Trading Card Experts Needed: Stumbled Upon Rare baseball cards from the 90s and need some advice

[srjclone]

Hey All, it's been some time since I've posted on the forums but thought now as good of time as any to see if I can get some insight from the CycloneFanatic community members that are into/care about trading cards. Specifically Baseball.

Long story short I was back home at my parents house over the weekend for a funeral and my cousins and I were having some drinks discussing god-knows what when my cousin pulls out a bag of baseball cards crudely stuffed behind their basement bar. For sh**s and gigs we started digging through them as my cousin finds card collecting fascinating and wanted to see if there was anything in there worth more than a few bucks.
We dump them out and I sift through a mound of old SI for Kids trading cards and bent paper cards that had relatively known yet obscure players on them. Then I find a single card amongst them all that is in a casing (god knows why my kid self thought it worthwhile enough to case this single card, but I did (along with a holographic blue-eyes white dragon go figure)). I then find 8 other cards in the same print style that are un-cased but have just as many heavy hitter names.
The card in the casing was a 1997/1998 Barry Bonds DonRuss Crusade Call to Arms card that apparently only 100 of them were made.
The other cards were either DonRuss Crusade Call to Arms or a DonRuss Regular/"base" layout. 1 green and the rest purple or purple/yellow.
Players: Chipper Jones, Barry Larkin, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Pokey Reese & Tom Glavine (possibly one other not as big of a name)

My cousin who has dabbled in trading starts looking them up and to her surprise sees that the Chipper and Barry Bonds in the same card set, with high PSA levels, are being sold online for 2400 and 6500 respectively. Shocking, I know. But here is the kicker: we come to find that the cards I had were "Executive Samples or Proofs" that the card community says are even more rare with anywhere from 1 to 10 total were made. The back of the card has the same layout of ____/100 or ___/250 but these cards show XXX/100 or XXX/250.
We hastily took them in to the local card shop and appraiser and the man was at a loss for words. He honestly said he wouldn't feel comfortable giving me an offer because he has no idea how much they could be worth as he'd never seen anything like it. He sleeved and hard covered them at no cost and told me to think on what I wanted to do with them and if I wanted to sell them he could assist in that on Ebay for a fee (which Ebay then takes a fee for themselves)

My point of this post is to get some honest feedback from people knowledgeable about this stuff. I believe the store owner was being honest in that he can't say for certain what they are worth, but his vibe made me think they could be so rare it is worth going to an official source. He also mentioned it probably best to not get them PSA leveled as that could only bring down the potential cost at sale.
Should I explore this more and try to get an accurate pricing evaluation or should I try to sell these directly myself on ebay, setting the starting bid high and letting the market do its thing?

For insight, this is the exact card I have just the back shows XXX/100 rather than 075/100: https://www.ebay.com/itm/363407966889


Any insight is much appreciated as I try to weigh my options.

 

[JayV]

First, as with anything, an asking price on eBay or elsewhere doesn't mean a buyer will pay that price. I could list a basic paper clip for $1,000,000 but it doesn't make paperclips worth anything.

I don't know about these particular cards, but I wouldn't dismiss PSA grading automatically. PSA grading will do two things. First it will verify them as authentic. With higher priced cards some people will only buy graded because they avoid counterfeits that way. Second, PSA will assign a grade. The grade may increase or decrease sale value. If it comes back graded a 10 the value has just gone way up. I (and I think most people) wouldn't pay close to PSA 10 prices on an ungraded card. The difference between a 9 and a 10 is small, but the price is usually large. You could always get one graded and, if you aren't happy with the grade, remove it from the case PSA puts it in and try selling it ungraded.

 

[Bipolarcy]

I'm no expert by any means, but I think you'll find that cards from the 90s have little to no value as everyone was catching on to the fact that old baseball cards could be valuable by then and started hoarding them. They are as common as rain drops for the most part. A collection, however, of the best names of the era might have some better value if sold all together.

