FYI On PWCC extended bidding, you no longer have to put in a bid in regular time - everyone is eligible for extended bidding. This changed a few months ago.
The local card shows near me suck. I'm a specialized collector, collecting only 90s Griffeys and Jerry Rice cards and Mets cards...but they're hard to find because I live in Phillies territory. I don't want to socialize or haggle, I want to buy cards and that's it. It's very hard to find the cards I mentioned and all I end up with is a stiff neck and sore back after shuffling through a thousand cards desperately trying to find a single Met card. Card shows are nothing more than a 90s memory for me. edit: Thanks for the PWCC recommendation, I'm going to check it out right now.
Estate sales are a great place to score some silly deals. About 10 years ago, my wife picked me up a raw 68, 69, 72, and 73 Ryan, a 52 bowman and 66 Topps mantle, and a 48 Sphan along with all kinds of other stuff for $500. Pretty rough shape but even then we got like 10x value.
The best baseball card set of all time is the 1949 Bowman set. From a design perspective, I love the colorized portrait-style photos, the almost square aspect ratio, and the bold colors as backgrounds. This set is jam packed with hall of famers and rookie cards of Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Larry Doby, Satchel Paige and, of course, Jackie Robinson. But the BEST thing about 49 Bowman is that the cardboard itself transformed the collections of anyone who owned it. The kid who opened a pack of 1949 Bowman cards and got a Jackie, Satchel, Roy or Larry Doby now had an integrated collection. Their baseball cards, their treasured possessions, now reflected the social and historical progress happening on what was then the nation’s biggest stage. These kids now owned a piece of that progress and they could pin their Jackie card next to Gil and Duke and Pee Wee on their bedroom wall and see it for themselves every night as they dreamed of making the big leagues themselves. You cannot get any better than that, in my book. (49 Leaf did the same thing - but I think Bowman’s were more popular and just look better)
That's a tough question. Are we talking Nationwide? Nationally, the National is always going to be the best show, but there's also a vintage show in Strongsville, Ohio that people rave about. Out where I live, there is the Burbank card show in Southern California or the Fairfield card show near the Bay Area.
I am fan of the Goldin marketplace. No buyers fees. The only downfall is you have to hold in the vault for 90 days before you can ship without paying the $5 fee. Otherwise $1 to ship after the 90 days. If you can be patient, its a good option.
Best places for me is card shows and card shops and antique store. Card shows give a choice of cards with so many dealers. Card store because i am a regular customer and they knock off some of the price. Card shows you can negotiate.
There are a lot of great years of card sets to choose from but, for my money the 1951 Bowman is the best. It has artwork that is absolutely beautiful and full of detail. The cards could be on a museum wall as an art exhibit. Add to that the fact that it has the rookie cards for Hall of Fame players- Whitey Ford, Nellie Fox, Monte Irvin, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays. Hall of Fame Manager rookie cards of Billy Southworth and Al Lopez. Plus the rookie card of television personality Joe Garagiola. All of this is why the 1951 Bowman set is the best in my opinion. I do think that 1953 may have been the best year for baseball cards in general as far as attractiveness of the Bowman and Topps sets but, to single out one set above all, it has to be the 1951 Bowman.
"Alright, folks, let's talk about the 1960 Topps Baseball set. Have you seen this thing? I mean, come on! The colors, oh my gosh, mama mia! It's like they raided a Crayola factory. But in a good way. Color, color, color. I love color. Also, it's like the James Dean of baseball card designs, just effortlessly cool. First of all, you've got these giant player photos - they're practically saying, 'Hey, look at me, I'm a baseball star!' The team names in those little pennants? Genius. It's like every card is waving a tiny, colorful flag saying, 'Hey, this guy is part of the cool team.' And what's the deal with the horizontal format? I don't know, but it works! It's like the cards are saying, 'We're breaking the rules, but we look good doing it.'
