We came up with this list of gifts for card collectors because we know it can be a difficult proposition, as buying gifts for hobbyists is tough no matter what the hobby is. You want to buy them something they’ll be excited to receive, but then you think – wouldn’t they already own this is it was something that would get them excited? Or you wonder if the gift you buy them isn’t in the section of the hobby they’d be interested in.
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Most of the sports card links on this page will take you to eBay. That means I will get a commission on the sales from this page. If you end up buying from these links, I personally thank you for supporting my website! Even if you don’t buy anything, thank you for reading my article! Enjoy!
We’re going to help you out with this breakdown of the many different gifts for card collectors worth considering. These will make you happy – and they’ll make your card-collecting friend happy, too!
Ask To See Your Friend’s Collection: By seeing their collection, and asking them good questions, you can get an idea of what they’d appreciate the most as a gift. Ask questions like:
- Which sport is your favorite to collect?
- Do you collect a certain team or player the most?
- Do you like vintage stuff, or just the new cards?
Getting answers to those questions can help you shop for gifts for card collectors.
We first want to direct you to our world-famous rookie card pages! We found the best rookie cards for every single year in each sport’s flagship set. If you know your friend’s favorite players or teams, you can find great rookie cards on these pages, with links out to their eBay listings.
- Who are the Best Baseball Rookie Cards From Each Set Since 1948?
- Who are the Best Basketball Rookie Cards From Each Set Since 1948?
- Who are the Best Football Rookie Cards From Each Set Since 1956?
- Who are the Best Hockey Rookie Cards From Each Set Since 1951?
Buying Graded Cards: If you buy graded cards on eBay, compare the pricing to “sold” listings of the same card to know what the true current value is. Also, buy cards graded by well-known companies, like PSA, SGC, BGS or CGC. (Your card-collecting friend might only collect one certain company’s graded cards, so finding that out is a good idea.)
If you buy graded cards, understand that a gem-mint 10 means no other card is in better condition, for the most part. So, getting a 10 is the ultimate grade, but it will cost you four or five times more than a near-mint 9. And modern cards that get an 8 are as valuable as a card that’s not graded, so it might be good to steer away from cards graded as an 8 from sets dating back to 2000.
Also, a “Collector’s Grade” is considered one number above the decade of the card. So, if it’s a card from the ‘50s, you add one number, so the Collector’s Grade would be a 6.
Great Gifts For Card Collectors
This is a random assortment of gifts for card collectors because all collectors are different, and all buyers and gift-givers are different.
The Best Players Often Make the Best Gifts For Card Collectors
Cards of the very best players from a sport are always welcome gifts to card collectors, like Mickey Mantle, Michael Jordan, Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, Jim Brown, Tom Brady, Jerry Rice. The older the better. The better condition the better. Know that most cards from the ‘80s and ‘90s are considered from the junk wax era, but it doesn’t mean any card from that era is junk. Even the iconic 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card, which costs around $100 for a PSA 8, is known to be the most graded card in sports card history!
Speaking of the best athletes, don’t forget to look at rookie cards for people like Tiger Woods, Hulk Hogan, Serena Williams, and all the superstar soccer players.
The Mount Rushmore of Vintage Topps Cards
There are four baseball players who really do stand alone as far as their collectability goes, and pretty much every card collector would be happy to get graded cards of these players.
- Mickey Mantle: Topps Cards From 1952 through 1969
- Willie Mays: Topps Cards From 1952 through 1973
- Hank Aaron: Topps Cards From 1954 through 1975
- Roberto Clemente: Topps Cards From 1955 through 1973
If you buy someone cards from that group, they’ll be happy. Obviously, the earlier the year and the higher the grade, the better!
Unopened Packs & Boxes are Fun, Too!
Buying packs and boxes can be scary, whether you are buying new products or old products, if you aren’t sure what to buy. What’s great about getting someone a box or pack is that they have opportunities to get an even better card than you would have bought them at that price.
Consider talking with them about what products they like to buy the most, and then purchase a hobby box of that from trusted websites, like BBCExchange.com. (A hobby box usually has more opportunities for autographs and low-numbered cards than a retail box.)
