Collection from the 80's

VAMSKY · July 3, 2008 3:06AM

Both of my sons avidly collected sports cards (99% baseball) from 1982 to around 1989. Their collections (approx 50,000) cards are at my house and boxed. They are both trying to determine if they have anything of value in the collection. They understood how to preserve the cards (held from edges and only when necessary, placed in plastic sleeves, etc.) so all the cards are just as they came out of the package.

My question for the experts ... are there specific cards they should look for that are possibly high value? Are there any free online resources for them to check pricing? They have seen the "membership" sites and tend not to trust them.

Thanks for your time.

digicat · July 3, 2008 3:13AM

Do a search on Ebay for the cards in question to see what they usually sell for. That works better than any price guide to tell you what the cards are worth on the market.

MantleMarisFordBerra · July 3, 2008 3:15AM

Man, you're going to be disappointed. You know how you mentioned your sons took great care of their cards? Well so did everyone else at the time, and the card companies kept producing and producing. In terms of supply & demand, there is tons on the supply side, almost nothing on the demand side. As far as websites to check out for guesstimates on value, check the completed auctions section of ebay.

dontippet · July 3, 2008 3:26AM

If your sons collected the normal sets (Topps, Donruss, and Fleer), then the cards to look for are, for the most part, the same ones that were of higher value 15-20 years ago. In '82, Ripken is biggest card, '83 Gwynn, Boggs, Sandberg, '84 Mattingly, '85 McGwire and Clemens, '87 Bonds, Maddux, etc... Other than Bonds rookies, there really is very little of value after '85. Single cards of, let's say, Pete Rose from 1986 are valued at maybe a quarter at best. I remember getting a '85 Topps Jim Rice one time, and thinking, wow, nice card. But now, it has no value. So there are some valuable cards, but only a handful, and they aren't valued at what they used to be.

DES1984 · July 3, 2008 3:46AM

Hey, don't forget about my boy Strawberry in 84', even though it's not a pricey item.

brianwintersfan · July 3, 2008 4:02AM

Probably 90% garbage. Besides a handful of key rookies and maybe some of the tougher inserts I wouldn't plan on spending all that $$ just yet!
Check Ebay and be prepared to be disappointed.

GoDodgersFan · July 3, 2008 4:21AM

Great comment by dontippet. If the 82 Ripkens are nice, get them graded. This is especially true for the 1982 Topps
Traded. I, like your sons, have the same stuff, and MOST are pure garbage. I submitted to PSA all the super
nice rookie (at least PSA 8 quality) Ripkens in my collection (10 1982 topps, 11 1982 fleer, and 5 1982 traded) and I
came out real nice. I also submitted rookie cards of Gwynn, Sandberg, and Clemens.

Do your homework on the ebay final sales and do consider joining PSA.

Good luck.

TJMAC · July 3, 2008 4:49AM

As many have stated the 1980's cards do not have much monetary value, but you may want to hang on to at least a portion of the collection. As many can attest to, you never know when someone can get back into the hobby again. I took a 8 year hiatus before starting back up again.

Though, I will not go as far as calling 80's cards garbage since that is relative to the collector. You are never going to make a fortune off the stuff unless they have many copies of some of the key cards stated i.e 1984 Fleer Clemens, 1982 Topps Traded Ripken or key minor league issues Gwynn, Ripken, Elway, Clemens etc. None the less you could get a small sum of money for some of the stuff if properly adverstised on Ebay with good pictures.

Take an inventory of what you have and check prices on Ebay. I sold off some of my 80's and 90's stuff a few years ago and made few thousand bucks, but that included Football, Basketball and very small a amount of lower grade vintage (1960's and 1970's). Football and Basketball from the 80's especially 1986-87 Fleer are generally more valuable than baseball.

Good luck

1989FleerBillRipkencollector · July 3, 2008 5:32AM

1989 Fleer Bill Ripken # 616 has over 12 variations. Some are valuable. Contact me if you find any.

Go to Beckett.com Signup for my collections and you'll have access to free pricing. Time consuming though as you have to enter each card.

I would buy a price guide at a local card shop/book store to get a idea. Then look at ebay completed auctions for a more accurate price.

viking7 · July 3, 2008 5:51AM

If you have some razor sharp examples that can grade PSA 10 then you could do good on those. I sold off a small percentage of cards from my PSA set a few yrs ago and did real well. I didn't find it to be that easy building a PSA 9/10 set from the early 80's. I hear a lot about the supply and lack of demand but I've done ok when selling PSA 10's and even some 9's.

wrongleg · July 3, 2008 9:23AM

Mid 80's you could have a Sidd Finch.

VAMSKY · July 6, 2008 10:10PM

Thanks everyone for your comments and advice. I'll pass this on to the boys ... along with an edict to come pick up the cards and clear some space in my house.

For those that are concerned about $$ disappointment ... they were never in it for the money. They truly loved collecting those cards and developed a friendly rivalry. I know they have multiple Ripkens, Bonds, McGuires, Strawberrys, etc. from all of the makers. I'm hoping they will still have some fun with them.

PoppaJ · July 6, 2008 11:47PM

They didn't happen to hoard any 89 UD Griffey Jr rookies did they?

That's certainly a card I'd be searching for 1st .... especially in high grade!

WinPitcher · July 6, 2008 11:55PM

Gem mint 10's of those cards will bring decent money in many cases, the trick is getting them into a 10 holder.

My advice? Have them go through the cards, keep certain ones, possibly put some sets together and trash the rest.

They may get to spend some quality time again doing that.

Steve

brianwintersfan · July 6, 2008 11:56PM

<< <i>They are both trying to determine if they have anything of value in the collection. >>

<< <i>For those that are concerned about $$ disappointment ... they were never in it for the money. >>

Huh??

brianwintersfan · July 7, 2008 12:09AM

<< <i>They didn't happen to hoard any 89 UD Griffey Jr rookies did they?

That's certainly a card I'd be searching for 1st .... especially in high grade! >>

PSA 9:16,415
PSA 10:1,417

You are correct. As we see there aren't a lot of high grade '89 UD Griffey's out there!

stevek · July 7, 2008 12:28AM

Sorry to say that since it was your sons who handled the cards, the chances of there being any "value" there is slim and remote. I've seen a number of collections such as these and they were all basically worthless. Even placing cards in the plastic sleeves - kids tend to jam them in there which can nick or cause enough wear on the corners to make the cards worthless. And it's not the kid's fault - there was no such thing as "slabbing" back then and it was basically impossible to foresee how a simple fray on one corner could dramatically affect the value of a card. Even boxed unopened cards, if they were "thrown around" and moved around in the closet a bit, tends to create wear on the corners making them basically worthless even in the unopened packs. Again...sorry.

But as noted, the kids had fun with the collection and the cards were of entertainment value...unfortunately just no value as far as selling them and using the money to pay for a college tuition.

CDsNuts · July 7, 2008 12:39AM

The CU boards: Dashing the dreams of collectors one 80s collection at a time.

Bosox1976 · July 7, 2008 2:13AM

Donate all of the non-stars to Salvation Army and write them off on their/your taxes - by far the greatest return on 80's stuff. Be sure to list how many total cards on the receipt. Hope your boys' stars grade out well.

brianwintersfan · July 7, 2008 12:37PM

<< <i>The CU boards: Dashing the dreams of collectors one 80s collection at a time. >>

Collection from the 80's

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