80's Set Registry Special!

riccaboni

Finally a chance to get my 1987 WWF cards graded! Woo!

z2345

Is this special still going on? The pop-up screen has not been coming up. If I recall correctly, the special is any card from the 80s for $7.00 each (?).

Does anyone know when the special ends? Also do we have to clip a coupon or enclose anything with our submission forms to get the price special?

zardoz51

It's five bucks a card and no coupon required. There is a minimum submission of 25 cards

FB

Now's my chance to get those 86 and 89 Topps Sets graded!!! Woohoo!!!

zardoz51

You go for it Frank

I'll be right behind you

mcastaldi

I just knew I held onto that wax case worth of 89 Donruss commons for a reason.

Mike

Kurt

I sent 25 87 Topps Tiffany "commons" I had laying around. What the heck right??

Boggs collectors....the Boggs and Boggs All-star were among them......

dom

This old man is taking advantage. Hey, I remember when we raised our eyebrows when Topps started selling cards as sets. We were sure that would end it all. And boy were those two-toned seventy-fives ugly? Shows you how smart we were. Never can tell, maybe I'm in on the ground floor of something.

purelyPSA

I'm planning on getting a ton of stuff graded. I'm serious.

boggs301012

Kurt

Lmk What the Boggs grade and what you want.


James

Kurt

I just PM'd you. I will certainly keep you up to date.

zardoz51

It never takes long for the Boggs contingent to speak up! LOL

dom

Boggs .... Boggs .... wasn't he the guy who cross-claimed John Wayne's gold mine in NORTH TO ALASKA?

FB

Dom,

You're showing your age!! But how can you beat a movie with Stewart Granger, Ernie Kovacs AND Fabian!!!!

dom

And...Capucine as Michelle (Angel)! Don't forget Kathleen Freeman.

riccaboni

On a more serious note... Do you guys think it would be worth it to seriously persue a 1981 Fleer set? I mean, I was going to send in the big names, like Schmidty, Rose, Jackson, Ryan, Carlton, etc. but will a set in 9 and above hold its value?

Thanks, Ian

boggs301012

Dom ...John Wayne wasnt he a cowboy from the old west or sumthing?

Zardoz...I always keep up with Boggs ...he the Man. Besides I have a lot of holes to fill. And thanks to the Dentist and my daughter I wont be able to submit using the special I cant afford 25 .

FB

Ian,

To each his own. I personally can only think of a couple of sets from the 80's that I would even consider. You might want to talk to Mike Castaldi (mike_castaldi@yahoo.com). I believe that he's working on a graded 81 Fleer set already.

If you like it then do it! You can't get beat too badly just sending in the big names. Just make sure that everything that you send has at least a shot at a PSA 9. I've seen PSA 8 Hall of Famers not even bring back the grading fee.

Good luck!

riccaboni

Thanks, I really like the 1981 design, and I have a bit of experience with them in graded form. I sent 5 of them in around last September, 3 9's and 2 8's, and I have noticed that some 8's have brought in less than a few dollars. But I have noticed the wax is still cheap, and I already have quite a bit of it, so that is why I wanted an opinion. I think I'll start with the big names, and maybe the minor stars, and if I get into it, I'll try to make it a side project.

dom

Ian,

Here's my philosophy. If it's a hobby and you can afford it and it makes you happy, it shouldn't matter what any of us thinks. If it's an investment, that's a different story. Nobody can ever predict where investments will go, that's why the single most important piece of advice about investing is diversify.

Whether it's for hobby, or investment on the 81 Fleers, here's my advice: The cards are accessible and affordable raw. Do your legwork, put in the hours, get yourself a good lighted 10x magnifier, and a ruler that measures in centimeters. Get all your cards in front of you and start examining each one...and carefully. Check especially the centering first because you can eliminate a lot of cards by eyeballing. Put the ruler to the best centered cards you have. T/B - L/R. Even if you don't know metrics, use the ruler as a guide -- left border 3 lines right border 2 lines, that's 60/40. You get the idea. Don't send in anything worse than 55/45 in that set. In fact, go for 50/50 only. Then scrutinize those corners. Reject anything with fuzz. Make sure they come to a point. Finally, get youself a crooked neck desk lamp so that you can move the card under its bulb looking for any kind of crease, scratch, or wax - both sides.

I don't know how old you are, but judging from the WWF collection, I'd say you're in high school. If that's the case, tell anyone who wants to give you a birthday, graduation, bar mitzvah, confirmation, Christmas, or any kind of present, tell them to take you to card shows and pick out boxes of 81's as gifts. Then keep your friends away from your cards.

Do the work. Learn to grade that set in your sleep, and you've given yourself a challenge in 9 or better. The fun is the challenge. One last bit of advice in one word (like THE GRADUATE): UPGRADE. Always upgrade.

purelyPSA

Dom - if he is in high school, then he has no idea what your "Graduate" reference is about!

mcastaldi

Frank was close, but not quite accurate. . .I'm doing an 82F set. This is the first set I ever assembled myself. I remember scouring the stores for packs when I was 12 trying to finish this. I always remembered how cool the baby-blue backs were.

There are a few things I'd say about this so far-

1) For me, I'm doing the set in PSA9. Considering the prices, I don't see a whole lot of point in doing it in less than that. I'm currently 5% complete and have been getting most everything in the $6-$8 range.

2) This set is among my lowest priority sets. When I can pick them up for around the grading fee I do. Otherwise I just let them go.

3) There aren't all that many cards that come up in already-graded form, but occasionally. However, there's so much unopened 82F still out there I'll probably pick up some unopened stuff and let it sit til I'm ready to crack it and send it in. For example, a week or so ago two seperate 82F vending cases went in the $700 neighborhood. Fleer actually cared about the collation of their vending cases at that time and f I remember correctly, a 20-box vending case yielded 16 sets (2 sets for every three boxes). Perhaps someone can verify or correct this.


