Need Major Advice

[Steve M]

I’m hoping some senior folks on this forum can help point me in the right direction on a serious matter related to potentially selling a large vintage card collection.

Here is the situation. A friend’s family is in possession of a large vintage sports card collection, that has cards ranging from the 1960’s to the 1990’s, with the majority coming from the 60’s to the 70’s. There are more baseball cards than anything else, but there are also huge numbers of football and basketball cards.

The collector was the family’s father, who passed away two years ago. The family believes that the collection should never be touched – for many, many reasons. However, financial difficulties are necessitating reconsideration of this policy. As such, they want to look into selling a single high-value card – to see how it goes.

Since I have advised the family on a number of financial and real estate issues for many years, and because in my younger day - I used to deal in high-end vintage comics, and because the family has a high degree of trust in me, they have asked me to research this situation and help with the selling of this first card (and potentially the entire collection, at a later time).

The initial card to sell is what appears to be a 1954 Topps Henry Aaron Rookie Card, which appears (to me) to be in exceptionally good shape (no obvious flaws at all and looks to be well-centered, and borders appear to be the same width). The card has not been officially graded.

I realize that if the card is authentic, the potential sale value could be quite high – and could well eventually need to go to an auction house for disposition (as could parts or all of the collection).

I have been surprised to find almost no articles on the internet talking about how to proceed for someone in my situation. So of course, I am starting to make a plan.

I imagine that most people would say to get the card officially graded FIRST. However, if I understand how the grading process works at the top companies, getting THIS PARTICULAR CARD graded could itself be a very expensive endeavor, as the grading company apparently charges some portion of the expected full value of the card. So, in this case, we are potentially talking about thousands of dollars.

On the other hand, I found that SGC offers pricing “based on your declared value(s) and selected turnaround time”. I do not yet know what this means in terms of “your declared value(s)”.

In any case, before even considering getting the card graded, it seems to me the logical first step is to see whether or not the card is itself authentic, meaning – making sure it is not some kind of forgery or even an official reprint. In looking at high-grade images of both this actual card (the real one) and an official reprint of this Henry Aaron card, I myself can tell absolutely no difference. Unlike my previous experiences dealing with high-end vintage comics, this forgery and reprint business with the cards – takes me well out of my element. Needless to say, I am well out of my element on this entire subject.

So, I would greatly appreciate hearing from forum members on the following:

What reliable source can I go to to initially authenticate this card before going further down the standard process? [I do not mind paying for this service, or for anything related]

Any suggestions on a better total way to proceed?

Any important things you think I may not have considered?

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration.