Sports Cards

Sports card collections are a fairly common find in storage units. Most people know that some of these cards can be worth a fortune, but if you've been buying storage units for a while, you've realize that most of the sports cards you find are worth little to nothing.

That being said, when you find sports cards, do you spend the time researching the value or do you find that it's more trouble than it's worth?

Also, has anyone found a collection with significant value?

I found a collection of 20,000 cards.  Sadly they were all from around 82-87 topps.  got about $200 for the lot I think

Yeah, I've been selling mine in lots as well. I found a collection last year with about a hundred cards in hard plastic cases. I though for sure I had hit the mother load because who would put common cards in hard cases which cost a few bucks each? Well, apparently someone does. I looked every one of them up and I only found one card that was valued more than a few bucks. A Cal Ripken rookie card valued at about $30.

I found some sports memorabilia that was autographed so I visited these collectors to see if they could authenticate it or just buy it. Anyway I went to their warehouse, 4 floors high. I didn't get the grand tour but I saw the first floor and it was pallets upon pallets with 4' x 4' cardboard bins filled with sports cards. Sports cards were spilling over on the floor, getting moldy and water damaged from sitting so long without being moved. I would estimate the first floor was probably 15,000 to 20,000 square feet. These guys go through many (can't remember how many but A LOT) of these bins per month, each bin holds like 5,000 cards. They said they find a couple hundred cards a month good enough for Ebay. I didn't ask what the criteria for selling on Ebay was, I'm thinking $25-$50 minimum. Since seeing that operation it really took the wind out of my sails as far as getting excited about finding a card collection. These guys destroy more cards in one week then I will find in a lifetime. They didn't tell me how they manage to source so many cards each week/month. Trade secret.

They didn't tell me how they manage to source so many cards each week/month. Trade secret.

I'll bet they're swiping them right out of the spokes of kids bikes. Those fiends! 

They didn't tell me how they manage to source so many cards each week/month. Trade secret.

When researching some cards a some years back I found a place that bought bulk cards.  They used facial recognition software.  From the guy talking in the forum it was still pretty new.  Not all cards were in system so it only picked up the high priced cards.  If the card was upside down, no good. Various other things like if it picked up a "good card" it didn't spit it out.  You still had to dig for it.  But they made stacks of one foot and it would tell you what number it was so you knew to look in middle, end, start.....

This was in 2007-ish.  So I'm sure technology has improved.

I was at a Estate auction a few weeks back that had a 2' x 3' tube of cards, I picked through a few and the last year on all of them was in the 70"s. I started the biding at $15 and thought I had them at $40, then auctioneer said oh yea there is a lock box in the bottom. He pulls it out and shakes it around "there could be money, gold, treasures in here", well two fellows who weren't even bidding jumped in and the lot went for $145. Talked to the winner later and he said the was a couple of unsigned baseballs and more cards in the box.....Sucker.

I heard when you get back in the 70"s and before there value go up, but it still has to be the right cards.

I group my up by teams, people will by a stack of their favorite team vs. a batch of mixed cards.

if you can see cards in a unit you should be able to tell what era they are from , from the door. that being said, i am proud to say i currently own NO cards or comics. was able to blow the rest out for $300

as to your original question. I LOVE checking through them. I dont need a book or computer though. old good names always get checked, newer limited (like 1 of 300) get checked, all signatures get checked.

Sports cards are such a headache to look through. 99% of what you find is gonna be mid to late 80's to mid 90's cards which are worth nothing as they were overproduced and sports cards just don't seem to have the popularity they did when I was a kid. THere are some gems ie error cards or like a Jordan baseball card or something but most are worth nothing. I used to buy upper deck sets 2 one to put in a binder and one to leave sealed thinkingone day they'd be worth something. I think I was getting like $9.99 for unopened full sets of like score and some others. They take up a lot of space but for the little they are worth I figure I'll save them for my kid someday

Wanted to bring this back to the front:

I was out this week looking for sport cards supplies - you know, the hard plastic top loaders, sleeves, 8x10 hard top loaders, etc.  It's been a while since I needed this stuff, but it was disheartening to see that all three card shops in my town have gone out of business.  I stopped at a local comic book shop - and they confirmed that sports cards have just about died - no more shops, no more shows, etc.  The comic store used to carry some supplies, but stopped when the last stuff sold out.  There's no demand for it.

Point is, this is a REAL down time for sportscards.  The 80s and 90s standard baseball cards have always been worthless - but even the premium inserts, sets, etc. have taken a dive in value.   Who knows if they will ever come back.  I'm hoping so since I, like many of you, have thousands upon thousands of baseball, football, and basketball cards.  

I've made the mistake of taking the time to sort thru thousands upon thousands of cards. These days I take a quick glance, if it seems like all late 80's to mid 90's stuff I just flip them cheap for whatever I can get as cheaply and quickly as possible. Way too many cards made during this era nothing is worth anything and very rarely do any of these collections contain any mickey mantles or anything crazy, who knows though maybe I've missed some gems but just takes too much time.