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Just Collect does plenty of advertising and is known across the hobby as the country's top buyer of vintage sports cards. While we are always actively buying all vintage sports and non-sports cards, we are not well known in the non-sport segment of the hobby, but we're working on making more people aware of our interest in non-sports card issues.

Catching a Break – A Vintage Break

Recently, a gentleman from Pennsylvania was watching our affiliated Vintage Breaks broadcast and noticed that we were breaking a 1985 Topps Garbage Pail Kids pack. As a Vintage Breaks customer, the gentleman contacted Just Collect because of the affiliation and advised that he had a significant hoard of Garbage Pail Kids cards from all 15 Series released from 1985-1988, including complete sets of each series, wax boxes from many of the later series and hundreds and hundreds of duplicates. He had purchased the collection from a friend of his that had collected the issue and had squirreled away this non-sport treasure trove.

The Set

Originally released by The Topps Company in 1985 as a parody of the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, Garbage Pail Kids (GPK) became an underground hit, but mass appeal was slow in developing. Similar in style to Wacky Packages, GPK featured character names that were word plays.

The product picked up steam as teachers cited the cards as being distractions to their classrooms and many schools actually took steps to ban students from bringing GPK's to school. However, the novelty began to wane and with slumping sales, a planned 16th Series was scrapped and the original series (OS) concluded with the Series 15 release in 1988.

Although the 3-year run of GPK cards was a commercial success, screen adaptations were not as successful. An animated television series was created, but due to parental complaints, the scheduled broadcast was postponed. A live action movie (The Garbage pail Kids Movie) was also created and released in 1987 and advertised on the Series 9 and Series 10 box-topper poster and variant wrapper. It bombed critically and commercially and has been dubbed by some critics as one of the worst movie ever made.

Perhaps the most iconic card in the set is card 8a (Adam Bomb). The image was used on the wax packs of the first five series.

Purchasing the Collection

We provided an estimated purchased offer on the collection based upon some images and a detailed description of the entirety of the collection. Our ballpark estimates met with the seller's anticipation and he agreed to ship the collection to our Somerset, NJ office for in-hand review, final evaluation and our purchase offer.

Upon receipt, we examined the collection which included 3 complete Series 1 sets, both "a" and "b" as well as two of almost every other series including most of the variations. In addition, there were complete wax boxes from Series 8 through Series 15 and a few loose packs from Series 4-6.

Schedule an Appointment to Meet Just Collect at a Show Near You

Just Collect travels to several shows on a regular basis. In the New York area, we often attend the White Plains Show at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY. If you're in the New England area, you can make an appointment to meet with one of our specialists when we're in the area for the Shriner's Show at the Aleppo Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. We also visit the Metro-DC area when we attend the CSA Show in Chantilly, VA. If you're in the South Jersey or Delaware area, you can also schedule appointments while we're in the Philadelphia area when we do The Philly Show in Valley Forge, PA.

We set up at The National Sports Collectors Convention every year and this year, it will be at the Stephens Convention Center in the Rosemont section of Chicago, IL and it has also been in Cleveland, Atlantic City and Baltimore in recent years. Additionally, we travel to the Sports Card and Memorabilia Expo in Mississauga, Ontario for those of you in the Toronto area that want to meet with us in Canada.

We would love to meet with you and schedule a private appointment to assess and value your collection while we are in your area, so please check out our show and travel schedule to see when Just Collect will be in your area!

Our Buying Philosophy

We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the past decade. Although we are known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage basketball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, also!

Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and soul into building their collection. So when you're ready to sell, Just Collect understands the feelings that you're going through and we will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.

Won't They Be Worth More if I Grade Them Myself

We discuss all of the selling options with everyone that we meet with. In most cases, selling the collection on their own will put the most money on the bottom line, but it will also take an large commitment of time and energy and one that most are not ready or able to undertake. Another misconception is that grading the collection will return more money. When I hear people say, "You're just going to grade them and get ten times the money," I almost cringe. Grading a collection can be a money losing proposition, especially if you don't know what you're doing. And most times, we grade very few, if any cards, from average collections that we buy.

We value a collection based upon the condition and the value. If a card is worth $100 in a PSA 7 NM, we're going to value it at $100 whether it is ungraded or graded. You can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars grading your cards, but we're still valuing them the same and paying the same regardless of how much you've invested in grading them.

We Are Always Buying

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss your collection and get our industry leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace.

Don't hesitate to check out our Google Reviews left by many of the great people that have considered selling collections to Just Collect

"Garbage Pail Kids Collection - Catching a Vintage Break" Video: