Million card update.... Ripping thru the hoard
unclebob
Posts: 433 ✭✭✭
Last week I mentioned a purchase of around a million sports cards (probably closer to 600K) Visited the seller at his home and he claimed not to have cherry picked the hoard. There were a few Griffeys and Jeters in a "Money Box" and some 1980's and 1970's Topps gave me hope of recouping my money.
We haggled. He wouldn't budge. Asked him why he didn't sell it himself, since being disabled it would be a good part time job. Asked him to consign it and split the profits after fees. NO....He wanted out right purchase. Against my better judgement, I bought the lot close to his price and about twice my comfort zone... Gold Fever just got ahold of me.
So I started ripping thru the boxes of the hoard I purchased almost immeadiately.
Tuesday and Wednesday were disappointing. I had been concentrating on Basketball to disappointing results. Fumbling along I got a few hits (Smoltz and Randy Johnson). A few bigger hits with Chipper Jones #333.
Discouraged by my meek returns, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I switched to Baseball only and eyed all boxes marked 87T, 89T, and 91T. Then I began to hit a stride. After a few mind numbing giant boxes of commons upon commons.
Every box was a lotto ticket and I could count on Juan Gonzalez, Johnson, and Smoltz.
A Frank Thomas rookie appeared. Then another. Then a major hit of around 9 Griffey and three more Thomas cards in one box! Johnson and Smoltz kept appearing as did Bagwell.
I picked up a Football Box and hit twice with Belichik and a few others.
Drained... at 2am decided to look quickly at one last box before bed. 87T it was and the box was sequentially numbered. Got that tingling feeling.... BOOM... my first Bonds #320!
Going to bed, I decided to hit the warehouse and seperate every Topps and make it my focus.
This morning at the warehouse, organized and seperated the Topps from everything else. A half dozen 87T, 89T, and 90T flats popped up. Another half dozen smaller boxes showed up as well. Checked the smaller boxes. All looked plundered and out of order. One felt tight, unopened, and full. I can just get a feeling. The others were out of order so I passed on them for another day. This last "tight" box was sequentially numbered as well..... DING, DING, DING... my second Bonds #320 in the span of eight hours.
Another quick glance... this time at a Score 1990 and pulled second Bo Jackson #697.
Okay, so I get to my office and unload and noticed two small boxes that had caught my eye. 1998 and 1987 "traded" series.
It's been a frustrating learning experience trying to understand the multiples and unorganization of the numbers. The "Traded" series kept some out of my reach.
Nervously, and carefully opened both boxes.... DING, DING, DING.... followed by.... DING, DING, DING.... There in my hands were an Alomar 4T and a Maddux 70T
So here is a partial list of the hits.
2 each Topps Eddie Murray #36... condition and centering issues
3 each Topps 1991 Chipper Jones #333... nice centering, color, and corners.
3 each Topps 1987 Bo Jackson #170...
2 each Topps 1987 Barry Bonds #320...
1 each Topps 1998 Roberto Alomar #4t....
1 each Topps 1997 Greg Maddux #70t ...
7 each Topps 1990 Frank Thomas #414... no errors
5 each Topps 1990 Juan Gonzalez # 331... a sixth one with a corner issue
2 each Score 1990 Bo Jackson #697
1 each Score 1991 Eric Lindross #329
12 each Topps 1990 Ken Griffey Jr #336
1 each Donruss 1989 Ken GriffeyJr #33... another with some corner wear
4 each Fleer 1989 Ken Griffey Jr #548
2 each Topps 1992 Draft Pick Derek Jeter
10 each Topps 1989 Randy Johnson #647
4 each Score 1991 Chipper Jones #671... #1 Draft Pick
8 each Topps 1989 John Smoltz #382
2 each Pro Line Portraits of Bill Belichick
Others not included on list.... Jordan, Football, Sosa, Biggio, Bagwell, Galarraga
And there large boxes upon large boxes left to search in just the 87, 88, 89, 90, and 91 Topps Baseball. Some odd thousands of older 1980's and 1970's will make good auction material.
There are stacks and stacks of Donruss and Fleer.
All cards mentioned above near mint condition
Comments
Chipper Jones #333 x 3
Any comments on whether worthy of grading would be appreciated. I'm a total newb at cards
removed pic
Cards from that time period of overproduction are fun to collect, but unless you think they have a shot at Gem Mint 10 it probably isn't worth the cost of grading.
How much are you into this collection for?
The "hits" you listed have very little monetary value. The Jeter looks nice but even a PSA 10 it is only about $100. The cards listed probably are not even $50 raw. Hope you didn't pay a lot for the lot.
