Junk Wax - anything worth anything?

[Bestdj777]

As a Christmas gift, my brother picked me up a large collection of cards (50K+) that are primarily from 89 through 94 so that I could sort through them and relive some childhood memories. My assumption is that there is very little, if anything, of actual value in any of the cards produced during this period (mass produced and, I'd imagine, prior to the modern 1/1 insert, refractor, etc. phase). I plan to look through them and pull out any stars. Apart from the Bill Ripken FF card, is there anything else I should be looking through them for before donating the remaining cards though? Thanks in advance!

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Bestdj777

As a Christmas gift, my brother picked me up a large collection of cards (50K+) that are primarily from 89 through 94 so that I could sort through them and relive some childhood memories. My assumption is that there is very little, if anything, of actual value in any of the cards produced during this period (mass produced and, I'd imagine, prior to the modern 1/1 insert, refractor, etc. phase). I plan to look through them and pull out any stars. Apart from the Bill Ripken FF card, is there anything else I should be looking through them for before donating the remaining cards though? Thanks in advance!

This exact topic was discussed a couple weeks back, you'll find plenty of info:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=196092

[Bestdj777]

Thanks Dylan! I'll read through the old thread.

[swarmee]

Neat gift; obviously you'll also want to look for rookies of Ken Griffey Jr, Frank Thomas, Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter. Some of the early insert cards have picked up steam lately, from what I hear; Elite Dominators from Donruss have a following, even though they've got a print run of 5000.

If you have a lot of 1990 Topps, scour for the Frank Thomas NNOF and the other cards that had black ink loss; some of the all-stars are missing a slash of background and Marcus Lawton is missing half his last name.

Neat gift.

[Bestdj777]

Thanks John. I am now anxiously awaiting my next trip home to my parents so I can go through them. I'd love to fight something decent like the Frank Thomas NNOF. At the worst, I'd be really happy with a shoebox full of Greg Maddux (hoping to find his rookie but not sure if the lot has been searched through or not) and Nolan Ryan cards to share with my kids in the future.

[t206blogcom]

1990 Topps George Bush

[1963Topps Set]

Is that Sr. or Jr.?

[swarmee]

When he was in office, they made a card for him in 1990 Topps; 100 were given to the President's office, and have a higher gloss on them than the other very rare version showing him in a Yale baseball uniform.

[DHogan]

Originally Posted by 1963Topps Set

Is that Sr. or Jr.?

It was Sr., Jr. was still asleep some where.

[jhyde77]

I would look for '92 Bowman rookies. A box like that could have a Mariano Rivera RC.

[swarmee]

I just dug through a 90s collection and the best five cards I found were:
2x 1993 Topps Jeter rookies
1x 1991 Pro Set Golf Arnie Palmer hologram
1x 1982 Minor League Willie McGee
1x 1993 Stadium Club Michael Strahan rookie (Super Bowl stamped variation)

There were 10,000 cards and I probably bought 100 + a complete 1986 Topps baseball set (with Traded) for $50. Told the poor guy to donate the rest to charity and take the tax deduction.

[Rookiemonster]

Farves, 93 finest refractors, proline autographs ,glossy or Tiffany variations.
Anything Jordan .

I recently had a friend go to a card asking what he should do with his childhood collection. Everyone told him to throw it out . There are a insert sets from the 90s that a card from it could be worth thousands or hundreds . I feel the a lot of collectors are uneducated in the 80sand 90s stuff. So they they chalk it up as that era is worthless . The dealers wouldn't even look at the cards not even open the box. He went home and burnt most of them .

[Bcwcardz]

Originally Posted by Rookiemonster

Farves, 93 finest refractors, proline autographs ,glossy or Tiffany variations.
Anything Jordan .

I recently had a friend go to a card asking what he should do with his childhood collection. Everyone told him to throw it out . There are a insert sets from the 90s that a card from it could be worth thousands or hundreds . I feel the a lot of collectors are uneducated in the 80sand 90s stuff. So they they chalk it up as that era is worthless . The dealers wouldn't even look at the cards not even open the box. He went home and burnt most of them .

I agree. 90s inserts seem to have life here in 2016. It has been keeping me busy sorting and selling. Had quite a few prized collections just sitting in a box and 2 of them were preferred /55. You never know what kind of collections people had. Not everyone just has Topps basic set.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[mrmopar]

I may be in the minority here, and still have the space (kind of) to keep pretty much whatever I want, but I find value in any grouping of cards.

In a group like this, I would have a great time just searching them, hoping for a diamond in the rough, but not expecting anything. Beyond the hours of pure enjoyment of searching them, I would pull all of the HOF and star cards, inserts (if there were any) and whatever key rookie cards there were, even down to semistars and fan favorites. I don't care if they are 90 Score or 93 Finest.

Now, are they worth much money to the average collector...not really, but build up a large enough collection of Griffey, Maddux or the like and there is still value in that for someone. It is still fun to come across a nice looking card that I forgot about, even if it is a 10 cent card, like a 91T Dwight Evans for example.

[Rich Klein]

My standard answer is wholesale on these cards is 10 for a penny BUT there are a few exceptions.

95 percent of the material I see from that era is 10 for a penny. There is the occasional better card one sees but overall I tell them they are betting off with craigs list or donation

Rich

[58pinson]

I hadn't bought a sports card in 25 years when I returned to the hobby in 1988. Collected avidly until the mid-90's and walked away.

Trying to get reasonable cash from a dealer for cards of this era is almost impossible. You can walk into a shop or show with a 5k count box of penny sleeved and top loaded cards and not even get an offer for 25% of the cost of the packaging. Forget 'em.

On the other hand, if you collected some of the sets that proved to be on the pricier side (90 Leaf, 92 Bowman, 93 SP and a few others) and are willing to put in the work of searching price history, grading, and listing for sale the in demand cards you can get paid.

[ALR-bishop]

i have a couple of questions on these. I have one of the non high gloss versions graded by PSA. At first they were very scarce and very pricey, but then started showing up on eBay with some regularity and the prices dropped, and some large dealer even gave one away as a prize at one of the past Nationals. Have not looked to see if they are still showing up on eBay these days.

Then it turned out there were two versions, one high gloss, the ones supposedly given direct to the president in some quantity ( 100 ?). So were the non gloss versions part of a prototype run later given to or taken by employees, and what number of those are likely to exist ?

And it is curious to me that none of the ones given to the President ever seem to turn up autographed. Anyone seen an autographed copy ?

[Rich Klein]

Since George Bush the elder has done private signings, I would suspect there are some signed copies but I would also suspect most of them are hidden in collections

I think we'll see signed copies as time goes by

Rich