Sports Card Collectors!

#1
CagleMtnVol

CagleMtnVol

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#1
Anyone else collect cards? Been thinking about getting back in it a little more.

Anyone ever send cards to be graded?

I recently found a grading service based in Knoxville I'm thinking of giving a try. I've always held off due to the expense that most grading services charge and fear of cards getting lost in the mail.
 
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#3
#3
CagleMtnVol said:
Anyone else collect cards? Been thinking about getting back in it a little more.

Anyone ever send cards to be graded?

I recently found a grading service based in Knoxville I'm thinking of giving a try. I've always held off due to the expense that most grading services charge and fear of cards getting lost in the mail.
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I’ve gotten the itch to get back into it lately so started doing some research and it’s a whole new game from when I was a kid collecting. There’s a Reddit group that discusses everything in pretty good detail but some of it is just overwhelming. It’s crazy how expensive the hobby has become too
 
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#9
#9
I’m no expert, but a few nuggets I have learned since getting reintroduced to cards in the past couple of years may be helpful.
1. Other than Michael Jordan rookie cards, there’s not much from the 80s or early 90s that’s gonna be worth enough to justify the cost of grading.
2. There are some valuable card from the 70s but you’ll need a perfect 10 grade for most of those to justify the cost of grading.
3. If you think your card could be a 10, it’s probably a 5 or 6.
 
#10
#10
VolunteerHillbilly said:
I’m no expert, but a few nuggets I have learned since getting reintroduced to cards in the past couple of years may be helpful.
1. Other than Michael Jordan rookie cards, there’s not much from the 80s or early 90s that’s gonna be worth enough to justify the cost of grading.
2. There are some valuable card from the 70s but you’ll need a perfect 10 grade for most of those to justify the cost of grading.
3. If you think your card could be a 10, it’s probably a 5 or 6.
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I've been watching some YouTube vids of guys showing cards they are going to send off and then them seeing the grades when they get them back and I've quickly learned what to look for in what will knock your grades of course the big thing is the corners of the cards. Then the centering (uniform borders) both front and back.
 
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#11
#11
CagleMtnVol said:
I've been watching some YouTube vids of guys showing cards they are going to send off and then them seeing the grades when they get them back and I've quickly learned what to look for in what will knock your grades of course the big think is the corners of the cards. Then the centering (uniform borders) both front and back.
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Can’t recall the exact number, but without perfect centering it is almost impossible to get a grade above 7 from PSA. It’s a real learning curve and I’m still trying to get my head around it. I’ve got this group of seven 73 Roger Staubachs. Six are off center enough that I know I’d be lucky to get grade 5, which means those probably all belong in a dealer’s $5 box. The bottom right card might be an 8. It would cost me $50 for grading. If it’s a 6 or 7, I break even. If it’s an 8, I have a card worth maybe $125-$150 according to eBay but I’d be lucky to get half that if I sold it at show. Sadly, this is the state of most of my collection.
4738E779-869E-43F1-BC11-58E3C177310F.jpeg
 
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#13
#13
VolunteerHillbilly said:
Can’t recall the exact number, but without perfect centering it is almost impossible to get a grade above 7 from PSA. It’s a real learning curve and I’m still trying to get my head around it. I’ve got this group of seven 73 Roger Staubachs. Six are off center enough that I know I’d be lucky to get grade 5, which means those probably all belong in a dealer’s $5 box. The bottom right card might be an 8. It would cost me $50 for grading. If it’s a 6 or 7, I break even. If it’s an 8, I have a card worth maybe $125-$150 according to eBay but I’d be lucky to get half that if I sold it at show. Sadly, this is the state of most of my collection.
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I would say bottom right would be your best bet. However for older cards it seems anything around (5-7) is considered pretty good. It's going to be extremely rare for a grade of (8-10) for cards over 25 years old unless they have been really taken care of.

It's really a crapshoot on centering from around the mid 80's and older.
 
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#14
#14
I've jumped back in head first. Over the weekend I purchased around 30 cards off eBay. Half of them were around a $1.25 or less. All ungraded.

(9) Kennedy Chandler - RCs
(1) Grant Williams - RC
(2) Tom Glavine - RC
(2) Fred McGriff - 1989 Fleer/1990 Score
(1) John Smoltz - RC
(1) Ian Anderson - RC
(1) Dakota Hudson - RC
(1) Derrick Henry - RC
(1) Jauan Jennings - RC
(1) 1983 Braves Murphy/Niekro
 
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#15
#15
CagleMtnVol said:
I've jumped back in head first. Over the weekend I purchased around 30 cards off eBay. Half of them were around a $1.25 or less. All ungraded.

(9) Kennedy Chandler - RCs
(1) Grant Williams - RC
(2) Tom Glavine - RC
(2) Fred McGriff - 1989 Fleer/1990 Score
(1) John Smoltz - RC
(1) Ian Anderson - RC
(1) Dakota Hudson - RC
(1) Derrick Henry - RC
(1) Jauan Jennings - RC
(1) 1983 Braves Murphy/Niekro
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Prob bought them from my son and the kid he helps...lol...THey buy in bulk everything in sight then resell. THey are two years out of high school. His friend does it full-time and had around 100K in the bank before he grauated. He's putting back to pay cash for a house. My son is in school and puts up around $350 a week helping him out.
 
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#16
#16
GVF said:
Prob bought them from my son and the kid he helps...lol...THey buy in bulk everything in sight then resell. THey are two years out of high school. His friend does it full-time and had around 100K in the bank before he grauated. He's putting back to pay cash for a house. My son is in school and puts up around $350 a week helping him out.
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That’s cool. Cards got a huge boom from COVID. I had not looked at mine in probably a decade or more until I suddenly found myself stuck at home with hours to kill between zoom meetings. I think the online sellers killed it during the lockdowns and then the retail shops and show vendors got a big lick when everything reopened. I’ve been to four shows this year, which probably equals my combined lifetime attendance number prior to 2022. I’m not sure how long I will stick with it but it’s a fun pass time for now. Mostly, I buy old football and there isn’t much price volatility. The new auto/relic/numbered stuff is fun to look at and I do have some relatively inexpensive stuff from those categories but I don’t have the nerves for the volatility at the high end. A player injury can drop a $1000 card under $100 very quickly.
 
#17
#17
VolunteerHillbilly said:
That’s cool. Cards got a huge boom from COVID. I had not looked at mine in probably a decade or more until I suddenly found myself stuck at home with hours to kill between zoom meetings. I think the online sellers killed it during the lockdowns and then the retail shops and show vendors got a big lick when everything reopened. I’ve been to four shows this year, which probably equals my combined lifetime attendance number prior to 2022. I’m not sure how long I will stick with it but it’s a fun pass time for now. Mostly, I buy old football and there isn’t much price volatility. The new auto/relic/numbered stuff is fun to look at and I do have some relatively inexpensive stuff from those categories but I don’t have the nerves for the volatility at the high end. A player injury can drop a $1000 card under $100 very quickly.
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Not sure where they went. May have given them away ignorantly many moons ago. Had a wooden box full of cards grwoing up. Haven't had them for 30 years or more. didn't treat them like collectors, but had all the MLB biggies from the 70's and 80's. Several Hank Aaron cards. Had a Clemnte card. Stargell. Rose. Ryan. Had 'em all. Best of my memory, just gave the box to a family friend. Unless it's a rare mint card, my son says the higher vaulues are with current top athletes verses legends.
 
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#18
#18
GVF said:
Not sure where they went. May have given them away ignorantly many moons ago. Had a wooden box full of cards grwoing up. Haven't had them for 30 years or more. didn't treat them like collectors, but had all the MLB biggies from the 70's and 80's. Several Hank Aaron cards. Had a Clemnte card. Stargell. Rose. Ryan. Had 'em all. Best of my memory, just gave the box to a family friend. Unless it's a rare mint card, my son says the higher vaulues are with current top athletes verses legends.
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That seems to be right. The new stuff is almost like day trading. I see people at shows using apps that give real time comps for card values. I am not sure how they can even keep track of whether or not they are making money.
 
#19
#19
CagleMtnVol said:
Anyone else collect cards? Been thinking about getting back in it a little more.

Anyone ever send cards to be graded?

I recently found a grading service based in Knoxville I'm thinking of giving a try. I've always held off due to the expense that most grading services charge and fear of cards getting lost in the mail.
Click to expand...
I was a huge collector in the 80's and 90's. I mainly collected baseball, but my focus was getting every Ken Griffey Jr card I could. Was a fun hobby. I have an entire closet full, not sure what I will do with them, but cant seem to get rid of them.
 
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#20
#20
I really only buy graded cards. Vols mostly. But I also have a decent amount of Grizzlies, Redskins, and Preds
 
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#22
#22
CagleMtnVol said:
I've jumped back in head first. Over the weekend I purchased around 30 cards off eBay. Half of them were around a $1.25 or less. All ungraded.

(9) Kennedy Chandler - RCs
(1) Grant Williams - RC
(2) Tom Glavine - RC
(2) Fred McGriff - 1989 Fleer/1990 Score
(1) John Smoltz - RC
(1) Ian Anderson - RC
(1) Dakota Hudson - RC
(1) Derrick Henry - RC
(1) Jauan Jennings - RC
(1) 1983 Braves Murphy/Niekro
Click to expand...
Dale Murphy was my favorite player when I was little
 
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#23
#23
CagleMtnVol said:
minus two or three that's no longer worth what the person paid to have them graded including a Travis Henry rookie.
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. There’s a relatively new term “junk slabs”. The first couple time times I saw anything slabbed and graded 9 or 10 in dollar box, I snatched it up. Usually, it will be a base rookie card of some baseball player who never panned out. I learned my lesson and fortunately it didn’t cost much.
 
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