Thanks for sharing the pics, but I sure hope you did not spend more than a modest amount for this lot, at least based on the scans thus far.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Thanks for sharing and you got yourself a huge project to work with. I am hoping you didn't pay more than a few hundred dollars for these cards.
Too much... LOL
A few grand.
I wanted stuff to sell on ebay.
I've always dabbled in coins and just picked up 600 albums at an estate sale for pennies.
Cards are a new direction back to my youth.
It will take awhile to recoup for sure... ALOT of auctions headed to ebay!
Oy. Good luck
Fingers crossed you find a 1990 Topps Frank Thomas NNOF.
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
Any thoughts y'all can give me on corners, centering, etc. and grading in general would be helpful.
The Bonds card doesn't have those spots. Don't know what caused that.
My photo skills made these look washed out.
+1
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even a PSA 9 Mint 1987 Topps baseball #320 Bonds RC is not worth the grading fee. Like most late 80s baseball product, these cards are not worth much due to huge production numbers. You need to get PSA 10s to realize any upside and the one pictured above (which is off centered T/B) is a 7 at best. May be worth about 50 cents raw.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I really do wish you luck but I'm kind of cringing here. I think you needed to do more research on what cards you were dealing with. There are no cards of Alomar that are a Ding, Ding , Ding
This thread makes my insides hurt. Hopefully a couple of grand is not a big loss for the OP.
I honestly appreciate the input.
It's all profits from coin and album sales.
Not unlike coins or albums, I expect there to be a learning curve.
If it takes 2000 auctions to recoup... that is cheap tuition
Good attitude.
Agreed. If you can derive some enjoyment in the process, more power to you.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Step 1 is stop pulling the "stars" and rookies from a set when the set is barely worth 10-15$ on its own, unless the money card is indeed a PSA 10 = $. Otherwise just sell the set and make a few bucks after the shipping fees. That is the only way you will make out. Only pull cards that make sense to grade on their own over the complete set value.
Uncle Bob - Im sorry if this comes off as harsh but what you bought contains no "Money Box" and anything with the Words 1987-1991 Topps have no hope of any dollar signs (unless of course (the unlikely scenario) of a HOF card having a shot at a PSA 10). Stacks of Donruss and Fleer doesnt help either
Listing 2000 auctions as a possibility to recoup is in my opinion a huge mistake. As an example if you listed 200 auctions a month it would take you 10 months of doing so. I cant imagine the daunting task of scanning writing descriptions packing and shipping 2000 auctions in hopes to recoup
I think your best bet is to shoot for a local sale and try to get $1,000 for 600k commons. Hopefully someone out there will have a use for them but this might be the best scenario you can hope for (maybe you can pull some money out of the 70's commons but i worry about what the condition on those are)
Chalk this one up as a huge lesson learned that will only get worse if you decide to endlessly list these on ebay to recoup. Again I am sorry for your situation.
In your original thread you said the guy was asking 5K for the cards. In this thread you said he wouldn't budge off of his price. So I guess you paid 5K for this stuff. Like someone said earlier this makes my insides hurt. I truly hope this is a late April fools joke. I mean the most novice of collectors wouldn't get excited about a '87 Topps Bonds card, right?
A lot of great advice. To understand what you have look at some of the PSA population reports. See how many cards are graded compared to how many 10s. Then think that with grading fees and card value - only the population of cards that appeared to be a 10 were even submitted. Looking at the 1990 Thomas - raw cards go for under $1. 9s go for about $5 if you can sell it (less than the grading fee) and a 10 gets you $25. About 1 in 6 Thomas' submitted have graded a 10. If you hit at the average rate you will spend more on fees than you will recoup.
Unfortunately all of us have a closet full of late 80's cards that have only the worth of a bit of sentimental value.
Look at the boxes of cards from the 70s in all sports. That is your only hope to recover some of your $. Need them to be high grade to find light at the end of the tunnel.
Good luck and keep sharing.
When you get to the point where you just want to burn them, box them and send them here: commons4kids.org.
The Doomsday Collection
Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor | All-Time Dallas Cowboys | Bob Lilly Master | Pro Football HOF Dallas Cowboys
Hiya Bob
Ya gotta dig into that hoard and come up with nice quality 70s cards. I think I paid like 15 bucks for a PSA 10 87 Topps Bonds rookie.
edit to add: you can get a recent HOF'er PSA 10 for as little as 15 bucks - by the time you ship cards like this off to PSA - pay all the fees - list the card - pay for gas to mail off the sale of the card?
You could be really in the red.
