11,000+ Baseball Cards In 2 Weeks

[jingram058]

Now that I am fully retired, I work at a thrift store where, other than operating costs, all profits go to various charities and college scholarships. I don't know why, but in the past 2 weeks, people have dropped off 3 4-row cardboard card boxes full of baseball cards, and 2 shoeboxes full. More than 11,000 cards would be my guess. Almost all are "junk wax". But not all. Some 1950s/60s/70s in there also. The store normally does not receive this sort of thing, but all of a sudden, in they came. It will take a little time to sort them out. If there is anything of value, and perhaps there is, and they are all in very good shape it seems, we'll see what's next with them. Looks like what I used to see at card shows years ago. No idea why they wound up at the thrift store.

[JollyElm]

Your thrift store isn't near me in California, is it? I got $14 and am ready to roll in the winnings and make a killing!!!

[jingram058]

The one card that sticks out is a 1961 Topps Koufax. Out of all these modern cards, there are several stacks of 1950s/60s/70s. I saw some 1967 and 1971 Topps. There's others. Someone will have the honor of going through them to see what's what.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Any late 90s stuff?

Lots of hidden gems in collections of 90s stuff people don't realize is extremely valuable. As someone searching fir these rare cards, uncovering them in collections is one of the only way they are ever seen.

[JollyElm]

May I make a suggestion?
If it's a pile of decent stuff, would the shop allow you to post the group here as a short-term auction and let us all bid on it to maybe exceed what they would generally go for in-house?

[Exhibitman]

I buy these sorts of collections periodically. The outcomes are variable; I bought a box of trash two weeks ago, a very profitable box two weeks before that. The research is fun; I learn about cards and subjects I would never have come across otherwise.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

May I make a suggestion?
If it's a pile of decent stuff, would the shop allow you to post the group here as a short-term auction and let us all bid on it to maybe exceed what they would generally go for in-house?

That's not a bad idea. I will bring this to the manager next week, sir.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

If it's a pile of decent stuff, would the shop allow you to post the group here as a short-term auction and let us all bid on it to maybe exceed what they would generally go for in-house?

I have no idea how this auction service works but the Salvation Army has an auction website. I do not know if the cards can be contributed or if the auction service is run by a larger Salvation Army store. They have various collectibles as well, TCG, older comics etc

https://shopthesalvationarmy.com/

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

Any late 90s stuff?

Lots of hidden gems in collections of 90s stuff people don't realize is extremely valuable. As someone searching fir these rare cards, uncovering them in collections is one of the only way they are ever seen.

I believe the majority is 1990s.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I believe the majority is 1990s.

If you need any help IDing rare 90s stuff, I'm happy to help.

Just a little anecdote: I went to a few card shops while on vacation a couple weeks ago. I asked the dealer if he had any rare 90s Barry Larkins. He said if he did they would be in the dollar boxes. I said I doubted what I was looking for would be in the dollar box. He proceeded to tell me how all that 90s stuff was overproduced and worthless, then tried to explain the junk wax era like I was clueless. I just chuckled and continued looking through boxes. Because now I knew if he did have some rare cards, he wouldn't even know it.

[notfast]

It’s tax season. Donations normally pick up around then.

Do you provide receipts?

[bnorth]

The part that amazes me the most is one of the employees/volunteers didn't take them home and return the junk. I know a ton of people that have worked in those type places and very rarely does anything decent actually make it to the shelves. The person that run the Salvation Army here had a perpetual rummage sale at their house from all the stuff they took home from work.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by notfast

It’s tax season. Donations normally pick up around then.

Do you provide receipts?

The ability to apply donations as tax deductions ends December 31 of the tax year. Any donation now would apply to taxes filed in 2026. There is usually a surge on the last weekend of December at the Salvation Army I donated to when I lived a little farther north in Springfield, VA.