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DrBagpipes posted:Of course, since I live in Florida I should maybe just get off my rear end and go to a game. Spring training is probably the best way to get autographs in any sport, are you close to any teams/players you like?
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Mar 14, 2011 04:56
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ozymandius1024 posted:Supposedly that's Hall of Fame 3B Eddie Mathews autograph on a baseball bat. My jaw about hit the floor when I actually saw who it was, and I had no idea how she'd get her hands on something like this (we didn't have a lot of free funds at the time). That's a not just a regular bat but a Mathews signature game model Louisville Slugger, which itself means the autograph is very likely authentic because you really can't get those to forge very easily. The autograph looks 100% legit for a Mathews bat anyway; if you ever want further piece of mind you can send it in to PSA or JSA and I'd bet dollars to donuts it would pass easy. Awesome piece.
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Mar 14, 2011 05:49
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If you want accurate TTM addresses and the ability to see everyone else's successes and failures, as well as recording your own, I recommend using sportscollectors.net. I got Mariano on a ball once through the mail, and from what I've seen, you will have better luck sending him a larger item than something like a card. I had several unanswered requests of cards sent to him, so eventually I tried a ball, and sure enough I got it back pretty quickly.
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Mar 14, 2011 06:04
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jeffersonlives posted:I lurk on Net54, GUU, and occasionally CU. I should probably be active in the trading communities, but I tend to skew more towards looking for the occasional super-bargain find instead of paying fair market price and those people all know what they're doing! Once every couple of months you find a ridiculously low eBay BIN or something too cheap at a flea market and it feels much more cool than paying wholesale market. I just wish eBay would go back to 90% auctions and not 99% BINs with ridiculous prices. There are plenty of dealers on eBay with totally fair BINs but some of them just seem to want to show off their inventory. Then there is 707 Sportscards. Their pricing is just high enough to keep me away but just low enough to have me look at their store constantly. They were complete jerks to me at the National last year. I had 600 bucks in my pocket and they wouldn't even give me a second to see a few cards I was interested in. Not quite sure why really but I was bugged. Net54 folks seem to always sell or trade at a completely fair value--often times quite a bit lower than even some of the better eBay BINs. I love dealing with some of those folks. I'll take some pictures later this week and post some random crap I've got. Should be fun.
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Mar 14, 2011 13:45
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Thanks for everyone's insight so far in this thread. I got started largely around 84 and was done by 93. I have "Card Sharks" about the rise of competition to Topps, namely UD. I haven't been around any of it since then, mainly shaking my fist at these kids in the long term. Can anyone suggest any books (E* or otherwise) about how the market has taken a poo poo? theacox fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Mar 15, 2011 |
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Mar 15, 2011 03:23
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WillBBC3 posted:Then there is 707 Sportscards. Their pricing is just high enough to keep me away but just low enough to have me look at their store constantly. They were complete jerks to me at the National last year. I once stood at their booth (I think at one of the Philly shows) trying to get someone's attention for like 5 minutes to actually buy something. I ended up just walking away. I've always shied away from actually joining Net54 because they have a phone component to their registration and that kinda creeps me a little.
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Mar 15, 2011 03:46
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At one point I thought my Donruss sets from 1990-1994 featuring rated rookies like Chuck Knoblauch, Kenny Lofton, Mo Vaughn, and even Mike Piazza would see me comfortably though my twilight years. On the flip side though, my dad has a complete 1951 Bowman set from when he was a kid with a couple copies each of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays's rookie cards. He got them appraised like 20 years ago and said the set was worth a little less than three grand so I have no idea how much it'd be worth now. They're not professionally graded or anything though but they are pretty cool.
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Mar 15, 2011 04:37
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Jimothy posted:On the flip side though, my dad has a complete 1951 Bowman set from when he was a kid with a couple copies each of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays's rookie cards. He got them appraised like 20 years ago and said the set was worth a little less than three grand so I have no idea how much it'd be worth now. They're not professionally graded or anything though but they are pretty cool. You should absolutely get those graded, the Mays and Mantle ones alone could be worth $3,000.
