Howard Chasser : [QUOTE=hcv123;1236395]
"I'll start
I collect Roberto Clemente
The one that got away would be 2 - 1) A stunning 1958 Kahns card (later graded a PSA 6) that walked into the Pittsburgh show before I understood how incredibly difficult the card is and even more improbable in that kind of condition - I wouldn't pay the guy $250 against a $200 book price - He told me I didn't know what I was looking at - he was right - it's current owner has turned down an offer by a friend of about 10k
"
Howard, thank you for sharing your story of missing out on that prized Kahn's Roberto Clemente. Your honest humility and enduring pain is easy to understand. Believe me, I feel for you and can so relate to the guy's terse pronouncement, "I didn't know what I was looking at". Wow, the offer of about 10K for a PSA 6-appearing tough Roberto regional underscores what I have maintained for a long, long time. The rare and typically off-condition casualty found among the regionals will eventually come to command "boo koo bucks", once they are understood. Specifically, when a specimen's condition starkly stands out from the norm, decide speedily and get the wallet out fast. Otherwise, the refrain from an old radio show used beautifully in a Daffy Duck - Porky Pig cartoon comes to haunt, "YOU'LL BE SORRY!" The regret indeed haunts, but we tend to accumulate some regrets in life.
I sit amazed as I think of some of the sales involving the 54-55 Esskay Frankfurts Baltimore Orioles.
Better stop. Hope you're able to get a nice black 'n white Kahn's Clemente one day before too long. Cheers. ---Brian Powell