Post-National Antique Shop Find: 1930 Bambino Tobacco Tin

[christopher.herman]

Driving back to NYC this afternoon --- mildly disappointed that I couldn't find a nice T206 Cobby portrait (Sweet Cap, of course) at the National --- my wife and I stopped in the town of Hampden, MD for brunch and some browsing at the local antique shops.

Having not spent a dime --- literally --- at the National, I had cash in my pocket and vintage baseball card dreams in my head. At the last shop on the way back to the car, I spotted this 1930 Bambino Tobacco Tin in a glass display case (actual pic below).

The shop owner said it came from a local estate and that he knew they commanded a premium in rough shape and that since he judged this one to be in "very good" condition, he was asking $1850.00.

My wife quickly ushered me back to the car before I could even gauge his firmness on the price citing her feelings that I should stick to my T206 focus at this time and not get distracted by memorabilia --- which, she and I both know, is certainly not my forte.

On the drive home, I --- of course and mostly out of self-preservation --- thanked her for keeping me on my original collecting pathway but quietly lamented not looking further at this tin --- which would have fit in neatly with my collection of Babe Ruth strip cards.

Let the replies begin...
Was this a realistic asking/starting price for this tin?
How rare are these tins actually?
How many members here have been (successfully?) sidetracked into other genres of the hobby?

And probably most importantly...
Did I walk away from a great find that I will regret later?

Thanks for indulging me,
Christopher.

P.S.: (I was initially gonna post this in the memorabilia section but since it is sorta National related and brings up general collecting conundrums, I posted here). C.

[t206blogcom]

I know nothing about them, but here are a few auction results for these:

Ebay - Feb 2012 - $1050 (280827380126)

Legendary - 2001 - $1814 (http://www.legendaryauctions.com/Lot...px?lotid=16159)

Robert Edwards - 2005 - $4640* - Has two items listed - the tin and cigarette papers (http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...n/2005/76.html)

[canjond]

Nice condition... I would say retail is somewhere closer to $1200 though.

[bigtrain]

Congratulations. No way I would have been able to resist that. Agree that it should be closer to $1200 though.