FAQ
Usually condition and packaging first, then the occasion. A milestone or anniversary piece holds interest after the player moves on, while a routine figure loses its reference the day he is traded. Run size matters too — a thousand-piece minor league run behaves differently from a fifteen-thousand major league one.
Pick one axis and stay on it. A collection built to a rule is easier to complete, to display and to value later than a shelf of unrelated pieces. Season runs are the most demanding, because one gap makes the set read as incomplete rather than nearly complete.
Condition grades. Mint in box means the piece sits in original packaging with inserts intact. Near mint allows minor shelf wear to the box but a flawless figure. Loose means no packaging. For the same piece those grades can carry very different prices.
Because it carries the proof. Club, date and sponsor are printed on the packaging, so the box is how a buyer confirms which promotion a piece came from. Without it, provenance has to be taken on trust, and that is where a limited piece loses its premium.
Often more than major league equivalents. Minor league clubs hand out far smaller runs and tend to be more inventive with themes, so pieces disappear faster. Several of the most chased items come from clubs with little national profile.
Pack upright rather than flat, and wrap head and body separately if the original box is gone. A figure laid on its side rests the full weight of the head on the spring for the whole journey, which is how a bobble ends up permanently off-centre.