Regerts on cards for the PC

[mintacular]

I know there are some similar topics, but I want to limit this to cards that you wanted for your pc, not ones that you now see as ones that you miss b/c of the "jump" in investment value. Here are mine.

1. About 5 years ago there was a beautiful SGC 88 Aaron RC on eBay razor sharp pack-fresh maybe a little o/c top to bottom for 2K-ish with a big seller like Probstein. Month after month it remained unsold. Eventually, it sold. My thought: "Well, I can't afford that. Only have money for a 5 or so which leads to....

2. Same time frame a very nice centered "5" on eBay of Aaron RC eBay. 1K, asked the seller if he would take 900 or something. He says something like $950. I think about it. Email him eventually but the card is sold. At this time Aaron 5's sold for around 1K. Now I would pay x2 or x3 for this one

3. 1953 Bowman Color Mantle PSA or SGC 60 EX. One of those cards that was dead centered and greatly exceeded the grade in terms of eye appeal. Was on eBay for a while a couple hundred above vcp avg ($1100) or so didn't bother. Saw the card at the Cleveland national a year or so later but again, didn't want to make an offer, as it was a bit above average, plus I didn't want to spend all my $ in one place.

4. 1952 Topps Mantle PSA 5. At a shop that tends to sell things at high retail value, so usually just buy supplies, etc. About a year or so before the huge run-up on Mantle RC prices, he had a PSA 5 EX 52 Topps that had great centering image etc, just a small edge bump modest wear on corners. Was asking 20K. I thought that actually not a bad price. I had enough on my CC to make the purchase but of course didn't pull the trigger. A few months later of course the card was gone...

5. A high grade SGC 88 NM-MT Clemente 71 at Philly show a few years ago.

Again, share your story not so much the jumps in price that may be a factor but more so on the card that you hold dear that is not in your pc!

[ALR-bishop]

Topps 1951 Current All Star cards of Stankey, Konstanty and Roberts

[kailes2872]

In 2014, I was looking for, and found a 1957 Topps set on the board. The person that I bought it from also had a 1953 Topps set with a PSA 5 Mantle for $3,000 - the set, not the Mantle.

I had a plan of three sets per year moving backwards and I wasn't ready to buy '53 yet. I thought about it all the way home - but I didn't want to break my plan. I have regretted not pulling the trigger ever since, because now, the Mantle would cost that - so it was a buy, Mantle, get the other 273 cards for free deal that I missed.

However, my biggest regret was last year's REA. The '33 Delong Lionel Carter set - his very first set - was available and went for a very reasonable price - around $4500 before BP. I thought and thought about it it - even tried to figure out what I would unload to make my wife happy - as she wouldn't want me digging into cash reserves. Again, I was regimented in my process and did not want to break my annual plan of what I wanted to get so I did not make a run at it. Who knows if $4500 becomes $6000 or higher as the person who bought it might have wanted it as badly as I did - but I really regret that one. There will be other '33 Delongs, but there is only 1 Lionel Carter set and it has such a special place in collecting lore...

[bobsbbcards]

1) Card show in the late '80s where a dealer had two 1970 Topps Cloth stickers. He wanted $100 apiece. I offered $150 for the two of them. We couldn't come to an agreement. Ugh.

2) Card show in early '90s. Seller had complete 1968 Topps 3-D set in mint condition with wrapper, 1967 Brooks Robinson test, and Bart Starr 3-D card for $25K. I didn't have that much money. Ugh.

3) 1975 card show. I didn't buy everything in the room with my allowance money.

[Rookiemonster]

I also have a few early 90s card show experiences, one was A guy tried his very best to sell me a Koufax rookie and I was like nah I rather buy a new box of cards ..... . Did you ever want to go back in time and kick your own ass?

Many other occasions not PC related but just collecting related .There was a guy at the Garfield NJ show back in the day. He only sold minor league cards,I always ingored his cards. I remember the guy was very nice and tried to give me good info on the cards.But I was to cool for unlicensed cards. DAMIT ! if your reading this minor league card guy !IM SORRY you were right! Hey I was like 11 .


Also when Barry sanders ran for 2000 yards I sold all his rookies two score . I got over 100 bucks I remember so I did well and they go for cheap now . Well ungraded ones do. I just never replaced them I don't know why .

[Harford20]

I have had two experiences that have stuck with me (and will until I pass), not as a regret, but more as “I wish I had the money”.

