Sports card collecting is undoubtedly a hot hobby, with its increasing popularity among sports fans and memorabilia collectors. It has also become an increasingly lucrative one, with reports of particular cards selling for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars. You have a collection of Babe Ruth cards and you're wondering if someday you can sell your holdings to establish a college fund for your children. What are your Babe Ruth cards worth?
If you look at online or print price guides, you may think you can sell your "Babe" card collection for a pretty penny. But the listed book value of a particular card doesn't mean that you can rush to the nearest auction house and sell it for that price. There are many factors that determine your Babe Ruth cards worth, including condition and scarcity.
Babe
The most valuable cards are those which are rare. For example, the 1914 Ruth rookie card is the most expensive card featuring the Babe, since there are only ten of these cards still known to exist. This particular card is deemed the second most valuable sports card ever, with recent sales reaching as much as 0,000.
Condition, however, also plays a vital part in determining your Babe Ruth cards worth. The closer a card is to being in pristine condition, even if it is relatively common, the higher the price it can command. The condition of a card is determined by professional card graders, who minutely examine its physical condition before grading it and locking it into a sealed container to preserve it. The highest grade a card can receive is a ten or gem mint, but such cards are rare. The majority of cards given high grades are in mint or near-mint condition. If you are serious about your collection, you need to invest to have your cards graded.
But the most important thing to remember about card prices is simply this: your Babe Ruth cards are only worth what someone is willing to pay you for them.
What Are Your Babe Ruth Cards Worth?
Alan provides information about Babe Ruth Baseball Cards through his website on Counterfeit Babe Ruth Cards