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

[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