Card dealer catalog from '65...what prices!!

RTB

I found this in a box of old magzines etc from the 60s. It's in great shape. I used them once to buy a '56 football card. Shoulda bought a few '52 Mantles, along with a fistfull of Chamberlain rookies.... Oh well, has anyone else heard of this company?
Reggie

mikeschmidt

I'm surprised that in 1965, they would have a picture of Japanese baseball on the cover!

iamthegreatcornholio

if only i was born about 35 years ago

Davino

WOW, to have a time machine....

67standup

Very cool. You should submit to oldbaseballcards.com website

highend

wow!, those prices are amazing!.... i can't help but wonder if those sets were made from vending cases. i can't imagine how much unopened stuff must have been around back then.

i've often pined for the halcyon days when i was buying yaz rc's, seaver and carew rc's and mantles from the 60's for 10-25 bucks a pop....alot of money for a kid with a paper route. but about a hundred bucks for a run of topps bb sets from 53-57........amazing.

mariner

I have a large stack of The Trader's Speak magazines from the 1970's that looks a whole lot like this. I still go back and read them sometimes. They had some great collecting articles in them as well as super low prices. Anyone else subscribe to it back then?

toppsgun

Wow! Those complete set prices are amazing. That '57 Baseball set would have set you back a full $36, not including shipping.

I love the phrase, "including scarce numbers." I guess those would be the last series high numbers.

A buck apiece for '52 high numbers. Hmmm. Wonder if I could have had a discount if I bought a bunch?

Cubfan

I remember getting that catalog in the early 70's (I was about 12 or so). And I remember they had the same exact cover.

And, Mariner, I used to get The Trader Speaks (isnt it the one that looked like someone just typed in with a typewriter). And I also remember receiving a monthly publication called Sports Scoop, or something like that, from the Pacific Northwest. They sold cards but also had drives to get certain "neglected" players into the Hall of Fame. They worked hard to help get Chuck Klein elected. It was a nice mini-mag with a glossy cover.

I still shudder when I remember going to a live auction at a tiny Chicago show in the early 70's and hearing the buzz when someone had the audacity to pay $100 for a full set of 1954 Topps baseball that looked mint at the time. I was fortunate to have made some great buys back then, but, that would be great to have a second chance .




Keith


Keith

qualitycards

When I see old prices from the 70's on back, I too drool w/ the thought of going back in time. Then I think, what about 30-40 years from now? What treasures can we get now for pennies on the dollar of what they will be priced then. Say A.Rod ends his career w/ 850 Home Runs and what some of his rookies will fetch in the future, or tough regional cards like Dan Dee, Briggs, Stahl Meyer, Morrel, Wilson may be worth a fortune (much more so then now) - I would love to have a time machine and buy cards from 30+ years ago, and I would also use the time machine to see whats hot in 30 years. But knowing me with mechanical gadgets. I'd press the wrong button and end up in Paris during the French Revolution, so no cards for me ...jay

Boopotts

Jay-

That's an interesting question: what will be the big ticket item 30 years from now? I wonder about this often, and the only thing I'm sure of is that it will be something that we never suspected. My guess is that it won't be the '94 SP A-Rod, or the '86 Topps Tiffany Bonds, but something (pardon the forthcoming pun) totally from left field.

And as far as cards go, we don't need to look at price guides from the sixties to slap ourselves in the head from missing the boat. Mint '52 Mantles could be had for $350, as I recall, as recently as 1986. Heck, I imagine that most high grade vintage stuff could be picked up for 5% of what it's worth now, but most of us were too busy humping our Alvin Davis RC's to pay any attention. I remember in '87 when a guy offered to trade me, straight up, a nmt-mt Seaver RC for an '87 Topps Tracy Jones blankback. Naturally, I refused.

And yes, I still have the blankback

ZodiacMindwarp

According to the price guide I used to use, "The Official 1982 Price Guide to Baseball Cards", a 1952 Mantle in VG was $1,000 and $1,550 in Mint condition.

Additionally, the Ryan rookie is listed at $8.25 VG and $9.35 for Mint. Unfortunately for me, back in 1982 I wouldn't spend more than $5 for a card.

toppsgun

"back in 1982 I wouldn't spend more than $5 for a card."

I know a guy who built sets from '33 Goudey to 1970's Topps by going to shows in the late 70's and early 80's. He never, ever spent more than $5 for a card, so he says. He ended up with dozens of complete sets with blazing commons and beat up stars. I bought some of his better sets and many of the commons graded 8, some 7's. I don't think I sent in any star card with an SMR over $100.

scottsusor

Wow, this brings back memories. That magazine was the standard for card prices until Beckett came out with his first price guide in SCD back in the mid-70s. Most dealers at shows, and most shops where you could buy cards (there weren't many!) used that book to price their cards for sale, myself included. I sold a lot of cards at those prices in the early 70s. But happily, I also bought a lot of cards at those prices in the early 70s, and still have them (nope, mom never threw mine out!). I may also still have one or two of these magazines buried in one of my old boxes of magazines and other old hobby material, including (I think) the very first issues of SCD itself.

Scott

WinPitcher

the 52 mantle was a 10 k card in 85 it was around then that baseball cards took off The market that we have today started around that time. Before that one had to go to shows or get cards from renatta gallaso or basically thru the mail.... candy stores always had wax

scottsusor

Big time "vintage" mail dealers of the early 70s -- Reneta Galaso, Card Collectors Co. out of New York, Card some-or-other out of Dearborn Michigan, Larry Fritsch out of Wisconsin, and Gar Miller in New Jersey. Seems like there are a couple I'm forgetting though.

Scott