TRADING CARDS
Trading cards go back to 1887 and were made of a type of cloth material. These cloth type cards were homemade until about 1901. Since there were no “Stars” back
then, all of the cards are considered “commons” and sell for about $800 a piece! As a trading Card collector, you may not find it too difficult to find these cards, as long as you don’t mind paying a few hundred bucks. 1902 was the beginning of what is known as “The Golden Years of Baseball” until 1935 and trading cards came inside of chewing tobacco, chewing gum, and cracker jack boxes. During the Golden Years, trading cards were made with many flaws and these errors give the error trading card a bit more value. The most expensive trading card came from the1909 T-206 set. This Honus Wagner trading card, one of which was bought by "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky for $451,500, is only one of four ever made.
The 1930’s and 40’s trading cards will now sell for about forty dollars or so for semi-stars. In 1951, Bowman’s set, which included Mickey Mantle’s rookie card which is
worth around $9,000. The 1952 Topps Mantle rookie is worth about $35,000. The common trading cards from the 1960’s will run you from $1 to $5 each. Between the 60’s and 1979 trading cards were made by a few different companies and are pretty easy to come by, with a few of them worth up to $300. Starting in 1980 to about 1995 “insert” and “redemption” cards were introduced into trading card packs. These cards were produced in far lower numbers than the regular cards giving some of them much more value. Also during this time, some trading cards were made with a new UV coating; these cards are called “premium” trading cards.
In 1996 the collector’s market really opened up with the new “Game Used” trading card. These cards are made with pieces of uniform, ball, bats, helmets, pieces of
turf and court to name just a few. These pieces are items that were actually used by the player on the card. Other highly sought after cards are “numbered” trading cards. These cards can be numbered from 1 of 1’s (the only card of its kind made)to cards numbered in the thousands. The lower the number of specific numbered cards made, usually the higher the amount it is worth.
Over the years, trading cards have been made from different materials, made in different sizes, many different card companies have come and gone, and the quality
of the trading card has become much better. Even though there have been many changes,the cards from long ago are still a very hot item from trading card collectors. A few of the well known trading card companies are Fleer, Topps and Donruss. In the 24 years that I have collected trading cards, the quality of the trading cards along with the dynamic changes that they have made over the years, have now brought my collecting back to being enjoyable to where I will be able to pass this hobby onto my three children.
