Neat In-Laws Cigar Box Finds

[calculusdork]

Traveled 3 hours to my wife's aunt's house to "do Christmas" with my mother-in-law's side of the family this past weekend. My wife's aunt had been telling me since last Christmas that she had some baseball cards for me to look through on our next visit. When we got there and got settled in, she handed me a small cylindrical container ... I opened it to find about 300-400 late 80's and early 90's commons just thrown in. Truthfully that was about what I expected. So, once I sorted through everything and confirmed that there were no 1990 Topps Frank Thomas NNOF error cards in there -- I apologized and told her she didn't have anything.

In disappointment, she then goes to "the drawer" and pulls out a cigar box. I opened the box to find it filled with 1971 and 1973 Topps baseball cards, in surprisingly good condition. Now, I know nothing about vintage, but of course I was able to quickly figure out what I should be looking for in those sets. I had a blast going through them. No Schmidt RC, no Nolan Ryan ... but a couple of Concepcion RCs in the '71 and a handful of HOFers in the '73. The Concepcions are probably PSA 6 at best, but a couple of the 73's that I pulled out have an outside shot at PSA 9. I explained the grading process to my wife's aunt, and told her I would foot the bill if she'd let me grade them. She agreed and said she'd be glad to repay me for the grading cost once I got them back in.

So, without further ado ... my first exposure to hidden vintage.

[free2131]

Originally Posted by calculusdork

I opened it to find about 300-400 late 80's and early 90's commons just thrown in.

I had to break it to my cousin that what he had was a whole lot of kindling, so I feel your pain. That feeling you have inside when you are about to crush their dreams of $1000 cards is pretty bad!

Nice finds BTW!!

[calculusdork]

Originally Posted by free2131

I had to break it to my cousin that what he had was a whole lot of kindling, so I feel your pain. That feeling you have inside when you are about to crush their dreams of $1000 cards is pretty bad!

Nice finds BTW!!

Ha ... I knew it was coming. I spend probably about an hour a week at my LCS, and I swear in that one hour he gets at least 3 calls for people looking to sell. Of course, every time it's 80's and 90's commons. He's surprisingly patient with each caller (I would have lost it by now). I had to channel some of that.

[Autocentral]

Great find. Those 71 and 73 finds are great. Definitely look in great shape.

It is amazing that with the internet and all the technology we have now days, people still think that 80s and 90s commons are worth a ton of money. Id imagine LCS get calls about collections of people asking upwards to $1,000 for junk.

-Nick

[Coug46n2]

Originally Posted by calculusdork

Ha ... I knew it was coming. I spend probably about an hour a week at my LCS, and I swear in that one hour he gets at least 3 calls for people looking to sell. Of course, every time it's 80's and 90's commons. He's surprisingly patient with each caller (I would have lost it by now). I had to channel some of that.

Same here. Each time I'm in the shop he gets multiple calls. I hear only one end of the conversation but it's always the same:

LCS: I could be interested, tell me more.

LCS: What do you mean by "a lot"?

LCS: What do you mean by "old"?

LCS: Turn the cards over, what is the last year of stats on the back?

LCS: Sorry, 1990 is not something I'd be interested in.

LCS: No, I agree Griffey and Ripken were great players. It's just that the items you are describing were very mass produced.

LCS: No really, I'm not trying to drive the price down to get a better deal. Look up 1990 Donruss Mattingly on ebay and you'll see for yourself.

LCS: You can always try Craigslist.

LCS: Thanks for calling.

[Tzvih123]

I got that same juan marichal in bad condition (maybe like 4/10) for $1.

[smackvay]

if looking to trade for other vintage or anything new let me know I could use all the 73's