I grew up in the 1980’s collecting baseball and basketball cards with my father and childhood friends. I’d spend all my birthday money at the Eagle’s Nest in Old Avon Village and The Bullpen in Conway, Arkansas when I was visiting my grandparents for the summer. In the summer of 1988 my dad treated me to a 36 pack wax-box of 1986 Donruss Baseball cards. The gem of the set was the Jose Canseco Rookie Card. He was having an epic season in 1988 and was the King of the Sport. This card was worth close to triple figures at the time. In one of the last packs I peeled open, I pulled that Canseco Rated Rookie out of the stack of cards, and thought for a moment that I was standing on top of the World!!
This era is now referred to as the Junk Wax era, as millions upon millions of cards were produced and saved, and are worth virtually nothing now. The real value is in the vintage cards, pre 1970. The Rookie Cards and the Hall of Famers are the cards pined over, and the closer they are to mint condition, the more money they will bring in. I’ve always loved the pre WW2 cards, especially the Tobacco and Goudey Gum cards. They are very difficult to find in any condition.
I recently was given an opportunity to buy some vintage baseball cards from 1933 that I had never seen before. They were part of a 32 card set called George C. Miller. They featured portraits made from original artwork, and were distributed only in the Greater Boston Area in 1933. One card was included in each George C Miller Toffee Candy packet, and if all 32 cards were obtained, they could be redeemed for an official MLB baseball, a grandstand seat to a baseball game, or a fielder’s glove, and the cards would be hole punched or trimmed to be returned to the prize winner with their prize. So many of these cards were punched or trimmed, so when I was given the chance to buy several unpunched cards, I was very excited! I later learned that the Ivy Andrews card was short printed, making it even harder to redeem the full set!! This made sure the Miller Co. didn’t have to send out too many prizes. I bet a lot of kids spent all their money trying to get this Andrews card, while their teeth felt the brunt of all that extra sugar!!
Two players for each Major League team were included in the set, making 16 players for the American League and 16 players for the National League comprising a full set. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are notable omissions, but Jimmy Foxx, Dizzy Dean, Mel Ott, Lefty Grove, and about a dozen other Hall of Famers made the cut. In fact, approximately half of the entire issue is comprised of players enshrined in Cooperstown. Most of these cards found today are in very poor condition.
If you have any vintage baseball, football, basketball or hockey cards (pre-1970, Topps, Bowman, Play Ball, Goudey, George C Miller, Gum Cards, Tobacco Cards) that you’d like to sell, please contact me, and I will be happy to provide a fair offer for your collection.
~Fred