For every anniversary, I can count on my wife Shelby to buy me a pack or two of 1984 Topps Football packs, as I hunt down rookie cards for players like John Elway, Dan Marino and Eric Dickerson!
Maybe you can buy your friend a box from their childhood! If they grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, then those boxes might be cheaper than you think. Even a junk wax era box is fun to open because of the nostalgia attached to it. If buying from sellers on eBay, be careful to check the seller’s feedback to make sure people aren’t accusing them of selling searched packs (packs that have already been opened and resealed without the best cards).
Buy Your Friend a Spot in a “Card Break”
You might have heard about “breaking,” which is relatively new to the card-collecting hobby (like in the last 15 years). A breaker buys an expensive hobby box (or multiple boxes), and they sell spots to several people to buy into that box. Say it’s a baseball card break with 30 MLB teams available, then he’d sell 30 spots in the break!
The price to buy in would be much cheaper than if someone wanted to buy the entire box(es), so it’s a nice way to get a chance at great autos for a cheaper price. You can buy your friend a spot in a break on a known site like Fanatics Live.
Pay For a Card Ladder Annual Membership
Card Ladder is a price tracking tool that helps collectors analyze, compare and collect cards, which makes it one of the most helpful gifts for card collectors. They track card populations and card sales, and it becomes a great tool for tracking your collection’s value. It costs $15 per month, or you can pay for an entire year and get two months for free. It’s easily one of the best card collecting tools available.
Pay For Their Cards To Get Graded
You can offer to pay for your friend’s cards to get graded by PSA or SGC. Figure you’ll spend about $20 per card, and with PSA, there is often a minimum of 10 cards (no minimum with SGC). Your friend might be sitting on a couple handfuls of cards he’s been wanting to send in, but card collectors prefer to spend their money on cards as opposed to grading fees, so you’ll be doing them a great service!
Sports Card Supplies are Excellent Gifts For Card Collectors
Sports card collectors hate buying sports card supplies because that’s money they’re not spending on cards! You can find my full article here on all the best sports cards supplies every card collector needs. But here are three specific sports card supplies gifts that would be greatly appreciated.
Wall Display Cases: Without question, these 36-card wall displays increase the enjoyment of my collection immensely. I love these so much – I bought three of them, and I already want to buy more! I have one for each major sport, baseball, basketball and football, with another in mind for hockey, golf, racing and other cards. Buying these from Amazon is a no-brainer since you get free shipping with Amazon Prime, and you’ll likely get it in a day or two. My wife loves these displays, too, since it keeps dust from collecting on the cards. Price: $65
Card Breaking Mat: Help your card collector feel like one of the hobby influencers he follows by getting him a card breaking mat where he can open up his cards. You can even get someone to design a logo on Fiverr for him, and get a logo printed on it if you wanted! Opening cards on a mat is nice because your cards don’t slip around, you have a nice, clean surface behind the cards that won’t damage them. Price $12
Graded Card Case: One difficult thing collectors struggle with is traveling with their cards, whether they’re going to a card show to buy, sell or trade, or they’re moving from one house to another, transporting cards is difficult. These cases from Only Greats are amazing, durable and lightweight. Price $99
Great Books For Sports Card Collectors
These three books go into sports card history to help a collector understand the hobby even better.
Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession: Without question, without any peer, this is the greatest book about the history of sports card collecting ever written. Price $20
The Complete Picture Collection: Topps Baseball Cards 35-Year History: This was published in 1986, and it shows the fronts of every single card Topps created in those 35 years, from the vintage era up through the beginning of the junk wax era. You’ll need to buy it used on eBay, unfortunately. Price $50
Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child’s Hobby Into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business: Just a great deep-dive into how Upper Deck changed the entire sports card industry in the late ‘80s. Price $20
Fun Card Collector T-Shirts
These card-collecting t-shirts are pretty awesome, and they’re available on Amazon!
- “Just One More Baseball Card, I Promise”: Price $18
- “I Have Too Many Baseball Cards” – Said No One Ever: Price $19
- “GEM MT 10”: Price $21
- “The Cardfather”: Price $18
Let me know in the comments if you liked some of these gifts for card collectors more than the others! Which gifts would you be happiest in receiving!?!
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