MiniYoda wrote:
not sure if this one was posted....
Baseball cards with the gum stuck to one of them
Back in the early 80's I got hooked on card collecting. Yes I was pushing 30 at the time, but it was fun in ways I'd rather not say. Back then I bought old packs of Topps from the mid and late 70's, and they still had the gum stick in them. Not only where they hard as a rock (well, sometime harder than), but they ruined a perfectly good card.
I wasn't state side in the 70's, so I didn't get a chance to buy them like a "normal" kid. I heard that many a good price card now a'days are in land fills, and some were attached to the spokes of bicycle wheels. But when I had my turn a the hobby, I had fun putting sets together with my dad. And the occasional card with gum stuck to it would take a very valuable card and leave a perfect stain on it.
YODA, all modesty aside, I consider myself a baseball card expert. I started collecting them in 1954, and have actually studied them as an adult. (I have a very sad story as to why I am no longer collecting baseball cards, but that doesn't apply to this discussion. However, if anyone wants to hear it, just let me know, but have a lot of tissue nearby, so you can cry along with me.)
Back to your post, of course damaged baseball cards lose value, but if the card is old, hard to find, and of a Hall of Famer, it's still going to be worth quite a lot, despite the damage. In all my years of collecting baseball cards, I've never run across a card where the bubble gum insert stained one. Yep, pinning them to your bicycle frame so the spokes made your bicycle sound like a motorcycle, would probably have a significant negative impact on their value. However, once again, if the card is old, hard to find, and of a Hall of Famer, it's still going to be worth quite a lot.
p.s. In the baseball card trading business, you should understand that there is a tremendous difference between the "bid" and "ask". The dealer's price for you to buy a card from him is a
lot higher than what he will pay you to buy that card from you. The only way to get the higher price is to become a dealer yourself, but once you do that you are no longer a collector.