How much does writing on cards hurt their value?

[mrmopar]

My comments were 15-20 years later than this example. By the time I started buying cards, the hobby was more developed and people knew better, but as a kid with no direct connection to the hobby yet other than buying packs at the local grocery store, I had no clue. I tacked some cards on my wall, taped others, trimmed some and even laminated several (the school had a real laminator and then we discovered the retail stuff you could cut from rolls! I can say I never wrote on my cards though. It was 1978 and cards were not worth anything more than the price of a pack to us anyways, so we were not hurting anything by taping them to our walls. I don't recall when I made my first visit to a card store, but do remember even then, some people would write prices on the backs of the cards themselves. Usually pencil, but sometimes pen!

Originally Posted by wdwfan

I can't understand why people didn't take better care of their cards back then.

[Jewish-collector]

For the guys still living, what you could do for example the Torre, is get it signed, so the "B" becomes "Best Wishes, Joe Torre" and that card all of a sudden becomes really desirable.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

For the guys still living, what you could do for example the Torre, is get it signed, so the "B" becomes "Best Wishes, Joe Torre" and that card all of a sudden becomes really desirable.

Pretty good idea there. Back when I started collecting in the late '80's, even an autograph on the card was considered defacing it. The current trend, is of course just the opposite (although personally, I still don't like it--cards are cards, and autographs are autographs--to each his own).

Good luck with them,

Larry

[Rich Klein]

For those card you showed the typical "retail" is 10 percent or less of book. But what you ask is up to you

Rich

[wdwfan]

Thanks everyone. I wound up selling the entire lot of 75 for $40 shipped. I sold the commons and semistars for 15 cents apiece and got $3 for the ones pictured (the stars).

I've got 1 last lot of 5 more (#1 Maris, #50 Musial (x2), #300 Mays, #320 Aaron) that I'm looking to move right now. I'm actually asking 6% of BV on that lot. So hopefully those will be able to move as well.

Thanks again.

[Bigdaddy]

I recently ran across a nice lot of '57s - centering very good and registration good across the board. However, they all had an ink stamp and a pen mark on the backs.

I ended up buying the lot and using them as the base of a new '57 set project. Probably the only way I'd actually start that project.

So for me, the ink marks on the back were actually an attracting factor because the decrease in value was greater than the impact on the 'eye appeal' of the cards for me. Different story though if the marks had been on the front.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

I recently ran across a nice lot of '57s - centering very good and registration good across the board. However, they all had an ink stamp and a pen mark on the backs.

I ended up buying the lot and using them as the base of a new '57 set project. Probably the only way I'd actually start that project.

So for me, the ink marks on the back were actually an attracting factor because the decrease in value was greater than the impact on the 'eye appeal' of the cards for me. Different story though if the marks had been on the front.

Tom, I think that's really great if it works for you! Obviously, you can eventually upgrade when and if the urge strikes. Way to turn a minus into a plus!

Sincerely,

Larry