New member here...question about 1990's stuff

Adamlind2011 · Jun 20, 2011

Hey guys,

I just inherited a large collection of 1989-1999 baseball stuff. Unopened boxes, subsets, etc. I was wondering 2 things:

1) if it was worth trying to grade some of the more popular cards such as the griffeys, F. thomas, J. Gonzalez, R. Johnson, etc....

2) What would be the most economical way to grade these. Go to the shows and have them done there, or I hear that the Beckett grading company does a price break for bulk graders so is it possible to hook up with a bulk grader and have him/her submit them for me? Unfortunately, none of these cards are machine stamped/#'d since they are all pre-2000.

Any help or advice would be very appreciated. Thank you.

jumbojohnny · Jun 20, 2011

Welcome to the boards.

95% of the cards from that time period aren't worth the paper that they are made of. Rookies and rare inserts are the only thing that might be worth something. And yes cards from pre-2000 are machine stamped also, so look closely at the backs of inserts.

Hopefully you can stumble across a few nice cards.

tonsofcommons · Jun 20, 2011

What unopened packs/boxes do you have?

smapdi · Jun 20, 2011

Adamlind2011 said:
Hey guys,
1) if it was worth trying to grade some of the more popular cards such as the griffeys, F. thomas, J. Gonzalez, R. Johnson, etc....

Maybe. It depends on the exact card, player, and what the grade is. Unless you've got some super-rare insert or parallel, generally not. Even BGS 9.5s of most star cards generally sell for less than the grading fee. 10s sell for more, but, of course, are far from a guaranteed thing to get.

Adamlind2011 said:
2) What would be the most economical way to grade these. Go to the shows and have them done there, or I hear that the Beckett grading company does a price break for bulk graders so is it possible to hook up with a bulk grader and have him/her submit them for me? Unfortunately, none of these cards are machine stamped/#'d since they are all pre-2000.

There is usually some sort of bulk deal going on here on these boards. Try the search function, or message cgilmo, the owner of the site. I think he coordinates that or would know who does.

Depending on what wax you have, it might be better not to rip any at all, if cash is your motive. In fact, some material is actually pretty scarce and unopened boxes are worth more than almost any single card you might pull. There is thrill value in ripping a bunch of boxes, though.

jumbojohnny · Jun 20, 2011

If you are looking for BGS specials...Looking the the Sub-Forum titled BGS Group Submission Forum , mason is the one who handles that, not Gilmore.

ThoseBackPages · Jun 20, 2011

welcome to the boards.

go with PSA for the rare stuff

BunchOBull · Jun 20, 2011

Yes, as has been said, grading isn't the end-all-to-be-all in terms of cash revenue. In fact, I've probably gotten a lot of rare cards for cheaper than I would have if they were raw cards, simply because the "near mint" grade threw potential buyers off. I just crack them out anyway, and, if it's hard enough to find, I don't care if its not gem mint.

I'd love to see an image of your Frank Thomas items.

Adamlind2011 · Jun 20, 2011

Thanks everyone for your help. My father passed away about 18 months ago and I finally had to courage to go and get his collection at my moms house, that he and I built together while I was growing up. I don't know what I'm going to do with them but if some seem gradeable, then I may just go that route. As far as the unopened boxes, he stashed away about 10 boxes of the 1989 premier upper deck and then about another 10 of 1990 Leaf 1 and 2. There were many others from the years 1991-1999 and I can remember him saying, "I am putting these away for you so that when you get older, you will have a gold mine". LOL.....Bless his heart, not so the case but his intentions will always be remembered. There is so much to go through over the next several months so I may be back to ask for some more advice. I appreciate everyone who wrote in to help me out.

uniquebaseballcards · Jun 20, 2011

BunchOBull said:
Yes, as has been said, grading isn't the end-all-to-be-all in terms of cash revenue. In fact, I've probably gotten a lot of rare cards for cheaper than I would have if they were raw cards, simply because the "near mint" grade threw potential buyers off. I just crack them out anyway, and, if it's hard enough to find, I don't care if its not gem mint.

I'd love to see an image of your Frank Thomas items.

I feel the same way, the more rare the card the less important it is to have it graded. I can see slabbing for protection someday, but slabs get bulky if you've gotten a whole lot of them.

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New member here...question about 1990's stuff

Adamlind2011

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tonsofcommons

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smapdi

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ThoseBackPages

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BunchOBull

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Adamlind2011

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uniquebaseballcards

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