Lost w a huge collection

[bbcman]

Hi everybody
I have inherited my dads baseball card collection. He started collecting when he returned from wwII. I have complete sets from the 50s and up. I have commons cards, cards in waxed paper (gum removed) just way too many....
I dont want to liquidate everything just get the collection into a more managable size for me. Where do I start???
Right now Im very busy with work and I donthave a lot of free time but I do need to do something fast and efficient if that is possible.
thanksfor any and all help.
I am in the NYC metro area.

[barrysloate]

You said you don't want to liquidate everything. What do you want to keep, and what do you want to sell?

[pow323]

I agree with Barry! first of all go through and keep what you want and then sell the rest. Try selling on Net54 first before anywhere else. Marc

[ChiefBenderForever]

Aggree with above, go through and keep what you like and then dump the rest.

[bbcman]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

You said you don't want to liquidate everything. What do you want to keep, and what do you want to sell?

Im not sure if I should keep whole sets or just the famous players.
I have a lot of cards. I have all types of cards as well. Im confused and overwhelmed.
What is a good way to figure out what is valuable and worth keeping vs what is sellable/tradeable???

[pow323]

I would not break any sets just keep the ones you like and sell the rest. As far as single cards keep the ones you like and sell the rest same thing goes. Wish I was in your area I would come and help you! Sorry! Marc

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by bbcman

Im not sure if I should keep whole sets or just the famous players.
I have a lot of cards. I have all types of cards as well. Im confused and overwhelmed.
What is a good way to figure out what is valuable and worth keeping vs what is sellable/tradeable???

The first thing I would do is go out and buy the latest SCD big book at your local bookseller. The prices aren't the most accurate, but it gives you an idea of what is rare/scarce, etc...Who knows you may have some nice regional cards in the collection.

[barrysloate]

Well I'm still not sure if you would like to keep most of it or sell most of it. That is of course your choice, but here are a few suggestions:

If the collection consists of many complete sets as well as single cards and duplicates, you might want to keep the sets intact and sell off the balance. That will put some money in your pocket, leave you with a very nice collection, and will make it very easy for you to liquidate them in the future.

If you are looking to keep a few but want to raise a lot of money you might want to just hang on to some of your favorite cards/players and sell the balance .

As far as the value, key players like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, etc. are obviously more value than the lesser known players. Also, cards in top condition are more desirable and valuable than the lesser condition ones. And in Topps sets from the 50's and 60's, many of the higher numbered cards have a premium value. You would need a price card to determine that.

But you do need to decide how much you want to sell, and how much you want to keep. Sounds like it could be a pretty nice collection.

If I may ask, where do you live? I am in Brooklyn if you live near there.

[alanu]

If you do have complete sets from the 50's and 60's, maybe pick out a few you like and keep those and consign the other sets to an auction house.

As for the loose cards, it will take a little more time and effort to figure out what you have and what it's worth.

[bbcman]

I just grabbed a few cards (newer) that were on the top in one box.
I need to know what years the manufacturer etc...
Is there a good book with pictures depicting the card the year the manufacturer any any other important info???
I need from the 40s to the 90s....
I really need to get things sorted first.
My dad had this habit of opening packs taking out the gum and putting the cards back into the packs....for the life of me I dont understand his reasoning maybe I should have paid more attention with his collecting.
thanks again guys.....

[william_9]

If you have some early wrappers you may be praising your father for his odd habit. Wrappers are pretty valuable on their own.

[drc]

I'd recommending consigning them to an auction house. You will get fair market value for the cards. If you need a list of potential auction houses, ask.

As William noted above, most collectors threw out their wrappers, so it's a bit of an added bonus if you have vintage wrappers.

And, by the way, the top album you pictured is 1971 Topps (black borders) and the one below is 1970 Topps (grey borders). And the other cards included 1968.

Put up a picture of all the different type cards and we can tell you the years.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Wow those 71's look really nice. The high numbers in both sets you show 70 and 71 are tougher to find and command a premium. I wouldn't break up any sets like that and would either keep them or sell them as a set, but you can always cherry pick them and take out your favorite players and still get good money. My dad did the same thing as far as opening packs and putting the cards back in the pack, not sure why he did that but good to know he wasn't the only one.

[barrysloate]

You can generally date the cards by the statistics on the back. Take the grey border ones, with the yellow and blue backs, for example. The last year of statistics is 1969; add one year to that and the cards are from 1970.

[bbcman]

I want to thank everyone for the responses both here and in PMs.
Im started to get an idea of where im going to start.
I think im going to try and work from the newer cards backwards.....
i have a lot of the 80s to 90s boxed sets. Ill liquidate those first and that will give me a little more breathing room.

[uthminsta]

Originally Posted by bbcman

i have a lot of the 80s to 90s boxed sets. Ill liquidate those first...

That seems like a good place to start. But don't get discouraged if there's not much interest from buyers in that era. Many of the cards of the late 80's and early 90's were very much over-produced.

Keep us posted on your progress!