Hockey/Sports card collecting

[rohara66]

Originally Posted by CactusJack

I was big into it in the junk wax era like everybody else… Gave it up for a long time other than buying autos of some of my favorite players and Flames legends but then randomly bought a several year old box of Topps Archives baseball or something at a card show and pulled a redemption card for an autographed Don Mattingly Rookie! The box was so old at that time that the redemption card was going to expire in a month or so but I managed to get it in on time and got the card. I’ve often wondered if I should get it graded but have no idea how it works. Is there anybody in Canada that does it? Or do you have to send it off to the US and then by the time all the shipping is paid is it even worth it? Other than being the coolest card I’ve ever pulled I have no real connection to it or the player so it’s probably better off going to somebody who will really cherish it.

If you want to grade to sell send to PSA or maybe Beckett. Don’t bother with anyone else. I believe PSA Canada will be setup at a show in Red Deer in September, you give them the card and they handle everything and it’ll get mailed back to you after being graded. I don’t know much about it baseball cards but is that card even worth more then a couple hundred bucks? Grading might not help the resale value by much.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by nik-

I want sticker books

If you work hard, save, and collect enough stickers you can get a car!

[DeluxeMoustache]

“Junk wax”

I learned something today

Call it a win

The rest of the day is gravy

[blankall]

Originally Posted by rohara66

If you want to grade to sell send to PSA or maybe Beckett. Don’t bother with anyone else. I believe PSA Canada will be setup at a show in Red Deer in September, you give them the card and they handle everything and it’ll get mailed back to you after being graded. I don’t know much about it baseball cards but is that card even worth more then a couple hundred bucks? Grading might not help the resale value by much.

For baseball, SCG is acceptable too, but PSA is considered the best for baseball.

It may not be worth grading an auto insert though. Generally, the rule is the more bells and whistles on a card, the less of a difference grading makes to the value. Anything less than a 10 doesn't add value to the card and can detract. Auto cards tend to be handled more before going into packs, so they don't grade as well, generally.

[chemgear]

Big theft in Dallas for 2+ million in baseball cards. Probably break those slabs and part them out.

[cral12]

sounds like a bad time to sell an oldish hockey card collection...

when/if market improves, where/how do you recommend selling?

[rohara66]

Originally Posted by cral12

sounds like a bad time to sell an oldish hockey card collection...

when/if market improves, where/how do you recommend selling?

Snap some pics of your big cards.

You will make more $$'s if you sell off individually. But that's a lot of time/work. Can sell in Facebook groups or ebay (15% seller fees).

There are lots of dealers or collectors that will low ball your entire collection and then they will part it out.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by cral12

sounds like a bad time to sell an oldish hockey card collection...

when/if market improves, where/how do you recommend selling?

The market is still much higher than it was 5+ years ago, just not Bat#@$#@ crazy like it was during Covid. I doubt it ever goes back, that was stupid.

[JonDuke]

I was an avid collector in the 90s. Still have them all even thought most are worthless. I have some older cards like Lafleur and Bobby Hull rookies but not mint by any means Growing up, my favorite card was a 71-72 OPC Gump Worsley card just cause he looked like he was 55 years old. Still love looking at it today. I still have a chipper Jones rookie as well and laughed when you wrote that. One of my other favorites was a Todd Van Poppel for almost no reason at all.

My passion was reignited during covid when the value of a Kobe Bryant rookie cards soared to unheard of heights. I held on to it instead of selling which I now regret but whatever. It's still a card I love.

I have a few decent cards but have never seriously looked into grading them from PSA. I have quite a few Kobe cards, a really sweet signed Mike Trout card and a bunch of numbered and very unique Ben Roethlisberger cards, a Mike bossy rookie card, a signed /22 Bossy and a gold Derek Jeter rookie. Those are some of my faves. Nothing that will help me retire quicker.

I kept watching the prices on all those during covid and was amazed.

I then got into group box brakes on local Facebook groups. That was fun. I scored some decent cards. I'm big Svechnikov fan and the #12 is very cherished in my family. It's not worth tons but when I scored this fella, it was pretty cool:

Spoiler!

Overall, group breaks were fun but I found it to be a huge waste of money and just buy individual cards that I actually want from eBay instead. The very high majority of my collection are hockey but I have about 25% football, 15% baseball and maybe 5% basketball.

I never got into collecting basketball cards at all, but my absolute dream is a Michael Jordan rookie card. But at the same time I would also be very afraid to buy it because I know that it's faked so often. Same as those PSA slabs. Those are faked a lot now too. It's just too sketchy.
I'm also very skeptical of how owners can weigh the packages to find the unique cards.

