My dad and I started having "card shows" in our garage in 1979 when I was a sophomore in high school in far suburban Chicago. Our first show was incredible as I ran buy adds in the local newspaper for a week before and I could not believe the response we received. People were bringing us garbage bags filled with cards that we bought at prices that would make one cry today. I remember that we walked away with 2 Koufax rookies, an Aaron rookie and hundreds of cards that allowed us to put sets together but oddly enough no Mantles.
Flash forward a year or two and we were now holding shows in a local grade school gymnasium with a few other dealers present and in walks an older, white haired gentleman with a cigar box. As anyone who has done card shows knows, a cigar box is usually a very good sign. He approached me and allowed me to look at the treasure that was inside of the box.
Inside this box was hundreds of 1933 and '34 Goudeys in the most incredible shape. The man explained that these were his cards from his childhood and liked to take good care of them which is why they were in such incredible shape. I spotted all of the Ruths and Gehrigs and many other stars and being the set builder I am I suggested he may have the whole set. So we went to the teachers lounge by ourselves, sat down and sorted the cards. As we were sorting I explained to him that he probably would not have a whole set of the 33's as they did not make one card which was the Lajoie as they issued it the next year. He shook his head and looked at me and said..."You mean like this one?". I swear I almost passed out.
Long story short, the man was one or two commons away from a set and had many many more left over. I asked him if you he wanted to sell (more like begged) but he said he was going to get himself a safe deposit box and put them in there for his grandkids to enjoy. He simply wanted to know if he had anything that was worth money in his collection. I often wonder what happened to those cards and if they are still in that safe deposit box.
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