoie1910]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Well looks like I am the lone fool that still collects 80's/90's junk.

Nope, you have company, Ben.

The mid/late 80s stuff I collected as a kid will always make me the happiest.
I just hate the word "junk" for this stuff -- because to each is own, right?

[ethicsprof]

don't have 'em.
never had 'em.
but sure wish I'd kept the 60's cards that I cherished as a boy.
only to sell now, of course.

all the best,
barry

[AustinMike]

I've kept the complete sets I had (except the '86 Topps, I gave that away). I've also kept most of the star cards (or at least they were "star" cards when I went through them about 10 years ago). I still have all the minor league team sets I bought (I have around 3,500 different team sets and stopped getting them in 2002). Got rid of the rest.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ethicsprof

don't have 'em.
never had 'em.
but sure wish I'd kept the 60's cards that I cherished as a boy.
only to sell now, of course.

all the best,
barry

Yeah my brother and I had huge boxes of mid to late 60s- we bought all the time, ordered sets out of Sporting News ads and inherited a vast quantity of 50s and 60s from a neighbor. And Mom threw them all out.

[matthew]

Originally Posted by stat192

I use mine for autographs. The face of the Topps cards from the 80's are perfect for them.

I started getting autos also. I've lost some in the mail but I usually have 12 duplicates to back it up

[ethicsprof]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Yeah my brother and I had huge boxes of mid to late 60s- we bought all the time, ordered sets out of Sporting News ads and inherited a vast quantity of 50s and 60s from a neighbor. And Mom threw them all out.

Yuck!
Sadly, I'm the culprit for my story. I was in grad. school and just wanted some
money. There were a bunch of dealers at a mall so I asked the first guy what he'd give me for my big box of star cards. He looked through them quickly as he saw dozens of Mantles, Mays, etc. and offered me 250---his best and final offer. I took it.
all the best, ole buddy

Barry

[darkhorse9]

I took all mine to the local family emergency shelter. Plenty of kids there really loved to have them. You .

[conor912]

The non-shiney cards (pre-1992ish) make excellent and absorbent drink coasters. Mid-late 80's are the best as those years had the highest percentage of players with ridiculous mustaches. I use them all the time for guests and at cocktail parties and everyone always gets a kick out of them. It's a great way to let people know you collect. I love talking about the hobby, but most times there's no good way to slip it into a conversation. This is the smoothest way I have found.

[Wildfireschulte]

Great thread - seeing some of the recent BST auctions of 1980's cards gave me an acid flash back. I threw all loose cards but HOFERS and a couple random wax cases out about 10 years ago. Every once in a while I set up at a flea market where any old wax box will sell for $5. Funny, I found a stack of 100 each of 1988 Donruss Sandberg and Maddux the other day - these will be my give away to kids if I set up at National this year.

[gashouse34]

I highly recommend selling them in a garage sale if you are looking to get rid of them. I "garage sale" all the time and am absolutely amazed to see people constantly buying them up. Of course, you cant overprice them too much...but people are willing to pay a few bucks for a box of cards. I often wonder how much profit they turn on them in their own flea market booth/stores? (assuming they aren't keeping them for themselves)

[t206blogcom]

I'm keeping the cards I collected as a kid so I can give them to my son when he's old enough and if he expresses an interest. I handled them so much that most cards have rounded corners, creases, etc. so even the RCs aren't worth anything. If my son expresses no interest, I'll probably throw 90% of it out.

I'll buy a few junk wax boxes from time to time to relive some childhood memories. I'll keep only the key cards, such as a Maddux or Glavine or Griffey Jr rookie or error cards. As for the rest, I've donated to charity, sold or given away singles to fellow Net54 members and thrown a ton away.

So really, I've done most of the poll options.

[bbcard1]

I have experimented with ways to use them as firewood but have found nothing that really works.

