Unaccounted for Attic Finds, Garage Finds, Thrift Store Finds

[ruth-gehrig]

With the recent find of mint E98s in an attic along with smaller finds you periodically hear about(for example this one on ebay of 2 St. Louis Demmitts glued to a toolbox lid)http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...vip=true&rt=nc , what percentage of old cards/collectibles are still undiscovered? Do you think 99% of items have already been discovered and are in collections or are you on the other end and believe only 50% of items are accounted for? I know it's pure speculation but I thought would be interesting to hear the boards thoughts on this.

Regards,
Michael

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

With the recent find of mint E98s in an attic along with smaller finds you periodically hear about(for example this one on ebay of 2 St. Louis Demmitts glued to a toolbox lid)http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...vip=true&rt=nc , what percentage of old cards/collectibles are still undiscovered? Do you think 99% of items have already been discovered and are in collections or are you on the other end and believe only 50% of items are accounted for? I know it's pure speculation but I thought would be interesting to hear the boards thoughts on this.

Regards,
Michael

There is a lot in the hobby already but I still think a decent little percentage is left to be found. I would just guess about 10% or so....which is quite a large number imo.....

[Jantz]

I agree with Leon on this.

Two weeks before the National I made a call to a young man who found a box of vintage baseball cards in a house he bought here in my hometown.

He told me during the conversation that there are 4 Satchel Paige cards & 21 DanDee cards to include Mantle.

After I explained my situation with the National being so near, we agreed to wait til after the National and possibly talk about me purchasing all of the cards.

I'm sure there is still some cards out there to be found. Just rewind back the last five years & look at what has been discovered.

Good thread!

Jantz

[CobbSpikedMe]

Jantz. Keep us posted on this find and let us know if it's any good. I love hearing about these things.

I also agree with the idea that there is still plenty of "finds" out there. Not a lot of them in the same ballpark as the black swamp find, but still a lot of new cards for the hobby. I think there are a lot of uncataloged and unconfirmed cards out there too. When the Just So Ewing was discovered I was very excited. I think there are plenty of these such cards out there to be found.

Best,

AndyH

[barrysloate]

Of course it's impossible to guess what is unknown, but 2012 has been a banner year for finds so I have to think there is more stuff out there. The publicity of our hobby over the past twenty years certainly has brought most of them out, but there are still many old houses that may have a cache in the attic or basement and the owners are not even aware of it. So I'm sure we'll see more interesting finds down the road, although it would be hard to imagine any bigger than the Black Swamp cards.

[dherm360]

I guy I worked who a few years ago moved to MI, bought a house and when he went to tear out a wall to remodel, he found the wall stuffed with 1968 Topps Game cards, hundreds of them along with newspaper almost like they were using them for insulation.

[oaks1912]

While a specific number or percentage is impossible to determine, there are other factors which can bring fresh material to the market. This includes families of deceased collectors who just want the stuff out of the house, collectors who die without a will or close family, divorce or separation (irate ex-spouses sometimes set spitefully low prices), change of interest, moving / downsizing sales, loss or decrease of employment, etc. Fresh material enters the sports hobby daily, although finds such as the E-98 find are rarer than honest politicians....

[JasonD08]

A large (80%) or so of high grade pre war is out there still waiting to be discovered. I think most of the lower grade (LOVED CARDS) have been discovered.

[ruth-gehrig]

Originally Posted by JasonD08

A large (80%) or so of high grade pre war is out there still waiting to be discovered. I think most of the lower grade (LOVED CARDS) have been discovered.

Why do you believe 80% of high grade pre war hasn't been discovered yet? That seems like alot to me.

[dherm360]

here is a another question, do you think there are more undiscovered cards found each year or do we lose even more cards each year(floods, fire, natural disasters and so on)

[wolf441]

Originally Posted by dherm360

here is a another question, do you think there are more undiscovered cards found each year or do we lose even more cards each year(floods, fire, natural disasters and so on)

I was thinking the exact same thing. I grew up in a neighborhood of houses that were all built around 1890-1920, and in the early 2000's so many of them were gutted and turned into multiple condo units. You wonder what might have been tossed or destroyed during the re-construction. I can just picture the original workers smoking Piedmonts or Sweet Caporals while they were putting up walls and tossing the empty packages into the wall spaces or sub-flooring.

[DinoPro]

There is exactly 9.218% total cards undisovered.

I hope this helps and settles the "guess work" !

DinoPro

[tbob]

Originally Posted by JasonD08

A large (80%) or so of high grade pre war is out there still waiting to be discovered. I think most of the lower grade (LOVED CARDS) have been discovered.

Have to disagree on this one. The Swamp Find was an aberration, any cards out there which have not been discovered are likely in lower grade. While I think there may be some collectors who are nearing the end of the line and who never had any of their cards graded, it's hard to believe that any unknown, undiscovered pre-war cards in high grade, tobacco or caramel, are likely to surface. Combine the fact that everyone knows old baseball cards can be very valuable with the fact that there were lots of paper drives during World War One and World War Two, and well-meaning mothers who tossed cards away and I've got to disagree with your statement....

[Wymers Auction]

Originally Posted by oaks1912

While a specific number or percentage is impossible to determine, there are other factors which can bring fresh material to the market. This includes families of deceased collectors who just want the stuff out of the house, collectors who die without a will or close family, divorce or separation (irate ex-spouses sometimes set spitefully low prices), change of interest, moving / downsizing sales, loss or decrease of employment, etc. Fresh material enters the sports hobby daily, although finds such as the E-98 find are rarer than honest politicians....

Go and find me 600+ honest politicans!!!

[glynparson]

If you mean graded more than 50% unfound on most cards. If you mean in known collections in hobby circles probably 50-65% are known. If you count collections and family heirlooms that people know they have but the general collecting world is unaware of the number is probably at 75-85%. If you just mean buried in Grandma-GrandPa's attic, barn, etc, I agree with Leon's 10-15% number obviously more on some issues and less on others. That doesn't mean there won't be another high grade find ever. there will be its just what set and how many.