Getting back into Card Collecting ( My birthday today )

[Rockford]

Slowly... but I had a question.

I was big into cards when I was little started in the very late 80's and kept going strong for a good decade coming across a lot of nice things along the way. Around the millennium I stopped and ending up giving all my cards away basically for nothing.

Recently I've had an urge to start back up, possibly going more of the vintage / memorabilia route ( as in autos, jersey cards etc ). My big question for all you collectors out there is what is your opinion on a good place to begin. I do enjoy opening packs and bought a few boxes as of late including an 82 Topps Baseball box and 9 packs of 84-85 Topps Hockey so getting a vintange box isn't a big deal to me. Anyways the question is where or what are some good packs or boxes to start back up with?

I do have a few wish list boxes I'm looking at like the 87-88 Fleer Basketball box and the 86 Topps Football box and to purchase a 86-87 Fleer Basketball Pack but those are just on a wish list of mine and I will be getting those within the next few months.

Just looking to see if anyone had ever made a post of a few good packs to get started with to get a nice variety of things and a few possible good hits.

Please no one under 21 respond to this post as you are not aware of the 5 grand 86-87 Fleer Jordan RC days and I'd prefer to get a nice, mature response to this.

 

[jaywings19]

Buying wax from those years is probably not your best route. You are not guaranteed getting cards in decent shape since the boxes could have been knocked around and/or have wax stains. Plus, there are a lot of sellers that have resorted to opening those packs to pull out the good cards, then reseal the packs using new wax/glue.

Your best bet is probably buying BGS or PSA graded singles of the cards you would like to get. Cards from those years are not very hard to find, so you can likely locate nice graded examples.

 

[Rockford]

Well I am a huge fan of opening things. I'm going to stray away from a lot of the older cards to boost my collection off the bat but I am not a huge fan of just buying single cards. I enjoy collecting players from either certain teams I like or certain players with the possibility of pulling something nice.

I was also looking to see if there were certain packs or boxes out there that some people prefer over other packs or boxes.

 

[Rockford]

Actually pulled an Yzerman rookie from the Hockey cards and a few other good cards.

 

[dksportz8]

hey Rockford, I like your idea of getting into the cards but the older stuff. It's harder though and hope you have cash to buy those kind of years. eBay is the only way for older stuff but you have to pay for shipping too.

1982 Topps Baseball Wax Box!!! for $109, $110
1987/88 Fleer Basketball Wax Box sells around $1,100
1986/87 Fleer Basketball Wax pack goes for $300 each
1986 Topps Football box for $400
1984/85 Topps Hockey Wax Box $210

Today's products suck cuz regular autos are now $8-12 each
Game-Used cards are like $6-$10 now.

I noticed 2008 stars and rookies are not selling as high as others these days. 1 of 1s/autos are selling for only $150-$200. You would think it would be like $400-$500 but not anymore.

I would recommend quitting cuz it's just money spent on cardboard and plastic but once you start, you can't quit so I'm lying to myself.

These days, I'm keeping the stuff from pre-1993 and sell 1994-present stuff since I feel the hobby is declining over the last 5-10 years.

The only brands I see worth getting from after pre-1990 would be like
1992 stadium club high series box selling for $1,300-$1,400 each (2nd yr Favre card)
1996-97 Topps Chrome basketball box for $600-$1000 each (Kobe rc, Iverson Rookie)

Today's stuff is just chance, You buy a box for like $100.00 and you pull rookies and inserts and whatever and it comes up to $63.00

The Hobby sucks.

Football:
2008 Donruss Elite Football Hobby Box $105.00
2008 Donruss Playoff Football Black Box $196.00
2008 Donruss Threads Football Hobby Box $77.00
2008 Playoff Prestige Football Hobby Box $104.00
2008 Topps Rookie Progression Football Hobby Box $60.00
2008 Upper Deck NFL Draft Edition Football Hobby Box $80.00

2007 Bowman Chrome Baseball Hobby Box $97.00
2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball Hobby Box $143.00
2007 Topps Moments & Milestones Baseball Hobby Box $80.00
2007 Topps Sterling Baseball Hobby Box $220.00
2007 TriStar Autothentics Autographed Baseball Bat Hobby Box (1 Auto Bat/box) $90.00
2007 Upper Deck Black Baseball Hobby Box $123.50

2007/08 Bowman Elevation Basketball Hobby Box $122.00
2007/08 Fleer Hot Prospects Basketball Hobby Box $101.00
2007/08 Topps Co-Signers Basketball Hobby Box $86.95
2007/08 Topps Luxury Box Basketball Hobby Box $140.00
2007/08 Topps Stadium Club Basketball Hobby Box $111.95
2007/08 Topps Trademark Moves Basketball Hobby Box $130.95
2007/08 Upper Deck Black Basketball Hobby Box $240.00
2007/08 Upper Deck Exquisite Basketball Hobby Box $605.00
2007/08 Upper Deck SP Authentic Basketball Hobby Box $105.00
2007/08 Upper Deck SP Game Used Basketball Hobby Box $130.95
2007/08 Upper Deck SP Rookie Threads Basketball Hobby Box $189.50
2007/08 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Basketball Hobby Box $323.50

 

[Rockford]

Yeah I've got the cash to buy some of the older stuff, I'm looking to get a 84-85 Topps Hockey box shortly which i will be doing a live break from and posting it up on YouTube. As for the other stuff I will be waiting on til the fall.

I'm doing a large end of the season 07-08 basketball break which i will probably start doing every year as the prices are cheap and I'm bored and got some spare cash heh I'll post up what I get when I get it.

On the football collecting Ive been watching box breaks and they are just terrible for Autos as the draft is so large that you can get garbage players that dont matter and will never matter, its sad. Its also sad because it keeps me away from the football collecting because of this, sure jersey cards are nice but a 5$ jersey card isn't worth paying 60-500$ A box.

They should really lower the auto limits for EVERY player down a LOT and make it so if you do get a box that says you wll get rookie autos, in basketball you should be guaranteed a lotto pick auto and 1 other auto ( lotto or not ) and in football you shouldnt get autos of players taken outside of maybe the 2nd round, along with baseball. There are too many garbage players giving out autos. And in basketball a 2nd round auto unless its a pop. player shouldnt be allowed to sign autos, Ive got way too many garbage autos from Gabe Pruitt and Jared Dudley.

Also if anyone has any Clipper autos and jersey cards Id be highly interested in purchasing them