What do you store your collection in? A suitcase? A shoe box? A cigar box? Grocery bags? Sandwich bags?
Over the past decade, we've bought hundreds upon hundreds of collections and we've had them show up to in a wide variety of storage containers. Recently, we had a New Jersey man contact us with a small collection of cards that he had and we provided a preliminary evaluation based upon some images of the collection. While it wasn't life changing money, he noted that he wanted to come to our office and sell us the collection.
A Small School of 1960's Topps Cards
The initial collection consisted of a few hundred cards from 1962 through 1970 and included a a few off-grade stars including mid 1960's examples of Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax. Given the condition, we figured the collection would be worth a few hundred dollars, pending in-hand review and evaluation. The owner said that he believed that the valuation was fair and accurate.
More On The Line
A date was set and the gentleman showed up at our Somerset, NJ office. In addition to the few hundred baseball cards, he also had a stack of a about 200 1969 Topps Basketball cards and an assortment of about 200 non-sport cards. He noted that he had found these during the time that he had scheduled the appointment and was hopeful that they would have some additional value. Ironically, the stack of basketball cards contained more value than the entirety of his baseball collection. Why? Because the basketball cards, while some had water damage, contained 3 Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ) rookie cards, Wilt Chamberlain, and multiples of players like Jerry West, Al Attles, and Elgin Baylor. There were also quite a few HOF rookie cards of players like Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, John Havlicek, Evlin Hayes, and Bill Bradley.
It's in the Can
The unique aspect of this collection, outside of the fact that the value ended up being far more than the owner originally anticipated, was that the collection was brought to us in a WILD PLANET Wild Albacore Tuna box.
We were quite pleased to have landed this collection, and fish puns not withstanding, sometimes, the extra cards that you find that you may not think have too much value might be worth a lot more than you think!
Video of "A Fishy Story: Tall Boys, Baseball and Non-Sport Collection"
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. Next year, 2020, The National will be at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, NJ. It has also been in Cleveland, Chicago 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.