The suggestion of picking up a few commons to get a feel for what each year is like is a good one.
Likewise, I think you did well to pass up the two cards. If a card doesn't really stand out to you then there are few reasons to buy it. Those might be if it's a really tough card that you might wait years to see another one available, or if it's a genuine but off condition card at a great price. Like either of those two for say $5.
Even if the price is fair, if you don't like the card you'll probably start looking for a better one right away, so why buy it at all?
Everyone will have different ideas of what's "good enough" for some it's got to be slabbed with a fairly high grade and centered. Others like centering over nice corners. Some like me don't much care one way or another as long as the price for the card in the condition it's in is reasonable. ("reasonable " will also vary )
Steve B
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