Looking for a store or someone who can appraise baseball cards?
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 at
3:06 am
I just came across my old baseball card collection. I am looking for someone or a store that can appraise some of my cards for me. I live in San Diego Ca. Does anyone know of someone or some store where I can get my cards appraised?
Cards from the 80s and 90s can be worth a lot of money–it all depends on the particular card and the condition they are in. Sometimes they print only a very limited number of a particular card, and those can be worth a lot of money.
If these cards are all beat up (dinged corners and edges, for example) they probably won’t be worth much. Baseball cards are graded 1 through 10, so the worth of the card often depends on what its grade is. Cards that are printed perfectly centered (equal amount of white border on all sides), with no dings or marks, and no faded colors, etc. are graded 10s. Unless you have a really old or really rare card, the cards probably won’t be worth anything unless they are 10s (and even then, they might not be worth anything).
The most valuable cards are generally the ones that come from weird places. Cards that are given out at a baseball game, for example, are usually pretty valuable. Cards that come in a cereal box or something are also valuable. There are generally very limited numbers of these.
If you have a rookie card of a very good player, that might be worth something too–but it’s not automatically valuable. It really depends on how many of a particular card were printed. Basically, the fewer the number of that particular card that was printed, the more valuable the card will be.
SO, TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, if you think you might have cards like these, I would say the best thing to do is figure out yourself if they are in fact worth anything. There is a good chance baseball card appraisers will try to trick you, and it’s really not that hard for you to figure out how much a card is worth on your own. First, look through to see if there are any in good physical shape. Not even any brand new card will be graded a 10 (most cards are slightly off center), so look for the nice ones. Then look up the cards online on a site about baseball cards, or buy a book that lists all the cards’ values. Pay attention to the brand of the card, year, edition, and any special markers on the card (like if it has a gold or silver mark–something small like that can often make a huge difference!) Also pay attention to see if you have any mistake cards (like cards with one player pictured on the front, but a different player’s stats on the back).
Grading is key. Once you find a card that is valuable and in good shape, send it in to a grading company to be graded (ex: http://www.Beckett.com/). They will enclose the card in a plastic case and put the grade on it. If your card is valuable and graded highly, it will go up in value once it is graded. However, it would be a waste of money to send in every card to be graded (you have to pay $15 or something to have a card graded). Only send cards that you have found out are valuable online, and are likely to be graded a 10 (or lower, if it is a really rare card).
Be careful who you show those cards to-look for real collectors-avoid someone who says they will only give you a value for say a batch of cards-check Becketts book on cards-but also look over any online bid sites to see what others are selling for.
I can tell you that if your cards are from the 80’s and 90’s they’re basically worthless.
If they’re older than that then check the completed auctions on ebay to see what they’re selling for.