Best football card brand?

[kmp77]

I'm thinking of collecting some 2021/2022 football cards but I've been out of it so long I have no idea which cards are good or a waste of money. Which brand/series is the top 2 to try and collect? I'm trying to get maybe a Wilson, Lawrence, and the cowboys rookie cards. Which has the best chance of being worth something one day?

 

[ghst187]

I feel like they really diluted the value in the late 80s early 90s when ten other companies came into making football cards. But then again, I’m an old dude that collected late 70s early through late 80s. I stopped around the years Score, proset, Fleer, and several others started. I have some complete sets from the 80s Topps sets.
Probably most valuable is my Jerry Rice rookie...one went for 31k in mint condition recently. Mine should be really close but I have to get it graded. It’s been in a plastic hard case since the 80s. Also have...rookie cards...Marino, Elway, Aikman, Deion, Barry, Steve Young, Eric Dickerson...pretty much any valuable card from the era I mentioned.

 

[Pape]

@kmp77

I used to collect comics, which is similar to card collecting in that both are based on paper stock etc... I was collecting vintage comics, so there were some differences...

The most important aspect of collecting is condition. You can buy a new card, think its mint, but may not fall into the upper echelon of value because of a variety of factors.

Condition including surface (front, rear), edges, corners printing miscues, centering, offset colors, foxing, damage, etc... card grading is all based on condition... Condition vs brand is the much more important aspect in collecting.

Educate yourself on these matters first, so you understand what you are looking for... then invest heavily in card protectors - Not the plastic sleeves we all used as kids, but the hard lucite shells that will protect the cards long term.

https://www.cardboardconnection.com/collecting-101/sports-card-grading-101
https://www.psacard.com/resources/gradingstandards
https://blog.psacard.com/2020/05/14/factors-that-impact-trading-card-value/
https://www.beckett.com/grading/about

 

[LACowboysFan1]

Haven't the faintest idea...

 

[john van brocklin]

I'm thinking of collecting some 2021/2022 football cards but I've been out of it so long I have no idea which cards are good or a waste of money. Which brand/series is the top 2 to try and collect? I'm trying to get maybe a Wilson, Lawrence, and the cowboys rookie cards. Which has the best chance of being worth something one day?

Topps

 

[cowboyec]

topps.
classic.
always thought their designs were simple but classy.
it's what i grew up on.
still producing some good lookin' cards in my opinion.

 

[cowboyec]

I feel like they really diluted the value in the late 80s early 90s when ten other companies came into making football cards. But then again, I’m an old dude that collected late 70s early through late 80s. I stopped around the years Score, proset, Fleer, and several others started. I have some complete sets from the 80s Topps sets.
Probably most valuable is my Jerry Rice rookie...one went for 31k in mint condition recently. Mine should be really close but I have to get it graded. It’s been in a plastic hard case since the 80s. Also have...rookie cards...Marino, Elway, Aikman, Deion, Barry, Steve Young, Eric Dickerson...pretty much any valuable card from the era I mentioned.

pro set was cool.
i liked the long game day card.
action pack were neat.
but i still prefered topps.

 

[GroundZero1970]

Score , Panini. Panini has many types, there is black, mosaic, contenders. Leaf make the lower end but if you get certain inserts they are worth quite a bit. I pulled a 500.00 joe burrow. Any of the Justin Herberts are hot right now. Proset came out with limited edition cards this year. They were the first Pro cards for the rookies. Signatures are always good as are the artist proofs by score. The ones to get are the Donruss Optics and either Panini Black or Panini Prizms.

 

[Hoofbite]

I feel like they really diluted the value in the late 80s early 90s when ten other companies came into making football cards. But then again, I’m an old dude that collected late 70s early through late 80s. I stopped around the years Score, proset, Fleer, and several others started. I have some complete sets from the 80s Topps sets.
Probably most valuable is my Jerry Rice rookie...one went for 31k in mint condition recently. Mine should be really close but I have to get it graded. It’s been in a plastic hard case since the 80s. Also have...rookie cards...Marino, Elway, Aikman, Deion, Barry, Steve Young, Eric Dickerson...pretty much any valuable card from the era I mentioned.

Oh, for sure. The market was so watered down it was pointless to collect anything and expect it's value to stick.

I used to work off-the-books at a local card shop. I'd go in there and sort through various cards for hours on end, and the guy would give me like $10 in store credit. Back around 93 or so. I saved up all my credit for a $50 card and it's probably worthless today. It was a Shaq calling card and I had never seen one before so I bought it.

Best card I ever pulled was a MJ card. I can't remember the exact series of the card but it was rare. I was so stoked. I went to keep it safe by putting in between the pages of an encyclopedia. I put it far too close to the binding and when I went back to transfer it to a protective case I saw that I had put a big diagonal crease across the whole thing. Devastated me.

I still have it hanging around the house somewhere. Wonder if I could find it. Wonder what it would be worth now, but not sure I really want to know.

 

[Hoofbite]

Well, can't find my Jordan. Not sure where it went, but I found my box of "prized" cards. I have one of these:

Used to be worth much more, but now $13 is what it apparently goes for on Ebay. Also have this Bo Jackson coin encased with a Raiders card and a Royals card. Mines pretty heavily tarnished, but it's the same thing. Probably only worth it's weight in silver.

Interesting to see what I thought was worth money back in the day. I have a ton of Aikman cards that are in hard cases. Also have a bunch of random players. Terrell Davis, Eddie George, lots of Emmitt.

 

[ghst187]

Oh, for sure. The market was so watered down it was pointless to collect anything and expect it's value to stick.

I used to work off-the-books at a local card shop. I'd go in there and sort through various cards for hours on end, and the guy would give me like $10 in store credit. Back around 93 or so. I saved up all my credit for a $50 card and it's probably worthless today. It was a Shaq calling card and I had never seen one before so I bought it.

Best card I ever pulled was a MJ card. I can't remember the exact series of the card but it was rare. I was so stoked. I went to keep it safe by putting in between the pages of an encyclopedia. I put it far too close to the binding and when I went back to transfer it to a protective case I saw that I had put a big diagonal crease across the whole thing. Devastated me.

I still have it hanging around the house somewhere. Wonder if I could find it. Wonder what it would be worth now, but not sure I really want to know.

I have an old MJ all star fleer card but it’s not worth all that much.
I had a buddy who paid $50 for an autographed Charles Barkley card and he was devastated when I pointed out to him that Barkley was spelled “Barkley” and not “Barkly” as it was on his card.
I’m planning to get some of my football cards graded sometime soon as the value seems to have gone up a lot last few years. Can’t believe they are worth more than my 70s mint condition Star Wars figures.

 

[GroundZero1970]

I have aikman and irvin rookies. The 2 good Emmitt rookies a high end Jordan and a randy white autograph rookie. Also a Dak, Zeke and Ceedee autograph rookies. Some burrows and Herberts too

 

[RaZon]

A prized possession....

Had to stop collecting cards simply couldn't afford it, way too many companies.

Do own 20,000 or so, can't go wrong with Topps.