Desert Shield

Newtron

Hello to all on the forum.

I am a web designer who has been contracted to build a site for a group of Desert Shield/Desert Storm veterans. Since none of them are collectors (and neither am I) I am seeking guidance on how best to proceed in marketing their cards.

I joined another forum and posed the same questions, but the owner (the battalion commander) asked that I get a second opinion.

The biggest issue seems to be in grading the cards. Should they grade them all? If not, what percentage of the cards should be graded to establish authenticity and credibility? What is the likelihood of a collector seeking an entire set of graded cards? (They have several complete sets of cards.) What is the market for graded cards with respect to non-graded cards?

They do not have any schedule or definite deadline as to when to get their cards sold, but they do want to realize the maximum dollar amount possible.

Thanks, and I look forward to your responses....

Larry

goodriddance189

Desert Shield cards still sell well. the Chipper Jones card along with the big name stars with deep-rooted collector base (Ripken, Nolan, Brett, Griffey, Boggs, etc) should all sell. in terms of getting them graded, i would think that you could do well with 9's and even 8's. due to the nature of distribution and the relative scarcity of these cards, i'm sure many player/master set collectors need them.

GoSoxBoSox

Exactly what kind of cards are they? I know there are desert shield sports and non-sports cards? Which are you speaking of?

Newtron

Hi, GoSoxBoSox,

Whew! I was waiting till I got at least two replies before I responed...I was afraid I would get beat up like the last newbie who posted here, lol.

The cards were brought home from Saudi Arabia in the original boxes that the Colonel picked them up in at from the Brigade Supply Sergeant. The boxes were not opened until they got home...then, they placed them in sleeves and stored them in a safe until now.

The cards are from the special issue that mirrored the standard Topps 1991 set of baseball cards...numbered 1 thru 792, although I think that some of these numbers were not used and there are actually only 786 cards per complete set. Again, I am not a collector, so I am not 100% certain of the number of cards per set.

The cards have never been handled and have been well cared for, so the owners expect them to grade well. Granted, there will likely be some cards with normal print imperfections, slightly off-centers, etc.

I hope I answered your question.

Thanks to you and Goodriddance189 for your replies.

Larry

grilloj39

As a former Desert Shield veteran now retired military, I have two boxes of unopened cards I'll never part with. I have thought about grading them, but I consider them a keepsake.

I would recommend unopened packs remain unopened packs and maybe have packs certified by GAI, and sell them as such. In addition, you'll save a ton of money but not having each individual star card graded seperately and ending up with a bunch of commons lying around.

calleocho

there are some fakes out there so grading some might pay off with the increased revenue.

i dont know if there is a market for a complete graded set however ...so maybe just grading a few stars so that the buyers know the expected quality of the rest of the cards.

there are currently 6 people trying to complete this set on the registry.

ebay prices current

NickM

Because of the risk of fakes, you will likely do far better to have the top star cards graded, regardless of condition - that's anyone who is already in the Hall of Fame, and anyone who seems to be a lock to get there (Rickey Henderson, Bonds, Clemens, Greg Maddux, McGwire, etc.). Also, the most popular players who are not quite Hall of Fame level (Mattingly, Will Clark, Dale Murphy, etc.) should be graded if they will receive a fairly high grade (7 or higher). Other cards should be graded if you are confident you will receive at least as high a grade as people are putting their registry sets together in (i.e., 8 or above).

You might want to contact a major sports memorabilia auction house. Several complete high-grade sets of these cards would be a highly desirable item for an auction catalog.

Nick

jimtb

I concur. Grading the stars and minor stars, and then selling them on a sight such as ebay should pay off well. I know when I was looking for several particular cards from the Desert Storm set a few years ago that were hard to find, and can be very tough to find in better condition.

Newtron

Hi, John...I'm a vet, also...left Saigon 8/8/72. And I have things that cannot be bought for any amount of money. The Colonel was there, too....but as a 2LT Artillery Officer/Fire Director. Nice to know there's still a few of us around. I hope you and your family enjoy your cards for generations to come and that they always appreciate the special meaning they have to you.

As for our cards, unfortunately, all of the packs were opened when the guys came home. They were concerned about gum and sticking and a bazillion other things trying to take good care of the cards. So, selling the packs is not an option.

Good luck to you and thanks for responding.

Larry

Newtron

Thanks Calleocho,

Yes, I'm aware of the fakes. That's one of the biggest reason I'm on this forum asking the experts how to proceed. There's no way we can be successful by me just simply throwing up a web site and saying ya'll look here at what we've got...probably wouldn't sell any of them.