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Mar 15, 2011 04:46
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Jimothy posted:On the flip side though, my dad has a complete 1951 Bowman set from when he was a kid with a couple copies each of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays's rookie cards. He got them appraised like 20 years ago and said the set was worth a little less than three grand so I have no idea how much it'd be worth now. They're not professionally graded or anything though but they are pretty cool. That's an awesome set. 1951 Bowman Mantles in good condition can be worth, well, a lot depending on condition. It's his rookie card, although 1952 Topps is more sought-after. Mays isn't far behind. I'd see if PSA is grading at a show near you sometime soon. No need to grade the commons, but Mantle, Mays, Williams, etc. can be big bucks in good condition.
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Mar 15, 2011 04:51
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Upper deck full sets 1989-96ish? anything good?
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Mar 15, 2011 09:25
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Outside of the Griffey rookie in 89 there really isn't a lot there. Jeter's 93 UD rookie if graded a 10 can bring a bit over a hundred bucks but that's about it.
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Mar 15, 2011 13:55
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jeffersonlives posted:That's an awesome set. I've mentioned the idea to my dad before, but it's one of those things where I don't think he's interested enough in going to an expo by himself since he'd have to travel a ways to get to one, living outside of Tucson. He'd go if I went with him, but my parents live 1200 miles away so it makes it difficult to plan. How much could I expect a PSA guy to charge for grading probably half a dozen cards?
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Mar 15, 2011 17:50
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What is the preffered way to store lots and lots of cards in a way that allows you to find what you're looking for without looking at every card? The best thing I've come up with is putting every card in an individual sleeve and then putting them in labeled card boxes. I have to flip through a lot of cards to find what i want, though and it's hard to show off the "highlights".
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Mar 15, 2011 18:08
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Cool idea for a thread. My dad has a shitload of cards/memorabilia at his house. Bonds, Ripken, McGwire USA rookies that are now essentially worthless. I went through it all about 10 years ago and it's at the point now where it needs to be gone through again. As far as cards were concerned from what I remember the standouts were a Willie McCovey rookie, some assorted Nolan Ryan's my grandpa had given us and those rookie cards mentioned above. There was also the highly sought after Billy Ripken "gently caress Face" card. I'm probably missing some things, I used to be really into as a kid/teen but have moved onto other collections. We also have a signed 8x10 of Joe DiMaggio that is on a plaque with some info about him that is pretty cool that my dad paid $100 for about 15 years ago. When I was a teenager my dad and I would go to Cooperstown every summer for the Hall of Fame induction weekend. We went to the ceremony once (it was always way too hot) but the cool thing about it was all kinds of hall of famers would be up there signing stuff. Without looking off the top of my head I know we have Warren Spahn, Harmon Killebrew, Gaylord Perry, Frank Robinson, Ralph Kiner, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, all on balls. Tons of guys we missed too like Eddie Matthews, Ernie Banks, Luis Aparicio just to name a few. Also non HOFers like Don Larson, Pete Rose (  ), Enos Slaughter, and Joe Pepitone would be up there too so you never knew who you'd run into and it would be different each year. If you ever have the time and money definitely get up there that weekend because you never know who you'll find. The last time I was there was 10 years ago so I'm not sure if it still works like this but I'm assuming it does. A couple of stories I remember was when my dad got the signed ball back from Perry he said it felt kind of wet which Perry laughed at (he was accused for doctoring the ball during his career.) Also Warren Spahn (the greatest LHP of all time) may he RIP was one of the classiest most down to earth guys, he talked to me for about 15-20 minutes about all kinds of stuff which I thought was really cool.
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Mar 15, 2011 18:28
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Jimothy posted:I've mentioned the idea to my dad before, but it's one of those things where I don't think he's interested enough in going to an expo by himself since he'd have to travel a ways to get to one, living outside of Tucson. He'd go if I went with him, but my parents live 1200 miles away so it makes it difficult to plan. How much could I expect a PSA guy to charge for grading probably half a dozen cards? It depends. PSA, SGC, and BGS (the major grading companies - PSA is the most popular in general, SGC is very popular for vintage stuff, and BGS is very popular for modern high-grade stuff) all charge on a sliding scale based on your declared insurance value of the card. Depending on condition, these are cards that you're going to end up declaring for somewhere between thousands and tens of thousands of dollars, which means we're talking anywhere from $30-40 a card or a couple hundred a card. There are ways to get around these fees. Dealers don't pay as much as you or I would. Auction houses usually get stuff graded for free if you're looking to sell. For something like a complete 51 Bowman set or a good condition 51 Bowman Mantle, you might be better off dealing with a major house as opposed to eBay or selling them to a vendor to begin with if you're looking to move. Can't hurt to consult with them, at least. Some questions to consider in this process would include: - What condition are the cards in? Ultimately, is it worth getting them slabbed? - Does your family plan to sell? This might be even a little extra complicated because you have duplicates so you can sell some and keep some or what not. - How are the cards currently being stored? If they're 1s or 2s in a cool, safe, dark place and your family has no plans to sell them ever, probably not worth getting them graded. If they're 6s or 7s in screwdowns on the mantle - no pun intended - exposed to light and elements, or if you're looking to cash in, probably worth getting them graded.
