Wrestling: Andre the Giant, Flair, Hogan rookie cards

KNAPP

1973 Andre the Giant



1978 Ric Flair



1981 Hulk Hogan

eagles33

Nice cards. I had a psa 9 78 flair and a authentic hogan. I didn't really like the way they looked like newspaper cut outs so ended up selling them. The 73s present better than the 78 and 81s since they are closer to a standard trading card size though. I'm using the 82 all star cards for hogan and flats rookies and the 74 yamakatsu for Andre's rookie. But that's the fun part about collecting cards outside of the big four sports. There is always a debate about what Ali's rookie is too. It really just comes down to personal preference

brian26

Can you guys pimp these non-sports card in a single thread?

Dpeck100

Dude you need to get a life.

wrestlingcardking

Let's keep baseball to one thread too, NOT.......

brian26

<< <i>Dude you need to get a life. >>



I love these threads, trust me. I'm a big fan. I'm just saying its easier to follow when it's all under one umbrella. It keeps the discussion going too.

Dpeck100

Well that is good to here you like the threads.

brian26

<< <i>Let's keep baseball to one thread too, NOT....... >>



Right, that's a silly notion when you consider baseball contributes to well over 50% of the PSA registry. Football is 2nd closest at less than 20%.

brian26

<< <i>Well that is good to here you like the threads. >>



I'm a fan of 80s wrestling... Guys like Macho Man, the Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, Flair, Steamboat, Hennig.

I'd enjoy the threads more if they were consolidated. For example, I've noticed a lot of new threads lately pop up when an interesting graded card hits Ebay, like the PSA 9 Hogan recently. It would be easier to follow these if there all under one thread. You could even break it up with the 82 and 83 series.

WCK posts a lot of his pickups of vintage cards. That would be another great consolidated thread so we see his vintage stuff under one roof. Knapp's sort of already following my idea. He posts his photos/memorabilia/ticket stubs. Its fun to read those posts and see the photos without bouncing back and forth or doing a search.

Just a thought.

Dpeck100

The title is what drives people to look at a thread. Many people use Google searches to find information about cards. If you Google Andre The Giant rookie card right now this is the first link you see. To me that makes a message board even easier to use.


I prefer more threads that are smaller in size and have specific information in them. I also like starting my own threads about my specific cards just like Knapp is.


Everyone has different views about the way a message board should run and that is cool.

brian26

<< <i>The title is what drives people to look at a thread. Many people use Google searches to find information about cards. If you Google Andre The Giant rookie card right now this is the first link you see. >>



Well, that explanation illustrates my original observation, which I was hoping wasn't true.

If you're even thinking about creating threads to drive Google traffic to this site to read about current Ebay auctions, it appears you have an agenda. I respect and understand you have a lot of money invested in these cards. I generally use this place for information more than trying to create or proliferate demand for certain cards. To each his own.

Dpeck100

No I am not. I like being able to search for things in Google and if it shows up I can click on it. Others do too.

I found this website from a Google search of Mike Tyson Panini.

Dpeck100

Google Search



Here is a Google search of Steve Austin rookie card. If you are a collector who wants to find out some information on it you might do what I just did.


These are the results and what you will find is a link to the PSA message board for the information you might be looking for.

eagles33

How do most people view these? True rookie cards or more hand cut oddball items?

KNAPP

I feel like ranting a little.

Hello, my agenda is showing cards and memorabilia of things that interest me, boxing and wrestling. My interests have changed over the years from baseball and basketball to boxing and wrestling, but from time to time I fall back to my old ways, because I just picked up a Jordan rookie. Over the years, I was tired of seeing another George Brett rookie or losing money on hyped up athletes, Greg Jeffries and Kevin Maas. It sucks collecting athletes like, Clemens, Bonds, McGwire, and watch your money go down the drain because of some sort of scandal. I know collecting should be for the fun of it, and you should collect what you like, but if you don’t have some sort of financial interest in collecting, then you’re an idiot. I’ve made more money over the years selling boxing and wrestling cards and memorabilia then I ever made in selling baseball memorabilia. I remember back in the late 1990’s when the customer service reps at SGC would laugh when I submitted wrestling cards from the 1982 and 1983 sets. I don’t know where I’m going with this, but when a Hacksaw Jim Duggen card sells for around $800, it seems that boxing and wrestling memorabilia has finally arrived.

Cassius Clay rookie card. I believe that the intention of something decides if a card should be slabbed by PSA or not. For example, the 1960 Hemmets Journal four picture collectible is not Ali’s rookie card and should not be slabbed by PSA. It is a nice early collectible, but it should not be considered a card. This four picture insert has holes on the left side. It was made to be put into a ringed binder. Actually, the binder was offered through some mail order purchase. Also, the design on the back of the insert prevents the four pictures to be cut evenly without disrupting the design on the back. With that being said, I believe the true rookie card is the 1962 Rekord Journal card, even though it is a cut card. Back to intention. The intention of the 1962 Clay card was for them to be cut from the front covers, hence the distinct borders and bio’s on the back.

