Five Unexpected Places to Find Hockey Cards
In the car world, there’s the barn find. A vintage car in mint condition found sitting in a barn somewhere in the country. The owner doesn’t know the worth and you grab it for a steal.
Hockey card collectors have their own version of the barn find, except it comes in happy meals, cookie tins and old bibles. Here are some uncommon places to find valuable hockey cards:
1. Inside Walls
The number of times people have discovered items in their wall when renovating is surprisingly high. For some reason, hiding or discarding items within the walls of your home was common practice during the mid 1900s. Even in more recent years there are cases of individuals hiding items in walls.
This leads to some pretty interesting discoveries, some of which may be rare hockey cards. There are already plenty of stories about people finding rare vintage cards behind walls, so if you are ever renovating or cutting into your wall, take a look around you may find a rare collection!
2. Cereal Boxes
Another spot that hockey cards can be found is in cereal boxes. While these types of promotions aren’t common, you may see a cereal box with a free card (or even a pack) inside. If so, don’t discard it as worthless.
Some cards from special promotions like this are actually worth more since most end up discarded. Plus, you get a free hockey card and you can never go wrong with free hockey cards!
3. Happy Meals
Most recently occurring during 2008, promotions including hockey cards in happy meals and other kids meals from fast food restaurants aren’t that uncommon. If there is a big hockey related event going on, a fast food chain may release hockey cards or memorabilia.
Just like the cards mentioned above, these kids meal cards can actually be valuable. They are often thought to be worthless since they are given away for free, but any memorabilia has the potential to be valuable. These packs are no different!
4. Cookie Tins and Other Unassuming Containers
You likely remember placing cards in whatever container you could find when you were younger. It’s part of card collecting after all! Once your collection reaches a certain size, you have to find somewhere to put all those cards.
This results in plenty of card collections being placed in containers that are odd. Cookie tins, old saltine tins, shoe boxes, etc. can all contain valuable hockey cards. Next time you’re combing through a garage sale or flea market, keep an eye out for some of these unassuming containers as you may strike big and find gold! (Both literally and figuratively.)
5. Old Bibles
Hiding things in Bibles is very common. Many times, a person will hide cash in the Bible to keep it safe and out of reach. Card Collectors are not much different and have hidden valuable cards in Bibles only to forget about them later.
Other cards may simply be used as bookmarks by owners who hadn’t realized their worth. Sports cards found in bibles have sold for nearly $100,000 so the next time you’re at a flea market comb through a Bible or two, you may be surprised at what you find!
Conclusion
Of course, not everyone has the time to search for these deals, and if that’s the case don’t worry. New card sets release all the time with rare and valuable cards that may already be worth thousands!