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From Babe Ruth to Jim Brown The Netcong, NJ Vintage Collection Shines

$50,000 + Collection in Vintage Cards Purchased After House Call to Netcong, NJ.

December 15, 2025

Vintage cards of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and more brought Just Collect to a road trip in Netcong, NJ. This $50,000 + collection included COMPLETE sets of vintage Topps and Bowman cards that the owner didn't know she had!

When Margot's husband, George, passed away in 2021, she inherited his collection of vintage cards. George collected cards for almost 50 years, amassing cards of legendary players across sports such as Babe Ruth, Jim Brown, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. When it came time to sell the collection, a friend of George told Margo to contact Just Collect and they would take care of her. The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections and teach you about "old" PSA labels vs. "new" PSA labels. This is where we are happy to help you! We have purchased thousands upon thousands of collections and bought and sold over 50 MILLION dollars in cards. George's friend pointed Margot to the right place! Today, we introduce you to the Netcong, NJ. Collection.

THE NETCONG, NJ COLLECTION

In the first photo below, you'll see a few of the greatest names in baseball history: Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, and Babe Ruth; you're looking at arguably the greatest hitters and greatest pitcher in one photo. Williams won two Triple Crowns (leading the league in average, homer runs, and runs batted in) TWICE (1942 and 1947), Mantle did so in 1957, and Koufax won the Triple Crown for pitching (leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts) an incredible THREE times (1963, 1965, and 1966). Babe Ruth set every record we could think of! You may not know a single thing about sports or cards, but you probably know Babe Ruth. The taller, black and white cards are Exhibits which were produced between 1947 and 1966. The Koufax card is a postcard (remember mailing those out while on vacation?) signed with a beautiful signature. Mantle also inked his name on the 1981 Perez-Steel Hall of Fame postcard. The two Babe Ruth cards are from the 1932 Sanella Margarine release from Germany. These Sanella cards are a great way to own a playing-days Ruth card at an affordable cost! To see other Ruth cards you could own on a budget, we list a few for you HERE. Each of these cards have been graded, but there were plenty of "raw" / ungraded beauties in the collection, too.

Mickey Mantle steals the show in the second photo. The three-time MVP and seven-time World Series champion for the New York Yankees has a run of cards here including 1954 Bowman (first card) and 1968 Topps (last card). The 1968 Topps set not only features Mantle from the last year he played a game, but also includes the rookie card of young fireballer named Nolan Ryan! In the third photo you can see a pair of Nolan Ryan rookies. In the same photo are other icons including Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Tom Seaver's rookie card, and a 1954 Red Heart Mickey Mantle. How popular were baseball cards in the 1950's? So much so that Red Heart, a DOG FOOD company, released a 33-card set including The Mick.

Surprise sets? YES! Margot was not aware her husband had completed full sets. A few key sets stored in binders were 1954 Bowman baseball, 1957 Topps baseball, 1958 Topps baseball, 1959 Topps baseball cards, and 1962 Topps baseball cards. The next five photos show each set in a binder, one of the ways we recommend to safely store your cards. While we would love each card to always be MINT, we have an appreciation for this collection by seeing each card in the binder; we know that George loved collecting! Holding cards he may have pulled himself out of packs as a kid. The "collectors" grade is what we call a "well loved" card. Perhaps, as a young collector yourself, you would put a rubber band around a stack and toss those cards in a shoebox - you, like us, we're a collector, and your cards were in that "collector's grade." Days when a pack of Topps baseball cards set you back a nickel, gas was about 30 cents a gallon (what we wouldn't give...), and the only way you knew a player's stats were by reading the back of their card!

The ninth photo is a PSA 6 card from the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set. Teddy Ballgame had a set dedicated solely to him, but it isn't him on the card which makes this one valuable! Leighton explains that Bucky Harris is on the card with Williams, and Bucky had an exclusive contract with Topps. Fleer had to stop production on card #68, "Ted Signs." At Just Collect, we do more than appraise and purchase collections; we want to help you learn about cards! This is one of the many reasons we bring you The Set of the Week series; you can learn about rare sets like 1914 T222 Fatima cards.

George also collected football cards and like the baseball names, you see a who's who of the gridiron! Starting off the football collection is a run of Jim Brown cards. Brown won Rookie of the Year, the MVP three times, and led the league in rushing eight times - and only played nine seasons. Let that sink in for a second - he played 9 years and was the best runner for 8. TWO Brown rookies from the 1958 Topps football set! Vintage football continues and in the next photo is a pair of Johnny Unitas rookie cards from the 1957 Topps football set. Before Peyton Manning, Johnny U set the records at QB for the Colts. Unitas won Super Bowl V, three NFL Championships, and was named league MVP three times.

Da Bears! Mike Ditka's rookie card is found in 1962 Topps and George had one Chicago icon in the collection. Next to Ditka is an Ernie Davis rookie card from the same set. Tragically, Davis passed away from cancer at the age of only 23. Davis won the Heisman Trophy at Syracuse and was the number one pick in the draft by the Washington Redskins and traded to the Cleveland Browns.

