A gentleman drove 372 miles to show us his complete sets of 1950's and 1960's baseball and football cards! Today, we introduce you to Bill, a man who began collecting cards in the 1950's and chose to sell his collection to Just Collect. Check out these amazing treasures!
Surely, anyone who came of age in the second half of the 1950s and early ‘60s would have an interest in baseball. It was the Golden Age of baseball, after all! And one such lover of the sport was Bill from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1955, a nine-year-old Bill began collecting cards, both baseball and football. He spent a great deal of his childhood playing with these cards in a game some might be familiar with. In the 50s when kids collected pop bottles to turn in for 2 cents a bottle deposit, most would turn their profits into penny candy, Bill was different. Instead of candy, he bought cards. Bill and his friends bought, traded or won the cards they had in their collections by playing a game many during that time knew well. Bill and the neighborhood kids would set up cards against a wall and flip them. Whoever knocked down a card got to keep it.
During the interview with Bill, he highlighted one of the best moments in his childhood when he got lucky playing the game and won a great deal of cards! He recalls using one of his lucky waxed cards to win the pot, then going home to ask his mother for shopping bags. It took five full shopping bags to transport his winnings home! It was a day Bill still looks fondly to take home his winnings, which filled five bags.
As Bill grew, so did his collection until he had thousands of cards. His collection contains near sets in ’55, ’56 , and ‘57 in addition to completed sets in ’58, ’59 and ’60 in both football and baseball, making it a monster collection! At that point, Bill thought it may be best to sell. He’d had the cards all through his childhood and into his adult life, and wanted someone else to experience the joy of having such a vast collection. He set about researching who might best help him with the task of selling his cards, and he found Just Collect. Bill, seeing the testimonials online from others, decided to get in contact with Just Collect
The main highlights of Bill’s collection include a slew of complete sets. One of which is a complete set of 1960s Topps cards with the headliner being a PSA 6 Mickey Mantle. Following that of course is a completed set of 1958 Topps Football with a Jimmy Brown rookie card in great condition. Though most of the cards remained ungraded, the sets are well preserved and do justice to Bill’s love of collecting.
Topps entered the baseball-card market in 1951 and, five years later, introduced football cards. During the first half of the 1950s, competition to sign players to deals was fierce between Bowman and Topps. However, Topps eventually won the battle by buying out Bowman for $200,000 in 1956. So, certainly, a coveted collection would be cards from 1955, the last year Bowman and Topps competed against one another, to 1960, an era when Topps largely dominated the industry. Of course, since baseball still was America’s most popular sport, sales were significantly larger for baseball than football cards.
The early Topps football cards in the late 1950s did contain some cards of stars that would reach legendary status in the 1960s, with one of the most desired cards being that of Jim Brown, considered by many to be the greatest running back in league history. Other valuable cards include the 1956 image of Colts Lenny Moore, the ’57 card of Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas and the ‘57 card of Packer quarterback Bart Starr.
By 1958, with Topps enjoying no competition after the Bowman acquisition, its baseball set expanded to 494 cards. The cards featured nine different solid color backgrounds with player portraits and team logos in the lower right corner. Key cards, of course, include Mantle, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, all of which are featured in the collections that Bill brought to us. It’s safe to say that with a legacy of cards like this, Bill’s passion will be felt by many more collectors in the future!
Here are photos of the collection:
Liking how friendly and confident the staff was, he decided to make the 372-mile drive from Lancaster to the shop in Summit, New Jersey, with his collection of 3,000 cards! Bill met with the president and owner of the company, Leighton Sheldon and the two, along with Bill’s wife, began discussing the finer details of selling Bill’s collection.
Reaching an agreement with Leighton, Bill finally sold off his prized childhood collection. While it was sad parting with the cards, Bill is thankful that he got to relive those childhood memories one last time.
Check out blogs featuring incredible collections Just Collect proudly purchased such as:
Our FREE newsletter is the best way to keep up on collections we've purchased, shows we'll be at to buy and sell collections, podcasts, cards we have for sale, and so much more! You can sign up for our newsletter by clicking below:
Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 2009 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or 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. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.
We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:
We offer many ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.
If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.
We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.
If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.
If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.
If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.
We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!
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 souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and 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.
Whether you have vintage cards or modern wax you want to sell, you can reach out to us any time!