Childhood autograph collection
 

I recently stumbled across my old autograph collection, gathered from various sportscard shows, meet-and-greets, and some I mailed off for (such as Herb Score's) when I was a kid. I think this was over the late 80s and early 90s. It seems like though, the modern world needs COAs to go with these. But looking online (especially for the Mantle), the COA services seem to cost more than the autograph itself. Should I just put these back in the closet for another 30 years? Or is there value here? (these seemed the most interesting....I also have a small pile of signed cards, but they didn't seem terribly special).

https://i.ibb.co/c3PN6Bq/IMG-3892.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/qpW410v/IMG-3891.jpg

You'd definitely need to get the Mantle authenticated before selling it, but the others probably wouldn't see any significant bump in value. You'd be able to sell them no problem on the BST here or on eBay.

Is it worth authenticating the Mantle? Online, it seems places are charging $200 to authenticate it?? Would I really recoup that?

I'm not sure what Mantle HOF plaques are going for now, but PSA is running an $18 special for Perez Steele and HOF Plaque autos. No membership required.

Argh. Nice sale, but that special is just for cards that typically cost $35/less to authenticate. PSA is charging $100 for Mantle, it seems. :(

Maybe I'll send the other 3 in though, as it seems the ebay sales prices do show a bump for authentication.

I just can't see paying $100 for grading the Mantle. Is that what people do??? On ebay I don't see many actually. Current listed there's a few in the $700 range (and one that's $1300!). The only sold one I see was $233, and had an ugly/faded pen.

I actually never thought the Mantle would be worth this much....so maybe that $100 is just built into the cost? Sigh.

A realistic value is $225-275, so paying for authentication makes no sense. Even authenticated examples routinely sell in this range. Yours does look nice, unless there are issues which can't be discerned from the tiny photo. If it's free of smearing or anything else, you may try to ask for a bit more than my estimate, but don't go too crazy.

You could always try selling it on this site for free. Post in the category featured in this link.

https://www.net54baseball.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38

I also would NOT waste your money paying even $18 each to have those other ones authenticated. They are barely worth the cost to authenticate (in some cases, less!).