 

[clone52]

Sounds like a cool find.

I think the Bonds card you linked is likely highly overpriced on ebay. Per PSA, that card might be worth 1-2K at a PSA 10. Taking a look at the sold items on ebay helps.

Looking at ebay sales, it looks like even the normal cards are really rare, let along your Proofs. Seems like you'd want to get the cards graded if they are in good condition (even PSA 8's sell well to make up the cost to grade them).

An ebay search of 1998 Donruss Crusade Call to Arms Proof finds some of what you talk about.

 

[clone52]

I'm no expert by any means, but I think you'll find that cards from the 90s have little to no value as everyone was catching on to the fact that old baseball cards could be valuable by then and started hoarding them. They are as common as rain drops for the most part. A collection, however, of the best names of the era might have some better value if sold all together.

The cards he describes do seem to have significant value. They were rare inserts in regular donruss cards it appears.

 

[HFCS]

The cards he describes do seem to have significant value. They were rare inserts in regular donruss cards it appears.

It's all about grading too though. I'm not into cards at all anymore but I still am into comics, video games and toys to an extent.

You can see the ebay listing for $1600 is rare 10 grade, the next one is a typical 8 grade at $160 with 8 hours left. Listing, who knows what they'd sell for. Someone else is selling a 9 grade for $5000. The only thing I learn from that is typical grade is probably worth at least $200. (again I know nothing about baseball cards but if these were graded comics that's what I'd think)

I think for cards grading is fantastic, you can still see the whole product. For comics the idea of "slabbing" it is kind of sad to me but I get it. For video games I think it's rather absurd but it is happening. Action figures on cards makes sense to grade/slab too.

 

[CYdTracked]

I've got a bunch of basketball cards stored away in my basement that are probably mostly 90's maybe some late 80's and a few 1 offs older than that I am curious to pull out some day and see if I have anything worth something now. Like someone said the 90's eras of cards seem to not be valued as much as you would think even though they are 25-35 years old now. I used to subscribe to Beckett in HS just so I could track card prices, it usually gave you a high and low range and the local sports card shop would usually buy for the low end unless it was something tough to get then they'd maybe come up to somewhere in the middle or so. They gotta make some money too so they aren't going to give you the top end as that is what they will try to sell for.

I had a roommate that used to sell cards on eBay but he seemed pretty in tune with what they were worth and would get them graded before he listed them. He usually had a reserve set on the higher valued ones and it was interesting to see some of them sell for more than he thought he'd get as there is always someone out there that is probably looking for their favorite player's card and finds it worth it to them even if they overpaid.

 

[srjclone]

Thanks for your feedback and I am aware of the Ebay selling for price is not the market value, but being that I cannot find any other proofs for sale I am going off of what I can find similar to the ones I have online currently.

The PSA thing i think will be a card by card thing if I do it, as some have a few scratches or smudges, but not hugely noticable, however the card guy told me he wouldn't get 2 PSA'd and rather just have them authenticate them for proof of legitimacy. He said that because they seemed to be so rare if putting them in for PSA would garner a 7 or below it would only hurt the sale as the buyer could use that as ammo in their negotiations. So I'll probably get them all authenticated but grade by how the cards seems it would grade.

I appreciate the insight!

 

[srjclone]

The cards he describes do seem to have significant value. They were rare inserts in regular donruss cards it appears.

Yes, and that is what I'm hoping some more people may be aware of. I've never heard of proofs before this, let alone finding some being sold.
These proofs never made it into packs, obviously, so it's difficult to find much on the market for selling them.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Yes, and that is what I'm hoping some more people may be aware of. I've never heard of proofs before this, let alone finding some being sold.
These proofs never made it into packs, obviously, so it's difficult to find much on the market for selling them.

I’ll give you $500 for the lot. Just throwing that out there lol.

 

[srjclone]

I’ll give you $500 for the lot. Just throwing that out there lol.

Thank you for your offer. No.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

List them at 10 grand. See if anyone bites. Explain their rarity.

