Yard Sales/Estate Sales?

[G1911]

The odds are incredibly low. Pretty much everyone who collected these cards as a kid and don’t know they are worth much money is dead and their collections have already dissolved.

If you collect a breadth of things or post war cards, you can find stuff. Oftentimes that stuff is priced super high. I have a fun time just looking through old cards and talking or poking around stuff, so it can worth it to me, but the odds of 1) finding pre war baseball cards and 2) having them priced on the cheap is very low. An old guy selling his 50’s and 60’s cards at a yard sale is doable, finding T cards is really unlikely. But unlikely isn’t impossible, if you enjoy doing it for other reasons. Otherwise it will be more time and cost effective to just pay market prices online and save the hours and hours that probably won’t yield a single card.


Bargains in the sense of getting a steal from a lazy or uneducated seller is more restricted these days to knowing niche hobby areas and having a monopoly of knowledge in them to leverage that isn’t easily found with a Google search.

[jingram058]

Many cards in my collection came from my nephew who, as he got older, became totally disinterested in them and bequeathed them to me. It was his mother, my wife's sister, who found the majority of his cards at early-morning yard sales (if you weren't first on scene, the good stuff like cards were long gone) and estate sales. This was back in the 1980s/90s. I am told that, as posters above state, the pickings are slim to none now. Everyone nowadays knows these cards are quite valuable. Same with flea markets and antique malls. The days of getting these cards on the cheap like this would definitely appear to be gone forever. Every so often you hear of some pick up like Bender above, but something like that now is exceptionally rare. The only things I see on my occasional flea market and antique mall forays is junk wax and way over priced beaters.

[Schlesinj]

I stopped by my local card shop on Saturday and the owner mention a family brought in several raw T206 Drum to send to PSA.

[obcbobd]

Yes, as mentioned earlier it is slim pickens for the most part, but every now and then you get something by asking if they have any old cards. I've had no luck with pre-war but have gotten a few complete 1970s sets, box of mid 60s card w/ Mantle, Clemente etc and a few autographs just by asking

Good luck

Bob

[philliesfan]

It seems I have better luck at a local card shop. This guy I know calls me whenever something old comes in the door. Usually when the person is there. So, I tell the store owner what I would pay and he makes an offer to the person which is usually a few hundred less than I offered
This way the customer gets cash, the owner makes a few hundred and I get some good cards.

[bmattioli]

Two weeks ago a bag full of Vintage GI Joes for $5.00.. Keep hunting it's still out there..

[Vintagedeputy]

Garage sales, estate sales and the like are all really hit or miss. I tend to do better at antique stores believe it or not. These pics are all items I found at antique stores and they were cheap.