OT: Eat your hearts out baseball (and basketball) card collectors - time to check auntie's attic

[mn78psu83]

LINK: Hundreds of unopened sports card packs found in aunt's attic likely to top $1 million

Box of unopened 1948 Bowman. Nice.

"The hard decision whether to open the Bowman packs will rest with the winner in Mile High’s auction running to June 15th. Last month, an unopened pack of 1948 Bowman basketball cards fetched $55,200 in a Memory Lane Auction, and basketball cards run a very distant third to baseball, our national pastime— behind football. Since the 1948 baseball display box holds 19 of the 24 original wax packs, simple arithmetic suggests that, if they do at least as well as the basketball, the total value will exceed $1 million."

 

[mrtailgate]

I was a dealer in unopened material for years. Nothing of this magnitude obviously, but I did have one amazing source of unopened hockey and was well known enough that a lot of material passed through my hands. I loved the old 70's basketball since it was in short supply. I did enough football and baseball but liked the basketball the most.

I had clients who owned hobby stores with deep pocket clients. They would frequently play "pack poker." Each person would purchase a pack and everyone would open the packs. The person with the highest valued card in the pack would get all the cards from everyone playing.

Some nights I would sell these guys upward to 10 grand in unopened product. It was a crazy time when the card collecting hobby was at its peak.

 

[Jerademan74]

LINK: Hundreds of unopened sports card packs found in aunt's attic likely to top $1 million

Box of unopened 1948 Bowman. Nice.

"The hard decision whether to open the Bowman packs will rest with the winner in Mile High’s auction running to June 15th. Last month, an unopened pack of 1948 Bowman basketball cards fetched $55,200 in a Memory Lane Auction, and basketball cards run a very distant third to baseball, our national pastime— behind football. Since the 1948 baseball display box holds 19 of the 24 original wax packs, simple arithmetic suggests that, if they do at least as well as the basketball, the total value will exceed $1 million."

My brothers and I had an amazing collection of baseball cards that we kept in the attic of our parents home in Philly. We all married and left the house and our our beloved mother, unknowing of the value of these cards, threw all the boxes away without telling us, thinking they were just old "toys" we didn't need. Sure wish we had access to those cards today as many were in mint condition, especially the then stars such as Willie Mays, Richie Allen, Johnny Callison, Orlando Cepeda, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose. Sandy Koufax, Willie Stargell, Warren Spahn, etc.

 

[kgilbert78]

Thankfully, while some of it did get misplaced or grabbed by old roomies, my mom did *not* throw out my 1968 Topps--including my Nolan Ryan and Bench rookies. I'm about 50 shy of a complete set, most of it on the last checklist.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

My brothers and I had an amazing collection of baseball cards that we kept in the attic of our parents home in Philly. We all married and left the house and our our beloved mother, unknowing of the value of these cards, threw all the boxes away without telling us, thinking they were just old "toys" we didn't need.

ouch. that hurts.

 

[mn78psu83]

My brothers and I had an amazing collection of baseball cards that we kept in the attic of our parents home in Philly. We all married and left the house and our our beloved mother, unknowing of the value of these cards, threw all the boxes away without telling us, thinking they were just old "toys" we didn't need. Sure wish we had access to those cards today as many were in mint condition, especially the then stars such as Willie Mays, Richie Allen, Johnny Callison, Orlando Cepeda, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose. Sandy Koufax, Willie Stargell, Warren Spahn, etc.

As a kid, we used to flip cards on the playground and that didn't help to preserve their condition. I have no idea what happened to my cards. I can remember buying my first pack with my father in 1966 or 1967. The first card in the pack was John Boozer, fitting. That was one heckuva stretch of bad Phillies teams.

 

[Chickenman Testa]

As a kid, we used to flip cards on the playground and that didn't help to preserve their condition. I have no idea what happened to my cards. I can remember buying my first pack with my father in 1966 or 1967. The first card in the pack was John Boozer, fitting. That was one heckuva stretch of bad Phillies teams.