I think I paid like 16 bucks for this Biggio - I have plenty of them - raw - cheaper to just buy it and save the shoe leather.
I apologize if I'm coming off as blunt buddy - not what I'm intending.
A PSA 10 1987 Topos Bonds RC is at present about a $75 card, so if you can find a few of those, that would be nice.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Thank you so much for the brutally honest input!
I've been fortunate on some recent coin purchases.
A recent estate sale netted a nice windfall that is now tied up in these cards.
It is what it is... tuition
Today, I found 16 Bonds #320's of which two had perfect corners and centered.
They will go to PSA with my best Chipper, a Shaq rookie.
I will take the lessons learned and be better prepared when I go after a 3 million card hoard later this summer.
Averaging down...
The idea is to make the collection pay for itself.
Going to go get into some 1970's Topps Baseball.
Fingers crossed...LOL
Sorry to hear about this. I would have reported the guy for littering if he left them for free on my front porch. But it is what it is. Hopefully you can pull some magic out of it.
Maybe try selling 800 card boxes at a garage sale for 3-5 dollars. May help you get some money back. Good luck!
Unique Chicago Cards
Wrestling Cards
You might want to search for some errors and variations.
https://junkwaxgems.wordpress.com/
CDsNuts, 1/9/15
You have a great attitude about this Bob. I think everyone here is being brutally honest because its a fat chunk of change you put into this and they don't want to see you make the same mistake again. I know you understand that. There is definitely and education curve with sports cards. I should also add that there is not "one" way of doing it. There are many ways. It all depends on how you want to go about it and you generally evolve over time in how you go about it.
Do whatever you think is right in terms of getting rid of the cards. Just be weary of grading those 80's cards because the cost of grading often will net you a loss after you sell the card as most have mentioned. I'm hoping you find something rare in that trove of cards. Maybe a couple Bonds Tiffany cards that will help you recoup the money.
Good Luck!
Very grateful for the comments.
As Mel Fisher learned, it takes patience and persistence.
I've made huge rips when opportunity intersects with knowledge.
Admittedly, Gold Fever took hold and I paid more than twice what I intended.
I went into it looking at finished ebay sales of 100 card teams and even 5K box lots. It was always going to be alot of auctions.
Every time I make a coin deal, it's a three to six month process before seeing a return (if any) to sort, ship, wait for grades, return, list auction, wait to get value, get paid, ship, and repeat.
I'm smart enough to know it's the price you pay that determines any profit.
The next deal will get better and the next deal better as the treasure hunt continues.
"Today is the Day!!"
hi Bob--well it sounds like you are having fun and that's what this hobby should be all about. It's just not abut money though we all lone for "THAT" find where we can make a nice profit. Continue to have fun.
We have all made purchases that have gone worst than south of the border--so in that sense--Welcome to the Club
My two cents: Enjoy going through them, pull what pleases you, then donate everything else to a charity for a nice tax write off (if you can use it - i.e. not in the AMT). 99% less work than running 2,000 ebay auctions or dealing with Craigslist tire kickers - and probably the same or better net yield. Let the charity blow them our for a few bucks per box. You can be done in a month or two and move on to the next treasure hunt.
Bosox1976
that is a pretty cool website
On the other thread from the OP, it mentioned 1970's to 1980's hockey. With any luck, that could be the saving grace. I'd like to hear more about the 70's-80's hockey instead of the overproduced baseball in this purchase.
What he said!
Exactly!...it's the thrill of the hunt!..Why do people bust an expensive wax pack?? Thrill of the hunt, maybe it has that expensive rookie, maybe it's a bust, but we have fun doing it...which is part of the collecting bug
Work in progress - Unopened Racks/Cello/Wax with star power for Baseball, Football and Basketball
Collecting unopened 80's boxes and graded packs
I may be hoarding too much 80's junk wax but I like it!
Thanx Tim.
Just wondering what got that going? And is that just a surge? Who knows?
I will say - I don't know if I would have the patience to run thru a 700 or 800 count box of Bonds that I have stashed somewhere - this was from the buy a RC for a dime or quarter days.
That's pretty much what I asked a bit ago.
If he can come up with a bunch of nice 70s cards - whether it be BB, hockey or Bkb - if some in nice shape - he would have something to put up for auction.
So far only 90's Hockey with an odd 79-80. Hoping to find THE box
Alot is mislabeled and stuffed with other goodies show up.
Did find a 1990 Donruss Nolan Ryan Error Back #659/# 665.
I am leaning toward the original collector cherry picked before he sold his collection. You need 1989 UD Baseball, did you get any Ken Griffey Junior UD rookies?
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.