REMEMBER those Select footy stickers you used to buy for 20c a pop in the mid-90s?
A pack usually came with about eight stickers, and if you were lucky enough you snagged one of those glimmering team logos or an All-Australian double.
Well guess how much they’re worth now?
Sweet fuck all. Sorry.
However, if your old man was an avid collector of Scanlen’s footy cards – or you’re just from the VFL generation yourself and used to keep any old card you pulled out of a Cornflakes box – you just might be in luck.
Because believe it or not, those old cards you’ve had stowed away in a biscuit tin at the back of the cupboard could snag you a small fortune.
Dave Skop from over at the awesome website footycards.com.au says cards from the pre-90s that were never produced with the intention of being collectors items – and were used mainly for marketing and promotion of food products – tend to be the ones that can sell for big money.
“At the time they may have added ‘value’ and kids were happy to collect them – especially cereal cards from the 50s and 70s and food/beverage cards from the 80s – but no-one in their right mind at the time, either a child or adult would have said, ‘look after this, it’s going to be worth a lot of money in 30 or 40 years,” Dave told The Hickey Stand.
“It just wasn’t part of the psyche at the time.
“Therefore, I feel that many of the Kellogg’s cards/stickers along with Atlantic, Argus and Kornies cards are very collectable, especially those in excellent condition.”
So which cards should you be locking up in the family safe?
— SCANLEN’S 1963 VFL CARDS —
**HOVER OVER EACH CARD FOR THEIR VALUE**
THE inaugural set of cards released by the chewing gum company, the 18 cards in the 1963 set is the jewel in the Scanlen’s crown.
If you’re lucky enough to be the owner of a Graham Arthur card in good condition, you could be looking at four figures worth of footy memorabilia goodness.
But why Graham Arthur? Other than being Hawthorn’s first premiership skipper, Arthur’s picture was printed horizontally, which made it unique from the vertical cards in the rest of the set.
— GARY ABLETT 1982 ARDMONA BIG LEAGUE SERIES 2 —
IT’S every Geelong supporter’s repressed nightmare.
A Cats legend wearing a Hawthorn jumper of all things.
While Gary Sr. only had to endure wearing the brown and gold for six games, fruit company Ardmona managed to capture God playing for the Hawks and commemorate it in a free footy card.
If you had the foresight to collect and keep this abomination of footballing imagery, you could snag yourself $800 for your trouble.
Just for Geelong fans, we’ve included a picture of the Mark of the Century card ($30) to cleanse you eyeballs and your soul.
(Read about the story behind the mark of the century picture here).
— KELLOGG’S 1973-1974 VFL STICKERS —
A DISCLAIMER here: these ones only go for $150+ if they’re sealed.
But that’s not to say unsealed stickers don’t have value.
The rare Kevin Bartlett/Pedro/Steve Buscemi hybrid sticker can still collect about $135 outside of the original packaging.
Also, if you were a light-handed Kellogg’s employee at the time and you own an unopened, uncirculated, full-set of the 1973 stickers, you’re looking at $1500 worth of merchandise.
— TWISTIES 1969 GAME CARDS —
THESE small, waxy cards were found in Twisties packets amongst the cheese dust and guilt.
Featuring names like Kevin Bartlett, Peter Hudson, Len Thompson and Bob Skilton, a sample card in good condition can sell upwards of $120, while your standard card can fetch anywhere between $50-$80.
As was standard at the time, KB’s card features him with an oversized ball to hilariously show that he’s a rover, while Essendon ruckman Don McKenzie balances the ball on his bicep for some unexplained reason.
— 1996 AFL SELECT HALL OF FAME CENTENARY PLATINUM SET —
OUR best guess is that if you own these cards, you’re probably not short for cash in the first place.
With only 100 sets released to MCC members in the AFL’s centenary year, the collection comes in a leather-bound folder and features an oversized, signed card of three of the four triple-Brownlow Medallists – Bob Skilton, Dick Reynolds and Ian Stewart.
What makes the set even rarer is that many of the cards were sold-off individually after they were released, leaving only a handful of the full, original collections in circulation.
— KORNIES CARDS 1948-1959 —
IF you were unpatriotic enough to buy Weeties instead of Weet-Bix in the 1950s, you would have collected some of the oldest VFL cards in circulation.
Owned by American company Nabisco, Kornies released these cards in boxes of Weeties for the better part of a decade.
Our particular favourites are the dodgy mascot cards with a player’s head attached. The card pictured above – of then Hawthorn rookie Graham Arthur – was one of a set of 36, and sells for $125 on its own.
— ALL SCANLEN’S CARDS FROM 1963 ONWARDS —
SERIOUSLY, if you own any Scanlen’s cards at all, don’t let animals or children near them.
OK, maybe not the cards from the late-80s and early-90s, which sell for about $3 a pop, but even the 2003 Scanlen’s Retro cards can snag you $300 each.
You’ve got a 1965 Bob Skilton? $300. A 1967 Peter Crimmins bordered by the wood panelled TV? $150. A 1982 Tim Watson Jumbo Card? $125. A 1973 Leigh Matthews pushing the limits of his gigantic hamstrings? $80.
Even someone like Phil Lade, who played just 15 games for Hawthorn, can get you $30 for his 1967 card.
Just make sure you take good care of your footy cards, folks, because there’s every chance that they’ll look after you.