How about putting them in the spokes of your bike tire to make a sound?

My coolest cards are my ABA cards - sweet afros and great team names (Kentucky Colonels, San Diego Sails)

 

[mn78psu83]

How about putting them in the spokes of your bike tire to make a sound?

My coolest cards are my ABA cards - sweet afros and great team names (Kentucky Colonels, San Diego Sails)

Yeah. We did that too. Talk about fun times. Remember when we used to get Nets games sometimes on channel 29(?) on Saturday nights? I loved watching the ABA games.

 

[humpydudas19]

As "vengeance" for a "bad" report card (got a "C") and not wanting to be a sissy for playing the piano constantly while my friends and cousins were capering, my mom burned hundreds of thousands of dollars in baseball cards in the driveway.

 

[Cletus11]

My dad grew up in upstate New York in the 50's and 60's. Huge Yankee fan. His parents owned a small country store. He used to collect Yankee and only Yankee baseball cards. he would steam open the packs of cards from the store when they arrived, take out all the Yankee cards insert other cards to make the pack full again, and then glue them back together. He knows that he had at least a dozen Mickie Mantle rookie cards, along with every other Yankee of that era including Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Joe Dimaggio, etc...his collection would have been worth several million as the Mickie Mantle rookie is worth a couple of hundred thousand alone. He had them all in shoe boxes as was common at the time and in the attic of the his family's house which was over the store. After he graduated from college, his parents moved to NJ for a couple of years as his father took a contract job there working a large public works project, during that time, they rented the house. In the late 70's when collectors started to become more common and the value of old cards started to become more widespread, he remembered his old cards in the attic and went to find them. They were missing. he can only think that the people that rented the house for those couple of years must have taken them as nobody else remembered ever throwing them out over the years.

 

[aferrelli]

My dad grew up in upstate New York in the 50's and 60's. Huge Yankee fan. His parents owned a small country store. He used to collect Yankee and only Yankee baseball cards. he would steam open the packs of cards from the store when they arrived, take out all the Yankee cards insert other cards to make the pack full again, and then glue them back together. He knows that he had at least a dozen Mickie Mantle rookie cards, along with every other Yankee of that era including Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Joe Dimaggio, etc...his collection would have been worth several million as the Mickie Mantle rookie is worth a couple of hundred thousand alone. He had them all in shoe boxes as was common at the time and in the attic of the his family's house which was over the store. After he graduated from college, his parents moved to NJ for a couple of years as his father took a contract job there working a large public works project, during that time, they rented the house. In the late 70's when collectors started to become more common and the value of old cards started to become more widespread, he remembered his old cards in the attic and went to find them. They were missing. he can only think that the people that rented the house for those couple of years must have taken them as nobody else remembered ever throwing them out over the years.

Thanks for sharing. Such a sad story. Ouch!!!

 

[Mr. Potter]

My dad grew up in upstate New York in the 50's and 60's. Huge Yankee fan. His parents owned a small country store. He used to collect Yankee and only Yankee baseball cards. he would steam open the packs of cards from the store when they arrived, take out all the Yankee cards insert other cards to make the pack full again, and then glue them back together. He knows that he had at least a dozen Mickie Mantle rookie cards, along with every other Yankee of that era including Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Joe Dimaggio, etc...his collection would have been worth several million as the Mickie Mantle rookie is worth a couple of hundred thousand alone. He had them all in shoe boxes as was common at the time and in the attic of the his family's house which was over the store. After he graduated from college, his parents moved to NJ for a couple of years as his father took a contract job there working a large public works project, during that time, they rented the house. In the late 70's when collectors started to become more common and the value of old cards started to become more widespread, he remembered his old cards in the attic and went to find them. They were missing. he can only think that the people that rented the house for those couple of years must have taken them as nobody else remembered ever throwing them out over the years.

