Help Sorting through an early 2000s Football Collection

[Philthy]

A couple of weeks ago I lost my grandfather. In addition to be a great role model, he also shared a passion of collecting cards - mainly football and nascar. My parents have sent me thousands of cards from my grandfather's collection to look through and determine if they are worth selling for his trust or if they should be donated. My parents know nothing about sports and less about sports cards.

My grandfather was meticulous in labeling his cards which has made it pretty easy so far. Unfortunately, I only collect modern baseball so here's where I was hoping for some help; are there any early 2000s sets or inserts that I should particularly keep an eye out for? I am familiar with the star players from that time peroid, but not the card sets.

When I've had breaks at work today, I've gone Tom Brady hunting. So far I've found a Quantum Leaf RC that has severe paper loss due to bricking and a Score RC that is excellent condition. It's going to be like a treasure hunt going through grandpa's collection and I'm going to enjoy it immensly....I just don't want to miss a hidden gem!

[Siberian13]

Sorry to hear about your grandpa. Wish you could keep his collection instead of selling it. I’d pull all the rookie star QBs out first.

[marinocollector]

Sorry for your loss. Im happy you guys shared collecting and you are able to focus on that during these times.

Most of those items from that era are Peyton Manning and Brady centered. So watch those. Typical items that are popular in baseball are popular in football. Low numbered cards. The same parallels, Skybox Rubies, Essential Credentials, Chrome/Finest Refractors.

Shameless plug? Sets from 2000 Im working on: 2000 Score Complete Players Blue and Green. 2000 Stadium Beam Team. Have any of those hit me up

[Archangel1775]

My condolences to you and your family.

Probably best to keep complete sets the way they are in boxes/binders.
Then sort this way:

1. Everything and anything Tom Brady. (Peyton too!)
2. Any Autos
3. Any Game Used Relic cards
4. Any serial numbered cards
5. Any Chrome/Finest Refractors
6. Any Rookie Cards of HOF's/FHOF's

Notable
2000 Tom Brady
2000 Brian Urlacher
2001 Drew Brees
2001 Michael Vick
2001 LaDanian Tomlinson RB
2002 Ed Reed S
2003 Troy Polamalu SS
2004 Ben Roethlisberger
2004 Eli Manning
2004 Philip Rivers
2005 Aaron Rodgers
2007 Adrian Peterson RB
2007 Calvin Johnson WR
2008 Matt Ryan
2009 Matthew Stafford
2009 LeSean McCoy

[jplarson]

My condolences to you and your family.

Probably best to keep complete sets the way they are in boxes/binders.
Then sort this way:

1. Everything and anything Tom Brady. (Peyton too!)
2. Any Autos
3. Any Game Used Relic cards
4. Any serial numbered cards
5. Any Chrome/Finest Refractors
6. Any Rookie Cards of HOF's/FHOF's

Notable
2000 Tom Brady
2000 Brian Urlacher
2001 Drew Brees
2001 Michael Vick
2001 LaDanian Tomlinson RB
2002 Ed Reed S
2003 Troy Polamalu SS
2004 Ben Roethlisberger
2004 Eli Manning
2004 Philip Rivers
2005 Aaron Rodgers
2007 Adrian Peterson RB
2007 Calvin Johnson WR
2008 Matt Ryan
2009 Matthew Stafford
2009 LeSean McCoy

Well said Arch and my condolences on your loss Phil as well. To add to others, keep an eye out for Favres too. HOF QBs like Elway, Marino, Aikman, and Young ought to be in 2000 releases, be sure to tag those. Barry Sanders also in 2000. Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice will be part of the early aughts and you might run across some other guys like DE Julius Peppers (2002), TE Jason Witten (2003), TE Antonio Gates (2003).

Best of luck going through everything and I hope it brings back more pleasant memories than not.

[Philthy]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and wisdom.

