Card collecting is something that many people do in their respective hobbies, and in the last decade or so, it has boomed in popularity. Even long-lived sports such as baseball are seeing new collectors emerge every day, but there are only so many vintage cards for these new collectors to get their hands on. Determining whether a card you’re getting is a reprint or an original is tricky, but there are variables to look for that help determine if a baseball card is vintage.

General Condition

One of the first variables you need to look out for when determining if a baseball card is vintage is its general condition. Vintage cards are, true to their name, much older than the cards you’ll find on the shelves of today. Vintage baseball cards are typically at least 50 years old.

Many collectors look for vintage cards in mint condition because these well-maintained cards are much more valuable, but finding classic cards with no wear or tear is quite difficult. Vintage packs that authenticators have already graded can provide an opportunity to get rare vintage cards in good condition. If you want to get a specific vintage card, you can look for visible signs of aging, such as yellowing, smoothed corners, and other visible imperfections, to determine its condition.

The Age

The condition of the card is a quick way to tell if something is vintage or not when you don’t know the year. However, when you do know the age of the card, you can quickly determine if it is vintage or not. There are numerous eras of baseball, baseball cards, and card collecting, but in general, any card printed before the 1970s will count as vintage.

There are still many other cards that companies printed in the ’70s and ’80s that some collectors would term “vintage,” but there is still some debate in the card-collecting community. Some cards come from this era and still hold high value to vintage card collectors, but their value may stem more from the players or rarity than the cards’ ages.

Rarity and Uniqueness

While many card collectors care about whether a card is vintage, there are many more variables that aspiring card collectors must consider when building their collections. The popularity of players, the teams, and the various baseball eras are important, but more than that, card collectors must consider how rare each card is. Whether something is vintage doesn’t matter when the card in question is incredibly rare, historically significant, or unique. If you’re working on your collection, it’s important to know whether a card you’re looking at is vintage, but it’s not the only thing you need to consider.

If you want to become an expert baseball card collector, one of the most important things you can do is learn what determines whether a baseball card is vintage. When you understand what makes these cards vintage and valuable, you can steadily build your own collection with all the vintage baseball cards you can find. If you’re having trouble finding the right cards, look no further than JRI Cards. We have a variety of cards, packs, and breaks that you can choose from so that you can start adding some high-quality vintage cards to your collection!