Sports cards have been around the mid 19th century. Look at this card, oldest known from 1860!
Few things to be said there, you see this has been encapsulated by SGC and authenticated. Far cry from today's cards and reminds me more of a photography than a card.
It is of the Brooklyn Atlantics and a TEAM photo, another rarity today as we do popularize the individual over the TEAM.
It also only saw around $200k at auction, I say only because for being the first known and still can't pull down a Michael Jordan, or a Black Lotus Beta card, it shows there is variation in valuation of cards.
This card, if you haven't seen one I'd be surprised. The iconic card that is all over auctions sites like PWCC. Consider one of the most valuable cards in history. In my opinion, just ugly. :). Painting?
Early sports cards were mainly pulled through gum packs and tobacco, so clearly we weren't targeting children collectors, or maybe we were?
Big name in the early days was Topps, I collected Topps, but there was Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, and today the Panini with Leaf and several others.
Somewhere in the 50s, 1952, Buying packs of cards became a thing you could do. This is where I believe my favorite old time card began. Mickey Mantle. Oh to own a Mickey Mantle rookie card. Childhood dream!
Anyone around in the late 80s and early 90s understands the disappointment that this time brought. Much of the fun of collecting is opening the packs and seeing what "valuable" card you might of picked. Did you get your favorite player? Did you get the rarest card of the set? Is it worth moola? Well the companies that print changed the way we look at them during this time frame. Overprinting popular players, cards, making most of what would be sought after worthless other than owning as a fan.
Now a days there is certainly a completely different market place. I remember saying what is the "beckett" on that, and that meant price check. Beckett was the only on out there stating what monetary value was. In every Beckett "How to grade" your card. Teaching the early collector what Fine, Very Fine, and Mint meant. Still was subjective but at least we had a place to start. How many blemishes?
Today valuation is out there and left to several people to say what is monetary based on statistical average of recent auction sales. More to the point :
The most valuable cards are worth millions. One T206 Honus Wagner card was sold at auction in May 2021 for $3,750,000. A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, graded as PSA 9 on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), sold for $2,880,000.[ Condition can play a huge role in the price. Other 1952 Topps Mantle cards, graded 1, have sold for as little as a few thousand dollars.