Just Collect is always looking to purchase more vintage cards and collections for inventory to offer to our large and growing customer base of more than 40,000 clients. Attending card shows and conventions allows us to view a lot of material that other collectors and dealers are looking to sell affords us the opportunity to purchase more cards to eventually offer to our customers.
Many people think that baseball card dealers set up at shows with the sole purpose of selling cards to collectors. Just Collect also sets up to buy cards and collections from collectors.
Shows Aren't Always About Selling
When you buy as many collection as Just Collect does, you accumulate some substantial inventory that we look for other ways to offer some of this incredible inventory to our customers and to the public that we may not be readily able to offer via the Internet. Maybe it is because the items are too bulky to easily ship or maybe they are a regional item. We find that sometimes, while we're at shows, we are able to offer items to our customers even though we don't regularly offer them online via our eBay listings for graded cards and our eBay listings for ungraded cards. But shows aren't just about selling. They're also about buying. They're also about meeting the great people that buy from us and sell to us and have helped allow us to bring so many great cards, collections and stories to the public.
Preparing and attending shows and conventions requires a lot of work and while it is not something that we do all of the time (we're not regulars on the dealer show circuit), we do make every effort to be prepared and alert our customer base when we'll be in the area. In fact, if you bookmark our Travel and Show Schedule, you can stay up-to-date on when our specialists will be in your area!
We're Coming to You
We have several collectors that have reached out to us from the Philadelphia area, but weren't ready to travel to our Somerset, NJ offices. So, before we left for The Philly show in Valley Forge, PA, we reached out to several of these collectors to schedule appointments to view their collections while we were in the area.
One such collector was hesitant about shipping his collection and wasn't really up for traveling, but since we were going to be near his home in Pennsylvania, we were able to schedule and appointment to meet him at this home and review the collection.
The collection wasn't large as far as volume of cards, but it featured runs of several of the prominent players from the 1950's and 1960's and spanned from the 1950's into the early 1980's with a lot of Philadelphia Phillies players added in. The key was a Mickey Mantle run that featured most of his Topps cards beginning with his 1956 Topps.
In addition to Mantle's run of the standard issue Topps cards from 1956 to 1969, the run include many of the League Leader cards as well as many Highlight, World Series and Multi-player cards featuring The Mick. And even though the cards were far from being in MINT condition, they still held plenty of value.
Willie and Hank
Plenty of Star and Rookie Power
There were some other star cards and rookie cards in the collection, including a little Philadelphia flavor with a 1965 Topps Steve Carlton rookie card and a 1973 Topps Mike Schmidt rookie card. In addition to a lot of Phillies cards, there were cards of Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Jim Palmer, Thurman Munson and many other stars.
OH!?! O-Pee-Chee!
We see a lot of cards in collections and occasionally, there is something that pops up that you don't expect. This collection had a little something that wasn't expected.
At Just Collect, we buy a lot of collections from Canada, so we're used to see O-Pee-Chee baseball cards. We sometimes see them pop up in domestic collections that we buy. This collection had one card that really took us by surprise . . . a 1968 O-Pee-Chee Nolan Ryan rookie card. The card is virtually identical to the Topps issue on the obverse, but the reverse of the O-Pee-Chee is a reddish-tan rather than the canary yellow of the Topps cards.
After assessing the collection, we prepared the evaluation and values of the collection and made the gentleman an offer that he happily accepted.
So, whether we have a great show or a bad show, being able to arrange meetings like this and to view and possibly buy collections outside of the show is a WIN/WIN for everyone.
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 IX Center in Cleveland, OH and it has been in Chicago, 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.
The "We're Going to the Show Collection" Video: