General Forum

Thanks everyone, for some good suggestions.  I'm with sandyrusty on the "trade within like eras", and would really like to consider selling some newer stuff rather than trading.  But I don't know what a reasonable offer would be, so these resources will definitely be worth looking at for me.

--kent

I have both the standard catalog and beckett almanac.  Although I like the organization of the standard catalog better, the pricing is just unrealistic and outrageous.  Unless you're looking for an inflated sense of value for your personal collection, or are looking to spend too much on your collection, I'd ignore the prices in the standard catalog.  It makes the mid-to-high grade cards look like they're worth more than they are, and makes the low grade cards look like they are worthless.  The book just doesn't have a good grasp on the actual buy/sell market.  Easier to use just doesn't translate into accuracy here.  Although I have my gripes about Beckett, it's really the best option for pricing--at least for baseball cards.     

Beckett-- 2 columns representing a high-low range for a single card grade (I just use Hi column).  Actual value is adjusted according to card grade using a percentage chart.  For modern cards, the price listed represents [NM-MT 8.0] condition cards.  For older cards, the price could represent lower grades from [NM 7.0] for '50s-'70s cards, down to [VG-EX 4.0] for tobacco cards.  It tells you what grade the price represents.

Standard Catalog-- It has no hi/lo range.  It attempts to pin-point the precise value for 3 different card grades.  Below the lowest grade provided, it says to half the price for each lower grade (so 50% of 50% of 50%, etc.).  Often, the column grades provided don't represent common grades that you'd expect to find the cards in--like tobacco cards in [MT 9.0] condition.  Pricing in this book is seriously jacked.  Dean's cards probably uses this book.

I keep both books on hand, but use Beckett for numbers, and Standard Catalog for another perspective on words. 

randylaw wrote:

I've always preferred the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards over the Beckett. In my opinion it is easier to use and I find the content is better also

I find the Beckett website very hard to navigate.

I thought they stopped publishing the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards in 2011.

I just use the Beckett Online Price Guide. I pay for the Total Access plan, so I have "book value" for any card they have in their database, including non-sport or multi-sport cards, die-cast vehicles and figures. Whatever HI value they list for the condition, I'm looking to buy or sell the card/item for about a third to half of that. Another thing a lot of people use is Ebay sold auctions. Compare your card to ones that have already sold there to get a ballpark idea of what collector's are willing to pay.

They still at least print a vintage card version. The Bible was starting to get too big to print everything. The content I liked was more of the narrative stuff when we didn't have great sites and contributors like this one to explain variations and subsets. I've never spent a large sum of money on most of my cards and it always gave me a decent idea on what I could expect to pay for something back in the day. 

I will need to pick one up next time I am in the States or order one online.  I also liked it for the write-ups on the sets to explain the differences but towards the newer years they stopped doing that. Became less helpful.

I have used the Beckett Almanac but I've never bought one. I just check it out from my local library and use it for 2 weeks before I either return or check out again if I need it longer. The best place for process is eBay sold listings. I've also adjusted some really skewed prices on this site from eBay or from prices on justcommons.com.