mdreid said:

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if your into Cards or Memorbilia period go check out https://www.thecardiacs.com/

theyre in Apex and owned by State Alumni also, good people

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Just what a didn't need, more places to buy cards lol.

They have some good pricing on some boxes. Thanks for sharing.

If anyone wants to talk coin collection, let's start a new thread.

I collected growing up and then stopped sometime in high school. Fast forward to having a son and then we went to a card show and he got some cards and I was back in. This is probably back in 2017 or so. The hobby had definitely changed a ton and gotten a LOT more expensive. I mostly buy retail stuff, blasters or mega boxes and primarily collect football and then some basketball and a little baseball. Growing up I nearly exclusively collected baseball.

Of course the son quickly got out of the card collecting but it was too late for me, I was all in. I did start buying singles on eBay of Pack/Panthers/Hornets players that I was interested in which has been fun to do and cheaper than buying boxes and hoping. I also within the last year started selling some cards on eBay as well just to get rid of some and reinvest back into the hobby.

I'll post some pics of my favorites and my unopened collection as well.

I have a very unique card…. When Magic Johnson's son (the one now on TV) was born, Magic commissioned a company (Spectrum?) to create a small set (about 36) for friends and family, of the birth.

Well, I have relative that ran the printing machines, by the printer, commissioned to do the work. He ran an additional line and gave them to family. I got one!

It's probably not worth anything; however, it's a neat story…

Here's a pic of my unopened stuff I keep around. It's my rainy day collection for when I feel like opening something but also don't feel like going out to shop. Lol Had to buy this shelving unit as I had it all in a closet and couldn't really tell what I had.

Sweet Jesus lol

BP Cox said:

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Sweet Jesus lol

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I know, it's a problem. lol But they say in retirement you need a hobby so I'm just planning for that day to come! haha

I've never sold unopened stuff but contemplating going that route versus just selling singles. I've also never had cards graded but do have a stack I think would be worth it.

Anyone with experience having cards graded on here?

Finally ripped and sorted my 2023 onit NIL cards. Bought the 5 pack mystery bundle that comes with a 6th pack free guaranteed autograph card included. $64.95 with "60% or more of profit goes to student athletes". Got a decent selection I guess, a lot of duplicates. I got it just for the fun of ripping packs and sort of supporting NIL stuff.

WolfpackSting said:

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Finally ripped and sorted my 2023 onit NIL cards. Bought the 5 pack mystery bundle that comes with a 6th pack free guaranteed autograph card included. $64.95 with "60% or more of profit goes to student athletes". Got a decent selection I guess, a lot of duplicates. I got it just for the fun of ripping packs and sort of supporting NIL stuff.

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Thanks for sharing what you got. So only one auto for $65? Yeesh.

Yeah, which was confusing because if you buy 5 packs separately at 12.99 each, every one is a guaranteed autograph. I sort of got fleeced but I guess I should have read more thoroughly

WolfpackSting said:

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Yeah, which was confusing because if you buy 5 packs separately at 12.99 each, every one is a guaranteed autograph. I sort of got fleeced but I guess I should have read more thoroughly

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Ok gotcha, yeah I thought I had seen someone mention getting multiples. At $13 per auto I'd be happy with that given it's going to be a State player, might have to get some of these to add to my wall.

WolfpackSting said:

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Yeah, which was confusing because if you buy 5 packs separately at 12.99 each, every one is a guaranteed autograph. I sort of got fleeced but I guess I should have read more thoroughly

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I did the same as you, ordered the 5 and 1 pack. Didn't read it well the night I placed my order. Still like the cards, they are neat.

Duplicate post

I did get some Ant Smith cards.....may have to send them to James

WolfpackSting said:

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Yeah, which was confusing because if you buy 5 packs separately at 12.99 each, every one is a guaranteed autograph. I sort of got fleeced but I guess I should have read more thoroughly

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I did the five single packs where every pack is supposed to be guaranteed an auto. Only two of the five packs had an auto!!! I specifically bought them this way instead of doing it the way with the free pack in order to get an auto in each pack and then not even 50% of them had an auto. I'm not happy about this!!!!

