Byline: Ed Waters Jr.
Aug. 29--FREDERICK -- If you think trading baseball cards is just something young people do, a day at Burton's will change your mind.
Burton's Coins & Baseball Cards, 5831 Buckeystown Pike, has been serving area collectors for more than 25 years.
'We have sports cards, gaming cards, coins, stamps and memorabilia,' said Robbie Smith, manager.
'And the gaming cards are not just for kids, there are a lot of middle aged guys buying and selling them,' he said.
The shop's shelves are filled with boxes of sports and other collectible cards, while lighted glass counters show the variety of sports cards, some at well more than $100 or even $200 each.
Manufacturers of cards have expanded over the years to include new items, Mr. Smith said.
'For us, football and baseball cards are the most popular, especially rookie players,' Mr. Smith said. He shows some of the cards which even include a small piece of a player's jersey or an autographed card.
The hobby can be expensive, Mr. Smith said, with some collectors spending hundreds of dollars at a time on cards or memorabilia.
He talked about one customer who spent a lot of money at the shop and always made sure he got the mail first before his wife saw the credit card bill. 'Unfortunately, she got home one day before he got to the mailbox, saw what he was spending, and that was it,' Mr. Smith said.
Packs of cards are sold from $1.50 to $800. 'People can buy whatever fits their budget, and whatever appeals to them.'
Many look at it as an investment, he said.
'The younger generation buys rookie cards, the middle age guys get the vintage cards from the 1960s. They are great investments,' he said. Many buyers base their choice on how well a current player is doing, but older buyers look at the value of vintage cards.
Some cards are 'very' valuable, especially the 'tobacco cards' once included in packs of cigarettes in the early 1900s.
Mr. Smith said the shop has had two 1909 Honus Wagner cards, considered the most valuable of baseball cards.
'Depending on condition, they usually bring about $5,000,' he said, though one, not from his shop, in perfect condition brought $1.5 million at an auction.
'One fellow was remodeling his house and found one in the attic, but it was really damaged, cut in half. He still might have gotten something for it, but I never did follow up with him to see what he did with it,' Mr. Smith said.
The 'average collector' also defies stereotype, Mr. Smith said. As many women are collectors as men, and the age ranges from young people to senior citizens.
The shop also has an auction board where a customer puts an item such as a card or coin onto it with a starting bid. Customers have two weeks to write a bid on the item.
'There are rules and regulations on it,' Mr. Smith said. 'There is no retracting a bid once it is put in, and at the end of the two weeks, if the item is acquired, we get 15 percent as a fee.' In more than 14 years of the auction board, more than 4,000 pieces have been bid on, he said.
As for the business end of collectibles, Mr. Smith said there has been a steady increase in business in the past five years.
The issuance of state quarters and special nickels for the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery have gotten new people interested in coin collecting, Mr. Smith said.
'It is really a 50-50 situation -- 50 percent enjoyment of collection and 50 percent looking at it as an investment,' he said.
Most of the shop's business is from word of mouth. 'Word gets on the street about particular collectibles and we get new customers or ones who haven't been in for a while.'
Within an hour or so one weekday morning, the customers ranged from a young man selling his YuGiOh card collection to buy coins, a man buying large packs of sports cards, another looking at individual vintage baseball cards and a NASCAR fan looking for a limited edition collectible miniature car.
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