A Great Story – the Utah Blizzard Collection of Football Cards

When dealing with a collection 100’s of miles away, it is important there are no miscommunications. Below is a good example of a minor detail that was omitted that almost ruined a great deal.

A gentleman contacted me about a run of Baseball Sets from 1954 to 1979, Football Sets from 1954 to 1979, and Basketball Sets from 1957 to 1979. He provided images of the significant cards and after multiple phone conversations, we had a mutual understanding of the collection’s condition, retail value, and purchase price. The pictures of the 1957 Topps Johnny Unitas and 1958 Topps Jim Brown football cards made them look minty. As we began to narrow down the specifics and values, the collector and I spoke one last time before I traveled to buy the collection. During that conversation, he made an alarming comment, ‘I think the Topps Albums helped keep the cards in great condition over the years’. The words ‘Topps Albums’ sent a chill down my spine. The old time Topps Albums are legendary for leaving indentations across the corners of the cards, similar to photo albums. A possible non-disclosure or miscommunication like this can be disastrous. After a very difficult discussion, we decided it was no longer worth pursuing the sale of the collection. The value was now worth approximately 50% of my original estimate. We were both crushed!!

Unitas Football Card

The Ray of Light

The seller was involved in several businesses over his career. He thought about our conversation for another week and then contacted a local card dealer who confirmed that the Topps Albums had lowered the grade of almost every card. After that meeting, he picked up the phone and told me to get in my car and get on the road because we were going to work this out. I was at a show in Ohio when he called, packed up in under 10 minutes, apologized to the Show Promoter, and caught a flight home. Once back in Denver, Colorado I got in my SUV and drove through a blizzard to get to his town the same day, or should I say very-very late that night!

We met the next day, and based on my recommendation, we started with the more significant cards. I dove right in on the football cards! After several hours we agreed on the purchase price for the more significant cards. I returned the next day, went through the rest of the collection and made the final offer. He said, and I quote, ‘Well all right then, do you want to see the rest?’ Now it was my turn to be caught off guard!

F1971T Bradshaw football cards
F1958T Brown football cards

The Remainder of the Collection

He started bringing out boxes of duplicates from every sport and year, and the good news, there were NO album indentations! Now, being totally overwhelmed, I told him I didn’t have enough cash to buy the entire collection. Great problem to have, right? He said, and I will quote him again, ‘We are beyond that now, I’ll take your check’.  It took another day & a half to complete the deal. Some of the beautiful cards we purchased included a 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan Rookie, 1968 Topps Johnny Bench Rookie, 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson Rookie, 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle White Letter, 1973 Topps Mike Schmidt Rookie, 1975 Topps George Brett Rookie, 1957 Topps Bob Cousy Rookie, 1957 Topps Bill Russell Rookie, 1961 Fleer Elgin Baylor Rookie, 1961 Fleer Oscar Robertson Rookie, 1961 Fleer Jerry West Rookie, 1969 Topps Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) Rookie, 1970 Topps Pete Maravich Rookie, and a 1972 Topps Julius Erving Rookie. Some of the beautiful football cards we purchased included a 1955T All American Four Horsemen, 1957 Topps Paul Hornung Rookie, 1957 Topps Johnny Unitas Rookie, 1958 Jim Brown Rookie, 1962 Topps Mike Ditka Rookie, 1962 Topps Fran Tarkenton Rookie, 1966 Philadelphia Dick Butkus Rookie, 1966 Philadelphia Gale Sayers Rookie, 1971 Topps Terry Bradshaw Rookie, 1971 Topps Joe Greene Rookie, 1972 Topps Roger Staubach Rookie, and a 1976 Topps Walter Payton Rookie.

In all my 27 years, this is by far my favorite story, and the most significant purchase of my career.

Why you should sell to Kurtz Kardz

Finding the retail customer takes an extensive amount of work and most people with collections don’t have the time or knowledge to accomplish the task. Also, the sports card shops in your area are generally not well equipped to appraise or purchase vintage collections of any magnitude. These retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don’t have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. So, how should you proceed? Kurtz Kardz will buy the entire collection and pay cash for it immediately.

We start with the more valuable cards from your collection. We grade them while showing/explaining the reasons for the grade.  We then establish a price for the card with a full explanation of how that is done. Once we receive your ‘Buy In’ of our explanation and the assessed value, we will continue with the remaining cards and come up with an offer for the entire collection.

We have been in the card collecting hobby full time since 1996. We have purchased nearly every card in existence except for the ‘True Rarities’, no T206 Wagner yet!!

We treat every collection and collector with the respect they deserve. Being a longtime collector myself, I understand how much work it takes to build a collection. So when you’re ready to sell, I understand what you are going through and will help you reach the best decision.

Our process is very straight forward and my guarantee is that you will feel comfortable within the first 10 minutes. Sounds a little overly confident? Well, I have purchased hundreds of collections over the last 26 years, with many pleased clients.

We Are Always Buying

Kurtz Kardz is always buying vintage sports cards from 1887 to 1972. You can get an idea of the cards we aggressively target by visiting Our Most Wanted List. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today.

How can I engage with Kurtz Kardz?

  1. We will Travel to You! If you have a collection and want us to come see You, we can catch a plane the next day! We have traveled all over the country buying sports cards, you can be our next stop! Contact us to discuss this option, we generally require a more valuable collection because of travel expenses.
  2. Meet me in Denver, Colorado
  3. Ship your collection – We can offer our FedEx account with free 2-day shipping. The package will be fully insured and tracked. We will make an offer the day we receive your cards. If you choose not to sell the cards, we’ll ship them back that day! For those of you who are nervous about shipping your cards, we have shipped millions of dollars’ worth of cards and only placed one insurance claim (in the amount of $650) in our 26 years. If you have engaged with us, and made the decision to sell your cards, they will be insured for the estimated value we placed on your collection.

Call Kurt at 303-792-9665