card experts, what is this worth, in ballpark range?

[billyhallfan]

I got it signed in Beloit, it doesn't say it's a rookie, but I think it is because it was his first card, anyway, there is one on ebay that is graded as a 10 and going for over $100 and it isn't signed, this isn't a 10 I'm sure, but I can't see anything wrong with it, does anyone know? I'm not looking to sell, I want to keep it, I like Ryno, even though he is a cub, any help is appreciatted...

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e378/billyhallfan/sandberg.jpg

[gypcasino]

Can you show a picture of the whole card so I can see the borders and the corners?

[billyhallfan]

like this? LMK, if this works...

 

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e378/billyhallfan/sandberg-1.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e378/billyhallfan/sandberg2.jpg

[gypcasino]

OK, thanks. It just looked like the centering was way off in that first pic. It didn't look so bad now in that other one. All four corners can be razor sharp but the centering being way off will greatly affect the condition.

 

It is a rookie card, '83 Fleer, but unless it's actually graded by PSA or whoever then it's not worth much. Five bucks maybe? Add the autograph and maybe another five if you find the right person. I think I remember hearing back in the day that it wasn't advisable to get a rookie card autographed. But now that the bottom's fallen out of the market I don't think it matters one way or the other.

[billyhallfan]

what do you mean by centered? The autograph?

[dadofandrew]

By centered, he means there is less border on the left than the right.

[billyhallfan]

how is that determined, isn't every card the same, wow, I've never heard of that before, I thought all of the cards formats were the same, it was just what kind of condition the card was in.

[dadofandrew]

Probably only about half or so of standard cards are centered properly. The standards just aren't very strict for cheaper brands.

[cweber39]

Quote:

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how is that determined, isn't every card the same, wow, I've never heard of that before, I thought all of the cards formats were the same, it was just what kind of condition the card was in.

---

 

No BHF it can get really crazy. Cards are professionaly graded on a 10 scale and it is very rare you find a 10. The higher the rating the more it is worth. They look at everything from the centering, edges, corners etc. Beckett services does this as well as PSA I believe.

[jason21nl]

not sure how much its worth...but I just want to say, what a horrible sig he has...awesome that you got it though

[gypcasino]

how is that determined, isn't every card the same, wow, I've never heard of that before, I thought all of the cards formats were the same, it was just what kind of condition the card was in.

 

Like this. Say it's 1986 and you went down to the corner store to get yourself some Topps wax packs. You pull out this card of Vince Coleman.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/gypcasino/Cards001.jpg

 

Notice how awful the card is centered. Whatever machine they use to cut it must have been set wrong or the sheet of cardboard wasn't loaded right or something. So even though you pulled this card right out of the pack and put it straight into a top loader, it's not worth jack and it's not in "mint" condition because the border isn't 50/50, more like 80/20.

 

Next say you pull this card of the famous slugger Bob Jones.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/gypcasino/Cards002.jpg

 

He's rockin' the aviator shades and he looks constipated. But hey it's more evenly centered than the other one. I don't know if it's 100% perfect but you could probably consider the card to be nr mt/mt.

 

I'm no expert and I really don't know all that goes into grading cards so yeah, like cweber said a 10 is very hard to come by. There's more that goes into it than just seeing that you didn't put it in your bicycle spokes to make that cool noise. Geez, I'm really dating myself here. I've probably confused bhfan even more with all this talk of wax packs and putting the card in your bike spokes.

[PeaveyFury]

Yeah, the centering does look off on the card. I was thinking it might have been a style that was just aligned a bit to the left, but you can clearly see how off-center the text is on the back.

[JoeHova]

That's pretty cool.

 

If you want an autograph expert's opinion, I would try asking nBo baseball (Joe Gillespie). He posts here sometimes and is a really, really nice guy who is very knowledgable when it comes to autographs. His website is: nbobaseball.com/

His email address in on there.

[Fatter than Joey]

Probably only about half or so of standard cards are centered properly.

 

It's really more a function of the age of the card. Back in the day, the centering would be a function of the position of the card on the sheet, cards on the edges would be off-center more than others.

 

Some cards are harder to find centered than they are to find uncentered from the old Topps sets -- a 1979 Ozzie Smith is really hard to find centered.

 

Nowadays with computer controlled blades, and better card stock, centering is not as big as an issue.

 

To answer your question....

 

In 1983 there were 3 card companies -- Donruss, Fleer and Topps, you have a Fleer card. Sandberg had a card in all three sets. The Topps card being the most desirable of the 3. I would say that the Fleer/Donruss would probably sell for about 5$ with the Topps going for 8-10$ (ungraded).

 

I would say, with the Sandberg sig, you have a card worth about 20$-40$.

[billyhallfan]

thanks for all the help guys, I thought a card was a 10 if there were no marks and corners were good, anyway, thanks a lot...