Thanks for the price info...I'm not getting a good warm and fuzzy feeling that there is anything like a realistic price guide for this issue. Beckett's sure isn't much help to me.

Here's you another newbie question, what's the 'registry?'

Thanks for your reply,

Larry

Newtron

Hi Nick!

Thanks for the post...I've never even heard of a major sports memorabilia auction house...or a minor one either for that matter. GREAT idea!

As for the grading of cards...I'm still a bit uncertain. I'm not questioning your advice as I am sure it is sound, but where do I stop grading? Is the 'cut-off' between a PSA 7 and 8 or between an 8 and 9? by that I mean will my client make or lose money on a PSA 7? A PSA 8? I don't think I need to ask about a 9, that will most certainly be worth the expense of grading.

I know I'm kinda thinking out loud here, but does it make sense to grade say 100 cards ( I think that's the number necessary for the best price break) and see how the percentages run? For instance, if 10 of the 100 cards graded 9, 70 graded 8, 15 grade a 7, and the remaining 5 grade 6 and a PSA 7 is break even...then it would make sense to get all of the cards graded. But, if a PSA 8 is break even and a 7 loses money, then it doesn't make sense to grade any more...does it? Of course, I have no idea how the percentages would run.

I guess I just need to get a batch of them graded and see where we stand and what we can expect.

Thanks again for the post,

Larry

Newtron

Hi Jim...thanks for the reply.

I've been over and checked out EBay...they want 5.25% plus a listing fee...then there's the credit card/PayPal fee on top of that...selling looks kinda expensive.

Just had a thought...how do I identify who's a star and who's not? A lot of that seems subjective. I've been a St. Louis Cardinals fan since the early 50s and used to watch Stan Musial play at the old Sportsman's Park....and I would vote for Ozzie Smith for President! Well, everyone knows Ozzie's a star, but what about the rest of the team?

Another thought, I just looked at my Beckett's book...most of the original issue cards are rated at $.05...over 700 of them. Then, there are some that sell for $.10, $.15, $.25, etc. Should I just start at the top (Chipper Jones @ $2.50) and work my way down or is every one $.10 and up in your classification of major/minor star? I think I counted a total of 69 players in the $.10 and up range.

Thanks again,

Larry

grilloj39

Newtron...thanks for the kind words. Man, I miss the military environment something awful. The 8-5 indoor job just doesn't do it for me...but it's a living and supports my family (in addition to my hobby). There are several active duty and retired military who post on this board. I can't remember who they are but if you stick around, they'll pop up from time to time.

calleocho

Larry,

the registry is where collectors register their collections online (only PSA and SGC have a registry)

this is the page for this set

anything below a psa 8 does not make for a good return on your money.

a PSA 9 or a lucky 10 would do very well.

you have good cards ...but you dont have a gold mine. ...high grade cards are very hard to get hence the high price

if you dont have a ebay account i would recomend grading the superstars and cosingment with a reputable dealer.

sell the rest as lots ..less money but a lot less hassle.

JasP24

Active duty Army here...Although I wasn't during Desert Shield or Desert Storm. Your best bet is to carefully sort through them and send in the ones you think look "perfect". Since there are people collecting this entire graded set, even commons are worthy of getting graded. But only if you think they are truly MINT.

Best of Luck,
Jason

bengineno9

Larry,

Grade all the Cardinals and sell them to me!
Click on the attach file, you should like it.
Just need to slab my Zeile and Mcgee (A's) storm cards.
These are pretty tough to find in MINT condition. But when they pop up on Ebay they sell great. Good luck with your cards!

Ben

peterredshoes

A long time ago I learned a trick for distinguishing fake Desert Shield cards from legit ones--some of you probably know of this already. The fakes (or at least one version of them) have a more rounded bottom to the shield than do the ones Topps made. For those interested in looking I made a web page with blowups of the shield logos of each for comparison. A link is provided below.

Peter G.'s Real/Fake Desert Shield Logo Comparison

A Trammell fake that I ran across on eBay even had the word "COPY" stamped on the back of it, in the same blue ink as the stats are printed, in addition to this difference. Does anyone have any insight as to how/when that might have occurred?

Peter G.

purelyPSA

From what I understand, Desert Shield cards are very condition sensitive. And as we all know on the boards here, a card that might grade a 6 or a 7 might be "mint" to a lot of uneducated collectors. I think that I'd buy a couple cheap 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s on Ebay of cards made from the same sort of stock ('91 and back Topps cards) and do some comparisons with the raw that you have. You can get a couple of each for less than 10 bucks a card easy. Either that or have someone who's very familiar with the ins and outs of PSA grading to browse the cards.

