Who decides value? Is Beckett the only?

[Fred McGriff]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum but not new to baseball cards. I am 43 and have purchased cards from shows as far back as 1978. I bought my first car stereo with a Nolan Ryan rookie. The stereo is long gone, wish I still had the card. BUT, it was ungraded! I have a few main questions for here as I am new to this. 1. are graded cards the best thing now? 2. why are some guys, like Ivan Rodriguez rookie cards worth nothing and 3. who sets these prices, ebay, Beckett or who?

Thanks for the help.

Fred McGriff was my favorite player when I was younger, hence the username.

[novakjr]

Welcome to the forum..

1)Graded cards are nice, but with modern technology, 10's should be expected right out of the pack, so grading is kinda pointless. Grading on vintage is still one of the best things, especially in higher grades for monetary purposes.

2)Ivan, much like most modern players are having problems gaining value mostly because there's SO MANY cards out there. I don't believe Ivan really has a difficult or premium rookie card, except maybe the Topps Traded Tiffany. Those less produced or limited cards are really the best rookies to go with on modern players.

3)In a way Beckett's numbers are somewhat arbitrary, and are only partially based on market value.. Your best bet for a true "VALUE" would be to keep an eye on completed listings on ebay or subscribe to something like VCP.

[Leon]

Welcome to the forum. Everything David said is true. Did your first car stereo have an 8 track with Stereophonic? I am sure many of ours did. My first car was a 1971 brown Pinto I got when I was 17, but I digress.

If you haven't delved into vintage you might pick up a few cards to handle and get to know them. The best way of course is buying them raw from someone/somewhere you trust. Most of my expensive cards are graded and a lot of my lesser ones are raw.
Our own Buy/Sell/Trade area is very good but it's still always caveat emptor. If you are doing any deals with folks you can look at their amount of posts, time on the board and also check for references. If I can ever help just let me know....happy collecting!!

[frankh8147]

I agree with everything said but I want to elaborate on one point in particular- if it's been a while since you have collected vintage, you might want to start by focusing on graded cards. The reason for this is there are a lot of counterfeits going around and until you regain your 'feel' for what's real and what's fake- graded cards would be the safest way to go. Don't trust just any grading company though because there are 'fake' grading companies too..try to look for PSA, Beckett, GAI, and SCG labels (there will probably be some opinions that you shouldn't trust them 100% either, but depending on what your focus is- this should get you through).

[Fred McGriff]

Are "Vintage" cards , cards that are pre - 1920? I collect 1950 - 1989 but will buy some Bryce Harper, Derek Jeter and Jim Thome...

when I buy a card on ebay I do not often spend over $100 so I'm thinking vintage is out, right?

Dan

[cubsfan-budman]

i buy vintage cards all the time that are far less than 100 dollars.

i know there is some debate about this, but vintage is anything earlier than 1980 or so, in my opinion.

pre-war is probably what you're thinking of with the 1920 date, but pre-war is anything ~1940ish and earlier.

there are tons of examples in each category that you can find for under 100 dollars. i'd guess that total card population-wise, there are more under 100 dollars than over.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Leon

Welcome to the forum. Everything David said is true. Did your first car stereo have an 8 track with Stereophonic? I am sure many of ours did. My first car was a 1971 brown Pinto I got when I was 17, but I digress.

If you haven't delved into vintage you might pick up a few cards to handle and get to know them. The best way of course is buying them raw from someone/somewhere you trust. Most of my expensive cards are graded and a lot of my lesser ones are raw.
Our own Buy/Sell/Trade area is very good but it's still always caveat emptor. If you are doing any deals with folks you can look at their amount of posts, time on the board and also check for references. If I can ever help just let me know....happy collecting!!

Maybe we should have a first car/first card thread.

1958 Chevrolet DelRay/ ??????probably a 1953 Topps card when I was 6. Now why would some one remember their first car and forget about that 1953 Topps Willie Mays card that made their bicycle spokes rattle and roar.

Sorry, off topic, just reminiscing. Agree with above advice. If you focus your collection, you will learn that portion of the market. Price guides are arbitrary. My average prewar card cost about $50-60. The median card would be less.