Kiss your sports card collections goodbye

[madoka]

The Chinese have learned how to copy sports cards and certifications from third party verification services. The counterfeit cards look just like the real ones and even experts have trouble telling them apart. If this continues, then the value of rare cards are rendered meaningless and the market is going to collapse.

Here's an example of a counterfeit card with a fake Beckett Grading Service case:

 

[Red Storm]

I thought their values already plummeted long ago and the people that do still have collections are because they're just memorabilia fans?

 

[lxskllr]

Doubt they've copied mine. I have an almost complete set from the early 30s my father collected. I think they're worth several thousand, but I wouldn't sell them. They're just a cool thing to have.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I started collecting cards when I was 8 (1988, yeah I'm old). Was hardcore collecting till about 17 when I just couldn't keep up with all of the new brands/series.

Have easily over 100K cards sitting in boxes. I shoulda sold everything when I was younger when cards were still worth something.

Boy was that a fun past time though.

 

[Stopsignhank]

I bet the Chinese counterfeits don't make the same cool noise when you use a clothes pin to put then in the spokes of your bike. Easy way to tell the difference.

 

[Zanovar]

I bet the Chinese counterfeits don't make the same cool noise when you use a clothes pin to put then in the spokes of your bike. Easy way to tell the difference.

Ha,i used to do that.happy times.

 

[snoopy7548]

I loved collecting X-Men cards when I was a kid. I still have all of them, as well as a huge binder of crappy baseball cards I have no idea how I got because I hated sports.

 

[highland145]

Ha,i used to do that.happy times.

Definitely. Sadly, that was 1970.

@Schfifty Five , '88, I was 2 years into my leg breaking business. I might still like a couple for my bike though. Cool and all like I still am.

 

[tynopik]

well, that explains a lot

from your close ties to chinese counterfeiters, it's now clear that your lego heads weren't merely a 'collection', but rather a 'stash' as you smuggled the fakes across the country

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

My dad had a Nolan Ryan rookie card somewhere. I figure it isn't worth much anyways, maybe a couple hundred.

 

[Zanovar]

Definitely. Sadly, that was 1970.

@Schfifty Five , '88, I was 2 years into my leg breaking business. I might still like a couple for my bike though. Cool and all like I still am.

What you on about?this was last year

 

[highland145]

What you on about?this was last year

Yeah, that's the problem. I'll be 120 before I know it.

 

[MtnMan]

Cards depicting spoiled brat millionaire jack-wagon's never appealed to me.

How do you categorize them. Wife beaters, girl friend beaters, dog beaters, illegal drug/steroid user, dog fighters, all around assholes, trashing a penthouse suite at a hotel, totaled a car worth $100K or more, number of felony charges which often leads to illegal weapon possession ...... ?

 

[highland145]

Cards depicting spoiled brat millionaire jack-wagon's never appealed to me.

How do you categorize them. Wife beaters, girl friend beaters, dog beaters, illegal drug/steroid user, dog fighters, all around assholes, trashing a penthouse suite at a hotel, totaled a car worth $100K or more, number of felony charges which often leads to illegal weapon possession ...... ?

You might need to take a knee.

 

[madoka]

My dad had a Nolan Ryan rookie card somewhere. I figure it isn't worth much anyways, maybe a couple hundred.

A few hundred to $29K depending on condition:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BVG-9-MINT...g_cvip=true&nordt=true&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Just hope the Chinese don't release a wave of counterfeit Ryan rookies in fake slabs.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

You might need to take a knee.

Trump would demand his employer fires him if he does that though.

 

[BudAshes]

11 year old me would be super pissed about this...

 

[pete6032]

Were basketball cards really ever worth anything? I mean, basketball?

 

[MtnMan]

You might need to take a knee.

OOOoooo thanks, I forgot that category.

 

[madoka]

Were basketball cards really ever worth anything? I mean, basketball?

Jordan rookie card sells for $38K:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-Fleer...dan+rookie+card&LH_Complete=1&_from=R40&rt=nc

If the Chinese can figure out how to do holograms and refractors, then they can reproduce a simple basic card like this.

 

[Oyeve]

Jordan rookie card sells for $38K:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-Fleer-Basketball-Michael-Jordan-ROOKIE-RC-57-PSA-10-GEM-MINT-PWCC-HE/401540074944?hash=item5d7da74dc0:g:BiAAAOSw5PJbAGq~&_sop=16&_sacat=0&_nkw=jordan+rookie+card&LH_Complete=1&_from=R40&rt=nc

If the Chinese can figure out how to do holograms and refractors, then they can reproduce a simple basic card like this.

And there's one certified 10 from another certifier going for 40 bucks. No one is paying that kind of cash for that card. I have a closet full of cards from the late 70s up until the mid 90s and 99% of them are worthless. The market died in the 90s.

 

[madoka]

And there's one certified 10 from another certifier going for 40 bucks. No one is paying that kind of cash for that card. I have a closet full of cards from the late 70s up until the mid 90s and 99% of them are worthless. The market died in the 90s.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.c...87-fleer-michael-jordan-rookie-cards-soaring/

 

[ultimatebob]

Most of my baseball cards are from 1989-1996. So, they were already worthless thanks to basically everyone collecting them back then.

 

[Homerboy]

There's a lot of ignorance going on in this thread.
Old cards in good condition are still worth a lot - certification is the key (which is part of the OP's point)
Even new cards can be worth a lot as well. Topps has gone through and made it a point to make "1 of 10" or even "1 of 1" releases that of rookie cards or of current and former players so that there is value on those cards.

Now, one of the more popular and valuable steps they have done is to released hand autographed cards in limited numbers as well. They've done reflective and 3D cards in numbered quantities. They also do "memorabilia cards" that will contain a piece of a jersey, a sliver of a bat... even the actual bat knob on the end. These can be ultra-collectible but obviously impossible to fake per the OP. In fact, a few years back a dad of one of my son's friends bulled a Babe Ruth bat knob that was (If I recall) worth $10k. He was a heavy collector though. He also landed a Andrew Luck rookie card 1 of 1 worth 8-9k at the time as well. Hell, my son pulled a Rookie Puig "super factor" autograph redemption card (not the actual card, but the mail in to get the real one). That redemption card (not the actual card) we sold for $350.

Old cards from the 70s and 80s and 90s are worth virtually nothing (minus a few gems). But other cards can still be worth SERIOUS money. My brother still buys/sells mint 60s and 70s cards and makes a nice profit on them. Those deal in the 100s to 1000s of dollars.

Fun fact: the most valuable card in the world, the 1909 T206 Honus Wagner, is a doctored card.

 

[ultimatebob]

I wonder if those Desert Storm trading cards will ever be worth anything. Those were pretty damn cool.