I have gone through about 1.5 totes and won't be able to look at any more till this weekend. I wanted to share some of the "hits" so far. I apologize for the poor lighting

https://i.imgur.com/X3mCOEP.jpg

The tools of the trade Brady is /100. The Upper Deck is in great condition and I'd like to submit to PSA if my folks agree.

[marinocollector]

Thats a good start

[unitasfan]

Definitely look out for topps chrome rc and refractors. Late 90s and early 00s the refractors were very hard to get.

[Brian W]

Nice stuff...I love those years...reminds me of when I opened wax.

[RustyDawg37]

I am sorry to hear about your grandfather.

I would probably just stop and tell them to sell it to you, and you are now a proud football/baseball/nascar collector/investor/dealer or tell them to sell on consignment at this point. You already know there's good stuff and as far as I can tell, you've already put more work into it than I would if I were not getting in on the action so to speak. How much more time can you sink into this? Just my two cents.

I have had to do this before, and it can be fun, but its also extremely time consuming. That's when it dawned on me, and I told my relative, "There's tons of good stuff in here, here's what you can get if you want to spend the next few years selling it all in your spare time, sell it to me for $X, or use a local consigner." No one is gonna judge you if you want to go through every single card, but the last time I had a friend ask me for this, it took three weekends and he was a close enough friend that he just gave me whatever I wanted from the collection he obtained. Before any negative nellies ask, I'm not greedy and he netted a few thousand dollars with my help.

[Philthy]

I am sorry to hear about your grandfather.

I would probably just stop and tell them to sell it to you, and you are now a proud football/baseball/nascar collector/investor/dealer or tell them to sell on consignment at this point. You already know there's good stuff and as far as I can tell, you've already put more work into it than I would if I were not getting in on the action so to speak. How much more time can you sink into this? Just my two cents.

I have had to do this before, and it can be fun, but its also extremely time consuming. That's when it dawned on me, and I told my relative, "There's tons of good stuff in here, here's what you can get if you want to spend the next few years selling it all in your spare time, sell it to me for $X, or use a local consigner." No one is gonna judge you if you want to go through every single card, but the last time I had a friend ask me for this, it took three weekends and he was a close enough friend that he just gave me whatever I wanted from the collection he obtained. Before any negative nellies ask, I'm not greedy and he netted a few thousand dollars with my help.

First off, thanks for the condolences and info! My mother is in charge of my grandfather's estate. After talking with her, she offered to let me sell the collection and split whatever the outcome is with the estate. My concerns are twofold as it would take me many months to sort, list, and sell these cards. I do not know legally if she's under any time constraints. Secondly, I don't know the tax ramifications of this. Maybe it would be cleaner if I just bought the collection from the estate for a fair price then sold or kept the cards at my leisure. This is all exacerbated by the fact that my grandfather lived in New England, my parents live in Southeast and I'm in Nebraska. So we're all a thousand miles away from each other. I have 3 totes of his collection that was able to fit in a car after his services, but I'm told there are a dozen more totes.

I don't want to steer too far off course into a tax/legal realm. Its a messy situation, but connecting over the cards has been super fun. Seeing how organized my grandfather was (everything is in sets and labeled which cards are missing) really makes it clear where I got that from. Except I keep track of all my slabs and purchases in a spreadsheet instead of pen and paper haha.

[IpcSteveYoung]

My condolences OP :(

[PrimeTimeScott]

First, condolences to you and your family.

I also wonder if this is his one and only prized possession and the piece that is the most valuable, or is he giving $X,XXX dollars to each grand child, has other items that others may want more (a stamp collection, jewelry, furniture, etc.)? If that is the case, and you are the only one that cares about sports cards, perhaps you offer that you will take the cards and others can share all or some of your portion of any monetary inheritance. I know my mom has said I can have her football cards and my sister can have her stamp collection. Neither are likely hugely valuable (I say likely because I don't know what the stamps are worth). I'm sure my sister doesn't care about the stamps and I feel like in our situation, if I did suddenly care more about the stamp collection, I could easily make a trade. Just some thoughts.