A right-of-passage for pretty much every boy is to accuse his mother of errantly disposing of his baseball card collection. In truth, the cards were probably sold or traded. Doesn’t matter. Claiming one’s mother tossed them makes for a much better story of lost riches.
Naturally, in the minds of the now-adult former baseball card owners, the perceived or assumed value of the former cards is always stratospheric. Visions of multiple Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson or Pete Rose rookie cards are abundant. (“Gem” versions of Jackson and Rose rookie cards sold recently for $115,000 and $717,000 respectively.)
Perhaps it is those thoughts of vanished assets that compels normally reasonable adults into buying modern cards or reproductions of classic cards coated in 24 karat gold. Clearly, a very clever marketing individual recognized the distinctive allure we humans have for the shiny and valuable precious metal. Of course, “valuable” is a very relative term....
These metallic cards have become the bane of card dealers as well as owners thinking/hoping they possess a veritable fortune. Dealers are affected because they are the ones who have to break the bad news of zero value to hopeful sellers.
By the way, this fate isn’t always limited to today’s “golden” cards. Many of those same boys-now-men whose card collections from the early 1960s disappeared (thanks mom), now with increased spending power, have purchased boxes and boxes of unopened card sets from the 1980s and ‘90s. Again, their belief was they could cash them in for a fortune 10 or 20 years later. Well, that time has now elapsed and, again, wrong. Dealers are swamped with such cards — so much so they usually refuse to buy them for even what the owner paid for them. That’s if they will buy them at all. Most won’t.
But, again, the golden cards are a special problem. Because of the perceived gold content, buyers believe even if the card isn’t rare it will have gold content value. That’s thanks to the creative marketing the card sellers employ. The ads boldly announce the cards are “luxuriously coated in 5 microns of solid, 24 karat gold!”
While that may sound enticing, here’s the truth. A human hair is 14 time as thick or 70 microns. That’s a mere .0001968504 of an inch. As a weight, it is virtually imperceptible. In other words, one could “melt” down thousands of those gold-coated baseball cards and still not realize a distinguishable iota of gold.
Here’s another way of looking at it: if you were to collect all the gold ever mined in the world it would consist of a cube 68 feet wide and deep and 68 feel tall. Okay, that’s a lot. Now, if all that known gold were stretched into a wire just five microns wide, it would wrap around the entire earth 11 million times. For a more relatable perspective, if a one-ounce gold coin were stretched into a five-micron thread it would extend over 50 miles. That may give a whole new perspective to the gold ring on your finger.
In contrast, the largest gold coin ever produced is a unique “Kangaroo” piece minted by the Australian Mint. It was cast of 99.99 percent pure gold in 2012 to serve as a major attraction for visitors to the mint. The coin measures over 31 inches wide and almost five inches thick. On display at the Perth Mint, it’s doubtful anyone will try to run away with it. The One Tonne coin weights just over 2,200 US pounds. It’s recognized as “The World’s Largest Coin” by Guinness with a current worth of roughly $60 million.
Such a coin and the phantom “gold” baseball cards are strictly the things of which dreams are made. While it might be possible to stumble across a gold nugget in Australia’s back country or a “Mint/Gem” Honus Wagner baseball card tucked inside of the pages of an old book, in the real world it’s highly improbable. (A recent private sale of one of those coveted 1909 Honus Wagner cigarette cards by the American Tobacco Company realized $7.25 million.)
As always, before buying any collectible as an investment or otherwise, it’s best to check with a recognized expert or reputable dealer.
For more collecting advice, visit www.PRexford.com