[almostdone]

I think the next poll should be "What is the nicest way to let your non-collector friends know that the closet full if cards they are hoarding since childhood weren't a good investment and it won't send their kids to college".
I get someone at least once a month stopping me and starting out a conversation with "Hey. I heard you collect cards. I've got a bunch back home...". I always start to think maybe this time it will be different but except once it wasn't.
Drew

[GehrigFan]

On January 27th, I am leading a group of ten Heritage employees (and possibly a few Panini employees) to run a short program for kids at the Scottish Rite Children's Hospital across the street from Heritage HQ in Dallas.

I went through my own cards long ago and donated most to Goodwill, but others here gave me boxes of cards, and I am pulling HOFers, stars (Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson, Clemens, etc.), interesting people the kids might relate to (Jim Abbott, Dave Dravecky, etc.), and local Mavericks, Rangers, Cowboys and Stars. I also had tons of Starting Lineups, mint in the package, and will give every child one of those, plus I found a lot of extra autographed 8x10's to give everyone one. Also an autographed card for each kid. Then they get a whole box of HOFers, stars, and RCs. Then Panini provides boxes and we will play pack wars and give away other prizes.

I doubt children's hospitals want a bunch of 5000 ct boxes of junk cards anymore, but if you are willing to donate your time to help the kids learn about collecting, I find them very helpful and willing to welcome you. The common commons... just dump at Goodwill. But pull the interesting cards.

If anyone has anything they want me to bring to the kids, please PM me and I'll give you an address. We don't have any vintage cards yet.

Thanks!
Mark Anderson

[ctownboy]

80's and 90's junk?

Buy a paper shredder and whenever you have the time and are stressed or angry, take the cards and start shredding them one by one.

To me, this helped to relieve the stress or anger, got rid of some cards and helped the collecting world by getting the cards out of circulation permanently. After the cards were shredded, I took the shreddings to a recycling bin so they could be reused. That way, they weren't going into the dump.

David

[KCRfan1]

My favorite set of the 80's was the 1983 Topps baseball. A lot of similarity with the 1963 and 1973 sets in terms of style.

[Rich Klein]

As part of our Adat Chaverim Plano III show, we're giving at the door either a box (or a bag) depending on what we feel like doing of cards to everyone who pays our $1 standard donation.

Without overly trying, we are at about 30K cards right now and one gentleman even sent us about 75 1989 Fleer George Kenneth Griffey Jr Rookie Cards. One of our members just donated 10,000 or so cards from his youth and many late 1970's HOFers are in there as well.

Will always take more cards for that purpose and can provide you a tax receipt sheet. We'll take better cards as well

[K-Nole]

Before you throw out or burn your 1978, 1979 , 1980,
1981,
Let me take them off your hands.

Zack and I have sets of these years built, however, I think he and I would enjoy trying to put another one together of them.

Just a thought :-)

[z28jd]

It's funny to think that 50-60 years from now, there might be someone saying it's too bad so many of those cards from the 80's got thrown out like we do with vintage cards now. I have more 1987 Topps than anything else, put three sets together, so it would be hard for me to get rid of them based on the good memories from back then. Plus they have never hurt my storage situation. I wonder what % of their population still exists though? I think 50% of them would be a high number, but I could be off.

[Mountaineer1999]

What great feedback, loved reading through all of these. Some very interesting means of disposal and it's nice to see a few who still collect these sets. Maybe if I hadn't spent a small fortune on them then only to see them become worthless I wouldn't be so jaded about them today.

[PM770]

I have always just been a collector, so I never ended with huge hoards of "junk" era cards. Just a lot of dupes from breaking boxes and building sets.

I do still collect a recent release every year: Topps Heritage in Baseball, Topps in Football and O-Pee-Chee in hockey. In fact I'm looking for a 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee hockey base set right now.

I may be the only one here at Net54 doing that!

[David W]

I gave thousands away back about 20 years or so ago to kids in church groups, clubs, etc....

I still have a bunch of monster boxes, shoeboxes, etc.....