Back to this post. I think that the 1982 and 1983 Wrestling All Star sets are iconic, but the rookie cards of the big three, Andre, Flair, and Hogan are the cut cards. The 1960’s and 1970’s were probably the least popular decades for wrestling. The country was broken up into wrestling territories. This is where supply and demand comes into play. The territories were just too small to see a profit if each territory mass produced their own cards, so they tried to gain some interest by putting pictures/cards into a nationally distributed magazine. The pictures, as some people call them, in the magazines from 1973, 1978, and 1981 were intended to be cut from the magazines. The 1973 magazine states that the pictures should be cut out and traded. The 1978 and 1981 magazines say “cards” on the front cover and they have dotted lines, so they could be cut out. The intention is there for all three magazines.

eagles33

I agree about your point of intent... The thing that I have trouble getting over on the hand cuts is the stock they are on. It's virtually newspaper. If they were on different stock than the rest of the pages of the magazine like the 85 all star set then I wouldn't have any issue. I also hate the way psa grades the 78 and 81s. The boarders on some look ok. The ones that are cut just outside the black boarder look good. The ones that are cut outside of the dotted lines don't even really look like cards to me.

KNAPP

The only reason why I submitted the cards that were cut outside the dotted lines was that I didn't know how PSA would grade them. There was no concrete standard. If you based there standards on other issues, then the dotted lines must show in order to get a numerical grade. I didn't want to cut all of these, submit them, and then get an "authentic." The standard is now set. PSA does not require the dotted lines to show in order to get a numerical grade. Actually, I cracked out a few of these cards, and recut them. You have to take the era that these were printed into consideration. The 1970's and 1981 were not the best time for quality control. I couldn't see a company going all out, if it really wasn't going to help their sales. People weren't looking for the next wrestling set during this time period. Anyway, these cards look great in holders.

Dpeck100

The best part about this thread is Knapp is laughing all the way to the bank.

He sold the first PSA 9 for $1,500 of Andre and probably had less then $20 in it.

KNAPP

This is why I love collecting, there is always the next big thing. The George Brett rookie card is cool, but boring to me. This goes back to when I was submitting wrestling cards to SGC back in the late 1990’s and I used to joke with the customer service reps. I told them to wait and see. Ok, it took ten years, but my profit margin is ridiculous. The same was with Tyson, Pele, and Andre. I try to buy things at a time when no one else wants them. A lot of people base their collecting on impulse or streaks. Streaks end. Would I rather have a 1982 Wrestling All Stars Hogan PSA 10 over a Hogan 1981 PSA 10 rookie? Absolutely, but these cut cards should not be slept on.

KNAPP

Dpeck, I think I had $25 in it. Can't forget the grading fee.

Dpeck100

The reason I am constantly trying to buy cards from sets that have yet to be graded is for excitement and rate of return.

The market for wrestling collectibles has broadened tremendously.

There is a 1991 Classic The Undertaker BGS 9 on EBAY at $44. This card might have sold for $5 three years ago if you were lucky. Find me any other segment of cards that has had this kind of lift in prices in the past few years.

In a case like this $44 is not going to alter my lifestyle but if I can invest $6 and it become $44 I will do that all day.

The Undertaker

eagles33

Agree 100 percent... I did really well with these paper cards too. There is no doubt there is money to be made by buying raw and getting them slabbed. I think I paid 10 bucks for the flair which was a total blazer.. Worked with psa a bit to convince them to grade these and ended up getting a 9 and sold it for a nice profit.. Percentage wise anyways. There is no debating the flip potential. But form a collecting point of view I just didn't really like these due to the fact they were over sizes and on terrible stock. The 73s are a bit better since they at least look like a standard card once they are slabbed.

wrestlingcardking

I have 17 of the 36 1973s in slabs now as well as set that is still in the wrestling annual intact. I will have a complete set of these in a slab here soon. They do look quite nice in a PSA holder but I have yet to go after the oversize ones......

eagles33

<< <i>The best part about this thread is Knapp is laughing all the way to the bank.

He sold the first PSA 9 for $1,500 of Andre and probably had less then $20 in it. >>



I knew there was a market for these graded but didn't know it was this strong. i wasn't really planning on selling any of the 74 Yamakatsu Andres but if we are talking 4 figures than I think I should test the waters. Do you think these sales are set specific or player specific? I didn't really think the 73 set had that much of a following but it must for a single to sell for 1500

KNAPP

It is definitely athlete specific. Over time, people are going to realize how hard it is to get a nice 1978 Flair, 1981 Hulk, 1981 Sheik aka Hussein Arab, and 1981 Andre. The Flair rookie was printed on the right side of the page and is often miscut. The Hogan is located on the left side of the page and the staple usually extends over the border of the card. I only had one Andre and one Sheik out of the nine 1981 magazines that weren’t miscut, and would be able to get a numerical grade.

wrestlingcardking

I have got some pretty healthy prices the last couple of years with wrestling items....there is not a lot of people out there selling some of this product so that is always good for a seller.

wrestlingcardking

Here is my first one but I have a better one to sub yet.........

[URL=http://s848.photobucket.com/user/wrestlingcardking/media/Andre73_zps7df1feac.jpg.html][/URL]

SumoMenkoMan

What am I missing? Why is that a "5"? Looks like great centering and decent corners and borders...

wrestlingcardking

Upper right has a bluish ink from the magazine that was on the black and white....ink defect on the paper is what I figure.

SumoMenkoMan

Ah, I see it now. Bummer.

wrestlingcardking

I am happy with it for now but looking to get better and have a raw one here in a box somewhere.