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Mar 15, 2011 19:41
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jeffersonlives posted:One of the random cool things I have on my desk is the set of Washington Nationals Presidents bobbleheads. The Nationals of course have the president races, and in 2007 did four bobblehead days at the stadium, one for each president. I ended up eBaying the entire set for I think $30. I collect offbeat political nostalgia items too occasionally, so this was right in my wheelhouse: So I went to an Orioles @ Nationals game last year and I guess they have a President's Race every game. And the big gag is that Teddy always loses. Anyway, those bobbleheads rule, because they reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR3UvgloDwU Also this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWGDrXd7YgY
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Mar 15, 2011 20:44
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Politicalrancor posted:Upper deck full sets 1989-96ish? anything good? The OP needs to read in big red letters, "THE CHANCES OF ANYTHING YOU OWN FROM 1985-1995 HAVING ANY VALUE IS INCREDIBLY SLIM."
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Mar 16, 2011 00:45
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Chief McHeath posted:The OP needs to read in big red letters, "THE CHANCES OF ANYTHING YOU OWN FROM 1985-1995 HAVING ANY VALUE IS INCREDIBLY SLIM." It's in there, although not in big red letters. I tried taking pictures of a bunch of my stuff with my BB and boy oh boy they did not come out good due to glare. Working on a secondary solution.
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Mar 16, 2011 00:49
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I'm in the process of collecting the team schedules for every year the Padres have been in MLB. Have 4 remaining from 1969-2011. Thought "well, this has been fun, but I'll have em all soon, oh well." That is, until I saw someone on ebay throw up some schedules from their PCL days, and that's given me an excuse to keep hunting for any/everything in their history pre-MLB. Are any of the forums mentioned in this thread worthwhile resources for this sort of thing? It's a niche, low-dollar part of the memorabilia world so finding people who may be in possession of these items is harder than I would have hoped. Now, to actually semi-contribute, a story about how I'm unjustifiably ungrateful about not getting a sweet piece of memorabilia schwag: Met Tony Gywnn when I was about 8...pretty much the highlight of my life at that point. Still have the '84 Fleer card he autographed at a show, and I've intentionally left it out on "display" or in a bedside table, easily pocketable in case of fire. A few years later my Pony league team won the West zone for the 9-10 year old division, and somehow we were invited to see the 1992 All Star Game's Fan Fest exhibit an hour before the public got to see it, along with the press and some dignitaries. Amongst the dignitaries were Ted Williams & Tony Gwynn, the former of which was going to speak to the press and officially open the exhibit to the public after we got to run around the place for an hour. As someone else was speaking to the press/assembled public in front of the curtain, myself and a teammate randomly ended up talking to Ted Williams & Tony Gwynn for a good 5 minutes. Tony excused himself (but not before I received some batting tips from a fellow lefty), and I basically got to chat up Williams with my shy teammate listening. I had a ball & sharpie (as did the rest of my team), as we were told Williams would speak to the press, then come backstage and sign our baseballs. The speaker wraps up, and introduces Williams, who excuses himself from our chat to talk to the crowd. After a quick speech, he heads off with the press surrounding him. He passes by our team, all with sharpies & balls in hand, and over the chatter of the press says "sorry kids, gotta go." He proceeds to sit down at a table in an adjacent room, talking to who I assume was an agent/manager/handler of some sort for at least 15 minutes, all in sight of our team. We were crushed. So, that's my story of why I sorta hate Ted Williams, missed out on an autograph from a legend, and shouldn't really be that pissed about the whole event.
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Mar 16, 2011 01:26
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Williams was actually good about signing compared to someone like DiMaggio, who later in life got really pissed if people got his autograph for free.
