The values you see in the books are approximations based on past performance etc. You may have noticed a lot of chips going for good prices lately on the chipboard, that doesn't mean that the editors/authors of the price guides are going to rush out and amend all the values. There is an ebb and flow. Don't get to tied to the value in the price guides, they are a wonderful tool to assist, but there are too many variables.

Your friend took care of you, and you being a good guy want to do likewise with baseball cards, (I respect that tremendously). Take into consideration the value as determined from several sources, but then decide what the value is to you. I guess I would go a bit higher in value in cards just to encourage him to keep looking.

Since we have not talked before, I just wanted to say hello.