Buying a few older cards from a friend I need some help

Morgan13

Someone I work with has offered me a few cards and I want to buy them.
Can someone please give me an idea what they are worth?

BLUEJAYWAY

There may be some corner damage to the cards in the screen down holders. Best to put them in a soft sleeve and top loader. Then can better ascertain their condition.

Morgan13

I am not able to do that. They are in his possession.
I am just looking for a rough idea of value.

DBesse27

The short answer is to stay away from cards that are in the old screw down “bricks.”

mintonlypls

PSA will grade the cards as altered due to the corners being compressed in the screw-down holders.

Chicago1976

Assuming the '55 Williams and '73 Schmidt are in VG condition...

Low grade raw Williams cards have sold for around $150-250 on Ebay recently.

The Schmidt card in the range of $70-100.

The '90 Griffey card is not worth much, maybe $2-3.

EBay is a great source going forward for checking recent raw card values.

Good luck! Let us know if you buy them.

Ahmanfan

I’d give him 200-250 total.

80sOPC

Possibly, that does happen. But there are tens of thousands of cards that went from screwdowns to PSA slabs. I have 20+ myself and am batting 100%.

@mintonlypls said:
PSA will grade the cards as altered due to the corners being compressed in the screw-down holders.

frankhardy

Not grading a card just because it was in a screw down holder makes absolutely no sense. Screw down holders were a staple of the hobby back in the 1980s and everyone knows that cards were stored that way. If there is such a problem with corners that are mashed down then dock the grade a couple of grades like if it were a dinged corner. Not grading them makes no sense whatsoever.

That's just my opinion though. What do I know?

BBBrkrr

Cards are getting sent back for tons of reasons these days without a grade.

If I was buying one in a screw down I'd just be aware they're sometimes rejected. It would just make me a bit more careful with what I'd pay to buy it.

Otherwise, I'd get it if it was a card I wanted, and I'd buy either/both of those.

80sOPC

If the card measures and doesn’t have visible damage there is no reason it won’t get a grade. As mentioned screwdowns were the way high end cards were stored and anyone that has been collecting since the 80s has gotten these cards in slabs.

vols1

$200-300

craig44

I wouldnt necessarily not do a deal because the cards were stored in screw downs. I would, however, want to have them removed from the screw downs before I purchased. if any moisture was introduced to the card/holder there is a possibility of ink/paper loss when they are removed.

brad31

I think screw down bricks damage is overblown. Certainly take them out before buying, but many cards were not damaged by them (some were). What percentage of ‘52 Mantles were in screw down bricks in the 80s. I would say easily 75%+. Both the Williams and Schmidt are lower grade and I would offer accordingly if I were interested.

miwlvrn

@brad31 said:
I think screw down bricks damage is overblown. Certainly take them out before buying, but many cards were not damaged by them (some were). What percentage of ‘52 Mantles were in screw down bricks in the 80s. I would say easily 75%+. Both the Williams and Schmidt are lower grade and I would offer accordingly if I were interested.

I'd agree with this, as I have plenty of cards graded that used to be in screw-down cases.

Relatively similar is how a ton of pre-war cards have much more prominent corner pressing from having been placed in scrap albums where they were held in by photo corners, whether is was the little ones you stick on to a page, or, if they were in albums where the corner holds were already built in by the album manufacturer. Most often, cards with indent impression on corners from this type of album damage average out at about a VG-EX 4 when graded by PSA when the card is otherwise in great shape. And, it is more of an eyesore than any corner pressing I've seen in screw-downs.

That said, it is still certainly a risk to purchase a card in a screw-down case because of concerns expressed in some of the above posts.

UlyssesExtravaganza

I would not be surprised if you offered a fair deal to your co-worker friend and the result was him being insulted so that is a fine line you have to walk as well if you want to maintain the positive relationship. He could be like this is Ted Williams and my Schmidt RC which I had for so long and attached so much value to, not understanding the current market with condition. I still feel bad about a weak offer I made on some cards to someone I did not know that well on my wife's side of the family. His view was probably these were his treasures and was insulted. Maybe felt it was a kindness letting me have the opportunity to buy them. But they were in terrible shape even though they were great players, also Ted Williams.