Karma's a bitch

 

[Lyons212]

My brothers and I had an amazing collection of baseball cards that we kept in the attic of our parents home in Philly. We all married and left the house and our our beloved mother, unknowing of the value of these cards, threw all the boxes away without telling us, thinking they were just old "toys" we didn't need. Sure wish we had access to those cards today as many were in mint condition, especially the then stars such as Willie Mays, Richie Allen, Johnny Callison, Orlando Cepeda, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose. Sandy Koufax, Willie Stargell, Warren Spahn, etc.

My Mom did the same thing.

 

[LionJim]

Yeah. We did that too. Talk about fun times. Remember when we used to get Nets games sometimes on channel 29(?) on Saturday nights? I loved watching the ABA games.

Yes, watching Rick Barry in his prime, that was pretty cool.

 

[BrucePa]

Thankfully, while some of it did get misplaced or grabbed by old roomies, my mom did *not* throw out my 1968 Topps--including my Nolan Ryan and Bench rookies. I'm about 50 shy of a complete set, most of it on the last checklist.

I have that complete set, as well as the 1967 Topps, with all errors and variations, and with all inserts.

 

[kgilbert78]

Yes, watching Rick Barry in his prime, that was pretty cool.

I remember watching the Doc in his early years playing for the Virginia Squires.

 

[LionJim]

I remember watching the Doc in his early years playing for the Virginia Squires.

For some reason ABA Doc never got on my radar.

 

[mn78psu83]

Yes, watching Rick Barry in his prime, that was pretty cool.

I was a Charlie Scott fan and got to see him when he played for the Squires. Exciting.

 

[pandaczar12]

I have that complete set, as well as the 1967 Topps, with all errors and variations, and with all inserts.

What inserts did they have in those days?

 

[manatree]

This oft opined scenario has always made me wonder if something was truly of great value to you, would you really let it linger in a shoe box in your mom's attic?

 

[katchthis]

For some reason ABA Doc never got on my radar.

You were probably too busy working on your ciphering.

 

[BrucePa]

What inserts did they have in those days?

In '67, it was the 5"x7" posters, folded to fit in the pack, so hard to find in good condition these days. In '68, it was the 33-card game set.

 

[EPC FAN]

My dad grew up in upstate New York in the 50's and 60's. Huge Yankee fan. His parents owned a small country store. He used to collect Yankee and only Yankee baseball cards. he would steam open the packs of cards from the store when they arrived, take out all the Yankee cards insert other cards to make the pack full again, and then glue them back together. He knows that he had at least a dozen Mickie Mantle rookie cards, along with every other Yankee of that era including Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Joe Dimaggio, etc...his collection would have been worth several million as the Mickie Mantle rookie is worth a couple of hundred thousand alone. He had them all in shoe boxes as was common at the time and in the attic of the his family's house which was over the store. After he graduated from college, his parents moved to NJ for a couple of years as his father took a contract job there working a large public works project, during that time, they rented the house. In the late 70's when collectors started to become more common and the value of old cards started to become more widespread, he remembered his old cards in the attic and went to find them. They were missing. he can only think that the people that rented the house for those couple of years must have taken them as nobody else remembered ever throwing them out over the years.

Since he was a thief, I have no problem with him taking one in the kiester.

 

[Mack_Daddy]

I was a dealer in unopened material for years. Nothing of this magnitude obviously, but I did have one amazing source of unopened hockey and was well known enough that a lot of material passed through my hands. I loved the old 70's basketball since it was in short supply. I did enough football and baseball but liked the basketball the most.

I had clients who owned hobby stores with deep pocket clients. They would frequently play "pack poker." Each person would purchase a pack and everyone would open the packs. The person with the highest valued card in the pack would get all the cards from everyone playing.

Some nights I would sell these guys upward to 10 grand in unopened product. It was a crazy time when the card collecting hobby was at its peak.

Whats the going rate for an unopened female?

 

[pandaczar12]

In '67, it was the 5"x7" posters, folded to fit in the pack, so hard to find in good condition these days. In '68, it was the 33-card game set.

Thanks!