Post your best story! The Buy that got away

[damonh23]

I'll start this off..

the year was 1990. I was 15, and about 6 months into my first ever job working at a baseball card store in Virginia. The hobby was a boom, and I was helping a new startup card shop in an antique mini mall booth.

I was actually working it by myself on a Sunday when an old guy walked up with a brown paper bag (he was probably 45-50, but old to me). He asked if I could look at his cards and tell him if they were worth anything.

I thought to myself, really? A brown paper bag? Than what I saw astounded me. He laid out on that glass showcase about 300 to 400 t206 cards, the most beautiful cards I've ever seen. Of course being 15, I was shaking...I saw beautiful Cobbs, Youngs, Johnsons, etc. And being a Cubs fan I remember the Tinkers, Evers, Chance..

I honestly choked. Even in 1990, these were worth a small fortune, but before PSA was even a concept..I just loved the color, sharp corners and clean backs. In today's value who knows? Of course I looked for Wagner and Plank, didn't see them.

Knowing I could rip him off, I didn't have the heart to do it..This guy didn't look like he had 2 nickels to rub together or a house to live in. I decided to give him free top loaders & sleeves and told him he had a mini fortune on his hands, as I scrolled down the Beckett Almanac. He actually gave me an Evers in exchange. I cannot recall what I advised him to do, or even come back to sell the cards to the shop owners..I honestly botched it and let them slip away forever!

I often wonder who got them, and how many are graded PSA 8's today!!

[swarmee]

My biggest loss was not a card, but when I was in college, I heavily collected the F. Earl Christy college cheerleader postcard sets. Being from Georgia Tech, I knew that he had never done a printed GT item. Well, the Atlanta Toy Museum listed some "overflow" items that they didn't want to store anymore, and one was a hand-painted handkerchief of a college girl twirling a GA TECH pennant. Bid started at $9.99 and with minutes to go, the bids were only at like $70. I had the "luxury" of being in Orlando at the time since I was trying out for College Jeopardy! that day. However, being 20 years ago, we didn't have cellphones with internet or the eBay app.
So I asked my college girlfriend to bid for me up to $300. Hey, I wasn't rich. It ended at $303 or something. I send the buyer (since you could see full usernames back then) an offer of $500 and said once I graduated, I would be able to pay even more. I think I got one message back from him that he wasn't selling at the time, and when I tried emailing the address ten years ago, it bounced. I would pay $1,000 now.

[Eggoman]

I know that I told Leon this story years ago, but...

Sometime during the "rookie craze" of the late 1980s, I haggled with a guy over about 60 1928 Greiner's Bread cards, if memory serves.

However, we couldn't find them in any guides at the time (Yuenglings and Tharps, sure, but NOT Greiner's) and therefore we couldn't agree on price.

He DID sell me the 2 duplicates that he had for what seemed like A LOT then! I think that I paid ~$25 for them!

They were black and white bread cards and the hobby wasn't all the hot for such obscure stuff...

They still are the only 2 that PSA has graded, I think!

[baseball tourist]

This one really gnaws at me as I had it my hands and perhaps let it get away. I’ll explain - a Dallas Cowboy’s jersey that I bought for $5 at a second hand shop that was 1970’s vintage and crested and numbered for Roger Staubach.

It had lots of dirt staining and I assumed it was a well worn replica. Especially, as it was a Russell brand jersey and not a Southland brand (which I assumed was the defacto manufacturing company for Cowboy’s game jerseys.)

I hand’t seen a Staubach replica (this predates the throwback jersey craze) and thought it may have some value for a fan to wear and/or get autographed. I listed in on EBay for $19.99 and rec’d zero bids. Then was approached buy an ebayer offering me $500 for it! I explained that it couldn’t be a gamer, but he didn’t back down and we transacted for it.

I did OK of course, but if it could have been a possible gamer it may have been worth many multiples of that $500.

I’m afraid to ask, but could this have been a gamer?

[philliesfan]

Back in the early 1980's, I had the opportunity to buy a T3 Ty Cobb in unbelievable condition. The guy was asking $1,500.00 but in my early 20's I did not have the cash. It would have graded and 8 EASY!

