Value of old coins, baseball cards and comics?

[capri debris]

As some of you may know, my elderly mother became seriously ill about 5 years ago and I took care of her as long as I could on my own, but 2 years ago I had to put her in an assisted living home.

When she first went in, I had to put all her belongings into storage and in the past couple of months I finally got around to going through all of it. It was tough to yard sale most of her stuff and decide what got thrown away and what to take to the Good Will to help others less fortunate... and what to keep for sentimental value.

Well, I found some things that I think may have some REAL value in with all the regular stuff, but not sure as I know very little about the items and hoped some of you may be able to shed some light.

1. Coins and paper money: Much of what I found is from other countries as we traveled overseas because my Father was in the service for 20 years and retired in '72.

2. Baseball cards: I'm not into sports so I don't have a clue which ones might be worth anything.

3. Old comic books: They are mostly in bad condition, but they are really old.

Anyone who has some insite as to what some of this stuff is worth, it'd be much appreciated.... and I can give more specific information if need be. Thanks in advance.

[Hemlock]

We had to do this a few years ago with my wife's grandmother's stuff

what comics? Name and number/edition

What BB cards? Name and team

Robert

[colonialmotion]

comics i would check one by one on google, my dad had a box full of them and some were 5 bucks while some were $1,200 - $2,000 if mint and he made a good coin bringing the whole bundle to a comic store

[capri debris]

Comic book titles: Rib Tickler (1946), Mr, District Attorney (1949), Li'l Abner (1950), Jumbo Comics (1949), Raggety Ann and Andy (1947), Fawcetts Funny Animals (194, Batman (1950), 4 Most (194?), Tick Tock Tales (1947), Gene Autry (194, G.I. Combat (1982).

Baseball Cards: Jim Todd, Rickey Henderson, Mickey Klutts, Dave Revering, Jeff Newman, Steve McCatty, Rob Picciolo, Tony Armas, Joe Wallis, Wayne Gross, Mitchell Page, Dave Hamilton, Mike Heath, Carney Lansford, Larry Harlow, Nolan Ryan, Merv Rettenmund, Tom Donohue, Frank Tanana, Bob Grich, Mike Barlow, Bert Campaneris, Rick Miller, Rod Carew, Don Baylor, Jim Anderson, Dave LaRoche, Chris Knapp, Willie Aikens, Terry Puhl, Joe Sambito, Rick Williams, KEn, Forsch, Randy Niemann, Jimmy Sexton, Frank LaCorte... and many, many more.

[eeprete]

I can't chime in on comics, but I used to collect baseball cards. Rookie cards are always worth the most, but also only if its anyone significant. Of your list, really only the following may be worth anything, and not big dollars, just a few bucks, depending on the yr, brand of card, and overall condition and quality of the card (centered,accurate colors, corners, etc)...

- Nolan Ryan
- Ricky Henderson
- Rod Carew

of course there are exceptions to the rule as well.

[OldsRocket442]

Any way to get pictures of some of the cards? Specificly the Nolan Ryan cards? Yes, I collect Nolan Ryan cards...lol

One way to tell what year cards you have is to look at the last year of stats listed on the back.

For example: The back of this card lists stats to 1990. Therefore its a 1991 card. http://images.checkoutmycards.com/zo...edb08a4afc.jpg

[MY70GT]

i was a avid comic collector, and the books you mentioned unless in very high grade condition arent worth that much. You could look on ebay and see if any of the titles you are selling are on there as a gauge......

[eric5oh]

Unless the baseball cards are really old and mint, forget it. The internet killed that market

[Hissing Cobra]

Back in 2000, I tried to sell my MINT conditioned, late 1970's baseball cards to a bunch of different dealers at a card show. They wouldn't give me anything close to what the books said that my cards were worth so I kept them.

All of my cards show no signs of wear, no bent corners, no fading, no wear spots, or anything else. The reps for the dealers were looking at them with a magnifying glass and pointing out the "flaws" that you couldn't see with the naked eye. It was totally ridiculous. At the time, I had an Eddie Murray rookie card that was "worth" $70.00 according to Beckett's value guide and they were all offering me $10.00 to $20.00.

I wasn't desperate for money, so I kept them and still have them all up in my attic. I don't think I've opened that box since then.

Good luck with the sale on your goods.

[80Notch]

Being a comic book collector I can tell you first hand if the comic books are in bad shape they arennt worth anything no matter how rare......do you have any pix of em? If they aren't too bad maybe worth somthing but not a whole lot

[OldsRocket442]

Back in 2000, I tried to sell my MINT conditioned, late 1970's baseball cards to a bunch of different dealers at a card show. They wouldn't give me anything close to what the books said that my cards were worth so I kept them.

All of my cards show no signs of wear, no bent corners, no fading, no wear spots, or anything else. The reps for the dealers were looking at them with a magnifying glass and pointing out the "flaws" that you couldn't see with the naked eye. It was totally ridiculous. At the time, I had an Eddie Murray rookie card that was "worth" $70.00 according to Beckett's value guide and they were all offering me $10.00 to $20.00.

I wasn't desperate for money, so I kept them and still have them all up in my attic. I don't think I've opened that box since then.

Good luck with the sale on your goods.

I'm with 'ya on this one Pete. I have a pair of '71 Nolan Ryans that are real nice. They'd probably be graded an 8 or better each. For that set thats great. I had a card shop do the same thing. Then offer me $35 each for a pair of cards that booked, at the time, for $250. I think not.

With the black boarders that set is hard enough to find nice cards in. That set also had some major centering issues. I looked a long time for my Nolan Ryans. I won't sell them, I was just curious what would be offered for them at the time.

