This was it for me, the '66 Topps Sandy Koufax #100... Around 1988, at a hobby shop in Charlotte, NC. This was virtually the first card I had ever even seen in person that was older than about 1985. Mom caved pretty easily and I think shelled out $15 or 20 for it. It was a NM card otherwise, but was way, wayyyy O/C left to right, and at the time that detail was not something I even noticed. I found a picture of the original card I had a few years ago and could not believe how O/C it was. Anyhow, I had it for about a year as a 12 year-old, then traded it to the kid down the street for a beat-up, absolutely destroyed, '65 Topps Mantle #350. That card had literally been left out in the rain, was waterlogged in it's top-loader, and probably would have disintegrated if you had attempted to take it out. My logic as a kid was that a nice Koufax was worth trading for a not-so-nice Mantle. And plus, the Mantle card was OLDER (by one year) so it inherently had to be more valuable. A choice I probably would not make today, obviously.
It's now nearly 30 years later, and I no longer have the original cards that made the memories, but I did pick up another '66 Koufax - this one is a PSA 6 and is centered much better. :-)
It's funny what you remember...
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