While the majority of present-day card scams relate to more modern era cards that are easier to reproduce, there are most certainly counterfeit cards dating back to the Pre-War era.
I’d say one of the most common stumbling blocks I encounter when speaking with novice (and even more experienced) collectors concerns shipping sports cards.
For someone that hasn’t sent a valuable card through the mail, the process can be a bit of a daunting experience. However, once you do it a few times, it becomes a fairly simple and easily repeatable process.
I put this guide together to help fellow collectors and to provide some further instructions on shipping sports cards. This guide will cover supplies needed in order to ship your cards, how properly package your cards, along with different methods of shipping and how the process might vary if sending to any third-party graders.
If you have any questions on this, feel free to leave a message in the comments section, or as always feel free to shoot us an email at help@allvintagecards.com
In what can only be described as inevitable, PSA just announced that it was suspending all Value, Economy, Regular and Express grading service levels. In a letter to collectors, PSA President Steve Sloan outlines the massive influx of grading requests and the move to ultimately slow down submissions.
Sloan reiterates in his letter that PSA continues to get flooded with grading requests and has received more cards in three days than they did during the previous three months. The letter clearly states that PSA needs to catch up. And in order to do so, they are halting any Value, Regular and Express grading submissions.
So what does this mean for collectors? Well, it means that it will basically be impossible to get your cards graded at PSA, unless you want to pony up the $300 for the ‘Super Express’ grading level. And for most collectors that isn’t an option, unless you are dealing with a card worth in the multiple thousands of dollars.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even aware of this card a year ago, but I wish I was, as the 1985 Prism Jewel Michael Jordan Sticker has skyrocketed in value.
Recent sales of PSA 8 graded copies of the card have reached nearly $50,000.
The cards were inserted into vending machines, likely mostly outside of your local grocery store. And given that they are stickers, most kids that plopped the quarters into the machine to grab these were peeling them off to use them how a kid might actually use a sticker.
Hence, they are super rare to find intact and in good condition. PSA has graded only 87 copies of the card, with only 8 reaching a PSA 9 and only 1 garnering a PSA 10 Gem Mint.
I started to become more curious about the card when I started to get inquires from people that had one (or two) that they were trying to sell. Knowing how rare these are, to receive multiple inquiries on this issue, just seemed sort of strange to me.
In what was only inevitable, both SGC and PSA, two of the hobby’s largest third-party grading companies have hiked prices.
The deluge of cards submitted to the grading companies has resulted in nearly unfathomable wait times and the grading companies are trying to put a halt to submissions….well, by raising prices.
The story at PSA is two-fold. First, if you hadn’t heard, the parent of PSA – Collector’s Universe was acquired by an investor group, which includes collector Nat Turner. Turner has voiced his desire to improve upon the existing operational infrastructure at PSA and to provide much-needed investment to improve upon the existing processes.
The 1957 Topps Frank Robinson rookie card is one of the key cards in the set.
I’ve always taken an interest in collecting things. I get it from my father, who first began collecting Lionel trains before transitioning into collecting vintage sports cards.
I remember the first card he bought. He dropped it on the kitchen counter, right in front of my mom and me, saying “Frank Robinson Rookie. First card; we’re going to start collecting vintage sports cards!” with a content little smile.
The store was right near his office, so he would always make it a habit to go there on his way home from work. He would end up staying for hours, looking at and talking sports cards with the owner.
I was only 9 years old when I started collecting back in 1985. I got a few packs of 1985 Topps and was hooked; as a kid that loved baseball, those little pieces of cardboard were everything to me.
I was obsessed right away and it consumed my entire being, ranging from riding my bike three miles to the nearest baseball card store and setting up tables in my basement for a ‘baseball card show’ amongst friends.
My brother soon opened a baseball card store and I was quickly thrown into battle as a high schooler peddling cards and negotiating purchases. I lived through the peak of the ‘Junk Era’ in which cards were massively overproduced, yet at the time, I didn’t grasp the realities of what was happening with the values of cards.
I returned to the hobby several years after college and slowly started getting interested in cards again –which ultimately led to the launch of ‘All Vintage Cards’.
And while the 1986 Fleer Jordan is heavily counterfeited, the 1987 Fleer card fakes are not as common. However they exist, and would expect more sophisticated scammers to start firing up the printing presses again to try and take advantage of novice collectors.
Thus, this guide is here to help you know the ins and outs of detecting a fake 1987 Fleer Jordan second year card.
Please, do let us know if you come across any fake ’87 Fleer Jordan’s, as your assistance can certainly help us in aiding fellow collectors.
As always, after reading if you have any questions on authenticating your Hank Aaron rookie card, please shoot me an email at chris@allvintagecards.com