Sports memoribilia, baseball cards...

[Steelharp]

Question... where's a good place to get an appraisal on baseball souvenirs? My daughter's boyfriend said he had a "closet full" of baseball cards. We thought he was kidding, until he brought them over tonight. I've never seen so many boxes of cards. All in three ring binders, showcased. He went through one... ONE three ring binder... and on eBay, the completed auction prices (not the wish to sell for prices, but actual completed auctions)... in just the ONE BINDER, he has almost $12K.

He also found two autographed pics, one Mickey Mantle and one Johnny Bench. I looked at them under a magnifying glass. They are NOT printed copies, they are real, blue sharpie signatures.

What's a trustworthy place here in the Nashville area to get this looked at...?

[Pain103]

Haven't messed with cards since I was little but they use to make those Beckett magazines with values of cards. Is that an option for the cards alone? There was a sports card store in Goodlettsville never been in it but next time I work I'll drive by to see if it's still there and operational.

[Murgatroy]

My boss is obsessed with cards. He spends more time than he should buying and selling them. To the point I am sure you were looking at some of his auctions on eBay.

I have never met someone that knows as much as he does.

He uses a computer program to price, appraise and inventory what he has. If I can remember this afternoon I will send him an email and ask him what he uses.

It is good that you looked at completed auctions. I talk with him about this on occasion, not that I am interested, but that he is that into it. He will often sell cards at a third to half of their assumed value on eBay, but move them in quantity. The way he normally does it is he will buy a collection, cherry pick anything worth more than $20 out and then list them all on eBay and accept offers for a third of the book value. He then takes what he has left (in bulk) which are normally <$5 cards, with an itemized list and donates them to charity to tax the tax write off to offset his sales profit from eBay.

If your daughter's boyfriend has $12k in one binder at sold prices, that could easily be a $50k+ collection. The problem is getting someone to buy it. An offer for the whole collection is going to be a third of the sale value, maybe a fifth of the book value. The card shop is then going to piecemeal the collection out. It takes a lot of time. I know that my boss spends a good thirty hours or more a week with his cards to the point his wife hates them, regardless of the money he brings it. However, if you, or your daughter, or her boyfriend were to do the legwork of selling the collection, it could easily bring it $50k+ from individual sales on eBay.

I will PM you my work email, and if you are interested, just let me know and I will forward it to my boss and have him explain a few things.

[Guest Mad4rcn]

[font="'comic sans ms"][size="5"]TUFF STUFF is a card mag that will have all the good cards and autographs in it ,it covers just about all cards. You can get it at any card store or magazine stand.[/size][/font]

[Patton]

Good luck with them, they are no where near what the used to be. I also recommend Tuff Stuff and actually putting them on EBay is about the best way to get rid of them.

[LI0NSFAN]

I recently sold off my cards and it was a pain, I would put up 20-30 cards a week on ebay. The book prices mean squat, the market has dropped out, except on the really high end card.I had 400,000+ cards and book value was $80,000 and I sold them all and only got $15,000. I found that my cards that had been graded sold fast and for a premium. I would also keep an eye on the news, If a player is in the news the card sells fast ie: hall of fame voting, all star game, National Championships, trades or even the passing of a HOF player. People hear the name and then all of a sudden want that card. I sold a Shannon Sharpe rookie sell for 2x book the week he was announced in the HOF.

Edited December 12, 2012 by STAHDKnoxville

[Patton]

I had a 1952 Ted Williams Red Man Tobacco card that I had been holding onto since the mid 80's. I think the most it was ever worth was $180 in early 90's. I sold it on eBay in 08' because I was noticing a trend, I was happy to get $41 for it then.

[Murgatroy]

Beckett.com is what Steve told me he uses. They have a paid subscription service, My Collection or something.

If you have that much in cards, it would be well worth it to sell them yourself instead of taking them in and appraising/selling as a group.

[Steelharp]

[quote name='Murgatroy' timestamp='1355189356' post='858187']
Beckett.com is what Steve told me he uses. They have a paid subscription service, My Collection or something.

If you have that much in cards, it would be well worth it to sell them yourself instead of taking them in and appraising/selling as a group.
[/quote]

Thanks so much. We're checking into it now.