On the subject of Riccaboni's 81F set. . .in all honesty, I think that the 81F and 81D sets will be among the toughest of any to build in all PSA9 NQ. The reason is that for both sets, the centering was absolutely TERRIBLE. Donruss looked like they used a plastic knive to cut their sheets. The cuts are bad on Fleers, but not to the extent of Donruss. Besides centering, on thing I've seen with 81F is a tremendous amount of miscut cards. Because the ungraded set is so cheap, you will definitely want to keep costs down. So be patient and buy already-graded stuff only when it's cheap. . .otherwise, get into the trenches and find cards to submit yourself.

Mike

dom

purelyPSA...movie references are for everyone, not just ricco. Frank chimed in, boggsy chimed in, you chimed in. We had a little chortle and got back to cards.

Mike...those 81F's also yielded a lot of 10 quality cards. Like everything else, it's finding them. You did bring up a good point about buying 9's right. It's always a good idea to put a set together both ways. Purchasing already graded material helps enormously. Getting your own graded may be more expensive, but it can also be a lot more satisfying. But you always have to be careful when grading raw cards not to spill any cannoli filling on them.

riccaboni

Haha, I got the Graduate reference... I think ... Mrs. Robinson, Upgrade?... It must be something like that ... But anyways, yeah, I am in high school, I'm doing the WWF set because it is out of the ordinary and the regular set is 74 cards with the sticker set is 22, so they are small and because it fits into the special right now and I have a few boxes laying around. That's where I find myself with the '81 Fleer set aswell, but it is 6x's as large. After some thought, I have decided to send some of the stars I have in, but will just let it at that I think, unless the cards grade real well (maybe a 10 here or there hopefully, these are kinda nice ). But if you guys do decide to send some '81 Fleer commons in, and would like to sell them, ianthegreatone73@msn.com .

Thanks for all the help, and I probably will check into a 10x maginifier,

- Ian

BASESAREEMPTY

Riccaboni- I can remember when the 1987 WWF set came out. I was a dealer doing shows and we could not keep them in stock. Sets, singles ,boxes, it didnt matter. We were getting like $25 for the sets and the HUlkster was bringing $5.00 each. Those were the good old days when "money flowed like wine "for collectors( and dealers too!!)


BOB

dom

Ian,

Don't send any cards in without getting and using the 10x. If it isn't a lighted magnifier, make sure you have a good strong independent light source when you examine the cards with a regular 10x.

BTW, the reference to THE GRADUATE had to do with the word "plastics" not Mrs. Robinson. And I'll leave it at that.

And don't let your buds near your cards, and don't let them tell you it's baby stuff. Good luck.

mcastaldi

Dom> Ultimately you have to assemble the set in the way that suits your abilities and location the best. I am fortunate to live where there are at least three major shows per year (Chicagoland). So. . .because I have access to high-quality ungraded material on a semi-regular basis, I made it a point to work on improving my "eye" and find cards to submit myself. Now I certainly didn't slow down my purchasing of already-graded material. In fact, because I had become more familiar with a given issue by looking through thousands of raw cards, I had gained valuable insight as to which cards were the toughest to find in the condition I was looking for. So when I saw those cards on eBay in already-graded form, I paid special attention to them.

Myself, I think if you have access to high-quality raw cards you really should build the set with both your own submissions and purchases of already-graded cards. Particularly for the years I collect (75T and 78-80T), there are HUGE numbers of cards with populations of zero. At that point, you can find your own to submit or be patient and wait for examples to be graded and be offered for sale. Myself, I'm not that patient

Now. . .there are large portions of the collecting population that doesn't have the access to raw cards that I do, so their only option may be buying already-graded examples. I can't say that this method is any more or less rewarding - it's just the most viable option for that particular collector.

To give a real-world example of this. . .when I was building my 72 set, I would say that roughly half of it was obtained either through my own submissions or from trades involving cards I'd submitted myself. With my 79, 80 & 82F sets, I have yet to submit any cards myself. And. . .I just recently began the 78 set when a local dealer offered me a 100-card lot of PSA8s at a price I just couldn't say no to. With the 75 set, I've probably submitted 100 or so, but nothing serious. Now. . .that said, I have 100-150 raw 1975s that are easily submittable and another 150-200 1980T as well. Just waiting for the time, money, and desire to all come together at the same time

Mike

metalmike20

Mike and Everyone Else,
In the Fleer vending cases you get 24 boxes which comes out to 18 sets. Each box is numbered 1 - 4, a four box series makes you exactly 3 sets, with a couple of cards left over sometimes.

Mike

riccaboni

Haha, there is just something about the 1987 WWF cards... they are truly awesome . I read something about being accessable to major ungraded material... Well, that could very well be the reason I'm getting far, but very very slowly, on my 68 set. I live about 1 1/2 hours from Philly, and I've only been to the Ft. Washington shows once. However, I did pick up a whole bunch of nice 68's and 74's. That doesn't leave me very many options, so when a vending lot comes on eBay or singles come up, I have to jump, and boy do those lots get into catfight bidding. I remember in November when I started my 68 set, I bought a 25 card vending lot for $10, now I bought a similar lot for $30. I wish there were more shows in my area, well there are, but few dealers have vintage things, its all about Game Used this and Autograph that. I used to collect that, but I realized there is too much to collect, even player specific, and that there were better cards to spend my money on, older cards . On a positive note though, I did pick up a few very nice 45-55 to 40-60 centered, mint corners and all, Washington variation 74's at a local show here, I'm just waiting until I get more funds because I'm submitting the WWF Sticker set and a few singles from the base set soon.