Help with inherited card collection.
 

My wife inherited a large collection of baseball cards beginning in 1953 as well as some signed baseballs. She was saving them for my son, but he has no interest in sports. She wants me to sell them and put the money into my sons college fund. I don’t know much about card collecting beyond knowing some of the more famous players from that era who’s cards are more valuable. None of these cards are graded and they very in condition from pretty good to pretty bad. What is the best way to go about selling these? I’m in no rush and don’t need the money anytime soon. Thank you for any help you can give me. Sorry in advance if I posted this in the wrong place.

Sorry for the sideways pictures. I don’t know why they all uploaded like that. I just counted the pages in the three binders I have and it looks to be about 1300 cards in total.

Step one: Put together an inventory of all of the cards you have. Create an Excel spreadsheet or something, so you have a complete list. This is especially important for when you chat with someone who buys entire collections. Plus, regular collectors may see some things you have and might want to negotiate some sales.

Step two: Take quality pictures of everything, front and back. This is important so any potential buyers can get a good feel for what shape your cards are in.

Step three: Start posting groups of cards in the Buy/Sell/Trade section here. Either post firm prices or ask interested parties to make offers. A cr#pload of stuff gets sold easily in these parts, so it's a great outlet for you.

Good luck!!

I assume your pics were taken on a phone? Do an edit first on your phone by rotating them, etc, then save them in the proper configuration before uploading them.

That usually works I have found.

Thank you. So sending them off for grading is not worth it/necessary?

Oh, that's an entirely different ball of wax. I assumed you meant more of a 'quicker' sale scenario when you were ready to move forward. Graded cards certainly sell for more in general (and they give potential buyers more confidence in the legitimacy of said cards), but it also costs a ton and the waiting time is flat out ridiculous these days. Since you're in no hurry, it's definitely worth the time to investigate getting some (many?) of your cards graded, and make an informed decision as to what will be better for you.

Only thing you need to know:

Al Crisafulli
Love of the Game Auctions
https://loveofthegameauctions.com/

He's a member here and as scrupulous and diligent as they come for handling this sort of liquidation. I'd trust him with my collection if I was dead...OK, that doesn't sound quite right but you get the idea.

Al has been in my house near my cards while I was alive.....but that does not sound right either

I agree that it's a good idea to contact someone like Al who is widely respected, but just to make sure no one feeling's get hurt, I also second the advice to make a complete list of cards: the year and the card number. Take photos of the fronts and backs of cards that you think might be especially valuable (Mantle's, Jackie Robinson's, Clemente's, et al). Be careful not to touch the corners! If this starts to seem like too much work, you can always try again to get your son interested in baseball.
good luck
Mark

I second this. Start with LOTG auctions, but investigate others. Find an auction house that will get the cards graded for you, so then that is out of your hands and you don't need to worry. They can advise you about what cards to sell individually and what cards to sell in lots. You will have to pay the auction fees, but they will be advertised and have a wider audience of attraction, so it's probably worth it since you want to use this money for college.

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As well as what has been stated you can let us know roughly where you live and people could possibly recommend someone in driving distance that could look at them in person to better evaluate value,condition and authenticity.
After that that could point you in the right direction.
Rick

True, I've done that for people living in the Florida panhandle.

:rolleyes:

As others have said, starting with scans and a checklist of what you have can't hurt no matter how you end up selling your wife's cards (assuming she doesn't want to simply flip them against a wall). Good luck! :)

Devojrx7, I have consigned to Al Crisafulli/LOTG Auctions in the past and been very pleased with the results. And, IMHO, Al C. "is as honest as the day is long."

However, from what you have said and showed re the cards you inherited, I'm thinking LOTG may not be the best fit. If I were in your shoes, knowing what I think I know, I would be getting in touch with Scott Russell of Birmingham Auctions - https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=291948 IMHO, Scott Russell also "is as honest as the day is long."

And BTW, there aren't very many auction houses and dealers in the hobby that I believe "are as honest as the day is long."

Thank you all so much for the advice. I’m about 30 minutes north of Little Rock AR. I do have family in Birmingham though. I’ve made a Dropbox account that contains pictures of all the inventory lists my Dad made of the cards as well as rough pictures of the front and back pages of each page in the albums. I’ve had a couple guys here already looking at them and when I get a chance I’ll add closer pictures of the higher value cards. Even these pictures don’t encompass the entire collection, because many of the pages have duplicates of a card in the same pocket sometimes 3 or 4 duplicates. I work in the ER so I tend to be very distrustful of almost everyone. Ideally I’d like to take the cards to someone in person to have them evaluated, unless I get a few competing quotes via the pictures and they are willing to send payment before shipping the cards. Take a look at all the pictures and let me know what you think.
Thanks again, Jeff Deaver

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u24ig42l1...19MCyTkka?dl=0

OK, start by getting those outta there ASAP. :)

Some nice looking cards in there - PM me if you might be interested in selling a few as singles. Although man, what was it with '50s kids and their hole punches?? That '54 Bowman Mantle is tragic.

He is in PA and a really nice guy.

I have family in Little Rock, but they only know coins, not cards. Hopefully someone will be able to help you out. If you go the grading route, or the personal selling via COMC (consignment company) route, I can give you a bunch of pointers.

How cool was it just cruising through the entire photo album, looking at all the wonderment?? Awesome. There are two things that jumped out at me regarding how imperfect the world of vintage baseball cards is/was. So often when you flipped a page and a wonderful HOF'er 'finally' appeared, the card was way off-centered. I mean, that's real life right there!! And it's funny how the card numbers in many years (like 1959 and 1961) ended before reaching the high series. So many people talk about how when they were kids collecting cards, they never saw or bought any high number packs. Again, real life on display!!

(Whoops! None of this was meant in any way to cast aspersions on the albums. They are just some musings, and I would freakin' love to own that collection!!!)

That’s not a hole, that one is in a sleeve with a little hologram sticker at the bottom. You can see the back is black when I flip the page.

Ah, well that’s different then ;). Good news for you!

great pics, jeff. looks like you'll do pretty well with this lot.