Toys in the attic: what they're worth

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Feb, 1998 by Kimberly Lankford

Baseball cards

The player's the thing, overriding even the age of the card. Legends such as Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth are always valuable, says Grant Sandground, senior pricing editor with Beckett Publications, which publishes Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide (Random House, $19.95), as well as Beckett Baseball Card Monthly ($24.95 per year; 800-840-3137). A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle in near-mint condition can sell for $24,000. Even lesser lights from Topps's 1952 series, known as an all-star year for baseball cards, bring anywhere from $35 to $400. But to be valuable, a vintage card must rate at least an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, which means it must be nearly flawless.

Cards issued from 1988 to 1993 are rarely valuable because they were printed in such huge quantities. For instance, most of the 1990 Topps cards sell for just 5 cents in mint condition. But some of the most valuable cards were printed after 1993, when baseball-card companies began issuing expensive card series with limited print runs. The 1997 Flair Showcase Legacy Collection Masterpiece series, for example, included only three Ken Griffey Jr. cards, and two have already sold for at least $14,000 each, says Sandground.

Collectors also prospect for rookies. "Some players could be two years away from making their major-league debut, but their cards are selling for $100 each," says Sandground. If the player becomes rookie of the year, the card collector hits a home run. If the player turns out to be a dud, the collector strikes out. Right now, the betting is on Jose Cruz Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, Ben Grieve of the Oakland A's, Paul Konerko of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Travis Lee of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Books

Your tattered volume from the Harvard Classics probably isn't worth much. With books, appearance matters more than age, although collectors tend to look for "fine" quality, which means no tears or marks, instead of "mint condition," which means a book has never been opened. A book in poor condition might be worthless, unless it's particularly popular or extremely rare (such as a first edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes).

A book that's desirable can be worth money even if it's not very old. For example, Angela's Ashes is still on the bestseller list, but a first edition in good condition retails for $150, says Allan Stypeck of Second Story Books in Rockville, Md. And a relatively inexpensive book may become more valuable if it's part of a collection on a special subject or by a particular author, or if its illustrations are note-worthy. A 1935 edition of James Joyce's Ulysses with signed etchings by Henri Matisse is worth about $3,000.

Bookman's Price Index: A Guide to the Values of Rare and Other Out of Print Books (Gale Research, $280 per volume) reports hundreds of prices twice a year. Also consult Allen and Patricia Ahearn's Collected Books: The Guide to Values 1998 (G.P Putnam's Sons, $75); the Web site of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (www.abaa-booknet.com); or The Book Guys, a syndicated radio program on which Stypeck and host Mike Cuthbert appraise books on the air (800-828-2665).