Just dug up a box of old cards

[nonsiccus]

Hey so I took some time this long weekend and dug around my parent's basement and found a box of sports cards from my childhood. What's the best way to go about finding out if any of them are worth holding on to, or passing off to someone else to enjoy?

 

[IQless1]

Hey so I took some time this long weekend and dug around my parent's basement and found a box of sports cards from my childhood. What's the best way to go about finding out if any of them are worth holding on to, or passing off to someone else to enjoy?

That depends. If they don't hold any cherished memories for you, and you want to make a few bucks, selling them is the way to go.

That isn't always easy, though, especially in today's market.

However, certain cards may be valuable, such as "star" rookies, and they'd be gobbled up quick.

It all depends on what you have, the era, the sets, the players, etc. all determine the values.

My suggestion is to go through all of them, and create a list of the year, manufacturer, card number and player...along with any additional attributes that stand out...and once that's done, research them online for potential values.

Once that's done, your choices are to either sell them online, here or elsewhere, or keep them for your heirs, or other family members.

The goal is to know what you have and what they are worth in today's economy. I cannot stress the importance of that enough. I know it's a bit of a bother to do the work, but the payoff is knowing the values of what cards you have, if nothing else.

You may find your collection is valuable enough to warrant insurance, through your home or rental policy, for example. In that scenario, your insurance company will need a thorough list of all cards and values, so you would be covered for any loss.

Of course, if you decide to sell, we'd LOVE you to post them here first, pics and descriptions, please!

 

[nonsiccus]

That depends. If they don't hold any cherished memories for you, and you want to make a few bucks, selling them is the way to go.

That isn't always easy, though, especially in today's market.

However, certain cards may be valuable, such as "star" rookies, and they'd be gobbled up quick.

It all depends on what you have, the era, the sets, the players, etc. all determine the values.

My suggestion is to go through all of them, and create a list of the year, manufacturer, card number and player...along with any additional attributes that stand out...and once that's done, research them online for potential values.

Once that's done, your choices are to either sell them online, here or elsewhere, or keep them for your heirs, or other family members.

The goal is to know what you have and what they are worth in today's economy. I cannot stress the importance of that enough. I know it's a bit of a bother to do the work, but the payoff is knowing the values of what cards you have, if nothing else.

You may find your collection is valuable enough to warrant insurance, through your home or rental policy, for example. In that scenario, your insurance company will need a thorough list of all cards and values, so you would be covered for any loss.

Of course, if you decide to sell, we'd LOVE you to post them here first, pics and descriptions, please!

Thanks for the thorough and detailed response. I think what I'll try and do first is to lay out a bunch of them on the table and snap a picture for your guys' perusal and see if there's anything remotely worthwhile. There's a shoebox of assorted cards that I've very very briefly leafed through. I don't really know what I'm looking for so I might leave that up to you guys.

Maybe I'll start a spreadsheet and see where that leads.

 

[Leafsfan1967]

Card condition is extremely important, so be careful handling them if they aren't in sleeves, and top loaders. Cards with dinged up corners are worthless to most collectors, unless it's something really old, and scarce.

You didn't mention what sport/s you have, unless I missed it. It's pretty easy to pick out the best cards in most cases, because those will probably be ones of bigger named players. For example, if you have hockey cards, you'd want to look for Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe, Hull etc. depending on the era. Older baseball you'd look for Babe Ruth, Mantle, Dimaggio etc. Same goes for basketball (Jordan, Magic, Bid, Dr. J etc.), and football Montana, Marino, Sweetness etc.

If you card are from the 90's, there's a good chance most are worthless, as they were massed produced, and easy to find anywhere.

I would sort them into sets first. Put all the same ones from thesame years together, and photo those for us to see (maybe 4, or 6 at a time max). We can help you with values if you have anything worthwhile. Condition is key. If they are pack fresh, and in mint condition, the more you'll get for them. Banged up, and value drops considerably.

 

[ranbethscards]

Admit it.. when you found that box, your heart went pitter-patter and you couldn't wait to start digging through the box to see what was in it!

Enjoy yourself... take your time looking and remembering... then like the guys above said... break them down into years, groups, players... and I'm sure there are members on here that will help you with book values.

The one thing to remember is... when you pull that card that you traded for with your best friend when you were 10 years old... even if it has a book value of 10 cents... is worth alot more than that just in memories.

Looking forward to seeing what you might pull from that box!

 

[Leafsfan1967]

Moved this to the card chat forum from general chat.

 

[nonsiccus]

The one thing to remember is... when you pull that card that you traded for with your best friend when you were 10 years old... even if it has a book value of 10 cents... is worth alot more than that just in memories.

Looking forward to seeing what you might pull from that box!

This is a beautiful sentiment and I definitely agree. That being said, the box that I found is mostly of the "leftover" cards I think. If I recall correctly, I had a binder or two of my favourites. I will have to check and see if I can find those as well at some point. I don't think I'll have time this week, but I might take some time this weekend going through these cards and see what I can find!

 

[nonsiccus]

Card condition is extremely important, so be careful handling them if they aren't in sleeves, and top loaders. Cards with dinged up corners are worthless to most collectors, unless it's something really old, and scarce.

You didn't mention what sport/s you have, unless I missed it. It's pretty easy to pick out the best cards in most cases, because those will probably be ones of bigger named players. For example, if you have hockey cards, you'd want to look for Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe, Hull etc. depending on the era. Older baseball you'd look for Babe Ruth, Mantle, Dimaggio etc. Same goes for basketball (Jordan, Magic, Bid, Dr. J etc.), and football Montana, Marino, Sweetness etc.

If you card are from the 90's, there's a good chance most are worthless, as they were massed produced, and easy to find anywhere.

I would sort them into sets first. Put all the same ones from thesame years together, and photo those for us to see (maybe 4, or 6 at a time max). We can help you with values if you have anything worthwhile. Condition is key. If they are pack fresh, and in mint condition, the more you'll get for them. Banged up, and value drops considerably.

Unfortunately these cards are just loose in a large tupperware box. It appears that the few cards that I looked at briefly had some lightly bent corners. I will upload some pictures on the weekend perhaps.

There are both hockey and baseball cards, with the hockey cards from about 90 to 94 I would figure. The baseball cards seem a little older, I saw a few going back to 87. I will start assembling some for pictures this weekend if I get some time and let you guys know!