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Baseball - topps, topps heritageWhich do you consider the traditional brands? When I tuned out years ago it was Topps/Upper Deck/Score/Fleer etc so I’m a bit out of touch.
Beckett grading should be more popular than it is IMO. If you or I submit a card, and Probstein submits a card, we are waiting 6 months for a lesser grade from PSA.
Great info, thank you guys for all this. Was a fun part of my childhood and want to get back into w the kids on some level.
The flagship sets are pretty close to what they have always been. Complete set builders are cold on the collectors scale right now.
Yep, I think we went with BGS years ago bc both were relatively new but BGS was a little cheaper. Have you seen the new one popping up? HGC or something? Looks intriguing. They color-match the slab (which looks really nice on the ones I've seen), and allegedly have computer-aided grading to help with consistency in their assigned grades. If they can back that up with some data, they could become a competitor I think. Not sure what their pricing is, but if their turnaround time is less than 9 months, that would also be a plus lol
I recommend building the sets, but I’m old school. Many just collect a star and salvage anything they can on the rest. Rookie speculators are the biggest gamble, I couldn’t do it.
I heard about it but the only grading I ever have used was JSA for authenticating autographs.
Truly amazing.comfortably numb said:
I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, but how do you search eBay recent sales?
I really need to get some cards graded. I have been very anti grading as I am a collector and not a seller. I probably have fifty or more 1990 Jordan’s sitting in my collection.comfortably numb said:
Same here to all of that. I have an entire album of Jordans (everything but the rookie), even the sticker ones. I'm bound to have a at least a couple of 8 or 9s in there, I'm thinking!
I've never send cards to get graded, but I've heard it's just a huge backlog because cards have become huge again, especially since Covid hit.Is there any way to get grading done quicker? Can you take them to places to grade that are in a location you would want to visit?
Something about mailing these cards and trusting that they won’t get damaged and will make it back to me in 6 months plus doesn’t have me excited.
Exactly. PSA and some other grading companies used to make appearances at the bigger shows and do grading on-site, but that is all gone. Ebay is great and all, but I do miss the local shows. Before Ebay, there were probably 2-3 local shows a month. It was so wonderful to be able to touch the cards and wheel and deal with people..There are some indoor flea markets around, but those are, for the most part, antique selling type venues and the dealers price the cards like they are antiques. Covid pretty much just put the final kill shot in the local scene as far as shows.
The 1986 Fleer basketball shows this drastic difference. The commons have barely moved, even though in scarcity they are just as scarce as the stars. The tougher condition commons have moved a little more, but even for some of the more challenging ones the premiums over a few months ago are in the 25-30% range versus the 5x-6x we are seeing in the stars. I bought my 86 Olajuwon for $850 in December and lamented that I could have bought that card for $200 less than a year earlier. Now just two months later that card is almost up 4x and is selling around $3000. I paid $450 for the Magic Johnson in December, it's been selling around $2000 in that grade just 2 months later. I failed to buy the last tough common I needed, Maurice Lucas. It was around $200 then. I managed to work a deal with someone in a Facebook group for $250. So while it has definitely gone up some, nothing like Jordan, Olajuwon, Malone, Barkley, Magic, etc.
Usually the big Sun-TImes bi-annual show in Chicago is now, really sucks that its cancelled. JSA, PSA, Beckett, and all of the biggies always went to it. Later this year is the National Convention here also. I think I've missed 1 on Chicago.
My son and I have done a couple of FB and basketball breaks. I prefer the random team ones. Better $ chance for the high dollar cards for me. I got Chargers on a 2020 Prizm break and last pack hit a Herbert Prizm base RC. My best hit to date. My son hit a couple of nobody autos with the Bulls on a random teamer the other day, and he was excited about that.
The autos on the Prizm's to me just don't work with the stickers. Love the concept much more than Topps Chrome - outside of the sticker. A pretty good market that has some room to grow still is the Topps Heritage HOF and star autographs - they are all on-card. I need it myself, but the Yaz auto from 2020 Heritage is a must-have.
#conspiracy
That worries me as well along with relying on shipping during these times. I guess there are no other options though?my biggest fear with grading is that I send in a pristine card and they swap it out for a less than pristine one and I get an 8 or 9 back when I sent in a 10 that someone will bank
Don't use screwdowns. They can press down on the corners. Put the card in a single sleeve, then into a hard plastic. Get some painters tape and tape the top of the hard plastic so they dont fall out.
No screw downs. Cards can stick to them if they've been in there long, and compress the thicker cards. They'll accept top-loaders for the time being, but they prefer Card Saver 1's
Psacard.comGoBirds said:
I guess it would be all if the above but mostly have a stash in the closet that if my sons got into would hand down to them eventually graded/protected or if not could be more ready to sell them at max value. I have the 80’s/90’s that many have, Montana RC/Montana Proline Autograph/Rice RC/Sanders RC/Emmitt RC, in basketball some 86 Fleer Malone/Drexler 88 Fleer Jordan/Pippen/Miller, a bunch of Shaq/Zo with Shaq Beam Team being best. All the Baseball steroid heads.