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Mar 16, 2011 05:43
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I was a pretty into bball card collecting in the mid 80s'. Had Topps sets from 83-87, 84-87 Donruss and Fleer. Biggest score was when a friend knew someone who wholesaled boxes to retail outlets. They had someone run a forklift thru a pallet of 86 Donruss and Fleer, and had to toss the entire pallet. This guy dumpster dove and pulled about 40 boxes out and sold them for $5 each (probably to buy weed). I had at least 5 or 6 Cansecos each from my 4 boxes I bought. I started up again in 94, when Upper Deck came out with SP and Collectors Choice(99 cent packs!). It took me about 3 years, but I finally competed the CC Silver signature set. 792 cards that were inserted 1 per pack, 90% of which were tossed immediately due to being scrubs. I would have never completed it except for the advent of Ebay. Probably the most fun/challenging set due to the fact that they did not cost much, but were hard to find. Still books at $100-200, and I'm sure I could get a cool $20 for it. Then I decided to pick a generic player to collect subsets from. Decided on the collecting all cards of Mariners All-Star, Playoff Hero Catcher Dan Wilson. These were cheap, but hard to find due to being in Seattle and a fan favorite. Proud to say that I have all of his issued autos, press proofs, refractors, etc that I know of from the 90's. Crown jewel is the 93 Topps Finest Refractor(241 copies of each player, unheard of in 93), which is mint except that his face has turned green. He now looks like an alien. Meydey fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Mar 16, 2011 |
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Mar 16, 2011 13:11
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That Wilson collection sounds awesome. I collected Wade Boggs like that for a good 5 or 6 years, wound up with about 950 different issues from 83 to 98 or so but could never land the 93 Refractor. I've seen it on eBay a few times but I just don't really like the guy anymore after his HOF speech. Any chance you can take a shot of that silver signature set? I have a few of the checklists (the paintings) with the gold signatures. I wish they'd put those out again, they were the most collectible checklists I've ever seen.
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Mar 17, 2011 00:01
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I'm just getting back into collecting after a 2 year hiatus. I'm working on getting more Pirates legends and up and comers. My Steve Pierce collection is pretty worthless, but I still think he is awesome and I'm glad I have so many of his autographs. I also have an Ian Snell collection that I am proud of, but I don't really feel like adding to it cause he talked poo poo about the club when he left. I'm really interested in getting more of these Topps Diamond Redemption Codes, so if anyone has any for sale or trade let me know and hopefully we can work something out. I'm a sucker for online redemption bullshit.
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Mar 17, 2011 06:35
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camoseven posted:I also have an Ian Snell collection that I am proud of, but I don't really feel like adding to it cause he talked poo poo about the club when he left. He actually just retired from baseball completely. I hope my Andrew McCutchen signed ball has more staying power than the ones I have signed by Jack Wilson and Zach Duke. Although I guess those are both kind of funny in a "lol Pirates" way, and I got them signed in person for free so whatever.
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Mar 17, 2011 06:49
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ElwoodCuse posted:He actually just retired from baseball completely. Oh wow, I just checked BucsDugout and saw that. What a crazy guy. He seems like he could have had a great career if he didn't have so much emotional / mental baggage. edit: I really need a new avatar now haha.
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Mar 17, 2011 07:19
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I went back home for Spring break, and going through my old closet I found my old complete box set of Topps 1999 cards. I'm sure they're worthless, but I love the prospect cards like Jayson Werth, Ramon Hernandez, John Rocker, and Bruce Chen.
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Mar 17, 2011 07:28
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I collected cards from probably 1982 to 1996, with the odd pack here and there since then. Unfortunately most of that is crap. I did buy some OK singles from earlier years, but I've sold a lot of those over the years. What I found in a quick look in a drawer: Justin Verlander 25/25 Xfractor from a few packs I picked up at Target.  My prize 1954 Ernie Banks Rookie. Bought it for about $60 in the 80's...corners are sharp, but it's a bit off center.  One really cool card that isn't worth much, but it's probably the one I'd never sell. I used to mail out for autos and Cool Papa signed one. Came with a hand written note from someone else that he signed it against his doctors advice since his eyesight was really bad. He passed away a couple years later...I still even have the envelope since it had a sticker with "Cool Papa Bell Ave." on it. 