My favorite set is the 56 Topps baseball set. For some reason it fits my eye really well. Good, but tasteful colors with the close facial with the action short next to it. Love your analogies as always. Thanks
My favorite Baseball set of all-time is the 1956 Topps. Great player selection and design. And the last horizontal design if I recall. I am working on a predominantly PSA 7 of this set. Number 2 is the 1983 Topps set. I love that design also, and a decent bunch of rookies; and the first year I ever bought a complete set at the beginning of the year.
I’m just about done putting an all gray back 1956 set together. Started just over a year ago. No creases, no OC, No MK and no “rounded” corners. Have about 100 slabbed and some nice doubles. Always looking for trading partners.
As a middle class man from the south, I wish to add a little area. We have a term "good Ole boy", it means being known and respected for something. For instance, say that's a nice Hank Aaron card! You should show it Bob, he loves those things.. He's a good Ole boy.. Tell him I sent you! Where I'm from, you have to be known and collectors will enjoy making you happy if you respect them. That alone has opened countless doors for incredible opportunities in my life.
I’ve bought and sold off PWCC but not the others. Do these auction houses have saved searches for the buyer? I’ve found it very difficult (compared to eBay) to find cards easily without re-entering what I’m looking for through the search bar every time I go there. I agree there can be some savings at this houses, but there is definitely extra work involved for the buyer. Also, at least some of these auction houses are limited to graded cards.
Just in principle having to pay 20% buyer premium is a turn off. Also, didn't PWCC get kicked off Ebay for shadow pricing? Seems like there is a lot of greed in the auction biz
To me, it's about my final total price. If my price for the item plus the premium is less than what the total price is on other platforms, I'm good with it.
I can only speak for myself. My best deals on vintage higher end graded cards were bought with E-Bay auctions. As much as I love going to card shows, I've found most of the dealers at them are unrealistic and way too high on the prices. I'm talking hundreds of dollars per card more at shows for less centered cards. But again, that's just me. Maybe its just the geographical area I live. My T-206 Cy Young portrait SGC 2 was bought not long ago on an E-Bay auction. I saw several of the same card and grade at the huge Arizona Card Show a few weeks ago for as much as $800 more.
1953 topps baseball. By far the best artwork and beautiful cards! The 2nd topps card for Mantle, a rookie for satchel page which is in most collectors top cards lists. The Willie mays and Jackie Robinson cards also fall into the iconic category!
I’m definitely going to check out these auction sites..thanks Graig..these auction sites may help me complete my 1965 Topps cheaper..the best set of all time is 1971 Topps..it’s so unique with the black border..there’s tons of hall of famers in that set..
For me it is ‘53 Bowman Color. The simplicity of design and muted colors just scream 1950s. There are a ton of interesting poses for Hall of Famers like Minoso, Spahn, Roberts and Berra. The most beautiful card ever highlights the set with the Reese. I get excited every time I add a card to my collection - but the feeling is just a little bit better when I add one from this set.
Best card set 1951 Bowman for the artwork, great selection of players and simplicity of the card. The artwork has refined details of the player and background shows much much detail if one looks beyond just the players. The set had great depth in 324 cards
Is it right to say the best baseball card set is subjective? If you really like 87 Topps, then that’s the best.. if you really like 90 score then that’s the best. For me I personally love 84 donruss (beautiful design) and 73 Topps (my birth year).. I also have 88 Topps and Score because it takes me back to being 15 years old, new to the hobby spreading the cards out on my pool table in basement of parents house and completing the set. As for auction sites, thanks for explaining the process. Ive wondered how they work. I’ve been on eBay since April 2002 and still remember writing checks to pay for items.. 😂 😂 but will look at auctions more.
Great video and useful information. I will check out the auction sites. The best baseball card set of all time is the 1956 Topps set - I love the dual portrait and action shot, the signature, and the overall layout of the card. I'm a sucker for sideways cards. My favorites include the Koufax #79 showing him pitching, the Aaron #31 sliding into home and looking to the distance in the portrait, and of course the Mantle #135 with a big smile and him leaping into the stand for a catch. My second would be the 1985 topps set because this is my #1 PC Orel Hershiser rookie year. And third would be 1959 topps set because of #2 PC Bob Gibson rookie (which is one of my favorite cards in my collection).
