We Got Our Consignor $5,000 USD For A Carl Weathers CFL Football Card!
We were recently given a very large collection to sell on consignment which consisted primarily of hockey, baseball and football items. Being a Canadian collection, the majority of the football items were CFL related, and while usually this means less hobby interest, this time the situation was different. While going through the collection, we noticed a rare CFL football card from Carl Weathers. Most people know Carl Weathers as a successful actor with many roles under his belt, including Apollo Creed in the various Rocky films, and Greef Karga in The Mandolorian. What most people do not know is that Weathers had a brief career as a football player before he started down the acting path. He spent time in both the NFL and the CFL, but his stint in the NFL was so short, he never appeared on a Topps football card in the USA. His only real card as a pro football player was issued by Chevron/Imperial Oil when he played for the BC Lions of the CFL in 1971. These BC Lions “Chevron Touchdown” football cards were distributed as “premiums” with fuel purchases at gas stations in British Columbia in 1971. The Carl Weathers “Bonus Card” however, was not part of the regular team set, and could only be obtained via mail-in request during the time of the promotion. While the base ’71 Chevron BC Lions team set (without the Bonus Cards) is not a common item, it can be purchased on eBay without much difficulty. The Bonus Cards, however, are a different story, common cards fetch upwards of a $150 USD each on eBay, and the Weathers card, being the most desirable of all of them, almost never surfaces.
When we saw this card in the collection, we informed the owner that we thought we had a real diamond in the rough, told him we thought we could get him a very good price for it via our eBay auctions. We suggested he have this professionally graded to further legitimize this “find” and increase its potential value! Not being familiar with the ins and outs of card grading, he was unsure of how to proceed, so we got the card graded for him! We sent the card away to a professional grading company in Florida. When it came back as an 8.5, (on a scale of 10), we knew we had scored a touchdown on behalf of our consignor.
After the card was back from grading, the process of getting it ready to post it on eBay began. We took professional scans, wrote a detailed item description and had it all ready to go! Literally days before it was scheduled to go online, we mentioned that we had this rarity to a long time customer. He made it very clear he wanted to purchase this card without the competition of an auction setting. We got back to the owner and filled him in on the developments. He entrusted us to get the best price we could for him and I am very confident we did! I am proud to say that we successfully brokered this card for $5,000.00 USD! As a long time CFL card collector, I believe this is the highest price ever paid for a single CFL Football card.
If you reside in Canada and have a rare vintage card or set, or a 2021 Connor McDavid autographed card you just pulled out of a pack, WE CAN DO THE SAME FOR YOU! To learn more about our consignment service, please contact me at info@aasportscards.com or 604-726-1774. In addition to our consignment service, we also buy collections outright!
After the sale of this card was completed, the original owner of this card took the time to write the following letter of testimony about his experience dealing with AA Sports Cards.
Happy wife = happy life. For years my wife has encouraged me to sell the sports memorabilia I have accumulated from my world travels over the last half century. Now that I have started the big sell off, my wife has never been happier. Turns out the collection I thought would fetch hundreds has enough “hidden gems” in it to be worth thousands. I’ve never been closer to rich….and my wife has never been closer to me.
For years I stalled, making up excuses and out-and-out lies to avoid the arduous chore of selling my stuff. Then came COVID-19. As I mused about my mortality, my wife pondered the practical. All major projects around our house begin with an ultimatum and selling my sports memorabilia was no exception: if I died first, my wife would have any leftover sports items cremated with me.
I couldn’t let that happen, so I tried to sell some items online. It meant setting up eBay and PayPal accounts, photographing and listing each item, invoicing, packing and labelling, customs forms, the post office for stamps, insurance and proof of delivery and, and, and…it was clear, I didn’t have a clue.
As much as I hate paying to sell my memorabilia, the best move I made since I began collecting in 1968 was getting Michael Chark and Double A Sportscards on MY team.
Why? Because Double A put thousands of extra dollars in my jeans. They also took care of the all-important small stuff, from listing to answering buyers’ questions to collecting the cash to packing and shipping, the whole range of tasks I never mastered in my short career as a do-it-yourself sports memorabilia seller.
Michael also has 40+ years of experience in the c of sports memorabilia and collectibles. Despite being part of the establishment, he’s keen to offer relatively unsophisticated hobbyists a better deal when they sell.
Michael’s alternative is called consignment selling. It allows weekend warriors such as you and me to have an expert like Michael Chark selling our sports collections. The expert receives a pre-determined percentage of the gross sales. To earn his percentage, the expert performs value-added services. One such service might be as simple as having a key card professionally graded. It could involve meeting an NHL equipment manager to authenticate a game-worn jersey. Or, if your expert is Michael, it might mean selling Canadian items into the larger, more lucrative American market. Michael has cultivated a long list of mail-order customers, many of whom are the core of his flawless eBay feedback ratings. Satisfied customers have an unspoken confidence in Michael’s product descriptions and return frequently to bid up prices.
I had a chance recently to watch Michael in action. We talked via telephone after I had emailed him my list, which included the very unassuming entry, “Variety of BC Lions Chevron Touchdown cards plus poster.”
Michael zeroed in on the BC Lions cards from 1971. How many cards did I have? Did I have the Bonus Cards? And did I have Carl Weathers? (Weathers was a linebacker who also played Sylvester Stallone’s arch rival in four Rocky movies.) “If you have Weathers,” Michael warned, “be very careful. If it’s in very good shape, we could get $500, maybe even $1000.”
Michael told me he had seen many common cards but never a Bonus Card or the poster. He had potential buyers looking for the Weathers card.
Michael had a strategy for letting potential buyers on eBay know that he had the Carl Weathers card. One Sunday night I got a message that he had listed the other six bonus cards on eBay. A week later, five of the six had sold for slightly more than $150 each. Larry Highbaugh was the outlier at $202.50. The listing and subsequent sale of the bonus cards generated interest but no substantive offers resulted.
Several days later, Michael proposed that we submit the card for grading. It scored 8.5, the best grade ever assigned to a Weathers card. Several weeks passed without any movement. Had we overplayed our hand? Then other bonus cards including Weathers appeared on eBay. Bidding on the other Weathers card, which was not in the best condition, ended in controversy at US $1000. I do not know that what happened next. If I did, I probably wouldn’t tell you out of respect for Michael and his trade secrets. A week or two later I got an email telling me that Michael had a serious buyer. He threw out a figure and asked if I would be okay with that amount. I told him even my wife would be happy with that amount, but that he’d be lucky to get half that much.
The next day, Michael called. He had just sold the Carl Weathers 1971 Chevron Touchdown card for what he believes is the most ever paid for a CFL trading card. And he got the price he had mentioned the day before: US $5000.00.
Michael asked me how I felt about the sale. I replied that I was surprised, my wife was happy and we both were thankful.
If you or someone you know has sports memorabilia or collectibles to sell, I highly recommend contacting Michael Chark of Double A Sportscards via info@aasportscards.com to see if consignment sales will benefit you. Michael has assembled a team that looks after all of the heavy lifting involved in the sale of your items.
I am convinced that Michael and his associates will extend to you the same professionalism, honesty and integrity they did to me during the sale of the Carl Weathers card and other recently sold items.
And finally to my wife, please forgive me for any items I may have acquired after the end of 2021. When I pass my Best Before Date, please remember to call Michael. I see no reason for you not to cash in once I’ve cashed out.
Michael H.
