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THE INS AND OUTS OF
COLLECTING SPORTS CARDS
Looking
for a wonderful and exciting hobby that has to do with sports, that you
can begin at any age, that you can share with family and friends? Then
sports card collecting is for you. The love of sport card collecting
can be passed on from generation to generation and can last a lifetime.
There are no rules when it comes to collecting sports cards. You are in
charge. You get to decide what kind of cards you want to collect. Some
collectors will focus on collecting cards of a favorite team, a special
player, or build a set. The list of groups of cards to collect is
endless. There is no right way, or wrong way to this. Sports card
collectors may collect rookie cards, others insert cards, or cards from
a specific year. Many collector's concentrate on one sport, collecting
baseball, basketball, football or hockey cards. There are as many ways
to collect sports cards as there are collector's.
Finding
the sports cards you need for your collection may be difficult at
times. However, with the advent of on-line sports card sites such as AD
Sports
Cards Etc, makes buying cards
convenient and easy. At AD Sports Cards Etc. you can buy your cards in
factory sealed boxes, factory sealed sets, or single cards. When a
product is factory sealed you have more assurance that it was not
searched, or sorted through prior to selling. Please be aware that many
of the older sets were never sealed by the manufacturers, so in that
case you want to be sure you are buying from a reputable dealer such as
AD Sports Cards Etc.
We
are often asked what is the difference between a hobby box, a retail
box, and a set.
- Hobby
Boxes generally contain more packs per box than the Retail Box. The
number of cards per pack may/may not be the same in the two versions.
- Hobby
Boxes have a better insert ratio for the special cards, such as
Memorabilia Cards (cards with pieces of game worn jerseys, game used
bats, etc) and Autographed Cards. For example, a Hobby Box may have 2
of them per box; a Retail box may have one per box, or one per every 2
boxes, or even none at all.
- Hobby
Boxes will have more different types of insert cards.
- If
both the Hobby and Retail boxes have the same type insert card, then
the odds of getting one in the Hobby box will be better. Many types of
insert cards are only available in the Hobby Box.
- Hobby
Boxes may have a Box Loader, a card that sits on top of the packs, and
is all by itself. A retail box generally will not contain the Box
Loader.
- Once
in a while Hobby boxes may have all of the cards in a set with serial
numbers (for ex. 100/250). The retail version of this box would not
contain the serial numbering. Thus, the hobby cards are more valuable.
- Hobby
boxes are only available from Hobby dealers, whereas Retail boxes are
available from retail stores such as Target, Wall Mart, K-Mart. Some
Retail boxes however may also be available from Hobby dealers.
- Within
each manufacturers box, a collector can find a variety of different
kinds of sports cards. Each release may feature some, or all, of the
following types of sports cards; Base Set Cards, Subsets, Inserts,
Memorabilia Cards, Rookies, Error Cards, Star Cards, Semi-Stars and
Common Cards.
- Sets,
unlike boxes, do not contain packs of cards. Instead, they contain
individual cards that are the same base cards issued by a manufacturer
in the boxes. In a set you will get 1 of each different base card in
the manufacturer's specific product.
Each
year the sports card manufacturers try to come up with something a new
and different. Like any other business competition is high. There is no
guarantee as to which card company will have the break-out product for
the year. Also there is no guarantee as to which rookie, or star
player, will have a hot streak. That is why it is best to start your
collection with cards YOU like. If you just recently started collecting
cards and want to add some older cards to your collection you will have
to find a dealer or another collector who has them available. Sports
card manufactures only make the sports cards for the current year and
they only manufacture a predetermined quantity. Once that quantity is
produced and distributed, the product is no longer available from the
card issuing company. The only way to purchase older cards is to find
an on line site, or store, that sells the older boxes and sets. At AD
Sports Cards Etc you will find older boxes, sets and single cards along
with the newest releases.
To
maintain the value of your card collection, the cards need to be kept
protected from the elements. Once a sports card is damaged the value
decreases depending on the amount and type of damage. Just
as it is with collecting cards, there is no right, or wrong, way to
safely store your cards. If you want to be able to view your cards
frequently and/or show them to others, then you might want to store the
cards in 9 pocket card pages that go in the card albums. For your extra
special cards you might want to display them in screw downs, magnetic
one touch holders, or snap-tight holders. A lot depends on the value of
the cards. If you have a large quantity of cards that you want to put
away for a long time you could store them in the inexpensive cardboard
boxes designed especially for sports cards. Or, you could store them in
toploaders and then put the top loaders in a specialty cardboard box
called a Shoe Box. For added protection some collectors put the cards
in card sleeves before placing them in the selected the top loader.
Usually sports card supplies have to be purchased from a hobby store,
or an on line store like AD
Sports
Cards Etc.
If
you want to protect your cards with the best product available then you
will want to use the Ultra Pro holders. Ultra Pro is the leading
manufacturer of archival safe-storage protection for your sports cards,
sports memorabilia, sports collectibles. With Ultra Pro you can see,and
feel, the difference.
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