In 1992, I met my wife’s second cousin. He was a lawyer for NFL and MLB players. He had a vast collection of cards, to include a low-grade T206 Honus Wagner. I got to hold it, stare at it, drool over it, and when he said he would sell it to me for $30k, I was ready to give up everything I owned to see if I might make the sale. My wife quickly squashed that as we had only been married 18 months at the time. Still, got to hold one and offered a sale………

In 2005, I was at a Texas card show with my father. One dealer had a PSA 9 (old label of course) 1952 Topps Mantle and was asking $90k for it. I had about $30k in savings at the time, and I thought his price was a bit high. I spoke with my father about borrowing some money and then offered something in the $50k range. The dealer said the price was firm. Missed the second iconic card…….

Now, will never have either card for my PC.

Dave

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by bobsbbcards

2) Card show in early '90s. Seller had complete 1968 Topps 3-D set in mint condition with wrapper, 1967 Brooks Robinson test, and Bart Starr 3-D card for $25K. I didn't have that much money. Ugh.

That is an insane group to have sitting at a card show table.

[steve B]

Plenty of crazy stuff I could have bought back when I started, from late 77 till 82-83.

But the ones I'd like to have back was a group of 76 Hostess that were probably proofs of some sort. Different colors, numbers over 150 on some, weird colors, reversed negatives, lots of odd ones. Traded for the batch, and gave up a 74 McCovey Washington card. Went to the local shop a couple days later and swapped about half the batch for another McCovey Washington.

I wish I knew where those are now. Not the big dollar suff, but I've never seen any others. Here's a couple I kept



Steve B

[Volod]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Topps 1951 Current All Star cards of Stanky, Konstanty and Roberts

Al, I feel your pain. In the winter of '51-52,' when I was seven years old, my brother and I used to spend hours loitering in a small mom n' pop, where our old man parked us on Friday nights so that he could bowl undisturbed in the lanes next door. The proprietor was a withered old guy who didn't seem to mind us sitting on his floor all night, using his comic racks as a library. He also apparently had a lot of inventory that did not move well, as I can still recall a large table with dozens of boxes of sports waxpacks priced at several for a penny. Despite working with no more than the fifty cents each the old man allowed us, my brother and I easily put together complete sets of redbacks, bluebacks, team cards, Connie Mack and Current All-Stars from that bargain table that winter. We had numerous duplicates of the all-star cards, but of course could not find the last three of the eleven current players. If we had known that Topps would have mailed us proof copies of the three cards, I think we would have happily parted with another two bits back then.

[Exhibitman]

I went to my first card show in 1976, so you can pave an interstate with my regretted decisions from a commercial standpoint. Literally, I could be retired right now if I'd made three purchases in 1990-1993 when I was single, living like a student and pulling down a big city lawyer's salary that I had no idea how to spend. But, in terms of my personal collection:

--I was offered a Zeenut Joe D in trade for a handful of my other Zeenut HOFers and made an alternative deal instead because I didn't want to lose so many Zeenut HOFers in that deal. D'oh!

--I saw a stack of Cobb checks at a show for $50 each. Why bother, there were so many, I can just get one later. D'oh!

--I won a big case and bought a 1954 Aaron RC in PSA 7 to celebrate. I had it for over a decade and the value of the card really didn't go anywhere so I sold it and a PSA 7 54 Mays for $2K. D'oh!

--When I was a young collecting pup working from a small budget I used to go through dollar boxes at shows. Still do but that's another story. Anyhooow, I wound up with a collection of early 1950s Mantle cards in lower grades with an average cost of about $2 each. Sold all of them in 1987 along with much of the rest of my collection including a 52 Topps Mays and a 53 Topps Mays. D'oh!

--In the other direction, I held onto a big chunk of my boxing collection when the market was red hot in 2007-2008; I even bought more in the Hull Collection sale and in a few other auctions at the time. It is worth maybe 40% today. D'oh!

[irv]

When my Uncle Sam passed away many years ago, I didn't go with my parents to help my aunt sort through his stuff. I was young, not into collecting too much, and it was a long ways away in Pontiac Mich.

My Father, thankfully, brought this pic home with him to give to me, but he said there was lots of other baseball memorabilia that Uncle Sam collected that nobody really knew anything about.
My Uncle was an avid Yankees fan, so I can only imagine what likely got tossed out!