I would contact a few someones in the know and then tell them they have to give you a price for the whole kit and kaboodle. Sell to the highest bidder. Otherwise they'll take just the valuable ones and leave you with the junk.

Just make sure you have your son's permission to sell them.

Collections!

I’d contact a little league organization and ask if they might know someone who would enjoy them. Or the organization could use the collection as a fund raiser. They might earn some money by auctioning the collection.

I agree with Mrs. S. My (now deceased) brother told me more than once how much he regretted selling his baseball cards.

Thanks all. I do have his permission. And he has no emotional attachment to them. He was really into collecting for a few years in middle school and then moved on to other interests. We are talking two storage containers that are full full plus three albums. Yes, my fear is that there are cards of value in there. However, I would never know anyway! I think if we were to put them on Craigslist we would ask maybe $200 for the entire collection? We would sell them as a package. Actually donating to a worthy cause is not a bad idea either. Our local Humane Society has a silent auction each year. Maybe they would take them.

Justretired, he would remember if he had a card that was now valuable. A rookie Babe Ruth or undamaged H. Wagner would not be forgotten.

I think so too. I’d probably remember as well!

I would do FB Marketplace before CL. I used to sell on CL and now when I list something, I really only hear from scammers.

Regarding the time involved in selling online.... I’m a firm believer in either consigning (which I hate) or putting in the time. For example, I’ve taken on a project to sell about 70 designer items - clothing and accessories from about the mid 70’s - mid 2000’s.

Between research, inspecting/cleaning, writing up the listings and photographing- it’s on track to take about three solid weeks of work. I knew that when I took the project on.

You have less to do per item, but more of them. So get a good feel for how much time you’re willing to invest before you decide.

I would probably research, pull the most valuable to sell individually and them make up lots for the rest. Ship flat rate priority mail boxes for the lots and it shouldn’t be too bad price wise.

Don’t ship regular postage right now. I had a package to HI from CA take a month and one take almost three weeks to DE.

My son had tons of baseball cards. I asked him did he wanted to take them and he said no. In other words he wanted to leave them at my house. I said take them or they go. He left them. I trashed them. I doubt they were worth more than the cardboard they were printed on. Mean mom.

My brother's were valuable - of course they become valuable if you keep them a long time.

I cannot even comprehend going through all of those cards. Honestly, I don’t even know what I would be looking for. I do like the idea of shipping in lots. But I would have no idea what could potentially be valuable and what is worthless. We watch baseball. I guess we would pull out cards of famous guys! Players we have heard of. Probably 99% of the cards are players who lasted a couple of years. Thanks everyone for your ideas.

Ded, you are not a mean mom! We just reach our limit on kids stuff!!,

Anything mass produced, even 40 years ago, holds little value. Yes, there may be a few exceptions (Personally autographed), but a card worth $8.00 may not be worth your time and effort to locate and sell.

I think that the best option is to donate them to a charity that wants them. That way you don't have to sort through them at all. Also, you don't have to think about whether someone took advantage of you.

I would cruise the internet for a website for card collection fans. Often sites like that will have a classified section where members on the site buy and sell.

I recently inherited some miscellaneous astronomy equipment. I had no luck selling on craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, but at a specialty site, I had multiple people responding within minutes for the stuff.

My brother is a baseball card collector and I agree with the specialty sites. If you live near a big city, you may also find a shop specializing in cards.

Great idea, Graywings. I was not aware such sites existed. I will certainly do some research. This is all overwhelming because we are leaving the house we love for a townhome. We have lived in this home for 35 years and raised four children here. It is just a lot, and it seems we have stored lots of memories in Rubbermaid containers. We are taking our time as we go through things, reminiscing before we toss, donate or sell. Trying to be mindful of the kids while being pragmatic. Worst case, I guess we combine them into one very big box and do as Mrs S suggested, heave them onto a shelf and wait for DS to come home for a visit and maybe sit with him and sort through. Not his or my first choice though. Lots to ponder......

To your point, maybe this is his problem to solve.