Another (sort of) was when I was set up at a local show and a kid with his grandfather came up to me and asked my opinion on a trade he was offered. The boy wanted to collect sets and was offered the following sets, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, and a 1963 Fleer for a beautiful 1933 Goudy Babe Ruth Autographed card. My advice to him was NO WAY! I said he should hold onto it for a long time because in the long run it would be worth more. I explained that he could always pick up sets one at a time or piece them together over time. Then I said IF he was going to trade it, I would double the price of the sets he was offered for anything(s) off my table. He never came back to me and I have no idea if he made the other trade.

Bob

[wdwfan]

Mine wasn't too long ago, maybe about 10 years. I had taken out an ad in the paper looking for cards. I had a guy call and say he had a shed full of cards. We met early on a July 4 because it was in a shed with no AC.

He had 2-3 pallets of cases of cards. Some several notebooks and then a few boxes of singles. It was all stored just wonderfully. The cases were all wrapped but I could see some were from the 1980s-1990s.

I flipped through a few of the notebooks and saw all sorts of 50s-60s-70s cards. Assuming partial sets, etc. Some of the pages even had 2-3 of the same cards stacked in the same pocket. All looked to be in really good shape and had some pretty big names in them (Mays, Aaron, Rose to name a few). He did tell me there were no Mantle cards because he had another guy buy up all of those a couple of months earlier.

We came to a price agreement ($400 for everything). I was shocked he was willing to go so low. But I told him I didn't have that kind of cash on hand, however, I could have it the next morning when the bank opened. Well he called me that afternoon and said he had talked to his son, and the son had talked him into holding on to all of the cards. So the sale fell through. I"m wondering what would've happened had I had the cash on hand at the moment. I know I'd have had a ton of gradable 50s-60s cards plus a few cases of 1980s-1990s baseball.

[GasHouseGang]

Mine was years ago, in the early 1980's. I was told there was a doctor in town that wanted to sell off all of his baseball cards, and he had a bunch of 1950's Topps and Bowman baseball. I went to his house, and sure enough, he had some beautiful cards, but he wanted near full book price for them. Included in the cards he was offering were two copies of the holy grail, the 1952 Topps Mantle! They were both beautiful, and they were each in those 3 inch thick screw downs they used to have for "really good cards". He wanted $1000 each, your choice. Well, I might have been able to scrape together that much for one, but then I would have been completely broke, so I decided to pass. Ouch! I'm sure either one would have easily graded a 6. Sure wish I could go back and rethink that decision!

[mrmopar]

Unless you had the money to buy them at a fair dealer price (as you were representing a card shop), then it sounds like you did the right thing. I shudder to think that by botching it, you mean you should have cheated the guy?

Originally Posted by damonh23

I honestly botched it and let them slip away forever!

While in college, I was working part time for a guy who owned a shop in the late 90s. The guy was a painter by trade and I think he just enjoyed the gambling aspect. He really didn't know enough about the hobby and opened up too much of his own product and I suspect he eventually sold out or went out of business.

One day I was working the shop and someone brought in a similar stash. It may have been in a paper sack, I really don't remember, but the cards were vintage and nice. I only specifically remember he had several signed 60s Maris cards. I couldn't afford them at the time and the shop owner wouldn't have bought them and he never left enough money in the till to buy anything good even if it was a deal not to be passed up. Did I already say the shop owner had no business sense what so ever?

Never saw the guy or the cards again.

[wolfdogg]

Had a chance to buy one of the few known T210-8 Joe Jackson cards for under $8K. Was raw and being offered by a known dealer. Would have been a “1.5-2” IMO. If I’d only known the level of scarcity at the time....

Had the PSA5 E107 Cy Young in my hands once. Guy in my small town owned it. We had a major cash trade in the works. He was wanting my 1964 1/2 2+2 Fastback Mustang. He offered cash + cards. He got the car but he wouldn’t budge on the Young card. He paid $2000 for the card. I actually called the dealer who sold it to him to purchase it but my friend had beat me to it. I offered him $3K in trade towards the card.....nope 😕