Admittedly, one of the first things I did when I started entering cards on TCDB was to add my big-ticket items.
The pricing of individual cards on there is not the most dependable aspect of the site. For example, there is no way to address card condition, as far as I know. But it gives a general guideline for the worth of some of your cards, or at least those cards that have been sold/bought by TCDBers (I think that's how it works? I'm not sure).
I've always kept in mind my most monetarily valuable cards (as opposed to "valuable-to-me") since I acquired my first price guide in 1980. It's fun, even if you're not going to sell them ever.
I've mentioned before that I wrote a list of my priciest cards back in 1993 (30 years ago!), which was compiled from the Beckett Price Guide from that year. In that post, I then updated the list by going through ebay and checking prices. It was very unscientific. It was also 11 years ago.
Today I'm going to be even more unscientific and even lazier and simply list the 12 top-priced cards in my collection according to TCDB. I'm not even going to show the prices because we don't need to get anyone excited, and that includes me.
For some background, for years and years, the most expensive card in my collection has been the 1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr. card. Then, when I started adding my card collection on TCDB, the 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout card was the highest-priced and it has continued to be for the last year-and-a-half that I've been on TCDB.
Well, the Ripken Jr. is no longer even in the top 10 of my priciest cards according to the list. It's 17th! And, shocker, the Trout is no longer No. 1 either. Guess I missed my window!
Here are the top 12:
1. 1952 Topps Andy Pafko
2. 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax
3. 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle
4. 1956 Topps Roberto Clemente
5. 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout
6. 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson
7. 2008 Topps Red Hot Rookies Clayton Kershaw
8. 1956 Topps Ted Williams
9. 1956 Topps Sandy Koufax
10. 1956 Topps Jackie Robinson
11. 1971 Topps Hank Aaron
12. 1960 Topps Carl Yastrzemski
Now, obviously, card condition would guarantee that these cards wouldn't match what they're listed for on TCDB. If I accounted for that, this list would look a whole lot different.
The '71 Hank Aaron coming in at No. 11 is a puzzler -- higher than the '56 Aaron that I own (it's 14th)? But it's fun to watch this list fluctuate, although it often doesn't move for months at a time.
Just for kicks I looked up what my 100th priciest card on the site is.
It's the Fisk (and Garman and Cooper) rookie.
TCDB will rank every last card in your collection that has been priced on the site, so I also know that the 200th highest-priced is the '72 Topps Dusty Baker, the 300th-highest is the 1956 Milwaukee Braves team card, the 500th is '56 Topps Joe Collins and the 1000th is the 1960 Leaf Duke Snider card. Some of these are guestimates because once you get down to $5 cards there are a whole bunch tied for one number.
So I'm sure that a lot of people on TCDB consult their "Top Prices" lists, even those who think card-selling is horrifying.
I like to be a little more realistic: most of my cards I adore too much to sell. There is no "PC," my whole collection is my "PC." But we all know how the world works. My collection is also on notice.
Comments
I think the Trout update was probably hoarded by people, there easily have to be hundreds of thousands of them. The price will come down as his skills erode as they seem to be doing. Though if somehow his team would win three or four world series over the rest his career that could change. He has not played 150 games since 2016. His speed is gone (1 steal last year after 49 his rookie years). He turns 32 this year. Maybe the rule changes can bring him back
But it's a fun exercise. I only have my McGwires in there, but I might have to go take a look.
Really splurged in the early and mid 1990s and got pretty nice 1956 mantle and Aaron. Maybe the best buy was paying about 600 or so (give or take a 100) for the entire 1972 topps football high number set in NM mint. I rarely see that entire lot for sale from 1972.
Btw what has been your experience with getting some.key cards graded by psa, beckett, etc. Do you recommend or not.
Thanks
Paul
Traditionally on TCDB, users manually entered prices they bought or sold cards for, but recently TCDB partnered with Sportlots and prices flow over from that site when cards sell. That has driven down prices on a lot of cards with so many 20 cent prices coming over.
Back in the early 90's, I had a special box where I kept all of my cards that booked for $10 or more. I think there were only 15 to 20 cards in it. But I'd look them up every month at work and swap out cards on a regular basis. These days I look up eBay values for singles all the time. A few days ago after reading a Kenner SLU post on The Collector, I searched up an old Flea Market Find post and looked up a bunch of my purchases to see how much prices have fallen or risen over the years.
I still don't fully understand the pricing on TCDB, and honestly I've pretty much ignored it since I've started cataloging my collection. There's so much else on the site I find way more appealing.
At this point, I don't pay much attention to prices since they've all been inflated out of reality. Plus, I have so much extra stuff to trade, I don't bother looking up values for anything since I'm probably going to send several cards for each one of anything I get in return if I can.
People ask me what my collection is worth, but I have never tried to figure it out. And like you said, who cares, I'm not selling...
I don't grade cards. I don't believe in grading, although I can see its reasons in a couple situations. (Trying to sell a big card, reassurance on a card that could be faked).