Sell or hold these graded cards?

[sjm76]

I have been paring down my collection a bit in the past few months selling both ungraded and graded cards and I came across 2 interesting cards the other day. One is the 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken F*ck face error card graded PSA 10 and the other is a 1989 Bowman Tiffany Jim Abbott RC also graded PSA 10.

I've been debating listing both cards for sale but haven't been able to pull the trigger so far. To anyone reading who may have the same cards or if you had them, do you think they will be worth a lot more in the long run or would you sell now? Both cards are interesting imo because the Ripken is one of the more famous error cards and Abbott was definitely a feel good story while he was an active player because he basically has one arm and he always fascinated me.

PSA pop reports also factor in with almost 2000 of the Ripken's graded a PSA 10 but only 8 of the Abbott Bowman Tiffany's have been graded a PSA 10. Thoughts?

 

[bstanwood]

I have no opinion on the Abbott, don't know enough about his sales. If I had the ripken I'd hold it, just for the fact it's hilarious and no matter what I decide to do with my collection it's an iconic card even if it's never worth a ton of money

 

[swish54_99]

I guess it really depends on how badly you need the money? That's personal and you obviously don't have to answer, but something to consider. If money is a driving factor, then I'd say yes sell both because the card market is so hot right now.

Me personally, I would sell the Abbott first. I do agree that it's a really neat story about him and what he was able to overcome, but the further time gets away from when he played, the fewer the people care/remember him. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. It's not like he's a HOF'er, or on the ballot anymore, and he's not currently playing and in peoples minds, so there's nothing that would drive up his prices.

The Ripken would be harder to sell, but if you do, maybe sell the 10 and find a nice 9 to replace it with and enjoy the rest of the money. While not a great player, much along the lines of Abbott, that is an iconic error card that happened in the boom of baseball cards when millions of collector's were collecting. It will stay around a lot longer for nostalgia purposes.

 

[JoshHamilton]

Looks like sell value is about $400-$450 for the pair. That’s a good amount you could put toward something you want...I’d sell if you have no emotional attachment to them. You can always pick up a FFace 9 for $100 down the road


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[smapdi]

It's hard to imagine something that would spike demand for the Abbott card, but it does seem to have gotten more attention lately. That might be the fact that the hobby's exploded, and the 12/25 rule and all that, but what would it take to be worth, say, 100% more than it is today? I have no idea, short of an unexpected HOF election through whatever the Vet Committee is nowadays.

The Ripken card seems like it could be one of those cards that just gets revived every 5-10 years because it's mentioned in a viral news article or a movie or something. That one Bob Hamelin card got hot for 5 minutes a couple years ago because of such an article.

I could imagine either of these cards having some sort of mainstream pop culture explosion and boom. But it'd also be hot for 5 minutes then boom the other way. But what are the odds of that? Tiny, surely.