After going through the collection post covid I put them all back up in storage and now this thread is making me want to go through them again.

[Sr. Mints]

There use to be two card shops and a comic shop within walking distance from my house in the early 90s: Barry Dvorkin (or something? Google is of no help) on 16th Ave and 9A St. NW behind the old Esso, and Inner City in Kensington; Another Dimension has also bounced around 10th St. since as long as I can remember.

My older brother was the hockey card guy; I had a way cooler collection of Marvel and DC cards - which I happened to come back into possession of about a decade ago (along with my bro's Upper Deck and Pro Set duplicates from the late 80s and early 90s.)

The Marvel and DC cards are like nostalgic gold to me. It was quite satisfying tracking down the cards I was missing shortly after I reacquired my collection, but admittedly eBay isn't even close to the same as randomly finding cards in a pack that cost $1.25.

[Dion]

I started collecting back in the early 90's when the card craze started. I mostly dabbled in cards that were hard to find, like stuff from the 70's. I wasn't in it for the monetary value of the cards but rather the fun of seeking out and finding cards that interested me.

A few years ago I sent my collection to CP member bc-chris so he could give them to his son Micheal. I just wanted to find a home and someone who would appreciate them.

Here a sample of what I sent and collected.

Spoiler!

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Funny timing. I saw the upheaval with these guys publicly revealing that you can use CT scans to reveal sealed packs. Given the amount of money and scams out there it's probably been a thing for a while for a while now and will likely accelerate. The whole "randomized" pack is going to be interesting in the next few years.

So they've now set up a public service if you want to scan sealed packs and boxes. It could be sketchy to buy sealed stuff before but now . . . good luck to you.

https://industrialinspection.com/car...nning-service/

[blankall]

Originally Posted by chemgear

So they've now set up a public service if you want to scan sealed packs and boxes. It could be sketchy to buy sealed stuff before but now . . . good luck to you.

https://industrialinspection.com/car...nning-service/

Buying loose packs, for he purpose of opening them, was always an awful idea. When opening a box, you could open until you had the hit, and then sell the remainder of the packs. With some products you could do that with cases, opening boxes until you get the case hit. So with some products you need to buy a sealed case to be safe. With a lot of products, the hits are even placed in patterns.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by blankall

Buying loose packs, for he purpose of opening them, was always an awful idea. When opening a box, you could open until you had the hit, and then sell the remainder of the packs. With some products you could do that with cases, opening boxes until you get the case hit. So with some products you need to buy a sealed case to be safe. With a lot of products, the hits are even placed in patterns.

Yeah collation issues can be crazy bad depending upon the product. This kind of scanning has probably quietly been a thing for a while now but now that's public information it's only going to grow and put downward pressure.

[Strange Brew]

I collected hockey and baseball cards as a kid in the 70's and 80's. Mainly hung onto all of them, including 3 Gretzky rookie cards in a safe. Not worth much I'm sure but I've been talking to my son about cataloguing them to see what we have. Some of the WHA cards are my favorites.

He's 20 now and not overly into it though. At least unlike comic books they don't take up much space.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I have a Methuselah rookie card.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

There use to be two card shops and a comic shop within walking distance from my house in the early 90s: Barry Dvorkin (or something? Google is of no help) on 16th Ave and 9A St. NW behind the old Esso, and Inner City in Kensington; Another Dimension has also bounced around 10th St. since as long as I can remember.

My older brother was the hockey card guy; I had a way cooler collection of Marvel and DC cards - which I happened to come back into possession of about a decade ago (along with my bro's Upper Deck and Pro Set duplicates from the late 80s and early 90s.)

The Marvel and DC cards are like nostalgic gold to me. It was quite satisfying tracking down the cards I was missing shortly after I reacquired my collection, but admittedly eBay isn't even close to the same as randomly finding cards in a pack that cost $1.25.

I think the one on 16th was called "The Right Stuff". Was an absolute gold mine of sports memorabilia and cards but the owner was miserable and would argue with me every time I went in there. I remember walking in there in 2013 as they were boxing up the store and he was blaming the lockout.

A couple of my favourites of my collection....

NSFW!

[habernac]

I remember Barry. He was always a clown.

[rohara66]

We used to ride our bikes to Dicks Collectibles in canyon meadows when we were kids. I remember him usually being kinda grumpy lol

[rohara66]

Couple pics of my collection... can add more if there is interest in sharing our collections.