This summer I put 2 monster boxes (5-6000 cards) in our garage sale and got $20.

Hard to believe it could be done but someone bought them for his neighbor "Who collects cards and I know he'll think this is a good deal".

I wonder if the neighbors are still talking to each other.

[Centauri]

I collected heavily from 86-93, and still have most of that stuff. And still love it!

I found what to do! I posted this on one of the other forums:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=197450

since that post, I have been building a group to do 2 more in my office. I have picked up some sweet cards like a 90 Leaf Thomas, 92 Bowman Piazza, 84 Donruss Mattingly etc. that were way out of my price range as a youth. Now I pay pennies on the dollar for stuff I still like.

Note: some cards still get good action on eBay - 93 Finest refractors, Jeter, 89 Griffey UD.

[bnorth]

Been going through 90 Donruss today pulling error cards/Star players to help get rid of junk I did not want. Well a few minutes ago for some reason I turned over a Dave Stieb card and went "glad I did not throw that in the garbage can" as it is a Aqueous Test card. Then I realised hay where is my Jeff Treadway Aqueous card. Well lets just say I helped make them more rare because I am sure it went into the garbage with the junk commons I do not want to store any longer.

No way I am going to go back through 6-7000 cards just to find it either.

[Mountaineer1999]

I had never heard of Aqueous Test Cards, so I went thru my Donruss 1990 and needless to say I have none.

[ALR-bishop]

I do not fit into any one category. I have collected all the Topps sets starting in 1948 and then 1951 forward to 2014....so far. For Fleer 1923 and 1959 to 2007. For Topps I also collected all test and insert sets up to 1994.

I have bought Fleer sets to 2007 and still buy the basic Topps sets and any update. Most of my post 1994 Topps set are still in boxes. But I actively collect the Heritage sets and do put them in binders.

I can never bring myself to throw cards away, no matter what their condition or worth. I give them away, even if it is likely the recipient may throw them away

I do not really get the part about being smart enough not to collect modern cards. Obviously if making money on the cards one buys is the goal, new cards should not be in your collecting parameter. But if you are a just hobby collector, monetary value is not a factor. For me it is fun to keep the run going and keep up with the new stuff, even though I do not collect beyond the basic sets. The hobby did not stop during the war or in 1981

Collect what you like, invest as you like

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

....

I do not really get the part about being smart enough not to collect modern cards. Obviously if making money on the cards one buys is the goal, new cards should not be in your collecting parameter. But if you are a just hobby collector, monetary value is not a factor. For me it is fun to keep the run going and keep up with the new stuff, even though I do not collect beyond the basic sets. The hobby did not stop during the war or in 1981

Collect what you like, invest as you like

I voted smart enough because I only collected as a kid until the early '70s.....then got back into it in about '96-'97, so I skipped over it. I wasn't smart I just didn't collect in that time frame.

[bcbgcbrcb]

So you lucked out, Leon..........

[curtis-cards]

As I read through this thread, I started thinking to myself...It's time to throw them out, but now I'm thinking how to use them as "art".

I think I will toss most of the commons and keep the "stars".

Wasn't there a guy who cut these cards up and made larger versions of iconic cards?

Are people still interested in team lots still?

[tonyo]

I voted "still have them and actively collect" although that is only partially true.

I did consolidate all my 80's and 90's into two 3200 ct boxes about 4 years ago. Sold for practically nothing about eight 3200 ct boxes of cards that didn't make it into my two "keeper" boxes. I've been collecting almost exclusively in the 1900-1979 period since I returned from a 12 year hiatus 5 years ago, I figured I may not open those two keeper boxes until I had a grandson who showed some interest - that'll be a while since my 2 daughters are 18 and 15.

However, seeing Ben's thread mentioned above caused me to open those boxes early to see what was in there.

I've since decided to extend my topps/bowman 48-79 HOF base card run into the 80's and 90's. Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score, Bowman, Upper Deck for the 80's and Topps and a variety of my favorite sets for the 90's. There are dozens of great looking sets in the 90's in my opinion.