Newtron

Hi John,

Thanks again for replying...I recall what a tough time I had getting readjusted to civilian life, too. I'll never forget coming home and getting off the plane in San Francisco, MAN, I was so glad to be home! Then, a bunch of college kids ran up and spat on me and called me a baby killer and a pig. Those memories die hard.

Best of luck to you and all the retired and active duty members of the forum.

Larry

Newtron

Hi Calleocho,

I just visited the link you provided. I find it both interesting and alarming.

I hope that these six collectors are not the only ones collecting the entire set, or are these collectors only collecting graded cards? Also, the fact that the most complete is only 33% is disturbing to me. I understand that the cards are somewhat hard to come by, but when I look on EBay, there seem to be quite a few for sale.

I think you're finally getting through to me about the grading, the truth is that we simply don't KNOW what we have. So, we're just going to have to get some graded and have some experts tell us.

EBay accounts are easy to get...I have one that I buy from...I think you can use the same account to sell, although I've never sold anything there.

Thanks again for your posts and the link, you've been very helpful.

Larry

Newtron

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not sure how good either the Colonel or I would be at selecting the best cards from the set to have graded, but I think we'll try to select 100 cards from all the cards that don't have any flaws that we can detect (this may take a while). Also, I think we'll select another 100 cards from the major/minor stars (not necessarily the best ones) and have them graded to try and establish a general cross section of what we're actuallly dealing with.

I salute you and all your fellow military members...keep up the great work!

Larry

Newtron

Hi Ben,

Yes, thanks for the attachment. There is no doubt in my mind that he was the greatest ahtlete I ever saw play the game. I hope that some of our Ozzie's grade high...if we get a 9, I think I'll keep it for myself....maybe the Colonel will give me a discount!

Did Todd and Willie complete your set?

I'm not sure how serious you were about wanting some of the cards, but you're welcome to email me offline.

Go Cards!

Thanks for the reply,

Larry

Newtron

Hi Peter G,

Yes, there were a number of fakes/counterfeits made on this issue.

Here is an article I found that discusses the major imposters.

Larry

Newtron

Hi Purely PSA,

I'm not sure what you mean by 'condition sensitive.'

You and Calleocho have me concerned that these cards may not grade as high as we had expected although they have rec'd great care.

You make an excellent point about the difference in grading between a novice collector and a veteran collector. I think we need to just back off for a couple of months and get a number of these cards graded by professionals so we are sure of what we have. AND, I like your idea about picking up a few cheapies from EBay...we can use what we learn from them to select the ones we have graded.

Great reply...thanks a ton,

Larry

bengineno9

Larry,
Couldn't find your email addy. Here is mine.

Ben


bluespokescardsfan@cox.net

calleocho

Larry,

dont get me wrong ...if you have a few thousands of these cards, you have some serious money in your hands

however , the cards are not vintage , they are considered modern by most people.

if a card is too rare then it might actually be counter productive since people might avoid collecting it if its hard to find.

this set has interest ..but its not a classic and it does not have a massive following.

the value in the set lies with player collectors. thats where the big money is.

be careful though if you decide to go for it, that you might grade too many and flood the market...the set is popular but not that much ...

my best advide would be to grade the top rookies, then major stars and the sharpest looking cards that really stand out from the others condition wise.

then sell the rest to a dealer or on ebay...or sit on for a few more years

P. S ......sorry about those kids , i despise war myself , but i wouldnt blame "non decision-making" soldiers for it.

34GoudeyCollector

Active Duty Air Force (Desert Shield / Desert Storm and the recent OIF Vet) here. I would grade the stars and "high end" commons and sell the rest on EBay in lots. You should make out pretty good on these I would think.

Ken

Newtron

Calleocho,

You have given good, sound advice...and I'm taking it. I reallly appreciate your input.

Don't worry about those kids...it was a bad time all around...I suspect that most, if not all, of them grew up to be good citizens, but no one was responsible for their actions but them. And ask any vet any where...none of us liked war, we only did what we had to do and did it well...when we were allowed.

Thanks again,

Larry

Newtron

Hi Ken,

Thank you for your advice. Looks like we have some grading to get done.

Thanks for your reply and I really appreciate what you're doing for us....

Larry

peterredshoes

Larry,

Thanks very much for the article link--much more detailed and complete information than I had previously.

Peter G.