For those of us who have been in and around the hobby for many years, it isn’t news to us that sports cards have seen a resurgence. There are a lot of people who are starting to figure this out though; thanks to some high profile publicity over the last several months. This is not where I am going to offer a drawn out opinion on what is going on with Gary Vee promoting the hobby, because I think the situation is fluid and there is no clear cut take that I am comfortable with. I think that ultimately, exposure is good but the right kind of exposure is the key. Exposure will make the people come to the hobby; providing the right kind of exposure once they get here is up to us, the long-time collectors.
There are definitely some sports cards on the market today that are super valuable and could potentially change your life if you are lucky enough to find them. But you have to understand that if you are in the hobby for that reason, it is a big gamble and you are almost guaranteed to burn out quickly. I have been collecting all my life, and if I didn’t love it and it hadn’t been so meaningful to my life, I would’ve left a long time ago. I’m not here to get rich, but if I pull something valuable along the way, I’m not going to be upset about it. This is the way I view this hobby; I’m here to enjoy the cards and collect my favorite players and sets. Whatever else happens can be considered “having my cake and eating it too”.
We can talk more about modern cards of value at some point but for those returning to the hobby after a hiatus; I think the subject of “Junk Wax” is where we need to start. If you ever check the responses or mentions when Gary Vee posts about sports cards, many of them are along the lines of, “Are the cards from when I was a kid worth anything?” As collectors, we get this question quite regularly in our day to day lives. I am pretty sure that the entire world collected sports cards in the 80’s and 90’s, so when people find out that some of us still do it in 2019, the question presents itself in some form or fashion. A lot of people still have a box of cards from when they were a kid or a binder that has been sitting in a closet at their parents for 30 years. And trust me, most of us LOVE looking through those cards with you to see if you have something cool. So with the pumping up of the industry happening all around us, these questions deserve some examination.
First, let me offer an explanation of one of the terms that will be used here regularly. Most collectors know this already but as this might reach somebody new, the term “Junk Wax” refers to the cards we collected during the big boom of the industry from around 1986-1995. The time frame varies from collector to collector but it is referred to as “Junk” because it was so massively overproduced. There are still cases and cases of 1987 Topps sitting in a warehouse somewhere. I prefer to view “Junk Wax” as more of an endearing term that represents cards from my youth. It is sort of like “Dad Bod” being somewhat derogatory but also embraced by society, both men and women alike, as a positive or cool thing.
Also, as it pertains to “value”; we all know that is a designation of relativity. A $5 bill is not the same to someone else as it may be to me. And a $100 bill is not the same for many of us either. So value, in the context of my collecting habits can be broken down as monetary value, social value, and nostalgic value.
- Monetary Value – This is the value attached to cards from a cash standpoint that may be identified as buy and sell items.
- Social Value – This is value that provides a way for collectors to connect, trade, and build their PC needs.
- Nostalgic Value – This is value that is tied to the meaning behind the cards. Perhaps the card meant something to you as a kid or ties a memory to a moment in time. This is the type of value you will find most commonly associated with the “Junk Wax Era”.
With this in mind, when someone asks me if their cards from when they were a kid are worth anything, the answer is generally, “not likely”, but we now know that it is a little more complex than that. The ‘90 Donruss, ’88 Topps, ’91 Fleer, and ’92 Leaf sets of the world really have no tangible monetary value. But long time collectors aren’t just throwing those cards in the garbage either. That 1989 Gregg Jefferies Future Star was once a retirement piece that was set aside by the masses. It is now a .50 cent card that provides more nostalgic value than 90% of the cards on the market. When someone in the hobby mentions Gregg Jefferies, it is synonymous with “cards I collected as a kid.” If I pull one, it still goes in a toploader.
The truth, as it relates to monetary value, is that there are very few cards from that era that carry anything more than a $5 price tag. There are certainly exceptions but the advent of social media, eBay, and other selling sites, combined with what we know now about production numbers from that era, has transformed the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco, 1985 Topps Mark McGwire, 1990 Pro Set Emmitt Smith, and 1989 Hoops David Robinson cards into collection pieces that can be bought all day long for a few bucks. I won’t even get into an explanation of grading because the odds are; if you are finding the box in your childhood closet, those cards aren’t graded. We’ll save that discussion for another day.
We will touch on condition, however. What makes the vintage cards from the 50’s and 60’s so valuable is tied to scarcity and condition. So many of those cards were tossed away or used as play toys, the basic number of cards still in reasonable condition make those somewhat rare. In any collection, rare is good. By the late ‘80’s, we had learned to keep our cards in better condition because they could be worth something in the future. We used toploaders, binders, and screw-down holders to keep the highly sought after cards in “pretty good” condition. But “pretty good” condition isn’t good enough anymore. And 90% of our collections went into big cardboard boxes for posterity so “pretty good” might be generous.
