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"Multiple Mantles" was the text that came over about a collection in Oregon.  Having never purchased a collection from Oregon, I am very excited to have obtained my first from the North West!  Thanks to a friend of Just Collect, a complete 1960 Topps baseball set, 1986 Fleer basketball set with Michael Jordan PSA 8.5, and multiple Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rookies are just the tip of the iceberg in this cross-country purchase.

A friend of Just Collect and the Vintage Breaks community, Andy, reached out to me about a collection his friend's dad owned.  The text Andy's friend sent him had both of us excited to see what could be hiding in the North West: "Multiple Mantles."  

The Oregon Trail Collection

When Andy went to his friend's parents house, he wandered into the garage, passed a freezer, and headed over to three dressers.  Inside of the dresser drawers were boxes of cards.  Knowing what may be inside each box based on the "Mantles" text, Andy couldn't wait to see what was hiding in the dressers.

Card storage boxes in each drawer were labeled with the year, brand, and sport.  Knowing little about valuable players and sets, the friend asked "Is 1986 Fleer basketball any good?"  Andy knew that set includes the Michael Jordan rookie card! 

After sorting through the boxes, complete vintage sets and iconic rookie cards were all stored in a couple of dressers in a garage out in Oregon!

• Complete 1960 Topps baseball set including Mickey Mantle

I love vintage baseball sets and buying Mickey Mantle cards!  This set as you can see has the base Mantle, and the all-star Mantle. The last Mickey purchase included a 1952 Topps rookie card that was stored with jars of pickles!  Read about the "Pickles" Mantle here.

• Complete Fleer basketball sets including 1986-87 with Michael Jordan's rookie

• Complete Topps basketball sets including 1980-81 with TWO Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rookies

• Complete Topps football sets including 1984 with Dan Marino and John Elway rookie cards

• Star rookie cards and single cards from Hall of Famers from all sports such as Barry Sanders, Ken Griffey Jr, and Ted Williams.

The collection sat in the dressers pretty much untouched for about 30 years.  Finding iconic cards in dressers happens more than you'd think; always check these unexpected places you might find vintage cards!

Do you remember buying packs of 1986-87 Fleer basketball for 40 cents back at your local gas station?  Rocking the Walkman with Peter Cetera on cassette as you rode to pick up a pack and pretending you could be the next Karate Kid.

When building your sets, I bet you kept a checklist, and tucked those cards away in one of those 800-count, white storage boxes.  I did that with you, too!  I used graph paper to make my own checklist.  I don't even know the last time I've even seen graph paper...  Baseball cards (oh those sweet wood-boarded design Topps put out in 1987) filled those boxes easily as there were 792 cards in the set. I used paper towels bunched up to fill the remainder of the boxes for basketball sets.  If you're nodding, go check your old dresser drawers! 

THE PURCHASE

Buying a collection of this size and distance from the Just Collect office here in New Jersey takes a lot of careful planning, a bit of hard work, and I LOVE doing it.  First, I set up a conference call with Andy, his friend, and his friend's dad.  

Andy's friend's dad was unsure about the value of his collection.  With high-end cards like a Jordan rookie or the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rookie cards, he didn't want to sell without knowing the true value of his cards.  I completely agreed with him!  The price difference between a Gem Mint and a Near Mint card of that nature could be thousands of dollars.  I wanted to help the family with grading the top cards so they get a clear idea of the value. Imagine if the Jordan card was Gem Mint but I offered Near Mint value.  The dad would sell his collection for thousands of dollars less than what's it is worth, and he and I would most likely never do business again.  I'm a firm believer in karma and I'd never want such a thing to happen to me; that's not how I do business here at Just Collect.  If you have a Gem Mint card, you receive a fair offer for a Gem Mint card.  I worked to get those high-end cards graded professionally for the family.

Andy I explained how to get a card graded by the top grading company, PSA.  PSA assigns grades on a scale from 1 to 10.  Once the cards were graded by PSA, the Michael Jordan rookie card came back with a grade of 8.5.  Bird-Magic cards were given a PSA 7, and 7.5, respectively.  Now I was able to give the family a fair offer for their collection to which they agreed.

After the father accepted the offer, I had the collection SHIPPED from Oregon back to New Jersey.  I offered my two-day, fully insured FedEx account with the fees covered by me. 

If you and I agree to buy your collection and you're not comfortable shipping, we can meet in a variety of ways!

• Travel to me!

Recently I met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet me to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here. 

• I'll Come to You!

Now that travel has opened up more here in the US, I could always take a flight to come see you.

• Come to a Show

I keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending to buy and sell!  Come stop by our booth!  I just went to the Philadelphia Valley Forge show and will certainly be at The National.

After you and I agree on a deal, I can pay you in cash, check, we can wire money, or put a fresh coat of paint on those old dresser drawers if you want; you name the type of payment!

A HUGE thank you to Andy for helping me secure the first collection I ever purchased from Oregon!  If you know anyone with a collection they may want to sell, don't hesitate to reach out!  I'd love to purchase more Pacific Coast League card collections from out West!  Baseball card shops aren't around as much as they once were back when we had Walkmans but Just Collect is always open to buying your collection. 

I can't wait to head out to Oregon for more collections. Not only did I get great at making checklists from graph paper in the 1980's, I also got pretty good at fording rivers and avoid dying of dysentery.  

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. Your collection doesn't have to be all vintage like this collection either!  I recently bought a graded card collection of more modern cards that was filled with rookie cards of Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, and even Hulk Hogan that you can see here.

If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact me today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and I 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 blog here. 

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

I'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, I am also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!  

Every collection and every collector is different and I treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. I understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, I 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, I'm not happy.

CONTACT ME ANY TIME

Whether you have complete vintage sets, single cards of players like Mickey Mantle or Michael Jordan, or even cards of select modern stars, I'd love to hear from you!  You can reach out any time!  

• JustCollect.com
• (732) 828-2261
• Leighton@justcollect.com
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