A few wrestling card questions (Carnation and Parkhurst)

[wrestlingcardking]

Thanks for your post. I was one of the first guys to send Parkhurst wrestling cards into PSA and continue to build each of the sets in graded form. Although I feel that some of the stars can be found somewhat cheap they have risen in value in the last few years. There have been a few aggressive buyers of these cards and you can see that even the mid grade cards (especially from 1955) have been sold at good prices. In my experience the 55s have much less production issues than the 54s. Between centering issues, lack of quality card stock, wax stains, etc, it is extremely difficult to find a card that would grade a PSA 7 (near mint). I've put some money into the cards even when it looked like it might bot be a good investment because I love the cards. I have no doubt that I would receive my money back and then some if I did decide to sell today but that might not have always been the case. I actually passed up on buying some really high grade 55s when the previous owner decided to sell out because I didn't think there was a market for them, but I was wrong, and it is a decision that I regret and now I do not have the top 1955 set anymore. I like the fact that there are many singles on ebay today as I believe that unless the cards get into circulation, collectors may not even attempt to collect the set and have the patience and competitiveness to win auctions of complete sets. It seems there used to be many auctions for sets years ago but those are coming up less and less these days. Again thanks for your interest in these cards.

Originally Posted by Bored5000

When I look at the Parkhurst populations, it kind of surprises me how many cards are on eBay, given that Bronko Nagurski is the only subject with a graded population above 30. I know that low-grade/ungraded cards from the two sets are not worth much money other than Nagurski, but it surprises me a bit to see multiple cards available of the set's stars.

I know the Parkhurst sets are condition sensitive, but are there many raw cards out there that just have not been graded because it is not worth it to have them graded? Even the Bronko Nagurski card has many more options available on eBay at various price points despite having a population nearly identical to the Flair Carnation card.

It amazes me how cheap the cards are of stars like Buddy Rogers, Gorgeous George, Lou Thesz, Bobo Brazil and Killer Kowalski.