That fact, combined with the printing errors (miscuts, off-center photos and borders) that are rather commonplace in sets from those days, there is still somewhat of a premium for cards that are in mint or pristine condition. For example, the Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck rookie from 1989 sells on eBay for about $30 if you still have it in a toploader or binder. If it is graded by one of the major companies, and certified as mint condition, it sells for about $450. Whatever your understanding of value is, that is a pretty self-explanatory comparison without having to go into the ins and outs of grading.
The average “big box of cards” sitting around the house collecting dust from your childhood likely won’t have the ’89 Upper Deck Griffey or ’86 Donruss Canseco in there. These were the cards we put aside for safekeeping and either sold when we were getting out of the hobby or traded them for other cards we thought were going to be valuable and ultimately wound up in the big box when the players didn’t pan out. I am envisioning those trades that involved the likes of Todd Van Poppel, Kevin Maas, and Phil Plantier. But who knows, you might get lucky and stumble on something you forgot was there.
Let’s make this clear. I love Junk Wax. I love the nostalgia, the players, and most of the sets. There are some real beauties hanging out in that era. You just have to know what you like and know what to look for. With that in mind, here is a handy guide of what I look for when I get the call to look through somebody’s old cards. Spoiler alert; Monetary value is very minimal, Social Value is pretty solid, and Nostalgic Value is through the roof!
Draft Pick Cards
This particular Steve Avery has more sentimental value than most. But I also loved the Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas, and Ty Griffin cards. There was something cool about seeing players in high school and college uniforms.
1989 Upper Deck
The Griffey is the obvious prize but ’89 Upper Deck features a lot of fun cards in a design that is as iconic as you’ll find from the 80’s. Even without the Griffey, you’ll be happy to stumble on something from this set.
Oddballs
I love Kmart, Rite Aid, Purina, and whatever other odd retail cards you can find. They almost always have a checklist of superstars and they are unique designs that you may not remember.
Unique Photos
Upper Deck had a lot of these but you could find plenty in the other sets as well. The triple exposures were a lot of fun!
Pro Vision
One of my all time favorite subset cards. I’ve never met a Pro Vision I didn’t like.
Leaf Gold
These were on a completely different level when they were released. These cards just oozed elegance. I still enjoy finding these in random box searches.
Topps Gold
If you are REALLY lucky, you might find a “Gold Winner” like the Molitor above. But just finding base gold is enough to sit and stare for a while.
Gallery of Stars
Diamond Kings also fit in this category but the early 90’s Gallery of Stars were awesome! They had gold foil and felt like high end inserts. The checklist was solid as well.
All-Star Rookies
Topps has had its share of misses among the Future Stars but “most” of the time; the All-Star Rookies are players that performed well when they first hit the field.
Errors
Some are more obvious than others but during the Junk Wax Era, error cards were mostly unintentional and were always fun to chase. How do you like the condition of this gem? This is what many cards in the big box wind up looking like over time.
Mid-Late 80’s Fleer
Fleer did not make a bad set from 1984 through 1989. We’ll forget that 1991 ever happened for this section. I love all superstar cards from this era of Fleer!
1992 Bowman
This set has some of the biggest rookie cards from the early 90’s, along with some of the greatest photos in the history of sports cards. If you find a rookie from 1992 Bowman, odds are that it will either be a good player or a super cheesy photo.
1987 Topps
Is there really anything to say here other than; 1987 Topps?
1989 Fleer Billy Ripken
This is quite possibly the most infamous card from the 80’s. If you don’t know the story of the ’89 Ripken, you need to read it HERE!
Ken Griffey Jr.
All day, every day! There is no such thing as a bad Ken Griffey Jr. card.
Frank Thomas
Like Griffey, every card that Thomas appears on is a keeper. Some are better than others, like this sweet ’92 Topps.
When you ask the question, “Are my cards from my childhood worth anything”, the short answer is “no”, so long as you were a kid from 1980 to 2000. The longer and more accurate answer will take some sorting, research, and time. And what that really means is that there might be a few specific cards in a box of 5,000 that may be worth a few bucks. But that is only taking monetary value into consideration. When considering social and nostalgic value, you really can’t put a price on “Junk Wax”. There is still a great feeling that comes with finding a Gary Sheffield RC or a Juan Gonzalez Reverse Negative or a Nolan Ryan Triple Exposure card. This is where the value lies for cards in that era. When someone tells you they would take the cards but won’t pay a whole lot for them, they likely aren’t lying. The cards have value; they just aren’t worth a lot of money, if that makes sense.
If you find yourself in a situation where you want to know what your “Junk Wax Era” cards are worth, my recommendation is to go to someone you trust. Ask someone who has nothing to gain, other than assisting you in browsing the collection. But also, expect the discoveries to be more fun than lucrative. There are some gems to be found in the “Junk Wax Era” but we learned a long time ago that we aren’t retiring on sports cards we collected in 1988.
J-Dub