I actually remember bidding on this card as a kid - sitting next to my dad of course. He gave me the paddle and said “keep it up until it reaches $5k and then give it to me”. It was a live auction - maybe Sotheby’s or Christie’s. We were the only remaining bidder in the room ...but someone was on the phone topping anything we came up with. We were the underbidder - but it wouldn’t have mattered - the winner was going to pay whatever he needed to ... and dad and I just couldn’t compete with that. Also multiple thousands for a card at a time where mid-grade Cobb portraits could be purchased under $100 sure seemed like a ton of money. Pretty surreal to be an underbidder at one point.
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