 

[clone52]

It's all about grading too though. I'm not into cards at all anymore but I still am into comics, video games and toys to an extent.

You can see the ebay listing for $1600 is rare 10 grade, the next one is a typical 8 grade at $160 with 8 hours left. Listing, who knows what they'd sell for. Someone else is selling a 9 grade for $5000. The only thing I learn from that is typical grade is probably worth at least $200. (again I know nothing about baseball cards but if these were graded comics that's what I'd think)

I think for cards grading is fantastic, you can still see the whole product. For comics the idea of "slabbing" it is kind of sad to me but I get it. For video games I think it's rather absurd but it is happening. Action figures on cards makes sense to grade/slab too.

Some of his cards might sell for $50 or more even without grading actually.

 

[Peter]

If they are as rare as you say I wouldn’t sell them on eBay. You should contact an auction house that does sports memorabilia. That’s where all the high end stuff is purchase by people willing to spend top dollar. If you sell on eBay, the buyer will likely flip the card for twice the value.

 

[cstrunk]

https://goldin.co/

Worth a shot if they are very valuable.

 

[Gunnerclone]

If they are as rare as you say I wouldn’t sell them on eBay. You should contact an auction house that does sports memorabilia. That’s where all the high end stuff is purchase by people willing to spend top dollar. If you sell on eBay, the buyer will likely flip the card for twice the value.

eBay is a fine marketplace for valuable cards. The problem is you need some rep to boost your search and your trust from buyers. Double edge sword. Just saw $10,000 gold album 1/1 Ronaldo sell the other day.

People aren’t idiots in the card world the market is pretty much the market. You would have to get real real lucky like 1/10000000 to get a sucker to pay double for a card these days.

 

[srjclone]

If they are as rare as you say I wouldn’t sell them on eBay. You should contact an auction house that does sports memorabilia. That’s where all the high end stuff is purchase by people willing to spend top dollar. If you sell on eBay, the buyer will likely flip the card for twice the value.

Yeah, I'm aware of this and that is somewhat what I am weighing. I know the rarity and if I can confirm the authenticity then I'll be more willing to get in touch with a more official source. But I saw one guy looking for a proof barry larkin to complete his donruss crusade set and with a direct buyer like that who is actively searching, it may be worth trying direct sales for 1 offs. Again, it's all happening pretty quick so I'm just trying to gather all the info I can as I find the best path.

 

[HFCS]

If they are as rare as you say I wouldn’t sell them on eBay. You should contact an auction house that does sports memorabilia. That’s where all the high end stuff is purchase by people willing to spend top dollar. If you sell on eBay, the buyer will likely flip the card for twice the value.

I wonder if I live in a sports cards Mecca. I have three sports card shops in walking distance (Burbank CA). They've all been in business for years too. Are there still dedicated shops in Des Moines? Seems comic shops have held on better than trading card shops nationwide.

 

[srjclone]

eBay is a fine marketplace for valuable cards. The problem is you need some rep to boost your search and your trust from buyers. Double edge sword. Just saw $10,000 gold album 1/1 Ronaldo sell the other day.

People aren’t idiots in the card world the market is pretty much the market. You would have to get real real lucky like 1/10000000 to get a sucker to pay double for a card these days.

Well here in lies my situation, and what the appraiser said when looking at them. They seem to be really rare, and big names at that. So he thought I could either get 2-3X the price for someone who sees it and the right buyer wants to take the chance/sees the value. Or I could put it up to auction and it goes for far lower than it may actually be worth.

 

[srjclone]

I wonder if I live in a sports cards Mecca. I have three sports card shops in walking distance (Burbank CA). They've all been in business for years too. Are there still dedicated shops in Des Moines? Seems comic shops have held on better than trading card shops nationwide.

I'm in MN and we have a handful within a 10 minute drive of me. I'm planning to bring it into one if not a couple to get a few opinions on them. Certainly seem to still have a presence up here