As your eyes move to the next couple of photos, you see cards from the 1966 Topps football set including THREE cards of Joe Namath! Leighton is a Jets fan so he can't pass up a Broadway Joe card. Hall of Fame names continue including a 1972 Topps rookie card of four-time Super Bowl champion, Terry Bradshaw in the 14th photo below.

A few vintage basketball cards were in the collection including a 1969 Topps "Tall Boys" rookie card of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Topps made the 99-card set 2-1/2” by 4-11/16”, in size, much bigger than a standard-card size today of 2-1/2" by 3-1/2". You can see how tall the cards cards are as Leighton holds the Kareem rookie. Kareem won SIX MVP awards, and won six NBA Championships on the way to retiring as the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.

Rather than just showing you the cards, we also take you behind-the-scenes in the last few photos and a VIDEO! Please enjoy The Netcong, NJ. Collection:

Video of Leighton Appraising and Purchasing The Netcong, NJ. Collection at Margo's Home:

APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

Margot reached out via phone and spoke with our Acquisitions Specialist, Dan. Margot was very adamant about us going to her home because of the size of the collection. Dan told her since she's local it wouldn't be a problem, but we needed more information before we made a commitment of going. Dan asked Margot for images of the best cards of the collection. She got back to Dan with mostly all of her PSA and SGC graded cards and some ungraded, he began to document and appraise the cards. We then offered Margot an initial appraisal of $33,275 for just those cards. That included 80% for her graded cards and 60% for her ungraded cards. She was happy with the offer and wanted to move forward with the next step, a visit from our owner, Leighton. He traveled to Netcong to see the cards in-person. At Just Collect, we have many ways to view and appraise your collection! If you're near Summit, NJ., you can stop by our store. We have a shipping option with our two-day, fully-insured FedEx account, and we often attend the biggest card shows in the Country where you could stop by our booths. We recently purchased and sold collections at The Philly Show, and we'll be attending the National in Chicago next Summer. Given the amount of cards in Margo's collection, Leighton wanted to travel to her and see ALL of the cards from the collection in-person for the final review.

Margot kindly placed all cards out onto her table, each being organized very well! Leighton began to verify the graded cards first as those were already appraised prior to Leighton arriving. There were a few that were not on the list so he had to add them to the initial appraisal. After the graded cards, Leighton reviewed the ungraded cards and to his surprise there were a lot of near and complete sets that she didn't mention was there. He was happy to go through everything but knew this visit was going to take longer than expected, which was a good thing! As you know, condition is VERY important when determining the value of a card. Sometimes, a small crease in a card not visible to the naked eye could bring the value of a card down hundreds, if not thousands of dollars! For extra magnification and lighting, Leighton used his magnifier from Mr. Minty.

Leighton and Margot had an initial offer of $33,275 agreed upon from the images of her graded and ungraded cards she sent in for her free appraisal with Dan. What Margot wasn't aware of was the value of the remainder of the collection! The cards Margo did NOT send in photos of, Leighton offered Margo another $19,050, bringing the total offer to $52,325! Margot agreed to the offer, and then we paid her how she wanted to be paid. When you choose Just Collect to purchase your collection, we can pay you in cash, company check, or wire transfer.

The ungraded cards were evaluated at $31,750 and at Just Collect, we offer 60% of the value for ungraded cards. For the graded cards, we paid 80% of the value. At Just Collect, we like to pay as much as we can for a collection, and always try to pay more than auction sites. Things to consider at an auction site is that the house usually takes 20%. Right off the bat, you're only receiving 80% of the value on your collection at an auction site. Bidders on auctions rarely pay "retail value" for an item, too. Even if a bidder pays 90% of the value, after that 20% fee, your take-home pay is less at the auction house than what Just Collect pays for on graded cards! The ungraded cards often take a great deal of time and money to have professionally graded, too. Currently, to grade a single card at PSA, the cheapest option is $18.99 per card, but that card value has to be under $300 and the turnaround time to grade your card is 95 business days. Along with the grading cost, you also have to pay shipping fees both to and back from PSA. The better the card, the higher the cost to grade, too! A $5,000 card would fall under the "super express" grading option at PSA and the cost to grade that card is $299.99. If you have a well-conditioned 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, it will cost you around $1,999.99 under the Premium 2 option for cards valued at $50,000 or less. Grading fees is partly the reason why Just Collect offers 60% of the value for ungraded cards, but as would bidders at auction sites! Margo's friend knew this, and is exactly why he told her to come to Just Collect so we could take care of her properly with upfront, clear and honest information regarding the process we use, the value of her cards, and the amount of money we would pay her on-the-spot! Thank you for choosing us at Just Collect to take care of you, and your husband's collection, Margot!

Love this story? Check out other blogs featuring incredible collections such as:

The Oregon Farm Collection with a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle discovered in an old barn!
Two 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie cards - a pair of rookies from the Great One!
1990's Precious Metal Gem basketball cards include some of the rarest, most sought-after cards in modern history.
The Aaron Judge Collection with high-end one of one cards and multiple rookie autos.
Topps Venezuela Collection including a scarce Willie Mays card.

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WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

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 may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

Travel to Us

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.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.

Meet in New York City

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.

SHIP your collection

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.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

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.