Greetings from a UK collector!

NaithG

Hi
Firstly, many thanks for acceptance to this site and I hope everyone is well.
I have been collecting cigarette and trade cards since I was 8 starting with Brooke Bond tea cards from the 60’s. I then basically collected whatever I liked the look of for the next thirty years eventually collecting about 800000 cards, maybe more!
I have been selling my cards now to thin my collection out on ebay for a few years now and have noticed a lot, if not all of my football (soccer) cards being sold to US collectors. I have always been surprised as I didn’t think football was popular in the US especially as my cards are mostly pre 1939 featuring Dixie Dean, Stanley Matthews, billy Meredith etc.
Recently I’ve been told by various US guys to look at having my cards graded which is not really what UK collectors do (not cigarette card collectors anyway) so I’ve looked at the PSA website and various others as well as ‘consigners’ who will auction cards for other people as far as I can tell. My question would be (I realise this may be hard to answer) is it worth having cards graded or simply send them to be auctioned by PWCC for example. The sort of cards I’m thinking of are the Thomson Dixie Dean card, the Thomson Pele card and more recently the cadet bobby Charlton from 1958 and both the Tyson rookie cards from the question of sport set which to me look mint. Any help would be gratefully received as I’m at a crossroads as to what to do with them!
Again many thanks for acceptance to the site!
NaithG

emar

Hi, welcome friend from across the pond!
I'm fairly sure PWCC doesn't accept ungraded cards anymore.
Every genre is selling like madness.

The recommendation is correct, PSA cards sell the best. Be prepared for a months and months wait for your cards to be returned as the backlog is enormous from what I hear.

Upload a couple pix of your best cards to this thread. I'm sure you'll get good responses.

bobbybakeriv

Welcome!

billwaltonsbeard

Welcome! Got any 90 Fleer basketball boxes?

Nathaniel1960

G-day mate!

DBesse27

I’m effed up. Not only do I like soccer, I like curling. Gah!

Goldenage

If your cards are in high grade, then your collection is worth much more in PSA holders.

balco758

NaithG,
Welcome to the boards!

Would love to trade a nice graded baseball card for a nice graded soccer (er football!) card you may have. If you have any interest send me a PM and we can figure out a fun trade.

Welcome again!

Steve

3stars

Some of my best card finds have been in the UK, Belfast in particular. There was an older gentleman who has a shoebox full of cigarette cards at St George's Market years ago, not great condition but a wide assortment and decent prices. Picked up some neat finds!

DEFPOTEC

Welcome, NaithG! I’m curious where in the UK you’re based. I lived in a London for a year while in school. Great memories.

Anyway, I’d definitely recommend grading vintage soccer cards with PSA if you’re looking to maximize sales. I have limited personal experience, but what little bit I have is instructive. I picked up a few ‘78 Crack Maradonas last year. Nothing high end. These were removed from albums and sure PSA 1s. But even in a PSA 1 slab they’re selling for $1,000-1,300 versus maybe $400 for ungraded copies in similar condition. It was a no-brainer to grade for $50 a pop.

I’m confident you’d have no trouble finding buyers for graded Pele items. Everything Pele is surging. Matthews and Charlton have some name recognition on this side of the pond, but old-timers like Dean less so. Soccer is steadily growing in popularity here, but there’s not much awareness of the game’s history outside the truly global figures like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, and Beckenbauer. That’s not to say you won’t find buyers. You will. And they’ll pay a premium for graded copies, especially while pops remain low.

Good luck!

stevegarveyfan

@Nathaniel1960 said:
G-day mate!

Now THAT'S funny right there!

FINESTKIND

Welcome

NaithG

@MDLB said:
From someone born in south Scottsdale AZ, I agree with the assessment that Soccer, aka European football, is the most boring. lamest thing I could ever watch. I don't get it. I put it below such atrocities as the 'wnba' and Olympics Curling. Not sure what it is exactly, but watching Soccer extremely sucks.

The above stated with the caveats of:

• Why American football is called football when the foot is rarely used, Kickoffs, field goals. and punts are though exciting.
• I think Soccer actually has the biggest fan base in the global world. (which proves the world is effed up)

Haha! Totally agree - I actually can’t stand football! Most of my mates live and die for the ‘beautiful game’ but I’d rather watch paint dry. Back in the late 80’s I think, the NFL came to the UK on channel 4 (we only had four channels back then!) and my family loved it! We all picked teams and I chose the Bengals as I liked the colours - they then never won anything for years!!

