Inherited Vintage Cards - Historical Pricing

bohous1616

My Father passed back in 2018 leaving my mother a small set of vintage cards from around 1920. He had inherited it from a family member decades ago and so no receipts exist.

These cards were all sold this year in 2020. When she inherited them she never thought about anything like "cost basis" or how the future sale will be treated by the IRS.
Since tax season will start soon, we are now looking for ways to find what the fair market value was for them in 2018.
They are sort of a rare card so we are not sure about how much info or pricing might be out there.

Where can we look to find their book/fair market value in 2018?
I looked on ebay but saw nothing (not sure how to find historical sales) and PSA free account had little info available.
Would the 2018 Becketts pricing guide have it for all sets? I did find a free copy of Becketts from around 1980 but they didnt list the set I had only the previous years.
Any free resources available?

Thanks for any help available.
Regards,
B.

AFLfan

I'm guessing that none of these cards were graded before they were sold? If they were, I would suggest looking at Auction Prices Realized and looking up 2018 prices on a card-by-card basis. If there weren't graded prior, it will be pretty tough to estimate a value based on condition.

When you say "set," do you mean an actual set of cards or rather a collection? If it is an actual set, then giving us the name might make it easier to give you suggestions.

JRR300

Let me approach this from the taxable aspect. I would assume you have gotten a lawyer/accountant involved to determine whether the proceeds of such a sale are taxable. If these were very valuable items (from your tone, it sounds like they were), I'm assuming you will receive some sort of tax form so that the proceeds would be included in your income?
Without getting into the value of the cards, I would have several quest ions before deciding if the proceeds of the sale of such items would be "taxable". I haven't had to deal with something like this for years, so i'd need the details to do some research.

bohous1616

To answer some questions:
The cards were graded by SGC prior to their sale.
I had previously spoken with a CPA who explained that the sale of baseball cards/collectibles are considered "investments" by the IRS and are subject to capital gains taxes. They also explained step-up cost basis and what type of information we would need to use. If we cannot find a reasonable evidence of value for these cards in 2018, then the step-up basis will be set to $0 by the CPA.
The cards were part of the M101-6 set.
Pricing information that I found (PSA website, EBAY, auctions, etc) all have for the M101-4 & M101-5 sets, but almost none for M101-6 (except for some rare Babe Ruth sales).

Does anyone have a copy of Beckett Baseball Card Pricing Guide #40 (2018)? If I could confirm that it had M101-6 pricing inside I would have a copy bought (Amazon $20). I saw online a copy for guide #10 and it only had m101-4 &5.
Any other Ideas?

sjjs28

According to the 2007 SCD Standard Catalog that I have here at home -
The 1919 The Sporting News M101-6 set was (has been?) recharacterized as the 1917-1920 Felix Mendelsohn set

Verbatim from the SCD Catalog:
"The issue listed in previous editions as 1919 Sporting News Supplements (M101-6) is now listed as 1917-1920 Felix Mendelsohn"

The section in the catalog that describes the 1917-1920 Mendelson set provides:
The a checklist of 123 photos and they measure 4 3/8 x 6 3/8
The catalog lists NM - EX - VG prices for the cards in the set
There are two Ruths (Boston and NY uniforms) - A "2" for a Ruth in the NY Uniform went for 28K in 2018
In 2007 catalog prices for the VG Ruth ($1,350), VG Jackson ($1,500), VG Cobb ($1050), VG Wagner ($900)

scotgreb

Should be fairly easy to get your information here:

https://vintagecardprices.com/

They even offer a 24-hour subscription for $3.99

Robg144

@bohous1616 said:
The cards were graded by SGC prior to their sale.
I had previously spoken with a CPA who explained that the sale of baseball cards/collectibles are considered "investments" by the IRS and are subject to capital gains taxes. They also explained step-up cost basis and what type of information we would need to use. If we cannot find a reasonable evidence of value for these cards in 2018, then the step-up basis will be set to $0 by the CPA.

I am a CPA and there is no way I would use $0 as the step-up basis. Keep pics of all cards sold. Research the best you can to get the 2018 values and save all of the research in case you are audited. You will pay "collectibles" capital gain rates for federal purposes.