[Tim-82GT]

Being a comic book collector I can tell you first hand if the comic books are in bad shape they arennt worth anything no matter how rare......do you have any pix of em? If they aren't too bad maybe worth somthing but not a whole lot

All depends on what book. The ones he listed aren't rare pending the Batman issue#. Pics would help the most. You could pay a couple of hundred just for a page from batman #1. So rarity could outweigh condition. But not on these books listed

[DeraldRice]

Collectables of any type have taken a real hard hit over the last several years. I have several collections from my mom's estate that I hope will gain some value in the future. Until then, I am keeping them in storage.

When so many people are un-employed or under-employed, and have a hard time paying the mortgage, they sure can't afford to collect anything. Family is always first and then comes the extras if there is any disposable income left over.

[Tim-82GT]

I'm not sure if that holds fully true with comics. Every month they set new records for sales. I have been a collector for almost twenty years. I'm a regular on the CGC ( comic grading company) boards. I'm not talking about new books. They are worthless in my opinion. I'm talking about 40's 50's and 60's comics. Certain books have reached the million dollar mark, and that consistently. I think think with many comic movies being made ( good or bad) it always raises the value of certain books. Im not sure what would raise the price of a baseball card from the same time besides the player getting into the HOF or passing away. I have books ranging from the low $50 range up to $3-4,000 range. I would always risk my money in old comics. Books I could afford 5 years ago are now way out of my range. The economy doesn't seem to be hurting comic collecting that much.

[gbranton]

I'm talking about 40's 50's and 60's comics.

What about books from the 1970's? That's when I grew up and amassed my comic collection.

[Tim-82GT]

Some are high dollar. When you start hitting mid 60's and up it is all about condition. You get a Hulk #181 (1974 I believe) first appearance of wolverine in high grade 9.0 and higher, your above a grand.

[Tim-82GT]

The prices and books I am referring to are if the book is graded by CGC. They are a 3rd party grading service. They base the grade of the book on a scale of .5-10. 10 being perfect.

[gbranton]

The prices and books I am referring to are if the book is graded by CGC. They are a 3rd party grading service. They base the grade of the book on a scale of .5-10. 10 being perfect.

So really unless a book is graded by CGC they are for all intents and purposes nearly worthless, correct?

[Tim-82GT]

No not at all. It's just when someone tells you a book is mint it's subjective. I would never buy an ungraded book off eBay cause the seller calls it mint or near mint. In person I would if I was able to look over the book and determine the grade. If you had a CGC 9.0 hulk 181 which is very fine/ near mint. The book is about $1100. If you crack it out of the CGC slab it's still a very fine/near mint book and still would cost you about the same price. You just know what you are buying. The CGC grading does raise the price cause it guarantees the grade. No guessing so less room to haggle on price. Might sound a little confusing and sorry if it does.

[04gixxer6]

I collected cards in the 80's and specifically focused on Nolan Ryan. I have not looked up values in years but was very disapointed the last time I did.

Look for coins with silver in them. Dollar, half dollar, quaters and dimes from before 1965 still had silver in them and are worth more. One silver $ coin is worth around $40 now with silver prices going through the roof.

[gbranton]

No not at all. It's just when someone tells you a book is mint it's subjective. I would never buy an ungraded book off eBay cause the seller calls it mint or near mint. In person I would if I was able to look over the book and determine the grade. You just know what you are buying. The CGC grading does raise the price cause it guarantees the grade. No guessing so less room to haggle on price.

Not confusing. I'm sure there are reliable online resources that would give advice on how to grade a book and the values of them, is there one that you would recommend? I am just sort of curious what mine go for.

I have never really checked it out but if I found they were valuable I might want to sell them or at least document them for my homeowner's insurance.

[gr79]

Bicycle spokes and clothespins made a lot of old baseball cards rare.
The bubble gum made them smell good. They had that powder on them too.

[85GT393]

I used to collect comice big time in the 1980's have had thousands of them used to buy individual issue's 40 copies one for reading and 39 for future sales. each depending on what title it was, who the artist was, what character was in the title who made guest appearances in them... certain writers and artists brought more value to a book and wether that artist or writer was nolonger with us. Did a fan favorite character die in that issue. I think it was Uncanny x-men #137 jean alias the phoenix took her own life that book sold for $1.50 and climbed to 12.00 in less than 4 months . always good to invest in #1 issues and titles in wich a character dies.

grading a book they look for alot wrinkles, folds in the cover and pages. finger print smudging, binding roll, rust and wear around the staples, cover gloss. now if your talking first appeances of spiderman, captain america, the incredible hulk, X-men, fantasic four,Batman, superman in NM = Near mint , M = mint condition your talking thousands of dollars

batman =120,000
superman= 485,000
amazing fantasy # 15 =6,000 to 18,000
Fantastic four #1 =300,000
Avengers #4 capt America joins team = 7,750 before newest movie release now 30,000
x-men #1 = 200,000

lots of money to be made if you bought them when they were only 12 cents wooooooo

[Tim-82GT]

Recent CGC graded book sales

Action Comics #1 ( first superman) CGC 8.5 - $1.5 million

Amazing fantasy #15 (first Spider-Man) CGC 9.6 - $1.1 million

Detective Comics #27 (first Batman) CGC 8.0 $1 million

Avengers #4 CGC 9.6 - $92,000

X-Men #1 CGC 9.6 - $200,000

Fantastic Four #1 CGC 9.4 -$300,000

Hulk #181 CGC 9.9 - $150,000

[gbranton]

I was heavy into Spider Man. Probably the most valuable books I have are the death (and rebirth) of the Green Goblin and the death of Gwen Stacey (Peter Parker's girlfriend).