Need Info & Ideas for Selling-Off a Large Group of Older Autographed Cards - Scans Included
70ToppsFanatic
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Last week I posted an inquiry here about the best way to sell-off collections of autographed baseball (around 900) and
football (around 2500) cards that a friend of mine personally collected as he was growing up. He was out of the hobby for
quite a while, and recently had major surgery that changed some of his priorities. As a result he decided to sell off some
of his collection, and since he's been out of it for a while he approached me and asked for advice.
I am not really up on the autograph side of the hobby, so I hoped that some of you with a bit better knowledge could give
me some information and ideas on how to best sell-off such a collection. Luckily I was able to get scans of the autographed
baseball card collection so I put them up on Photobucket in order to allow them to be viewed here (the autographed
football card collection is about 3x the size of this one and is much more extensive, so I figured using the BB card group to
give people an idea of what I was asking about would be a bit less work).
The BB card collection basically spans 1957-1983, with a few later than 1983, including an A-Rod from the late 90s and some
Columbus Clipper (Yankees AAA affiliate) minor league autographed cards from the mid-90s. In total its right around 900 cards.
All signatures were done in black, blue or red sharpie and seem to be in nice shape. The cards themselves are also very strong
(probably would be in the 6-7-8 range if they were submitted for slabbing and the autograph was not considered). In going through
the group I saw the following HOFers (most more than once):
Spahn, Berra, Brock, Perry, Cepeda, Kaline, Jenkins, Stargell, Dawson, Palmer, Carew, Molitor, Bench, Henderson (80T RC),
Winfield, Yount, Sutton, Carter, Murray, Rice, Gossage, Ripken (82F RC),
Lots of other non-HOF star names and also many common players.
I am looking for some input on how to best maximize the sale of these cards. Questions I am trying to get answers for include:
1) Any idea of what a group of cards like this is really worth?
2) Whether to sell them as a single group, singles or in smaller groups (e.g. teams, years, etc.)?
3) Whether or not getting LOAs should be done for any/all of them (if only some cards, then which ones? stars? deceased? who else?) or given the volume and the consistency are LOAs really necessary?
4) Which authenticator (if any) would be most appropriate? PSA/DNA/ James Spence? Someone else?
5) Are there any sales channels (websites, forums, auction houses) that specially gear towards autographed memorabillia like this?
6) Any other relevant information that might be useful for someone who is unfamiliar with this side of the hobby?
Any help would be appreciated. And for those who just want to look through the scans, enjoy. Although not an autograph collector
I was blown away by these cards.
Thanks.
football (around 2500) cards that a friend of mine personally collected as he was growing up. He was out of the hobby for
quite a while, and recently had major surgery that changed some of his priorities. As a result he decided to sell off some
of his collection, and since he's been out of it for a while he approached me and asked for advice.
I am not really up on the autograph side of the hobby, so I hoped that some of you with a bit better knowledge could give
me some information and ideas on how to best sell-off such a collection. Luckily I was able to get scans of the autographed
baseball card collection so I put them up on Photobucket in order to allow them to be viewed here (the autographed
football card collection is about 3x the size of this one and is much more extensive, so I figured using the BB card group to
give people an idea of what I was asking about would be a bit less work).
The BB card collection basically spans 1957-1983, with a few later than 1983, including an A-Rod from the late 90s and some
Columbus Clipper (Yankees AAA affiliate) minor league autographed cards from the mid-90s. In total its right around 900 cards.
All signatures were done in black, blue or red sharpie and seem to be in nice shape. The cards themselves are also very strong
(probably would be in the 6-7-8 range if they were submitted for slabbing and the autograph was not considered). In going through
the group I saw the following HOFers (most more than once):
Spahn, Berra, Brock, Perry, Cepeda, Kaline, Jenkins, Stargell, Dawson, Palmer, Carew, Molitor, Bench, Henderson (80T RC),
Winfield, Yount, Sutton, Carter, Murray, Rice, Gossage, Ripken (82F RC),
Lots of other non-HOF star names and also many common players.
I am looking for some input on how to best maximize the sale of these cards. Questions I am trying to get answers for include:
1) Any idea of what a group of cards like this is really worth?
2) Whether to sell them as a single group, singles or in smaller groups (e.g. teams, years, etc.)?
3) Whether or not getting LOAs should be done for any/all of them (if only some cards, then which ones? stars? deceased? who else?) or given the volume and the consistency are LOAs really necessary?
4) Which authenticator (if any) would be most appropriate? PSA/DNA/ James Spence? Someone else?
5) Are there any sales channels (websites, forums, auction houses) that specially gear towards autographed memorabillia like this?
6) Any other relevant information that might be useful for someone who is unfamiliar with this side of the hobby?
Any help would be appreciated. And for those who just want to look through the scans, enjoy. Although not an autograph collector
I was blown away by these cards.
Thanks.
Dave
0
Comments
Very nice!
"Live everyday, don't throw it away"
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I'm after several 1979 Topps Football Pitts. Steelers if you run across any of those in the football!
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
1) Older cards appeal mostly to team, player, or set collectors. For the most part the common cards in this lot are are pretty common, guys that would sign multiples in person or easily sign TTM. I did not see on the first pass any real toughies that set collectors would pay a big premium for. Football is an even smaller market. Condition of the card doesn't matter to a true autograph collector. The quality of the autograph is paramount and these are very nice.
2) In my opinion authentication would be a waste of money. There are a few items in there that if you decided to sell individually I would probably get slabbed if PSA runs a $10 special - the Henderson Rookie, the Ripkens, maybe the Murrays, Spahns, and Berras but pass on the Jenkins, Perrys, Molitors, etc not worth it. Thie stuff is all good for the most part from what I see.
3) If you post for offers, sharp collectors and resellers are going to mostly cherry pick your best stuff, such as the harder to get dead guys like Fidrych, Bo Diaz, Bonds, etc. You'll be left with a big, big lot of common stuff you'll be lucky to get $1 each for in bulk and probably less. FYI I have had set collectors pay $100-150 for long deceased players in these sets.
4) In my opinion, for the time and effort, I think your best bet would be to sell as a lot. First, you need to figure out what your expectations are before you formulate a plan. I've do two extremes - If you think you're going to average $10 a card and get rid of all of them it's probably not going to happen if you go the individual route. On the other hand if you expect to average $1-2 a card I'd say you would definitely sell them no problem.
5) It would help to know what's in the football lot to give an opinion of value. The baseball lot, though impressive I'd be surprised if anyone offered over $5000 but keep in mind I haven't sold a lot in recent years. I paid about that for a nicer lot about 15 years ago and have really struggled to sell them either individually or as a lot.
Curious as to what others think. I'm a dinosaur that hasn't been super active in the market for quite awhile.
PS. 1974 Topps Don Hood - perhaps the greatest 'graph of all time next to Charlie Gehringer. You can tell he worked on it prior to becoming a major leaguer.
<< <i>Having seen this, go list them on the SCN Buy/Sell/Trade board. You'll get a TON of offers. >>
+1
<< <i>
<< <i>Having seen this, go list them on the SCN Buy/Sell/Trade board. You'll get a TON of offers. >>
+1 >>
Yeah but without a certain trade rating, you can't sell sell over there can you?? I thought you needed to have a rating of 5 first.