vintage trading cards and hand held game

Cards, Cards Everywhere!

Sports cards have been around for over 100 years. Packs of cigarettes and bubble gum were home to the White Card Stock Sports players of the era. Adults and kids would collect, trade with friends and put in bicycle spokes to make constant noises while riding down the street. At some point people started to realize that these cards could be worth money. A lot of it.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s there was a huge boom in card collecting. This spawned an era of new collectors of all ages, for fun and business. As the commercialization of cards started to blossom, people were opening packs and boxes to find their fan favorite, rookie card or top talent. Therefore, cards were going from bicycle spokes to hard plastic sleeves to protect them from damage. Finally, Professional Sports Authenticator(PSA), a professional grading company introduced themselves to the world with their 1-10 decimal grading system in 1991. The biggest reason was that, not every card was the same. Two cards that have the same name, company and year can be printed and cut differently.
lot of it.

Gem Mint

Centering is one of many variables in the grading process, but people wouldn’t notice that. Many cards are not cut evenly. For instance, borders are constantly far-right/left/top/bottom. Other factors of grading are corners, edges, surfaces, coloring, and registration. A grade is determined once all these factors are completed. A Gem Mint 10 is the highest grade a card can get. There are certainly fewer cards in the world that are a 10 than any grade.
lot of it.

Gem Mint 10 cards will certainly get more money than a 8.5 or 9. Therefore, collectors will pay top dollar. Ebay has constant card auctions and that’s where people will go. For older cards, like the graded PSA 5, 1909 Honus Wagner T206 card will sell at an auction house. That particular card sold for over $3 million dollars in 2016.
lot of it.

Printing and Bindery

While looking at cards or printing in general, certainly look at the bindery. Is the imagery centered? Are the corners sharp? Is it what you want? Appreciate the finer details.

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