Disposal of sports collectable items

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MP173
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Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by MP173 »

Any suggestions on how to dispose of (for fair market value) of a sizeable collection of sports memorabilia consisting primarily of items of one considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time (GOAT). The collection consists of cards plus other promotional (retail) plus articles, clothing, etc.

Also in the collection are unopened playing cards (primarily baseball cards from 70s and 80s).

Not looking to piecemeal these out but an "all or nothing" type sale.

Suggestions?

Ed
runner3081
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by runner3081 »

Well, you aren't going to get fair market value if not willing to sell individually.

Best option is to find a couple of memorabilia stores/sellers in your area, have them look and give you an offer.

My good friend makes these buys all of the time for his stores (so I am very familiar with the business). But.. you won't get fair market value. The buyer needs to make a buck too.

Also, they may not be worth as much as you expect, anyways.
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Kenkat
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by Kenkat »

If there is personal property of significant value, one option is Heritage auctions:

https://sports.ha.com/

Example item:

https://sports.ha.com/itm/basketball/19 ... ail-071515
camaro327
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by camaro327 »

The cards would be best with an online consigner. If they are high value cards, then places like PWCC have an option to get cards graded and then listed on their website. There are other large consigners on ebay also.

I would reach out to a couple of the bigger ones to get an idea of what they some of the other articles are worth and best way to sell them.

https://www.pwccmarketplace.com/
Topic Author
MP173
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by MP173 »

Thanks for suggestions...keep them coming.

Owner is not looking to break up the collection, but that might be the best way to maximize value.

ed
bob60014
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by bob60014 »

Any items signed with provenance/authentication? Most cards were mass produced, and except for a few cards, these have limited value. Who is "alledged" GOAT mentioned? It makes a difference.
Last edited by bob60014 on Sat Aug 13, 2022 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jack FFR1846
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

So this person has a bunch of Larry Bird stuff? If not, meh.

How about call the Pawn Stars guys at Gold and Silver in Las Vegas.
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ClevrChico
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by ClevrChico »

It it must be sold as a lot, then EBay it as a lot. As other's mentioned, you won't get top dollar as a lot. But, you'll save a lot of time.
RudyS
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by RudyS »

Kenkat wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 6:13 pm If there is personal property of significant value, one option is Heritage auctions:

https://sports.ha.com/

Example item:

https://sports.ha.com/itm/basketball/19 ... ail-071515
I sold autographed baseball cards through Heritage some time ago. Went smoothly. Could one not hand the collection over to them, and then they can auction it in whatever increments make sense?
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Kenkat
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by Kenkat »

RudyS wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 7:48 pm
Kenkat wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 6:13 pm If there is personal property of significant value, one option is Heritage auctions:

https://sports.ha.com/

Example item:

https://sports.ha.com/itm/basketball/19 ... ail-071515
I sold autographed baseball cards through Heritage some time ago. Went smoothly. Could one not hand the collection over to them, and then they can auction it in whatever increments make sense?
Yes, I think that is what they would typically do - include it in one of their periodic sports auctions with many other items. Sometimes if, for example, a family is releasing a large number of items from a specific person’s estate, they will feature that.

A lot of the sports stuff is out of my reach; I’ve bought coins at Heritage but find the sports auctions very interesting to browse just for fun.
tj
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by tj »

I took all my 80s and 90s stuff to Goodwill.

I certainly wouldn't expect to get much cash for it.
brian91480
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by brian91480 »

There is a middle ground between selling everything in one big lot... versus selling everything one at a time. Maybe a middle approach would work best?

-- Brian

PS. The GOAT of the 1980's = Patrick Ewing! 😀👍
Monsterflockster
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by Monsterflockster »

The most valuable collection here would be Michael Jordan. Signed MJ1s? Rookie Card?

As mentioned to get the most value you’ll need to get things graded, which costs money. You can put in an auction, which costs money. Also be aware that retail value is not what you’ll get for it. If you go in with a “take what I can get” attitude you’ll be better off.
cashmoney
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by cashmoney »

MP173 wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 5:48 pm Any suggestions on how to dispose of (for fair market value) of a sizeable collection of sports memorabilia consisting primarily of items of one considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time (GOAT). The collection consists of cards plus other promotional (retail) plus articles, clothing, etc.

Also in the collection are unopened playing cards (primarily baseball cards from 70s and 80s).

Not looking to piecemeal these out but an "all or nothing" type sale.

Suggestions?

Ed

You will probably get 80% or more of the value of the lot by just cherry picking a few out and selling those individually then wholesaling the rest.Check sold items on Ebay to see if you actually have any treasures.Cards usually have to be rookie cards to have much value.
Topic Author
MP173
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by MP173 »

It is indeed Michael Jordan. Neighbor has a HUGE collection of several thousand items.

The time to move these was a year ago when the documentary was out and Covid was still having an effect on peoples lives and what they did (cards were huge during the pandemic)..

I will tell him to check out the suggested avenues. If it were me I would move the valuable stuff and then take a realistic approach to the balance and perhaps toss it or offer as a low price deal.

Thanks for the suggestions.

ed
Topic Author
MP173
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by MP173 »

great help..

Thanks,

ed
MDfan
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by MDfan »

bob60014 wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 7:06 pm Any items signed with provenance/authentication? Most cards were mass produced, and except for a few cards, these have limited value. Who is "alledged" GOAT mentioned? It makes a difference.
If it's the basketball GOAT, it has to be Jordan.
THY4373
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by THY4373 »

MP173 wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 6:48 pm Thanks for suggestions...keep them coming.

Owner is not looking to break up the collection, but that might be the best way to maximize value.

ed
I have seen many owners try to sell many kinds of collections whole and for retail and that isn't going to happen, it never does because basically nobody wants your collection whole (not all the stuff is in their interest/taste, already have examples, etc.). You either put in the time and effort to sell individually to get maximum value, you wholesale the lot or you take a hybrid approach and cherry pick the best stuff and wholesale the rest (probably the best trade off for most folks). Honestly if you want maximum value it will probably take as much labor and time to offload the collection as it took to collect it in the first place. This is one of many reasons why I pretty much gave up on collecting various things some years ago. On the bright side it is better for the original collector to offload the stuff than their heirs.
Dyloot
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by Dyloot »

There’s a YouTube personality I enjoy watching who buys collections. Not sure he does anything but cards but he’s very friendly and may give you some recommendations.

https://youtube.com/c/BaseballCardColle ... storDealer

In his video descriptions he includes his email for doing business. If it were me I’d send him an email and see what he says.
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Watty
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Re: Disposal of sports collectable items

Post by Watty »

Somewhere in the plans they also look into any taxes that will be due on the sale of the items. Hopefully they have good records of the purchase price.

If not they may want to separate them into two groups.

One group where they have the cost basis and the other where they do not have records of the cost basis.

For the group without the cost basis it might make sense to just keep them and then let their estate sell them someday at a stepped up cost basis.
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