I’m not on any social media sites, they are too corrupt and Woke. I don’t have many card shows going on close to me so that eliminates that one. I prefer eBay. I have my 6-12 sellers I buy from consistently and your random sellers who offer good deals.i will never buy from Goldin or that SCI creep, those two have to be the biggest slimes in the industry!! Too many slippery breakers out there too that I will never buy from.
I’ve been buying more cards at various auction sites recently and have definitely found some good deals. You have to look, but they are there. A couple days ago I picked up a lower grade 1969 Topps Lew Alcindor RC for about half of recent eBay comps!
Your biggest issue here is you are in Cali. Cali has a completely different price for everything including collectables. Here on the east coast and down south, whole dif ball game. Shows down here tend to be higher priced, mostly because the seller knows about the haggling that will happen. Its very hit or miss, 50/50. Some shops are really good with pricing, some are terrible. Again its 50/50. The cheapest way to get cards of value for fair prices here is estate sales, flea markets, and junk shops.
Hi Graig, Thanks for your stimulating conversation today. I use eBay because I can’t get to the shows. You can still ‘bargain’ with the dealer but you get stuck with shipping and taxes. Anyway, that’s my simple opinion. Much love brother, Peter
After comparing my 3 favorite baseball card sets, I have to say the 1958 Topps set is the best. The up close photos of the players make it easy to see what the they look like. The bright colored backgrounds and old school team logos are interesting and eye catching. The card backs are well designed and easy to read. 38 cards in the set have card front variations. 57 card features HOF players. (64 if you include the variations & 79 with team cards.) 106 rookie cards are in the set and none of them are multi player. Orlando Cepeda is the only HOF rookie, but Roger Maris and Curt Food’s rookie cards are in this set. This set includes many of the all time greats like Clemente, Koufax, Spahn, Musial and Berra each have a card. Banks, Williams and Mays have 2 cards each in the set. Mantle has 3 and Aaron has 4 cards he is featured on. Clemente and Aaron have a variant of their base cads too. The best thing about this set is that the cards are fairly easy to find in decent shape and no super high prices. but the variations can add a degree of difficulty in completion if you choose to include them on your set. It’s kind of the best of both worlds. It would be nice if there were a few more HOF rookies in the set. Maybe there will be one day.
I have no local shops or shows to go to so I've gotten comfortable with eBay on buying graded cards. I used the buy it now and best offer options at first. Then I got comfortable with negotiating with seller. I didn't have much luck with auctions at first but with patience and a better understanding of comp pricing and sold data, I was able to save money. I may just have to explore these auction houses with my 2024 hobby budget to save more.
Another great video Graig! I definitely agree with you that online auction houses are the way to go! As for your question for next week, my vote for the best baseball card set of all time would have to go to the 1903-04 E107 Breisch-Williams set. There are so many important, early cards of several key Pre-War HOFers including Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Cy Young. Both Wagner and Mathewson are featured in street clothes (how cool is that)! Also, many of the images used in the set were later used for the T206 set (including the Cy Young and Nap Lajoie). All of the cards in the set are exceedingly rare and difficult to come by. This company was out of Oxford, Pennsylvania and later went on to create the E103 Williams Caramel set in 1910, which features Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Christy Mathewson. They created one final set in 1921, the E253 Oxford Confectionery set which features Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson. There is just a lot of amazing history surrounding the 1903-04 E107 Breisch-Williams set and considering that it is one of the earliest, rarest, and most important Pre-War candy sets of all time, combined with plenty of star-power is the reason why it is my vote for the best baseball card set of all time.
Good question. A lot of people are doing “breaks” now and selling spots. Greg Morris cards does that a lot. They may be interested. eBay is usually where I do my selling.
I recently won a card on PWCC - and the price was quite a steal, I thought. The best set of all time - super hard. I think the big three are T206, 1933 Goudey and 1952 Topps. I would wrestle with my own answer. Great stuff.
