Baseball Card on American Pickers

[gonefishin]

Anyone else watch the baseball card segment on American Pickers last night? I was kind of excited before I watched it as they rarely have cards on the show. I cringed during every minute of watching it. I know the young man tried to do his best but come on. Was he helping to buy for resale or for his own collection. The seller had so much stuff piled up all around it made me think he was a hoarder instead of a collector. The Ty Cobb card and 52 Mantle were in a box just stacked with a pile of cards? They kept referring to the 52 Topps as his rookie card - give me a break - who doesn't know it's a 51 Bowman.

Regardless, I would like to see more show showing normal, everyday collectors but this episode kind of game me the creeps.

Am I wrong?

[jayshum]

I never watched the show before, but a friend told me about this one so I watched it. I don't know what other people they buy from are like, but this guy didn't really bother me like he apparently did you. I think he was more of a very disorganized collector than a hoarder. I was surprised to see a 52 Mantle and T206 Cobb in screwdowns which they did talk about being a potential problem at the end.

[Brent G.]

What was the end result?

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Brent G.

What was the end result?

They bought some cards throughout the show but not many compared to the size of the collection. The owner said he had about 4.5 million cards. He also had comics and other stuff.

[gonefishin]

Maybe I was a little too critical because I did enjoy the show. I did note that Mike Wolfe had very little interaction regarding the cards, but they never have dealt with baseball cards and memorabilia very often on the show.

Worth the watch once.

[chalupacollects]

Methinks the buyer “Dave?” Was his name? went poking and pulled the best he could find and try to pull a fast one. He did get the Cobb and others for a great price…


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[JustinD]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

Methinks the buyer “Dave?” Was his name? went poking and pulled the best he could find and try to pull a fast one. He did get the Cobb and others for a great price…


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He did seem to only know enough about cards to be dangerous. The Cobb was bought at a lowball for condition. However, he was correct in being concerned about a 30+ years in a screw down while stored in a garage. It certainly is a strong possibility that it is going to be stuck to the lucite let alone paper pressed. If he can get it out clean, even as authentic altered it presents as a 3.

The guy was everywhere on his pricing, but dropped by 60% at the drop of a hat. He was starting every discussion with comps that were for the highest graded example for each of his 1.5-2.5 cards. You could tell the seller was an old time 90s dealer with some tactics. I think it also hurt him as his knowledge was weak for current sales other than the monster auction comps he looked up.

I would rather watch a show where they have hunts for things I don’t know about because it just becomes frustrating when you know way more than their “expert”. Antique Roadshow does that to me when they have the occasional cards.