I would look at it as the value of the cards are what you can find the Williams in in a PSA 2 or 3 condition for completed sales on eBay, Schmidt probably PSA 3 or 4. Then subtract grading fees cost of shipping both ways to PSA and back, insurance. Then the idea that when you make an offer you may not want to pay exact 100% market value and get more of a deal which could inspire you to make a purchase. It could get low.

But then there is the idea of maybe you just want the cards and dont need the grade, which you probably wont feel too special about after receiving it.

Yankees70

I would suggest you ask him to bring the cards to a baseball card store and tell him you will top whatever offer he receives. I will be very surprised if a card store would pay higher than $150. That way you don't have to worry about insulting him. He probably thinks the cards are worth close to a thousand dollars and will brought back to reality after he hears the card store duds low offer.

BLUEJAYWAY

Assume caution when buying anything from friends/relatives. I currently am in discussion with a relative to purchase late 60's/early 70's baseball cards.

Cakes

@UlyssesExtravaganza said:
I would not be surprised if you offered a fair deal to your co-worker friend and the result was him being insulted so that is a fine line you have to walk as well if you want to maintain the positive relationship. He could be like this is Ted Williams and my Schmidt RC which I had for so long and attached so much value to, not understanding the current market with condition. I still feel bad about a weak offer I made on some cards to someone I did not know that well on my wife's side of the family. His view was probably these were his treasures and was insulted. Maybe felt it was a kindness letting me have the opportunity to buy them. But they were in terrible shape even though they were great players, also Ted Williams.

I would look at it as the value of the cards are what you can find the Williams in in a PSA 2 or 3 condition for completed sales on eBay, Schmidt probably PSA 3 or 4. Then subtract grading fees cost of shipping both ways to PSA and back, insurance. Then the idea that when you make an offer you may not want to pay exact 100% market value and get more of a deal which could inspire you to make a purchase. It could get low.

But then there is the idea of maybe you just want the cards and dont need the grade, which you probably wont feel too special about after receiving it.

Good advice! I have had to GIVE cards back to friends that I have bought collections off 5 to 10 years later just to get them to shut up about ripping them off. They just can't fathom their PSA 4's and 5's just aren't worth very much. Usually when you give them back, for free, their prized Rickey Henderson rookie or Eddie Murray rookie they quickly realize they had over valued their cards.

Nathaniel1960

@BLUEJAYWAY said:
Assume caution when buying anything from friends/relatives. I currently am in discussion with a relative to purchase late 60's/early 70's baseball cards.

Honestly this is good approach for all non arms length deals ESPECIALLY with extended family. Most of them are PITAs

Morgan13

This is all sage advice. I appreciate the responses.
I offered him $700 for the 4 cards below. In the same breath I said you have my offer but I really don't want you to accept it because our friendship means more (coworker) Someone at work told him the basketball card is worth $3800. That finished it for me.

nam812

When it comes to family and friends I always tell them I wont buy their cards. I will help them determine a realistic value (usually much less than they thought) and I will help them sell them, but never outright buy.

mintonlypls

No way the Bird/Magic RC is worth $3800...off-centered badly.

PatriotTrading

$700 is fair. Education is key. Condition is everything and a PSA 6 Bird/Erving/Magic is worth about $700 itself. The Schmidt is probably a 5 and the Williams is no better than a 3. Those are a couple hundred themselves. The grading cost is probably $100. Your friend actually makes out.

Groo

a great way to lose a friend is to buy a collectible from them.

In the long term it's always lose-lose

Chicago1976

On ebay, I've seen similarly off centered raw copies of Bird-Johnson-Erving sell for about $500-700 as recently as Feb-March 2024. Agree, $700 for the lot was a fair offer.

BBBrkrr

I think you made a good offer. All 3 are nice to have but not worth burning a relationship for.

i"m not sure that Schmidt would get a 5 with that centering and corners. I expect the back's centering is pretty off too. I have nicer 5s that were recently graded.