Vintage Sportscard Club was founded by CEO Andre Chiavelli. Mr. Chiavelli has been in the field for over 35 years, he started as a collector at the age of 9 but from the start he had a different approach. He was an avid collector of Tobacco cards of the early 1900s, “at the time they were available in flea markets for 25 cents each, they were mixed in with antique jewelry and I just really liked the way they looked”.
By the time he reached 17 he had acquired quite a collection of prewar cards including such greats Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe Jackson. During his senior year of high school he traded some of his cards for a car out of necessity. It was about 10 years later that he became nationally famous for his invention called the “inspectorscope”.
Right before PSA and all the card grading companies came into effect Mr. Chiavelli’s inspectorscope helped collectors analyze their cards through blue light and magnification for authenticity. The idea was developed with long time dealer John Brigandi who always checked items with a bluelight. Mr. Chiavelli made it portable and adding magnification and wrote the book on its use.
It was a national hit and was used by the industry’s top dealers and collectors all over the world.
At national shows, you would see them everywhere, it was in SCD magazine as well as radio and television. After this success Andre developed an elite clientele of top collectors and professional athletes trusting his expertise. He is well respected by top dealers and collectors around the world. As the new age of computers came in, he established a strong ebay business and has been one of the leading sources for vintage sports items on ebay where he founded the Vintage Sportscard Club. Again with a different approach by giving back to collectors by adding in free items into every order, the club currently has over 3000 active members.
In 2009 Andre joined forces with the New York Yankees in conjunction with Legends Management. This was our big break Mike Loparo GM of Legends gave us the opportunity and we did the job, it has been a dream come true. We are at every home game, our store is located next to the Yankee Museum, fans come to us for all the vintage items. We preserve the history of the Yankees I am so proud of this opportunity, representing Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle is just incredible.
There is so much history, Munson, Reggie it goes on and on. It was at this time my brother Geoge Chiavelli Jr. joined me He has a long sports career and experiance and is now general manager making sure everything goes right. After baseball we connected with The Nets and set up there during key games and we were also awarded the official supplier of vintage collectibles to the Rangers, Knicks and Madison Square Garden. In addition Aramark invited us to take over the Giants/Jets team store in the winners club. Its never stopped since the Yankees and the New York teams understand how important it is to preserve the history of the franchise. We have been invited to spring training with the Yankees so it keeps on going !!
Look at what the Yankees have done, it wasn't over night but every step of the way they built and preserved their history, you cant move to the future unless you understand the past. Our website is here to bring out all of the projects we have been working on and the great experience we have with collectors, so they can really enjoy collecting. Whether it’s a wall street executive that wants his office re-done in vintage memorabilia or a collector looking for that one rare item. Vintage Sportscard Club is the trusted source by collectors in the industry.