Celona took an LED pen light out of his pocket. Cards are very fragile, so handle with clean hands and extreme care.ĥ) Kick the Tires. Rather than risk damage, you can ask the dealer to do it for you. Cards are now protected in stiff, individual plastic sleeves, allowing for easy removal. If you haven’t attended a card show in years, the screw-down holders that once sandwiched a card between two slabs of Lucite are a thing of the past. In addition, I find looking up “sold” prices on eBay very easy to do on my smart phone, and it’s free.Ĥ) Expose the Card. , offers an indispensable “real-time” monthly online guide that costs just $12.99 a month. Rt) is a monthly magazine and price guide published by PSA with feature articles about collecting cards and memorabilia. “Have a firm number in mind.” SMR (Sports Market Repo “Buy the best condition you can afford,” Celona said. Even if you don’t buy, you’ll be treated to a lively conversation because most of the dealers are well informed sports history buffs.ģ) Feel the Deal. It thus pays to get on the dealer’s good side. Remember the number pasted on the card holder or quoted to you is just a starting price. Find out what has been selling well and what has not. “Ask the dealers about their day,” Celona said, to break the ice. Over the past year, the value of the rookie card of the National’s much-hyped Bryce Harper has fallen from $350 to less than $100.Ģ) Build a Relationship. “Jackie Robinson is always going to be the first black player,” Celona said. The mystique of legends such as Mantle, Clemente, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron only grows with time. So at this past summer’s huge National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland, I asked Jonathan Celona, an experienced and successful dealer for Champion Sports Cards & Collectibles to teach me the steps of buying “raw” cards with upside potential for grading in certified, tamper-proof holders.ġ) Focus on the All-Time Stars. Oops.īut covering the sports collectible industry without buying and selling baseball and other sports cards is like being a restaurant critic without tasting the food. I received it back in the mail with a mediocre grade because a big crease across its center. In the early days of baseball card grading, I submitted a 1982 Topps Cal Ripken “Traded” rookie card to PSA, an independent third-party grader. Somewhere along the line a previous owner used a black marker to conceal edge wear on the lower black corner, rendering it virtually worthless. Maybe it was the 1953 Satchel Paige that cost me a few hundred dollars. I admit to being a very reluctant convert to baseball card collecting since being burned many years ago.