BollNCSU said:

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WolfpackSting said:

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Yeah, which was confusing because if you buy 5 packs separately at 12.99 each, every one is a guaranteed autograph. I sort of got fleeced but I guess I should have read more thoroughly

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I did the five single packs where every pack is supposed to be guaranteed an auto. Only two of the five packs had an auto!!! I specifically bought them this way instead of doing it the way with the free pack in order to get an auto in each pack and then not even 50% of them had an auto. I'm not happy about this!!!!

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I had a similar issue…ordered 2 packs and only 1 came with an autographed card. I was able to get a direct contact for a guy with OnitAthlete…shoot me a DM and I'll explain more and share his contact with you…I think they will make it right!

During Covid I got into breaking and for a few months I did maybe 15-20 breaks on eBay. I thought I was going to make a ton of money, boy was I wrong. I didn't lose a lot, but I did come out negative.

Main issue to me was the scammers. At least 2 people per break would bid up a team and then give me an excuse of "my 2 year old bid by accident", or "my neighbor had a heart attack", and they wouldn't pay. And since I was all about breaks happening the night of the auctions ending, I would eat that cost and keep the cards myself, or sell them cheaper to a wiling customer.

The scammers really turned me off to breaking and the hobby in general, but I'm creeping back in. Though I'm way more into memorabilia now. Got a Jimmy V auto, had it authenticated by PSA to know it was legit, which thankfully it was.

I still buy into breaks every now and then. It's way cheaper than buying a whole box and it ensures you'll get cards from whatever your favorite team is. I got a CMC 1/1 a few years back.

They say every pack has an autograph in it...that's not accurate.

What the big brands (Panini, Topps, Bowman) will say is that the odds on an auto being in a pack is so much on a specific average.

I will buy some more to try to get a KC and Vann auto. Still need to send my Wilson and Battle autos off to PSA for grading, but I have some Bowman bulk orders to process first.

WolfpackUSC said:

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During Covid I got into breaking and for a few months I did maybe 15-20 breaks on eBay. I thought I was going to make a ton of money, boy was I wrong. I didn't lose a lot, but I did come out negative.

Main issue to me was the scammers. At least 2 people per break would bid up a team and then give me an excuse of "my 2 year old bid by accident", or "my neighbor had a heart attack", and they wouldn't pay. And since I was all about breaks happening the night of the auctions ending, I would eat that cost and keep the cards myself, or sell them cheaper to a wiling customer.

The scammers really turned me off to breaking and the hobby in general, but I'm creeping back in. Though I'm way more into memorabilia now. Got a Jimmy V auto, had it authenticated by PSA to know it was legit, which thankfully it was.

I still buy into breaks every now and then. It's way cheaper than buying a whole box and it ensures you'll get cards from whatever your favorite team is. I got a CMC 1/1 a few years back.

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I was the same but took money I got in Doge and flipped it into cards. When I first got in, I was getting stupid with breaks on Backyard and others on WhatNot. Got some really cool cards but not any that will be true investments in most cases.

I picked up a Panini One 1/1 White Box of CMC with the Panther from his jersey as the patch. That's one of the cooler cards I have. Also picked up the Icky NFL Shield 1/1 booklet, although that's more for sentimental purposes than investing.

Unfortunately the CMC 1/1 graded as an 8, but the thicker cards normally do.

BP Cox said:

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They say every pack has an autograph in it...that's not accurate.

What the big brands (Panini, Topps, Bowman) will say is that the odds on an auto being in a pack is so much on a specific average.

I will buy some more to try to get a KC and Vann auto. Still need to send my Wilson and Battle autos off to PSA for grading, but I have some Bowman bulk orders to process first.

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Reading the backs of the individual packs it does tell you that like 10% of packs will have an autographed card; HOWEVER, the thing here is specifically how they were marketing the single packs on their website - which at the time a number of people placed orders said specifically that an autographed card would be guaranteed in the single pack.

I was able to get in touch with their VP of Operations to express my disappointment that only one of my two packs came with an autographed card, mainly to just bring attention to the fact that they were falsely advertising this message on their website of each pack having a guaranteed autographed card. I got an immediate response apologizing for the lackluster experience I had and that he'd spoken with the fulfillment team about the matter and would be working on getting a replacement sent to me. Thanked me for my feedback and for giving them an opportunity to make this right.

