It's Winter and we've had enough *****ing and moaning for a while. I found this and it got me thinking about that old pile of stuff in the basement.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes

The moral of the story...?

a) Leave a will that doesn't include your two cousins who don't care about baseball. (Okay, Carter?)

b) If you are a hermit and long for privacy, your face, name and 'treasure trove' will be in all the papers when you die.

c) Those things in the basement may just be better than your 401K.

d) Even hermits love our favorite game.


What'll you give me for a 1979 autographed Bruce Sutter card? It's not mint but in damn fine shape and in acrylic. I knew that guy might just pay off some day!

I have a Beckett graded Donruss Cal Ripken Jr. Autographed serial numbered card with him on his LL team.

I also have a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Junior rookie card Bekett grade 10.

All in all I have more chase card sets, autographed cards, limited edition serial numbered cards, rookie cards, and chrome refractors that I care to count.


I keep them in acrylic cases and safely stowed away so my boys don't make the same mistake we made, Windy.

Tim.

[Edited by BigUmp56 on Jan 20th, 2006 at 10:36 PM]

Interesting article. I'm not an expert in the value of sports cards, but I suspect that old guy's cards from the 1940s are the real gold mine. I had zillions of baseball cards from between 1957 and 1963, but so did a lot of other kids. Yes, the spokes of the bicycle, and inside the cap, partially so the brim stayed up, partially so the talent of the guys on the cards would be magically imparted to the wearer. My Little League hat contained Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra. (Yet I didn't make the Majors.) Since my cards have lain in a shoebox ever since, I doubt that they're worth much. I have a Topps Mets 1962 team card, though.

My father deals in art, which led an acquaintance of his to approach him for an appraisal of a painted metal sculpture for which a fancy studio had offered $5,000. Supposedly, the studio's "buyer" was leaving for Europe and had to have it immediately, couldn't wait, etc., so the offer was good for only one day. (Hmmm . . .)

My Dad advised him not to sell it to the dealer. A few months later, it brought $110,000 at Christie's in New York.

Years ago, here in New Jersey, there was a guy who paid his trash collectors $1 for every painting they brought him, no matter what it was. (This was when $1 was actually worth picking up off the sidewalk.) Over the course of a couple of decades, the trash collectors made hundreds of extra dollars from the guy. The guy himself made hundreds of thousands.

I had a Rickey Henderson rookie card back when it was worth something. My little brother stole it in the early 90s for beer money for around $200. It was part of the complete Topps 1980 set. Most of the cards were "broken in" from flipping against our fireplace hearth but apparently Rickey was in good shape. My mom threw away collected sets from 76-79. One pack at a time and local trading.

D

I have an autographed Carlton Fisk card - his kid went to Illinois State and played in our Central Illinois Collegiate League for two summers, and Carlton was a volunteer assistant one year at ISU and showed up at a bunch of the summer games. I got to know him and hit him up. As a side note, the CICL lost a lot of baseballs whenever he showed up at a game....hmmm...I wonder why....

JJ

Three autographed Mantle cards. Locked
safely away in a safe deposit box.

I guess I should have added another moral to that story...



DON'T LOCK THEM UP AND LEAVE THEM THERE - ALA THE HERMIT!

IF YOU CAN'T ENJOY LOOKING AT THEM,
MAYBE IT IS TIME TO SELL THEM TO SOMEONE WHO WILL.

What is my '86 Bill Buckner worth? Red Sox fans...anyone?

That's the beauty of having your cards graded by Beckett. They come back to you sealed in an acrylic case and a Beckett grading approval. This way they can be easily displayed in a case in your rec room or office.


Tim.