Baseball cards number on the back?? experts on trading cards

Question

ok, so im looking through an old folder and i find a whole bunch a baseball cards, none that look real valuable though. but anyways, i am looking through ebay to see what cards i can find, and most of the people put the card number and out of how many were printed. (ex.50/150) so im looking at the cards i found, and there is a number on the back, so im guessing thats the card number, but how do i know out of how many are printed?? it only shows one number. (for example, there is a ken griffey jr. topps gallery 1996 card with the number 146 on the top left corner..........but how many of these were printed??) im guessing the fewer that were printed, the higher the value right?

well, i would really appreciate it if any one new the answer to these Q's, thanks a lot!

Answer 1

The 1996 Topps Gallery Griffey card goes for $2.00.

The 146 in the corner is the card number. This number will appear on every copy of that card. There is no way to know how many sets were produced in this case, but usually they range anywhere from the hundreds of thousands to the millions.

As for the x*x/x*x numbers, some insert sets or parallel sets with low print runs will have that.  In that instance, each card is individually numbered. For example, the Gallery set you mentioned was also produced in a Private Issue parallel set. There were 999 sets made. Each card is numbered individually (i.e. 001/999, 002/999, etc.)

In addition to the individual numbering the card will also have the card number (i.e. 146 in the Griffey case) on each card.

Also, if you are looking on eBay, make sure to find out if the card is serially numbered or not. Your example of 50/150 could mean that only 150 copies of that set were made and that card is individually numbered 50/150.

It could also just be the seller's way of saying that the base set has 150 cards and this card is number 50. Those are two totally different things.

I would recommend going to a card shop and purchasing a price guide.  The Beckett Baseball Card PLUS is the most detailed guide you can find. They cost $9.99 and come out every two months. You also might ask the dealer at the shop to help you find the price until you get more experience. Also if you plan on selling some of your cards, try asking a couple different dealers, just in case one of them tries to take advantage of your inexperience.

Answer 2

Well the 146 is most likely the number 146 out of how many in the deck. So ex 50/150 that means its card 50 out of the box set of 150. 1996 griffey card prob wont be worth a lot of money, even though he just had a milestone, i had a Mark Mcgwire(idk the spelling) card of him on the USA baseball team and it was worth around 500 bucks after he broke the homerun record, but now since Bonds and Sosa passed him the cards worth like 20 bucks. Unless its a special card like holographic or some type of promo that year, its prob not worth more than 5 to 10 bucks if that much at all.  

Answer 3

Somewhere on the card it should say "???/???." You're right, the lesser the printing of the card, the more it's worth.