Chance to buy a small binder of vintage cards...

AndySomnifac

Someone from my office approached me with a small binder of vintage cards (mostly '59-'66) today. I let them know that I may be interested in buying it, but vintage is not my stong point (well, nothing really is). I was hoping that I might be able to get a little guidance on what some of you knowledgeable posters out there might think is a fair offer for the lot. I have scans of each page of the binder, as I wasn't going to take them out of the pages without any other sort of protection, and enlarged scans of some of the key cards. All these scans can be found at: http://vintage.somnifacient.us. A spreadsheet of the cards in the binder can be found at: http://vintage.somnifacient.us/cards.xls.

Some of the key cards do certainly have condition issues, and I wouldn't be keeping every card in the lost. My biggest concern is that the current owner has no real idea of real market value as they came to me saying they thought that the Yaz rookie in the lot was a $3500 card. I don't think they were to happy when I told them I didn't think it would fetch more than $35 or so on eBay. Some of the cards also had post-it notes on the outside of the pages listing pricing from a copy of Beckett from 1990.

So, if anyone has a chance to look at some of the scans (none of them are small files, and do keep in mind that they are all scans of cards still in the pages), please do. And if you would also offer some guidance as to what you think a fair offer might be, I would be most thankful.

Thanks for reading.

ajw

Clearly, the most valuable card you have is on the bottom right of page 1.

I'd offer my advice, but you'll do better by listening to the posts that follow mine, I'm sure.

AndySomnifac

<< <i>Clearly, the most valuable card you have is on the bottom right of page 1.

I'd offer my advice, but you'll do better by listening to the posts that follow mine, I'm sure. >>



Indeed, I'm not sure why that was stuck in there.

There were some other random cards mixed in with some of the last pages that included football cards that I wasn't interested in (though there was an OJ rookie, with a crease in it). There were even some Beatles cards. I just figured it would be best to just leave everything as it was.

denwd1

i would offer him $750.00 best offer i am assuming that none of the cards are creased.

Davemri

I have to agree, I would put a fair offer of 700

AndySomnifac

<< <i>i would offer him $750.00 best offer i am assuming that none of the cards are creased. >>



You would be correct. None of the key cards are creased, though there are 1 or 2 with minor surface wrinkles. If I get to see them again tomorrow I will list exactly which ones this would include.

mudflap02

Weird how the Jeff Johnson card looks just as beat up as the ones 30 years older...

I've been wondering this - how exactly do cards get ROUNDED corners? I can see dings and folds, but to seriously round a corner, it takes some doing.

AndySomnifac

<< <i>Weird how the Jeff Johnson card looks just as beat up as the ones 30 years older...

I've been wondering this - how exactly do cards get ROUNDED corners? I can see dings and folds, but to seriously round a corner, it takes some doing. >>



Well, I know what I did to cards I had when I was younger. I have quite a collection of '85 and '86 topps with quite rounded corners.

Allen

Thats the kind of binder you hope to find at a flea market for $5...
Nice cards- as for an offer, As little as they will take and as little as I can pay and still sleep at night lol j/k

AndySomnifac

I've totalled up the "book value" of all the card, just to get an idea of what sort of price they will never realize in the real world. It came to

Low: $2638
High: $4542

I was thinking that an offer in the area of 15 to 20% might be fair, given the condition of the cards. Would anyone else agree?

The percentage of book breaks down as follows:

Low High
15% Book $395.70 $681.30
20% Book $527.60 $908.40
30% Book $791.40 $1,362.60

dallasactuary

I think if you were to go to the trouble of selling all of the cards on ebay in separate auctions you'd end up with close to $1,000. Factor in that it's always possible that you won't get what others before you have gotten, and that your time and effort are worth something and I think the suggestions that others have made are very reasonable - $700 to $750 sounds about right.

I didn't look at each card for more than a second or two. If any of the key cards, Mantle's especially or the Yaz rookie, would grade PSA 7 or higher then I would bump my offer accordingly. I'm assuming they are all in the PSA 4 to PSA 6 range.