Guess we'll see…

Question about getting cards graded. I have a few cards I think would benefit from grading (a stack of Chipper Jones rookies, for example), but every time I look at that, the cost and time frame turns me off. Any tips or suggestions for getting things graded?

WolfpackUSC said:

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During Covid I got into breaking and for a few months I did maybe 15-20 breaks on eBay. I thought I was going to make a ton of money, boy was I wrong. I didn't lose a lot, but I did come out negative.

Main issue to me was the scammers. At least 2 people per break would bid up a team and then give me an excuse of "my 2 year old bid by accident", or "my neighbor had a heart attack", and they wouldn't pay. And since I was all about breaks happening the night of the auctions ending, I would eat that cost and keep the cards myself, or sell them cheaper to a wiling customer.

The scammers really turned me off to breaking and the hobby in general, but I'm creeping back in. Though I'm way more into memorabilia now. Got a Jimmy V auto, had it authenticated by PSA to know it was legit, which thankfully it was.

I still buy into breaks every now and then. It's way cheaper than buying a whole box and it ensures you'll get cards from whatever your favorite team is. I got a CMC 1/1 a few years back.

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I definitely agree breaks are a lot cheaper than buying a whole box yourself if you like a specific team. I do like the Panthers but I more collect for the State players so it's difficult in the breaks. I could see how scammers would kill the profitability really quickly, that's too bad.

WolfpackKaraoke said:

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BP Cox said:

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They say every pack has an autograph in it...that's not accurate.

What the big brands (Panini, Topps, Bowman) will say is that the odds on an auto being in a pack is so much on a specific average.

I will buy some more to try to get a KC and Vann auto. Still need to send my Wilson and Battle autos off to PSA for grading, but I have some Bowman bulk orders to process first.

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Reading the backs of the individual packs it does tell you that like 10% of packs will have an autographed card; HOWEVER, the thing here is specifically how they were marketing the single packs on their website - which at the time a number of people placed orders said specifically that an autographed card would be guaranteed in the single pack.

I was able to get in touch with their VP of Operations to express my disappointment that only one of my two packs came with an autographed card, mainly to just bring attention to the fact that they were falsely advertising this message on their website of each pack having a guaranteed autographed card. I got an immediate response apologizing for the lackluster experience I had and that he'd spoken with the fulfillment team about the matter and would be working on getting a replacement sent to me. Thanked me for my feedback and for giving them an opportunity to make this right.

Guess we'll see…

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Yeah. I bought the Black Friday Box, which had 4 autos total.

The pre-sale packs were supposed to have a guaranteed auto too, but my two had none. I'll hit up OnIt about that.

Bought some regular packs too, but didn't get any hits.

I would love for Savage Wolves to start selling/ auctioning game used stuff.

Manny Sanguine said:

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Question about getting cards graded. I have a few cards I think would benefit from grading (a stack of Chipper Jones rookies, for example), but every time I look at that, the cost and time frame turns me off. Any tips or suggestions for getting things graded?

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I'm curious about any personal experiences you guys have had with this as well. I have never sent a card in for grading although I do have a stack of them I'd like to. It's a pretty sizeable investment just to get it graded and not sure if my untrained eye is the best to weed out those I shouldn't send in but at the same time sending my cards to someone else to look through first before grading seems like a waste of money too, and a risk.

wolf howl said:

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Manny Sanguine said:

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Question about getting cards graded. I have a few cards I think would benefit from grading (a stack of Chipper Jones rookies, for example), but every time I look at that, the cost and time frame turns me off. Any tips or suggestions for getting things graded?

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I'm curious about any personal experiences you guys have had with this as well. I have never sent a card in for grading although I do have a stack of them I'd like to. It's a pretty sizeable investment just to get it graded and not sure if my untrained eye is the best to weed out those I shouldn't send in but at the same time sending my cards to someone else to look through first before grading seems like a waste of money too, and a risk.

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Just giving this a bump in case someone wants to comment on the card grading question.

Manny Sanguine said:

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wolf howl said:

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Manny Sanguine said:

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Question about getting cards graded. I have a few cards I think would benefit from grading (a stack of Chipper Jones rookies, for example), but every time I look at that, the cost and time frame turns me off. Any tips or suggestions for getting things graded?