Even though I only have one card from this set, I think the best baseball card set is the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set. The colors and artwork are phenomenal, and you can get HOF players for more affordable prices than their corresponding goudey cards. These really capture the art deco art style...they are wonderful cards
1955 Topps has always been my fav. I love horizontal cards. And the colors and portraits on the ‘55 sets are beautiful and simple. I love every set from the 50’s tho. Topps and Bowman. Even the ‘55 Bowman. Screams classic 50’s Also, I think you can find a deal anywhere. Mostly on auction sites and at shows, but sometimes I can find the at shops as well
Looking up close at the 1915 Cracker Jack set, I am utterly hypnotized by it's elegant simplicity and quality of the printing. The red background is unique and creates a stellar aura for the players. And, the magnitude of players in this set is on par with any you want to conjure up. This is my favorite. The best, however? The Drake's Cakes on the bottom of the pastry box are clearly the best.
Thanks again Graig, good explanations. Still love the card shows because i can really examine what i’m buying. And if later i find a micro crease, well i only have myself to blame. Plus i prefer raw cards, but also need to examine those up close. I would love a segment on how to identify trimmed raw cards. Thanks again!
I found your channel recently and I'm enjoying getting caught up on your past content. We share a similar passion and enthusiasm for the hobby (although I'm much older). I'm going to give your Market Movers promo a try. I'm particularly interested in the collection portal.
Awesome. I appreciate the kind words. I think you're really going to like Market Movers. I'm planning on inputting all of my collection into the site, but I also really enjoy using and analyzing the chart data.
Here’s a question for you… What card have you sold or traded away that you think about years later as ‘THE CARD I WISH I STILL HAD’ For me it’s the 1982! Fleet John Littlefield error. I traded it for a fleer set and Topps set in 1982. It’s a card I never re-acquired but often think back about getting… but can’t out of both money for the card and huberis.
Great video!! One more I'd add for best places to buy cards if Facebook groups. You have to be a bit careful with this one, but once you are in a group for awhile and start to form relationships with people you can get some great deals! It also helps that you save on tax and fees. I have had great luck with this in my vintage football group. I know very little about vintage baseball, so I am excited to hear everyone's take on best all-time baseball set next week!
@@MidLifeCards to be honest, were it not for my vintage football group I may have deleted my Facebook account by now. Basically the only reason I am there at this point!
Good discussion. Auction sites are definitely good alternatives, especially for higher-end vintage. I like REA and Heritage but might look at Pristine too as I haven’t researched that one.
Best baseball card set is, probably the T206. But 1933, Goudey isn't much behind. Loaded with Hall of Famers including 4 different Babe Ruth cards, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Rogers Hornsby among others, too.
I find good deals at local card shows. Hidden between the tables of overpriced slab dealers are some individual sellers who just want to make some money and are willing to deal.
Best set is the 52’ Topps set. Iconic with the most recognized card in the hobby, along with first Topps issues of many stars like Jackie Robinson (undervalued). I’m working on a low grade version and having fun with it. Hoping it will always hold some value.
I'll vote for a 90's era set as the best looking set all-time, 1997 EX-2000. Same design used for baseball, football, and basketball. Base cards look like they could be high-end inserts and they have the highly sought after credentials and essential credentials parallels.
1948-49 Leaf Baseballc is my choice though it is tough not to go with 1909 T206, 1933 Goudey, or my favorite Topps set 1954 (not 1952) .. It is the first color set after WW2 leading to the classic color Bowman and Topps sets of the 1950s. It includes an incredible first rookie cards of the following HOFamers, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, Satchel Paige, Phil Rizzuto, Johnny Mize, Ralph Kiner, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, Lou Boudreau, George Kell and Larry Doby. Other icons of the hobby appear too, Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio, Babe Ruth, Warren Spahn and Honus Wagner all in beautiful living color.. Nothing more to say.
Graig, why are you hiding your e-mail address? My son was in town for Thanksgiving so I told him to check the boxes of cards that I passed on to him years ago for that Graig Nettles autograph!
