Antique mall in Tucson had a box of old baseball cards marked '50 cents each'

I flipped through them expecting junk, but found a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card in decent shape. Bought it for 50 cents and sold it to a local shop for $40 later that day. Anyone else find unexpected value in random boxes of cards or sports memorabilia?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessa36824d ago

You said "those cards peaked in the early 2000s," and that's close but not quite right. The Griffey rookie actually had a big spike around 2016-2018, when graded copies in PSA 9 were going for $150-200 easy. I remember because a buddy of mine sold one right before COVID hit and got $175 for it. The early 2000s were actually a down time for a lot of 80s cards, people were dumping them cheap on eBay. Right now you can grab a raw one for $20-30 most days, so $40 is still a fair quick flip but you're right that it's not some crazy score anymore.

hernandez.morgan2mo ago

1989 Upper Deck... I remember when those first hit stores. The thing is, $40 for a Griffey rookie in decent shape might feel like a win, but those cards peaked in the early 2000s. I flipped a similar one a few years back for $80, but now you can grab a graded one online for less than that. The market is flooded with that set because everyone and their mom held onto them thinking it'd be retirement money. You did okay for a quick flip, but I wouldn't call it some hidden gem moment.

keith2642mo ago

That's kind of overthinking a $40 flip, isn't it? Dude made some cash and moved on. Not everything needs to be a market analysis.