Have you used or know anything about any of the services where you can buy into group submissions to PSA? I've read some, but need to do more vetting before I'd try that route. Definitely saves money though it seems, if everything is on the up and up.
I haven't done those but started to read up on them...and then just decided to sign up myself.
Thanks for this. I'd probably want to sell some of my cards if I have any 4-5 figure sellers in there among the Jordans, Akeems, Barkleys, Magic/Bird/Doc, etc. And it seems I'd want to have them graded first to get top dollar.
The thing about a lot of it is... a lot of people have them. but a lot of people don't have them in high-grade shape. On the older stuff, lower grades still fetch a good premium over the base cards, but the newer you get (as a general rule, there are exceptions of course), the more higher-grade cards are out there, in both graded and non-graded populations. All of that effects the price, from what I've been able to tell. A lot of sellers will post their graded cards with a "population" note saying how many of that grade of that card exist (PSA publishes that info). Now if you have some OLD old stuff (60s, etc.), even the low grade stuff sells good. Because there just weren't nearly as many of those. Most ended up in the trash or in bicycle spokes. So a PSA-4 Mickey Mantle, might still get you a good price vs the ungraded version.
Orrrrr, maybe you should start your own submission group for the FFA! I hereby nominate you.
Yeah I get it, and my guess is most (none?) of my 80s stuff is in 9-10 shape, either. I see Jordan rookies graded a 5 that sold for $6K-$10K, and a 6 just went for $12,500. So while I might not want to part with my autographed Magic Johnson stuff (my favorite player) or the finals game-worn shoes Dennis Rodman gave me for sentimental reasons, I'd be willing to sell just about anything else that would bring me some significant cash to put towards a home down payment!
LolOrrrrr, maybe you should start your own submission group for the FFA! I hereby nominate you.
I'm not here to schill grading services but as crazy as graded card prices are...I can see it becoming a lot more popular and mainstream. I don't mean prices will not raise but there are soooooo many reprints out there that at 1 point you kinda only had to worry about it if you were buying a 52 Mantle...but there are 1984 Topps Don Mattingly reprints.
Adding Donruss for Football and Basketball also. Baseball, no. They cannot show the logos, and limits their popularity.
If you have life changing/altering potential type of cards I would absolutely try to grade them ASAP....if not to sell just to protect. I mean it can get very costly though. Or you can just sell raw sometimes that is the best way to go if you know a 9-10 is not in the cards.
Yea, definitely. I have a lot of 20 something cards pre 71 waiting to grade. In some case I'm hoping for a 4....again not so much the grade but the authentication.
A lot of those are good and can bring in good value in high grades. They don't have to be 10s to command 4 figures. It will cost you some change though.I guess it would be all if the above but mostly have a stash in the closet that if my sons got into would hand down to them eventually graded/protected or if not could be more ready to sell them at max value. I have the 80’s/90’s that many have, Montana RC/Montana Proline Autograph/Rice RC/Sanders RC/Emmitt RC, in basketball some 86 Fleer Malone/Drexler 88 Fleer Jordan/Pippen/Miller, a bunch of Shaq/Zo with Shaq Beam Team being best. All the Baseball steroid heads.
I have 2 of the Jordan Upper Deck Baseball RC I was thinking I would send as guinea pigs to make sure I got it back.
Also have an old Upper Deck baseball signed by Mantle but not in the best shape, any recommendations to value and protect for eternity something like that?
Appreciate all the help, excited to see this making a comeback.
Yea, 6 months but that card will not be able to go regular. Personally, I would pay the 200 super express and you can probably get that back in 2-3 weeks.
Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated. Yeah, the Jordan is exceptional, besides the OC. It's got the lightest of 'edging' on the right hand side as well for about 2/3", just where the color breaks ever so slightly.
Yeah, that part sucks. I bit the bullet and bought a couple of lower end boxes on eBay for mine for Xmas. Our Target carries cards but all they ever have there is Magic the Gathering and Nascar. NBA and NFL are constantly empty shelves, thanks to hoarders. I'm seeing reports online that a lot of Targets are putting signs out with limits on purchases, but if nobody is monitoring all they have to do is leave and come back in, or send someone else in with their card. I've seen a few posts showing that cards were now only available at the customer service desk, with limits in place. Sad that it came to that, but...supply and demand I suppose.
For your sports autograph needs, I recommend JSA for the Mantle.
It really is stupid. I started collecting a 2020 set last year for fun. Won't do a new one again. If I ever want to one I'll target something from the 70's.