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Mar 17, 2011 08:13
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WillBBC3 posted:Any chance you can take a shot of that silver signature set? I have a few of the checklists (the paintings) with the gold signatures. I wish they'd put those out again, they were the most collectible checklists I've ever seen. Upper Deck Sp of that year was sweet also. Pulled Griffey and Arod holos, but never got the cut holos. I think I still have the arod regular and holo cards. edit-pics!  Jordan!    Bonus-Alien Dan 
Meydey fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Mar 18, 2011 |
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Mar 17, 2011 10:31
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Had a nice little vintage mailday. Received a 59 Topps Musial and a 74 Seaver. Pictures later.
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Mar 17, 2011 22:41
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Quick picture of some recent pick ups. Picking up a lot of 59 Topps cards. I love the set like crazy. The colors really pop on some of them in person--just kind of reminds me what baseball cards were all about. Going to take some more this weekend. I have a bunch of high end Vlad Guerrero cards that I love and a shitload of Jeter rookies (something north of 80 at this point). 
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Mar 18, 2011 03:42
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I used to collect some baseball (do mostly hockey still) but the one thing I kept when I got rid of all my crap was my Kevin Maas collection. I pretty much have one of every card he's ever had (aside from those ridiculous Yankee UD cards that there's like 200 different ones of from a few years back). A poster, a signed 8x10, a signed ticket stub from seeing him play here in Buffalo in like 95 or 96 when his MLB career was over, and a game used bat. And I have a Joe Charboneau autographed ball that I got in person when I was 5 years old at a mall signing.
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Mar 18, 2011 05:00
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Those Collector's Choice Silver Sigs are awesome. I may have to buy some old CC on eBay. I forgot how nice that set looks, especially for a 'budget' brand.
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Mar 18, 2011 17:43
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ElwoodCuse posted:He actually just retired from baseball completely. I have a ball signed by Jerome Walton, among other Cubs, and its kind of my pride and joy for gimmick reasons. My dog chewed it up about 10 years ago, which removed any value it would ever possibly have, but it certainly doesn't destroy the personal value. I think the thing people have to realize about collecting memorabilia is that you almost have to collect for personal interest first. The fact that stuff from 50-60 years ago has such high value due to the rare nature of what's left has caused people to start holding onto things they wouldn't normally hold onto. The fact that our dads threw away all their baseball cards is what has caused all the cards that are left to be worth so much. I'm pretty sure that won't be the case with my generation.
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Mar 18, 2011 17:52
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Just a random thought I had, is there a de facto most valuable 90s card? If so, is it worth over 10 bucks?
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Mar 18, 2011 19:04
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Groucho Marxist posted:Just a random thought I had, is there a de facto most valuable 90s card? If so, is it worth over 10 bucks?
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Mar 18, 2011 19:25
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Casnorf posted:There are a couple autographs in the couple hundred dollar range, but really what you're looking for is '93 Finest Refractors. They're ludicrously rare, and reading earlier in the thread that they had a print run of 241 makes me wonder if I managed to get any refractors in the one or two packs of it I was able to afford back in those days.
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Mar 18, 2011 21:00
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I've been collecting Dave Winfield cards since I was 7/1987. I met him at a book signing before a Yankees game and he was pretty cool. I'm currently up to 545 cards. I still put a Topps set together every year from one of the sports. It brings me back to my childhood and every once in awhile you get something you can sell to make your money back.
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Mar 18, 2011 21:36
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FlamingLiberal posted:The Jeter SP rookies are hard to find in really good condition because of the material used on the card, so I believe that the PSA/BGS 10s are pretty valuable. Same with the A-Rod SP rookies, and the diecut versions of each are probably the most expensive regular issue of the 90s.
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Mar 18, 2011 21:40
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94 SP Arods that haven't been cut, 93 Finest refractors, 94 UD Griffey/Mantle sig (one one was pulled at a shop near me, made the local paper), 92 Leaf Frank Thomas, any of the HOF sig inserts maybe, and of course Jeter rookies come to mind. Seems like UD cut up one of Babe Ruths bats for the 1st time in the late 90's also. There are some interesting inserts for recent HOF guys also (Ripken, Gwynn, Ozzie, Sandberg, Molitor, Pucket, etc) that are fun to pick up.
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Mar 18, 2011 21:49
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Can someone explain the basics of how cards are sold? I was looking at the Topps 2011 set and there are like hobby boxes, jumbo hobby boxes, retail boxes, and a bunch of other poo poo. I don't really understand the differences between, say, hobby and retail.
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Mar 18, 2011 22:03
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