Unopened Material

If you collect unopened packs, boxes, factory sets, etc., sometimes a dilema occurs. Namely, when the Book Value of the cards that may be inside rises to a price that is much more than what you paid for the item. Take for example the wax pack shown here, a Topps Football pack from 1984. They were cheap when they first came out, but if you were smart enough back then to put some away, your investment would yield high gains today. I have sold these '84 Football packs for as much as $15 each on eBay. Mainly because of the Rookie Cards of Dan Marino & John Elway that might be inside. In NRMT condition the Marino & Elway RC's are valued at $80 each. Also in the set are Rookie Cards of Howie Long ($15), Eric Dickerson ($10), and Darrell Green ($10), among others. I've also sold a few 1981 Topps Football packs for as much as $17 each, mainly because Joe Montana's RC might be in there, valued at $150.

In my opinion, the best modern day unopened material to invest in would be any of the high-end products, such as Upper Deck SP, Topps Chrome, and Bowman Chrome. But today's unopened products will probably not yield tremendous value down the road like the vintage material of past years has.

There is a downside to unopened items. Let's take 1987 Topps Baseball as an example. It is as cheap today, if not cheaper, to buy a pack of these cards. First of all, the most valuable card in the set is Barry Bonds' RC, at around $8. And thanks to his indictment recently, the value of his cards are sinking faster than you can say "Jose Canseco." Secondly, Topps manufactured millions of those cards on cheap cardboard, right in the middle of the 'card glut' of the late 80's/early 90's. An additional downside to having unopened material around, is the temptation to open it. And that could lead to heartbreak- opening a vintage pack only to discover that it does, indeed contain a valuable card, but the corners are crushed because the pack was dropped long ago. Heartbreak.

Have fun out there!

America's Hobby - Still a Hobby?

Cards of the past are a window through time, an era when Baseball was king, when it was a game. But when cards were produced only by tobacco companies, children were pretty much shut out of the fledgling hobby. Card collecting really took off when popular confection makers started to produce the wonderful pieces of cardboard with ballplayers on them. The manufacturers soon realized that the cards were more popular than their gum, so they made more cards and started to produce sets. Those cards are very hard to find in nice condition today because they were just another plaything, a toy, as I mentioned in a previous Post. And today, Topps rarely puts gum inside of their products, because the cards are the thing-- it's a multi-billion dollar a year industry. With the high price of modern sportscards once again children are pretty much shut out of the hobby. Very sad. Gone are the days when my friends and I would be in front of the T.V. watching a ballgame and going through our cards to see if we had the player coming to bat or playing left field. Or if it was a football game, seeing if we had Bart Starr or Johnny Unitas, or the receivers they were throwing to.

Nowadays it's the adults that are driving the hobby, going after the Autographs, the 1 of 1 inserts, or memorabilia. Some real hobbyist's try to include their children, perhaps building a particular set together. That is very nice to see.

Have fun out there!