GUEST: My son went to a school system that was city-based, and we lived in the county, and it was kind of too far to go back home between events. So I would take him to school and then I would pick him up afterwards. Then we would kill a couple of hours for their next event before we had to go drive home. So we would spend our time at baseball card shops. He decided to collect some Michael Jordan.
APPRAISER: Was there a limit? Did you... Was there an amount he couldn't spend?
GUEST: Well, we, we tried not to make it over $20.
(both laughing)
GUEST: A trip.
APPRAISER: Okay-- okay.
GUEST: It was just our fun time together. It was something to do.
APPRAISER: Michael Jordan's rookie cards is what you've got here. Uh, two of them, the first two, and then the third one here is the, the next year's card, 1987. Jordan was a rookie in '84, but, but we deem the '86 Fleer cards his rookie cards.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Because the first set, the first printed iteration of his rookie card, the Starr set wasn't licensed. When Fleer obtained the license...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...in 1986, it became his official, formal rookie card.
GUEST: Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: And there are collectors, don't get me wrong, that'll collect the other ones, the unlicensed '84 version.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: But it's not that. And so what we see, in the sticker there, it says "rookie." That's, that's the card that... Uh, a lot of card collectors are watching you right now with envy. That's the one a lot of card collectors want.
GUEST: Mm-hmm, oh. Wow, okay.
APPRAISER: The one, uh, next to that is a sticker. That's not a card, it's a sticker.
GUEST: I, uh, I didn't know that.
APPRAISER: That, it came with the set, so I, I know where this set came from-- it came from that '86 Fleer set. You have them together, which is nice. Now, most collectors, and certainly the savvy ones, aren't going to peel that. They're going to leave it right there. The third one is the next year. It's another important card, with the gray border up top. It's a pretty popular card for card collectors. Cards have to be graded. They have to be ascribed a grade. And there's a scale, right? There's mint ten or gem mint ten, and all the way down to, to, to nothing, to one, and to poor and things like that. We can't grade your cards here, but we can estimate, based on our experience, what we see, and, some of the, the discussions I've had with colleagues on what, what we're looking at.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: When you're looking at cards for condition, you're looking at everything from, is it centered, is there more border on one side, one side than the other? Is there a crease, is there foxing or toning, whatever it might be?
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Yours aren't in poor condition, by any stretch, but I'd be remiss to say that they're perfect-- they're not.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Uh, so with that in mind, right, we're estimating that, that these are, let's call them average, for lack of a better description.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Not as low as a five grade, maybe as high as an eight or seven. I think part of what you, you're going to want to do down the road is getting them formally graded.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Okay? That aside, I have an idea of what they're worth. (chuckling): I have that idea because these keep selling. The two closest to me, the '86 sticker and the '87 card, together, I think you'd be really safe to insure them, the pair for $10,000 to $15,000, okay?
GUEST: The t... (exhales)
APPRAISER: Okay?
GUEST: The two closest to you?
APPRAISER: The two closest to me.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: Now, the other one, the prices are starting to normalize. The values are starting to come down. Still, I think, and we're talking insurance value, you can probably insure that one safely for $20,000 to $30,000.
GUEST: (gasps) (voice trembling): Wow, I had no idea.
APPRAISER: Okay?
GUEST: Wow, so that was some pretty good hanging-out time we did.
APPRAISER: Yeah, that, that $20 investment in hanging-out time...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: It paid off.
GUEST: I was thinking, honestly, maybe $1,000 for the three.
