Below are short bits & pieces on sportscard & baseball trading card collecting.
Please wander around the website for more info, prices, values & images
on vintage baseball, football, basketball, hockey, sport and non-sports cards.
1991 Topps Desert Shield cards Checklist & Values
The 792 card 1991 Topps Desert Shield Baseball card set was issued by
Topps for the soldiers serving in the Gulf War. The Desert Shield set is
a variation of Topps regular 1991 baseball card with each card having a
special gold-foiled 'Desert Shield' stamp added to the front.
Many of the cards, scooped up by military personnel stateside, never made
it overseas. The equivalent of approx 6,500 sets of cards were made.
Cards are still sought after and fairly scarce with complete sets
nearly impossible to find. Be aware of counterfeits. Fakes can easily be
determined by comparing the gold foil logo with a real Desert Shield card.
The Chipper Jones rookie is the key card in the set along with the usual
super stars like Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken ...
Click for complete
1991 Topps Topps Desert Shield checklist, values and prices.
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1933 Goudey Baseball Cards Checklist & Values
1933 Goudey baseball cards were issued during the worst part of
The Great Depression. The set ended up at 240 cards (239 printed
in 1933 and one in 1934). In an effort to attract collectors,
several of the games top players were honored with multiple cards
including "The Great Bambino" who appeared on 4 different cards.
The Babe was once asked why he made more than the President of the
United States, the Babe answered simply: "I had a better year than he did."
The Elusive Nap Lajoie
One of the most important facts regarding the 1933 Goudey set was their
infamous marketing ploy. Goudey took "marketing" to a whole new level
to keep people buying packs by never issuing card #106. Collectors wrote
the Goudey Card Company complaining. They were rewarded with Goudey
sending them the un-issued card #106 (Nap Lajoie) in 1934.
Click for complete
1933 Goudey Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
Note: You may be on that page right now.
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1952 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values
1952 is often thought of as Topps 1st baseball card set, but it was not.
Topps issued several smaller baseball card sets prior to their huge 1952 set.
Topps buzz word was "BIGGER is BETTER" for their 1952 Topps set which
Topps described as: "GIANT IN BOTH SIZE and NUMBER of CARDS" (407).
Key card in the 1952 Topps set is #311 MICKEY MANTLE.
Often called Mickey Mantle's Rookie card - BUT IT IS NOT. That honor
goes to his 1951 Bowman.
1952 Topps "High Numbers" (#311-#407), are very, very scarce with an
interesting story:
This HUGE set was released in series weeks apart. By the last (6th)
series, baseball season was over and football starting.
Candy shops had plenty of baseball cards from earlier series
so most cancelled their orders for the last series creating the scarcity.
Adding interest is how Topps disposed of the now un-needed cards including
THOUSANDS of 1952 Topps MICKEY MANTLE's. They dumped them into the Atlantic
Ocean like most of New York's trash in those days.
Click for complete
1952 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
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Baseball card collecting terms (part G)
Grade/Condition Centering, corner wear, photo clarity, edges,
creases, print flaws ... all combine to determine a card's condition or grade.
Along with rarity/scarcity it is the major factor in a card's value.
Graded Card As values increased the condition of cards and the
determination of fakes and alterations became increasingly more important.
Various companies became "graders" of your cards. For a fee they would grade
your card (usually on a 1 to 10 scale) and then placed in a sealed plastic
holder with labelling of the vital information.
From past experiences, most people are NOT HAPPY with the grades they receive.
To keep values up, graders can be extremely picky. Things you don't see,
they do so don't be surprized when the NEAR MINT card you send in ends up
with an EX or EX/MINT grade.
There are TOO many grading companies - if you do, do choose carefully.
PSA / SGC / GAI / BGS are some of the many companies.
It is good to know that getting a card graded by a company that people
do not recognize or respect will usually just cost you time and money
and not help you in any way.
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