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I'm curious about any personal experiences you guys have had with this as well. I have never sent a card in for grading although I do have a stack of them I'd like to. It's a pretty sizeable investment just to get it graded and not sure if my untrained eye is the best to weed out those I shouldn't send in but at the same time sending my cards to someone else to look through first before grading seems like a waste of money too, and a risk.

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Just giving this a bump in case someone wants to comment on the card grading question.

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So in regards to grading, it you want to maximize value of a card the standard is PSA. You can have cards graded by all major companies (SGC, PSA, Beckett, etc) and the PSA graded card will generally always give you more money in return. They have the foothold on the grading game.
If you do have cards to grade through them and can afford it, I'd recommend becoming a member of theirs ($99 annually), then you can access multiple bulk submission offers from time to time. They'll some times offer these at say $15-$19 per card with a 20 card min. Return time will usually be a month or so.

I've sent multiple bulk orders in at once thinking it would take a while for them to process them and I could spread it out in terms of having to pay those. Next thing I know they've processed all of them and I've got 2-4 orders of bulk cards to pay for (usually around $450 with return shipping).

But then I've sent in say 5 cards on regular service to get them returned quicker and they take longer than the bulk orders with the forecasted longer lead times. It's comical.

I would suggest to use SGC if you have a few cards to grade. They use a more computerized and standardize system versus PSA where you have someone grading it by eye. Their turnaround times are pretty respectable, they're based in FL vs PSA in CA, and their prices are lower regardless of minimums. They are becoming more and more acceptable in terms of reputation regarding their values on resales as well.

I've sent stacks of Bowman cards to get graded and had great experiences with them. But I still end up going to PSA usually, possibly because the resale values I know that should be there long term. I personally like the slab PSA puts the card in, but the SGC slab is sharp as well.

I have also discussed with my cousin who I consider a card guru (he goes to the national conventions and such), and he says you can probably expect that if you have a card that grades at a 10 with SGC that it should grade as a 10 with PSA. I've sent a few SGC 10's to PSA to crossover to their slabs, and they've rejected them leaving me with paying the $40(?) fee regardless.

A pro for PSA is their registry app. Very nice to see what all you have in one place.

Apologies for the randoms thoughts and word salad here. In summary, if you want to make sure your card is protected & graded, and plan on keeping them for your personal collection, you can't go wrong with SGC. If you think it might be a big card and one you see as an investment piece, I'd go with PSA.

Good feedback BP. I know PSA was the most respected for a long time it seems but others have gained some traction which is probably good for the hobby as well to have some competition in the space.

What do you do to inspect the cards before sending them in? Any special lights or equipment you use or just the ole eye balls and experience?

wolf howl said:

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Good feedback BP. I know PSA was the most respected for a long time it seems but others have gained some traction which is probably good for the hobby as well to have some competition in the space.

What do you do to inspect the cards before sending them in? Any special lights or equipment you use or just the ole eye balls and experience?

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Yeah this was one of the deeper dives I took on submissions. I recommend looking into Kurts Card Care and reading up on cleaning tips, the tools he uses, etc. I purchased about everything he recommended and have used these on a few submissions. He has links to all of the items he recommends so you can purchase directly on Amazon.

You can do some damage to the cards when trying to clean them so do like he says and use base cards to practice on before you clean anything valuable. I tried to clean a card up fresh in from a redemption, a /5 Justin Fields Prizim Draft Picks card. Should have just sent it in but thought I could make it "perfect". Tried to the use the cleaning kit and actually put a few light scratches on it. Dropped it to an 8 from PSA. I almost threw up when I saw the grade.

If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, look for breakers who offer submission services. Be sure to look through their posts (usually on Facebook) and see how many submissions they do and how many come back at 9 or 10. You can then reach out to them to discuss further.

But back to the equipment I've purchased, I have:

- Humidor
- Black light
- Cheap digital microscope with LCD screen (Amazon, maybe $60)
- Kurts Card Care Kit
- Microfiber towels

BP Cox said:

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Manny Sanguine said:

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wolf howl said:

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Manny Sanguine said:

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Question about getting cards graded. I have a few cards I think would benefit from grading (a stack of Chipper Jones rookies, for example), but every time I look at that, the cost and time frame turns me off. Any tips or suggestions for getting things graded?