NaithG

@DEFPOTEC said:
Welcome, NaithG! I’m curious where in the UK you’re based. I lived in a London for a year while in school. Great memories.

Anyway, I’d definitely recommend grading vintage soccer cards with PSA if you’re looking to maximize sales. I have limited personal experience, but what little bit I have is instructive. I picked up a few ‘78 Crack Maradonas last year. Nothing high end. These were removed from albums and sure PSA 1s. But even in a PSA 1 slab they’re selling for $1,000-1,300 versus maybe $400 for ungraded copies in similar condition. It was a no-brainer to grade for $50 a pop.

I’m confident you’d have no trouble finding buyers for graded Pele items. Everything Pele is surging. Matthews and Charlton have some name recognition on this side of the pond, but old-timers like Dean less so. Soccer is steadily growing in popularity here, but there’s not much awareness of the game’s history outside the truly global figures like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, and Beckenbauer. That’s not to say you won’t find buyers. You will. And they’ll pay a premium for graded copies, especially while pops remain low.

Good luck!

Many thanks for the reply. Yes, I’ll look into having cards graded then - unfortunate that it will take months by the sounds of it but still worth it. It amazes me that I sell a player like Billy Meredith who played at the beginning of the 20th Century and every time it’s to an American buyer!
Totally agree with Pele cards, I often put a card on eBay and it’ll be sold within the hour easily as a ‘buy it now’ - to buyers in either Belgium, the US or sometimes Canada

NaithG

@emar said:
Hi, welcome friend from across the pond!
I'm fairly sure PWCC doesn't accept ungraded cards anymore.
Every genre is selling like madness.

The recommendation is correct, PSA cards sell the best. Be prepared for a months and months wait for your cards to be returned as the backlog is enormous from what I hear.

Upload a couple pix of your best cards to this thread. I'm sure you'll get good responses.

Many thanks for the reply. Yeah I’ve contacted them and they said they don’t accept ungraded cards but they would have them graded on my behalf (obviously an additional cost) so I might just do it myself.
I’ve attached a photo of some of the cards I’m talking about - hopefully it comes out!!
I was watching a tyson rookie that PWCC have just finished auctioning and it was a gem 10 and sold for nearly $13000 last night!!

NaithG

@Goldenage said:
If your cards are in high grade, then your collection is worth much more in PSA holders.

Ok thanks for the reply - yeah I’m getting that impression a lot so will look into sending cards off to PSA etc.
These are the sort of things I’m talking about

NaithG

@DEFPOTEC said:
Welcome, NaithG! I’m curious where in the UK you’re based. I lived in a London for a year while in school. Great memories.

Anyway, I’d definitely recommend grading vintage soccer cards with PSA if you’re looking to maximize sales. I have limited personal experience, but what little bit I have is instructive. I picked up a few ‘78 Crack Maradonas last year. Nothing high end. These were removed from albums and sure PSA 1s. But even in a PSA 1 slab they’re selling for $1,000-1,300 versus maybe $400 for ungraded copies in similar condition. It was a no-brainer to grade for $50 a pop.

I’m confident you’d have no trouble finding buyers for graded Pele items. Everything Pele is surging. Matthews and Charlton have some name recognition on this side of the pond, but old-timers like Dean less so. Soccer is steadily growing in popularity here, but there’s not much awareness of the game’s history outside the truly global figures like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, and Beckenbauer. That’s not to say you won’t find buyers. You will. And they’ll pay a premium for graded copies, especially while pops remain low.

Good luck!

I live in Kent - termed the ‘garden of England’ though it’s rapidly being built on with housing estates flying up every other day! I’ve definitely noticed some crazy prices for cards, especially graded ones.
For whatever reason collectors don’t usually have cards graded in the UK, to my knowledge there isn’t even a company to facilitate it in the UK. Which is strange as cigarette card collecting has been around for about 100 years now. To say to most UK collectors a card is say an 8/10 they wouldn’t know what you’re referring to. The UK grading is poor, fair, good, very good, excellent and then mint - there’s no scoring out of ten.