Killer collection of graded Sports Cards purchased at the Atlantic City National Show
A gentleman walked up to my table and started a conversation about the sports cards hobby in general. After 10 minutes or so, he asked if I was interested in buying graded sports cards. I asked what he had, and out came the cards. He had over 100 graded sports cards that were pretty significant! It was at the tail end of the show, so we reconvened at my Sheraton hotel room across the street.
Included in this great group of sports cards were a 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle Rookie, 1951 Bowman Willie Mays Rookie, one of the nicest 1935 National Chicle Bronko Nagurski Rookies that I have ever seen, a 1909 E90-1 American Caramel Honus Wagner, 1909-11 T206 Ty Cobb Red Portrait, 1909-11 T206 Cy Young Glove Shows, 1909-11 T206 Walter Johnson Portrait, 1909-11 T206 Christy Mathewson White Cap, 1911 T205 Gold Border Tris Speaker, 1938 Goudey Joe DiMaggio Rookie, 1940 Play Ball Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson, 1948 Leaf Stan Musial Rookie, 1949 Bowman Satchell Paige, 1933 Sport Kings Jim Thorpe, 1961 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain Rookie, 1954 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie, 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente Rookie and a 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax Rookie.
After a couple hours, we came to an agreement on the price for the collection. Glad it was over at this point, since I had been looking at cards for the better part of 10 hours and I was getting a little bleary eyed!! He was very pleased with my process, the short amount of time it took, and the cash! Eventually, the conversation turned to fishing, we had a few pops, which turned into dinner and a lasting relationship.
This ended up being a very enjoyable purchase for me, and also one of the better collections of sports cards I have ever purchased.
A good part of our conversation centered on whether or not to leave his collection to the family. After that conversation, he understood why HE needed to sell the collection.
Sell your Collection, DON’T leave it to the Family
In my opinion, don’t leave your collection to the Family, it isn’t the right decision. You are saddling your wife, son, or daughter with the onerous task of deciding how to sell it. They have a cursory knowledge of your collection at best. They don’t know what years you have, the cards that are valuable, who the star players are, who to trust, who to contact, and how to establish the value. They will spend countless hours trying to answer these questions.
You could be dealing with the emotional side of selling a collection that is close to your heart. If this is the case, I get it! However, if you haven’t looked at your cards in over a year……. Might be time to let them go.
You have the knowledge of what is in your collection, how much it is worth, who to trust, and who to sell it to. And, you will sell it for more money! You understand the collection better than anybody in the world. Sell the collection and leave them the money. They will be grateful that you handled this for them.