Within the last month, I've added about 1500 80's and 90's hof/star cards to my collection and I sure have enjoyed doing it and having the cards.

[bcbgcbrcb]

I have accumulated quantities of select players from this era, primarily their rookie cards, over the past couple of years. Much to my dismay, when I started running out of storage space and decided to do a couple of local card shows to liquidate some inventory, I came to find out that even HOF rookies like Alomar, Larkin, Glavine, Thomas, etc. are not sellable at almost any price unless you give them away for pennies. Even worse, guys that were star players during this era but not at HOF levels, like Baines, Gibson, Chili Davis, Gary Gaetti, Ruben Sierra, Terry Pendleton, etc. could not be sold at any price either, they are basically worth the same as commons, even their rookie year cards.

While I really enjoyed collecting these cards, I would have never done so if I knew how "worthless" they would be when the time came to sell some. I wasn't in it to make a profit but can't really afford to just throw my money away for nothing either. It's really a shame that it seems a player is either HOF worthy or he's a "common" player.

BTW I voted actively collect as well.

[Rich Klein]

And we went through this discussion on the post-war board but...

Phil is correct, with the exception of those rookies who are going to be (or will be someday) HOFers -- the 1980's rookie cards who were popular are not basically unsellable

I looked at a recent donation lot of 1982 cards and saw cards such as the Marshall/Sax rookie or the Barfield rookie which were popular at one time but now are sellable for pennies on the dollar.

This has to do with many reasons including less interest for these cards and less collectors for those cards. Now in 1982 Cal Ripken Jr is always going to be sellable -- Kent Hrbek not so much.

Heck, Jose Canseco 1986 Donruss rookie was once way over $100. Today, not so much.

Rich

[z28jd]

I think the internet has helped make cards easier to get and sell, so the prices reflect that. Back in the mid-80's, you either had to get a card in a pack, pay dealer price at a card store/show or trade with a friend. Now you can just find the lowest price among 100's or thousands on Ebay and buy it.

I remember looking at a Steve Carlton rookie at my local card store every time I went there and wanting to get it, but didn't have the money. It was around 1990 before I had a job and the price was about $60, so that wasn't happening. No one I knew had it, so the card was basically unattainable.

Twenty-five years later, there are about 100 of them on Ebay and I can still get one for the same price, with a handful to choose from.

If you compare that card to a 1989 Topps Randy Johnson, the difference in copies that exist is staggering to say the least, so the price on those have dropped over time even though he just made the Hall of Fame. I'd bet not too many people are throwing that particular card away today, so it will likely never raise much in value.

I still holdout hope that the cards will have some value down the line, but the worst case scenario of having cards to look at from my youth isn't a bad scenario to me.

While a part of me appreciates the people throwing them out and cutting down the population, I think the better thing to do is bundle them and hand them out to kids, either at school or Halloween. Possibly get a future collector hooked and keep the hobby going. If they throw them out instead or ruin them, no big deal.

[Mountaineer1999]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

I do not really get the part about being smart enough not to collect modern cards. Obviously if making money on the cards one buys is the goal, new cards should not be in your collecting parameter. But if you are a just hobby collector, monetary value is not a factor. For me it is fun to keep the run going and keep up with the new stuff, even though I do not collect beyond the basic sets. The hobby did not stop during the war or in 1981

Collect what you like, invest as you like

It wasn't an investment for me in the late 80's early 90s... I loved the cards. However, the cards became very expensive and I ended up spending a good deal of money. If I would have known they would be worthless later in life I wouldn't have bought so much at those dollar amounts. An earlier post mentioned their Frank Thomas collection going from high dollars to .75 each! That is a hard hit to take. I guess if I would have known the cards would be worthless in the future my approach would have been vastly different.
Today I am putting together some T206's... I love the cards and want the collection but if I believed they were going to be $1 each in the future I would not be a buyer regardless of how much I loved them.