Sports Collectibles 360: Sports Fan Talking

The sports trading card icon, the Honus Wagner T-206 card (1909 American Tobacco Co. ) has reached the century mark. The primary reason that there so few of these cards is Honus Wagner pulled the card shortly after it was released. There were only 60 of these printed and out of the 60 there are only 50 cards that can be found. I think that Honus may have pulled his card because the only place you could get one was in a pack of cigarettes. Can you imagine the uproar if a cigarette manufacture tried to put baseball cards in cigarette packs today.

If you are one of the few who happen to have a Honus Wagner card I'm sure you have a big smile on your face. In 2007, the card sold in a SCP Auction for a cool $2.8 million. In contrast, the players were only being paid $10 for the use of their likenesses.

In order to determine the value of any card you first need to know the grading level of the card. These can range from mint to poor. Below is the universal grading scale for trading cards:

Mint (MT) - A card with four sharp corners, 50/50 centering, no imperfections or signs of wear. Even cards straight out of the pack do not always grade mint.

Near Mint (NM) - A near-perfect card with perhaps one minor imperfection, such as one blunt corner. Centering is no worse than 60/40 and the card must have its original gloss. NM cards are the standard by which other grades are usually gauged.

Excellent-Mint (EX-MT) - A card with only two or three minor imperfections. Must have original gloss and centering no worse than 70/30.

Excellent (EX) - A card with a few minor imperfections. Some original gloss is lost and the edges show moderate wear. All four corners typically show some wear. Centering is no worse than 75/25.

Very Good (VG) - A card that shows obvious handling but is still attractive despite wear and imperfections. A VG card may have a crease, but one that's not severe enough to make the card unattractive. Most of the original gloss is lost.

Good (G), Fair (F), Poor (P) - A very worn card with many major imperfections. Collectors use cards of these grades as fillers until better ones can be found.

There are companies that will professionally grade your cards. Companies such as these, whose main goal is applying consistent grading to some of the most sought-after cards on the market and the authentication of autographs and collectibles, are some of the most respected and profitable companies in the industry, even competing with the major card manufacturers in terms of gross income. Companies such as Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Beckett Grading Services (BGS), Sportscard Guaranty Corporation (SGC) and Global Authentication Inc. (GAI) have come out as the leaders in this coveted service market.

PSA is probably the leader due to their extensive experience in card grading, respected name and preference by vintage collectors. This "vintage advantage", according to many in the hobby, is largely due to the overwhelming popularity of the PSA Set Registry.

Get valuable baseball cards professionally graded. Go to the Professional Sports Authenticator website and click on "Submission Center" for information on how to send in your cards for grading. Professionally graded cards are graded according to the condition of the card and increase the cards value.

Once you know the grade of your card(s) then it's time to organize your cards. Here are some ways to organize your collection:

• Sort them by year and brand

• See if you can complete any sets

• Organize cards that are not part of complete set into team sets and player groups

• Set aside any rookie cards (these cards typically have higher value)

Evaluate the fair market price of your cards. Subscribe to the Beckett Baseball magazine or purchase a copy off a magazine rack to find the current market value of cards. There is comprehensive pricing from the 1960s to the present and vintage pricing from early 1900s.

Subscribe to Beckett Online at Beckett.com. There are some great features provided online such as:

Beckett.com provides the most current values around with daily pricing updates.

More ways to price! Members can submit their own values to share with other collectors.

Find pricing for over 5 million items across baseball, football, basketball, hockey & more!

This is stating the obvious, but if you have cards of high value, you need to store them hard plastic top loaders or sleeves. You don't want to risk damaging them. Top loaders are the best thing to put your cards in. It doesn’t take much to lower the graded value of a card.

You should price your baseball cards below their maximum value. Card prices will be listed in two columns in the Becket Magazine, a low column and a high column. Price your cards below the high value for the best results.

Know how the condition of the card changes the value. For ungraded cards, take a careful look at what shape the card is in. Scratches, fuzzy corners and off centering all take away from a cards value. Beckett Magazine has instructions on how to take these factors into account when valuing your cards.

Depending on your situation you have at least three options as to where you can sell your cards. If you have access to the internet you need to open an account on Ebay. You can sell your cheaper baseball cards on eBay for a quick turn around. There are other internet choices, but Ebay is a good place to start.

If you are in a hurry to sell your card(s) you can go to a local card shop. I would do this as a last resort. The card shop owner is going to pay as little as possible, because he needs to mark it up so that he makes a profit. For example, if the book value of your card is $75, then he is going to offer you less so that he can price it competitively and still make money.

If you have a lot of cards to sell, get a booth at a sports card store in your area. Beckett Magazine has a listing of upcoming card shows across the country.