1960's to 1980's baseball cards

[cherjak22]

I recently found my youngest son's baseball card collection.  Guessing at about 4000 to 5000 cards, some purchased by the boxed year, but a large percentage came in the card packs with the gum.  They are all from the 60's, 70's and ending about the late 80's.  90% of them were sorted by teams and years, and never touched after sorting and are in like new condition.  Some of the boxed yearly sets were never opened, but not sorted.  I will be returning them to him when I see him over the Memorial Day holiday and want to be able to advise him about picking out the good ones and selling them so that he will have money for his kids college education.  Where and how does one get them appraised, what do appraisals cost, how to protect the ones appearing to have value, and how to best sell them.  Thanks for any help. 

[Anonymous]

You are ahead of the game by having them sorted by team and year.

I would get an up to date price guide and skim through to see if you have any real superstars.

Try and catalog exactly everything that is in the collection before taking them anywhere.

Condition seems to be everything with cards, so if you do have some high value ones you would want to send them out to be professionally graded and sealed into to protective cases. Just some tips - not an expert.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

ps   Could we get a few pictures of the collection? I would like to see some of the earliest ones.

[nc-daydreamer]

RESEARCH. Select a random 50 or so names and search for them to find value before the expense of appraising.  If 1 match come up - go for it - if 50 or 100+ come up as a match - well you might be able to give them to charity. Good luck.

[yankeebob1951]

Without seeing them, one piece of overall advice:

If anything is sealed.. box sets or individual packs...DO NOT OPEN IT!

If some helpful "expert" tells you they have to open a sealed box set or pack to evaluate it...DO NOT OPEN IT!

[cherjak22]

palmtreelucky - Thanks for your information - pictures coming up as soon as I can get to them - will try to get to them this week.  One card I did check out is a 1982 Topps card of 3 players with Bob Bonner, Cal Ripken Jr., and Jeff Schneider.  And one other I checked was a Topps Mike Schmidt 1982.  Both cards are new - sorted with others, but appear to be in "new" condition.  

[cherjak22]

If I were to invest wisely, I sure wouldn't be giving any of these away.

[18704d]

I've been told to primarily focus on cards before 1982 (?) or so...

After that time the numbers printed yearly increased by the zillions and may not be worth much, if anything.

focus first on the 60s and 70s

They could have the best potential.

Lynn

[myvintagegaragesale]

As a collector and dealer of baseball cards I strongly suggest you do not open anything that is factory sealed. Second, there is no reason to examine or handle any of the cards if you are not planning to sell them soon. If you are not an expert at handling baseball card, then leave them alone. Store them as you found them!!! What may look like a mint card (grade of 9) to you may actually only be a Near Mint (grade of 7) to a professional collector. The slightest touch of a card can bring the grade from a 10 to a 6. Which can lower the value by $100's or even $1000's of dollars. Most good card shops will enjoy looking at your collection and can give you good advise on what is most valuable and should be sent to be independently graded. Vintage cards independently graded in near mint to gem mint condition can be worth big money. But most often amateurs who don't know how to properly handle and store cards will destroy their premium price. Keep in mind that most older cards that are fresh from a pack will only grade a 8 out of 10 due to printing and packaging issues. A Mint card graded 9 out of 10 will have good centering, no surface wear and perfect sharp corners with a 10x magnifying glass. A perfect 10 card for pre-1980 cards is always very rare and can bring a high price even for a common player. Rule #1 with most collectables is don't touch it unless you know what you are doing!