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I'm curious about any personal experiences you guys have had with this as well. I have never sent a card in for grading although I do have a stack of them I'd like to. It's a pretty sizeable investment just to get it graded and not sure if my untrained eye is the best to weed out those I shouldn't send in but at the same time sending my cards to someone else to look through first before grading seems like a waste of money too, and a risk.

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Just giving this a bump in case someone wants to comment on the card grading question.

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So in regards to grading, it you want to maximize value of a card the standard is PSA. You can have cards graded by all major companies (SGC, PSA, Beckett, etc) and the PSA graded card will generally always give you more money in return. They have the foothold on the grading game.
If you do have cards to grade through them and can afford it, I'd recommend becoming a member of theirs ($99 annually), then you can access multiple bulk submission offers from time to time. They'll some times offer these at say $15-$19 per card with a 20 card min. Return time will usually be a month or so.

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From this, it sounds like to get 20 cards graded by PSA you'd be looking at $399-$479 with a $99 membership and $15-$19 per card (plus shipping costs). The turnaround time is better than I remember, but the cost still is a hurdle.

Any thoughts about what the value bump would be for something like a Chipper Jones Topps rookie between an ungraded card that looks like a 9 or 10 and something actually graded PSA 9 or 10?

Manny Sanguine said:

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BP Cox said:

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Manny Sanguine said:

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wolf howl said:

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Manny Sanguine said:

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Question about getting cards graded. I have a few cards I think would benefit from grading (a stack of Chipper Jones rookies, for example), but every time I look at that, the cost and time frame turns me off. Any tips or suggestions for getting things graded?

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I'm curious about any personal experiences you guys have had with this as well. I have never sent a card in for grading although I do have a stack of them I'd like to. It's a pretty sizeable investment just to get it graded and not sure if my untrained eye is the best to weed out those I shouldn't send in but at the same time sending my cards to someone else to look through first before grading seems like a waste of money too, and a risk.

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Just giving this a bump in case someone wants to comment on the card grading question.

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So in regards to grading, it you want to maximize value of a card the standard is PSA. You can have cards graded by all major companies (SGC, PSA, Beckett, etc) and the PSA graded card will generally always give you more money in return. They have the foothold on the grading game.
If you do have cards to grade through them and can afford it, I'd recommend becoming a member of theirs ($99 annually), then you can access multiple bulk submission offers from time to time. They'll some times offer these at say $15-$19 per card with a 20 card min. Return time will usually be a month or so.

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From this, it sounds like to get 20 cards graded by PSA you'd be looking at $399-$479 with a $99 membership and $15-$19 per card (plus shipping costs). The turnaround time is better than I remember, but the cost still is a hurdle.

Any thoughts about what the value bump would be for something like a Chipper Jones Topps rookie between an ungraded card that looks like a 9 or 10 and something actually graded PSA 9 or 10?

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Older cards that do not feature a variation or a serial number are hard to judge. That's where the value of the card game is these days...you can point to a card and say "there are only XX number of these cards in the world."

A good site to check is 130 Point, you can search for any type or variation of a card (including PSA or SGC grades) on what recent sales on ebay were.

The biggest drawback to the hobby in terms of assessing values is that a card is really only worth what someone is going to pay for it. Most of the time, if you are shopping cards on ebay, it's good to go to see what people are generally paying for that card or similar cards. That will help give you a clue on how much you should pay or consider going.

For a 1991 Chipper Topps rookie with the #1 draft pick graphic, a PSA 10 was sold Jan 15th for $361 after 36 bids. Another one sold on the 14th for $102.50. It's a big window. Sometimes people will be bidding and get competitive when they could technically go find the same item for cheaper on another listing.

Never watched Kurt's channel before but pretty interesting. Definitely knows what he's doing! lol I'll check out his stuff.

I've got a lighted magnifying glass but like your microscope with screen, probably much easier/better to find the small imperfections.

wolf howl said:

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Never watched Kurt's channel before but pretty interesting. Definitely knows what he's doing! lol I'll check out his stuff.

I've got a lighted magnifying glass but like your microscope with screen, probably much easier/better to find the small imperfections.

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Yeah I use a lit magnifying glass on an arm that lowers down on my desk. Much easier to just swing it down for cards or random stuff.

All of this stuff is sourced mainly from Amazon, except the main part of Kurt's care kit stuff.

I have wanted to do some breaks at some point, might have to do some on here as well.