Ichiro and Grading Cards

During one of my recent PSA eBay searches, I came across this 2001 Donruss Rookie card of hit machine, Ichiro. I nabbed it for $5.76 shipped.

From 1994 through 2007, I did not collect sports cards. I have big gaps in my collection. Few cards of Ichiro and few of Pujols.

At first glance, I usually pass over newer graded cards. I can get an unslabbed card cheaper, and the odds of it being mint are good. The bidding on this was low with a couple of minutes to go. I threw down a $5 dollar bid. Bam! It was mine.

If you look close, it is slightly mis-cut. I am assuming that's why it got an 8. A quick search of the bay this morning revealed this same card, unslabbed, going for more than I paid for this one. I am satisfied with this pick-up.

Much has been written about the pro's and con's of grading. I am not going to get too far into that debate this morning. I would like to mention that there are tons of "Junk Wax" era cards available... cheap. You want a Manny Ramirez rookie PSA 10? Go get one for under $20 bucks. Other players that have rookie cards from 1987 - 1994 have cards available at very cheap prices. Picking up cards of stars from the junk wax era is not so bad of a thing to me. What I really don't 'get' is the bevy of PSA graded cards of commons that are available. Are there really guys building graded sets of 1990 Topps?

Is it Junk-Wax?

When I returned to the hobby of sports card collecting a few years ago, I quickly realized something. I realized that the boxes of cards that I have from the late 80's through the early 90's were mostly worthless.

Our buddy at VOTC (Voice of the Collector) created a "How To" video about how we should handle our junk wax.

I came across a blog about restoring the value of the 87 Topps set. The dude's plan? Burn cards baby! More burning! Check it out.

I have a small stack of Fleer cards. Cards from various sports, and a few different years, like this Mario Lemieux from 1993. All fall within the junk-wax era. They are the same width as a regular sized sports card, but are about an inch longer. The images of the athlete really jump off the card with the extra area to work with. I have not done any eBay research to see if these are worth anything.

Questions; Is everything from the junk-wax area junk? Do we burn it all?