Question about vintage cards

[katoy2j]

I'm looking to start a project that would involve vintage rookie cards from the 50's, 60's and 70's primarily of lesser known players. I have no experience with vintage whatsoever so wondering with those with experience, where the best paths would be to begin this project.

 

[winniescards]

Way to vague in what you are asking.Do you plan on building set,do you want to a run of certain player.
When you say lesser name players do you mean player that may only have one or two cards.Please explain.
Maybe show a list of who you are looking for.Thanks.

 

[katoy2j]

Don't plan on building sets. I'm looking for rookie cards of players that played for a specific organization at one point in their career. It was an expansion team but it had players who have cards in the 50's, 60's and 70's on my list. The majority are not big names and would be common players. I'm only looking for their rookie cards and not all their cards. I'm on the process of putting a list together but I'm more interested in the best places to look first from someone with experience in vintage.

​

 

[will-411]

Are you looking for graded (high or low grade?) or ungraded? I can’t say I know anything about where to find vintage, but I’d start on eBay if looking for graded.

I think getting your list together than sharing that in different forums will start to show you the paths to where the cards are.

Good luck!

Cory

 

[capsfan30]

If you're looking for graded, 4 Sharp Corners has a great inventory. Also look on eBay.

If buying raw, best I can say is be careful. eBay is probably the best place to go for that.

I don't use Facebook groups enough to know if there is a vintage hockey one.

 

[MR.M's Cards]

several large groups on facebook, that is where I do most of my vintage buying. COMC would also have been a great option pre tarrif

 

[katoy2j]

I'm looking for ungraded primarily as the majority of guys will have really low population rates since they aren't household names. I will probably go for graded for the better players because those cards will be very liquid.

I don't have facebook unfortunately.

Does anyone who attends shows in the GTA know if there are dealers who sell vintage for set collectors from the 50's-80's? I'm sure there are guys who have the stars but I'm looking for particular commons in decent shape. Something that would grade Excellent condition and above. Primarily focused on good surface, decent centering and no creases.

I've checked ebay and it's been promising but shipping kills a lot of cards as it's 10 dollars to ship a 2 dollar card. It's also hard to tell the surface quality of older cards

Also on a different question I do see some KSA cards but I only do PSA for consistency and I believe they are really the only one that will hold value in the future in terms of grading companies. How do cards typically cross grade? I'm not really looking for gem mint cards as I'm happy to live in the PSA 6-8 range. Do KSA cards in that range typically cross over equivalently?

 

[winniescards]

For anyone who is in this for money. They are grading even commons. If they figure they can get an
8 or 9 and prey for a 10. For the sellers with a great eye that can turn that $2 common into a $100
common than a lot are willing to take that chance.

On the KSA cross over at equivalent grades. I will tell you this.Back a while ago I graded a complete
1960-61 Parkhust set.So since I live in Canada I sent the set to KSA. I wanted two things.All cards must
grade a 5 or better.And I wanted them all in the same holder(slab). So when the set came back there
was a few that were less tan KSA5. So I bought the 9 cards on eBay all graded by PSA with graded
in the 6-8 range.So when they arrived I cracked them open and submitted them all to KSA.Like I
said I wanted the set all in the same holders.All 9 cards came back with a lower grade from KSA
than what PSA had graded them at. That would not happen today.PSA is grading very hard right
now and I do not believe there is any turning back. Check out this card below and tell me what
you think it should have graded and tell me why you choose that number.Good luck with you
collection.

 

[katoy2j]

I certainly don't have a lot of knowledge about specific year issues but just looking at the card I would say it's a 4 or 5. The centering looks good but the main issues appear to be surface related. Again I have really no experience with grading vintage.

I get what you are saying about the grading vintage. That's why I am okay with the card being a 6 since the two dollar card wouldn't be worth the grading cost on the return most likely. There isn't really an investment value for me. It's a project that will likely sink most of the money I put into it. I'm looking to acquire a rookie card of every player to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins at one point in their career.

 

[winniescards]

Well just one example. But the card about only got a PSA1

 

[katoy2j]

Wow PSA 1 seems really low. That's what makes it so difficult though as finding raw cards online makes it really tough to judge without the card in your hand. To be fair I have never submitted cards for grading and every graded card I have is from the 80's or later for the most part.

 

[winniescards]

Well from my experience.If you are looking to get cards from the 1950's and 1960's
at cost much lower ten the grading fees.Then plan on being patient in your search.
Take a trip to the Toronto expo this weekend. I am sure that at what most people
consider the largest hockey card show anywhere. That you can likely find a few cards
that you need.They will be in hand and it is much easier to decide on cards when
they are in hand. Good luck.

 

[katoy2j]

There are only a handful that had cards from the 50's. Pittsburgh came in the league in 67 and had a handful of players that had cards in the 50's. Most are not household names and some do not even have a card as far as I can see. The bigger guys like Andy Bathgate I'll pick up a graded copy because he was such a special player and I don't mind paying a few hundred dollars because cards like that will always be liquid.

The biggest thing I have to pay attention to mostly is the amount of reprinted cards. I'm actually finding the most trouble finding cards from the 70's as people are selling some of those of no namers for 70-100 in a PSA 7 and the raw cards are going for 40. I have noticed a lot of time at auctions these same cards go for under 10 dollars with shipping in great condition so it will just be a matter of patience. I have had a great time searching for cards that never were on my radar before though

 

[winniescards]

Collecting is fun.I know when I switched over from sports to non sports it was a very educational journey.
But I enjoyed every minute of it. You are likely within a half hour of the Expo so I believe it might be a great
starting place.It will be wall to wall vintage hockey.If you were close and could look at cards I likely could help
with a lot of the players from the 60's and 70's.But I do not sell or trade vintage unless it is in person. Way
to many people have so many ideas on what condition a card is in.Good luck.

 

[30ranfordfan]

It sounds like you might be doing something similar to what I've done, and that's chasing RCs of players who played for a specific team (in my case, it was the Oilers).

(here's one of my threads, for reference): https://www.hobbyinsider.net/forum/threads/all-time-oilers-collection-part-1-1979-80.427601/

Maybe the Popiel RC in my thread ('65) is the oldest? I don't have a thread for them, but I've done WHA players too - and there are some in there from the 50s.

My best suggestion it be patient, and find ones whose condition you'll be happy with. I never wanted graded cards (with the exception of Gretzky, though if I ever get around to picking up Oilers WHA alumn Norm Ullman & Jacques Plante, I'd go with graded on them too).

Hard to find stuff in real crisp shape, so I'd look for copies that looked nice (centering) without any major flaws (creases) but expecting edges and/or corners to be soft.

Where to buy? eBay & COMC is where I picked up most of mine. You can get some great deals on eBay, when it comes to lesser names, particularly if you're going for non-slabbed cards.

 

[katoy2j]

I haven't been at it long but being patient is absolutely key. I am certainly a rookie though in evaluating cards from a picture so I'll have to see how good I was when they start showing up. I'm not against slabbed cards at all although. For modern it's pretty crazy that you can find PSA 10 cards for less than the actual grading fees so I'll pick those up for 10 dollars all day long to fill out my list. For older stuff if it hits auction the lesser guys go for peanuts if it's a 6 or 7 from what I have seen on completed auctions. They just aren't very frequent.