Your Best Deal Ever (Going Back All The Way!)

steve B · #1 04-17-2022, 08:24 PM

Most of the cards I have from hockey, football, and basketball from about 1968-72 came from one buy.
A flea market card dealer who did only baseball and generally over priced it had a shopping bag full of loose cards basically laying on the ground next to his table but not too close. When I asked how much he gruffly said "you don't want that stuff, it's not baseball" I had to press a bit for a price, which turned out to be $20 for the whole bag. About 3/4 of each football and hockey set, and a decent number of basketball, and no stars pulled out.

Another deal was a day I went early and as a guy set up he put out a plastic bag full of pennants, old sewn felt. Right on top was a "newer" 50's baseball pennant. picked up the whole stack and asked, $20 for everything. That one baseball one was the only one, but nearly all of them were sewn felt from roughly the late teens. And in great condition.

Since I was buying in the late 70's early 80's, most of my "good" cards were great bargains, even if they weren't at the time.

abothebear · #2 04-17-2022, 09:50 PM

In '89, I traded a 50 cent bag of popcorn to my friend for the doubles of his 86-87 and 87-88 fleer basketball cards - which included some stars and a Jordan sticker (not-great condition). I sold the Jordan last year for $400. Considering the 30+ years that passed, it isn't that exciting, but I like to bring it up to my friend whenever I can.

Michael B · #3 04-17-2022, 10:59 PM

I don't collect cards, but there are still a few sports collecting stories I can share.

Brimfield, Mass flea market mid 1990's. At that time I was mainly buying and selling Civil War related signatures, documents and the such. I collected the 4 main sports in person in and around Boston. I was at the Brimfield flea market during the July event. I walked up to a table manned by an older man and his wife. It was filled with postal covers and similar items. He had some items I wanted immediately so I put them aside. I was looking at his first day covers and spotted the 1939 baseball one. It was signed. I stared at it for a few minutes then it hit me: Johnny Evers. I asked how much? He said $5. I did not even try to bargain. You need to know when to keep your mouth shut, not one of my strongest qualities. I paid exactly what he wanted for everything and walked away. As I did his shrew wife started screeching "He ripped you off!" How can you rip someone off when you pay exactly what they ask? I got home, called a doctor I know who collected Civil War and Baseball and sold it for $350. Probably worth quite a bit more today, but I was happy with that.

My main collecting is Olympic photography. I also collect, buy and sell Olympic autographs. I am very fortunate as I am able to find quality signatures of rare Olympians that European collectors need. That is my main market. I saw this photo on ebay. It was of a U.S. fencer who competed in 1920, 1924 and 1928 and it was signed by him. I got it for about $20. When it arrived I noticed the writing below the photo. On the left '1928'. On the right, the signature of the photographer - Nickolas Muray. Muray was a world famous photographer in the 1920's and 1930's. He travelled the world photographing famous people including almost everyone in Hollywood, Claude Monet, Charlie Chaplin and others. The portrait of Babe Ruth sitting with the bat on his left shoulder was taken by him. The best known photos of Frida Kahlo (think the movie 'Frida' with Selma Hayek) are by him. He was also her lover. Not only was he a photographer, he was a fencer, competing for the U.S. at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. He died while fencing at a club in New York City. You can find his photos on ebay. Some blind stamped, some stamped and some signed with a stylized version of his last name. They can range from hundreds to thousands. Not a bad pickup for something that will stay in my collection.

lyon-1.jpg

cardsfan73 · #4 04-18-2022, 12:28 AM

Picked up these three at a small antique mall for just over $100.

One of the three had a little bit of value!

philliesfan · #5 04-18-2022, 03:57 AM

Well probably me best deal ever was not a card purchase. it was a stamp collection.

About 4 or 5 years ago, I answered a craigslist add for a stamp collection for sale for $200.00. I decided to check it out. I drove an hour and 30 minutes to the Allentown, PA. area and made the purchase. In the very large collection was about $4,325.00 is unused United States postage stamps ready to be used for postage. I have been using them to send out my ebay sales.

I am still using them and selling lots once in a while at a discount.

Besides the unused stamps there were many other US stamps that I sold anywhere from a few dollars to about $75.00. I figure the total value of my $200.00 investment was about $6,000.00+.

Not bad considering I was out of work at the time.

z28jd · #6 04-18-2022, 07:11 AM

I collected T206 cards as a teenager and finished the set in 2003, so with current prices a lot of them would be great deals. One of the deals that really stands out now started off bad.

A board member here begged for a Carolina Brights Eddie Collins at least ten years ago and said they needed it for their collection. We had made previous deals, so I decided to let it go for a even trade to help them out. A month later it was in a graded holder and in an auction, where it got a good price. Definitely more than I would have sold it for, but much less than what it would go for now (I think it was just over $1,200 with the juice). Needless to say, I was furious and didn't do any more deals with that person and still wouldn't.

Cut to 2022 prices and I have a low grade Roger Bresnahan Carolina Brights back to replace the back in my collection, a mid-grade Hal Chase pink portrait (with a large crop mark on the back, which I collected) and a replacement Eddie Collins for my set that was in nicer shape than the original one (common back though). I paid $110 for the original Collins, so I'd say it worked out great for me in the long run (especially since I would have sold it for about $800 back then and just replaced the Collins with part of that money), but I definitely didn't like the middle part.

fkm_bky · #7 04-18-2022, 07:54 AM

Back in the earlier days of the Net54 board when I was just getting into pre-war I had wanted to collect the E95 set as a starting point. Another board member (I don't remember who any longer) offered me 12 of the players in the set for $250.00. It included Wagner, Matty, Chance, Collins, and Crawford. I also picked up a nice E95 Cobb about a month later from the board for $115.00.

I wish I still had all the scans of my collection before I liquidated it in 2008 due to some financial needs.

Bill

yanks87 · #8 04-18-2022, 09:08 AM

When I was in high school in central NY, there was a card auction at a hole in the wall auction house. I had a bunch of summer jobs, and was scarfing up on T206's at $10 a piece, which were all HoF'ers. Near the end of the sale, a 1933 Babe Ruth came up for sale, winning price was $400, my dad was pushing me to go for it, but I was content with my haul. Of course then came the remorse for not going for it. Fast forward 20+ years, I moved to Oregon and always kept tabs on another hole in the wall auction house. One week, randomly, a 1933 Babe Ruth popped up, not in great shape, but still, a chance for redemption. I went and looked at it, and confirmed it was the real deal. Bidding starts, and I jumped in, hammer price $375. It ended up grading a PSA 1, with current prices, I would say that is my best. Close second would be the 48 Leaf Jackie Robinson that I bought from a very angry, recently divorced wife who sold it to me for $800, which graded a PSA 4.

I was on the other side of a "helluva deal" on this very board around 2009. I sold my T206 collection to a board member for $1500, and I can only imagine what that lot is worth now. I needed the money to ship my paintings to my first solo gallery opening, so it went to a good cause, but I know there was a lot of value in there. Oh to go back in time...

riggs336 · #9 04-18-2022, 09:41 AM

In 1958 I bought a Little League teammate's collection of about 250 cards for $4. Most were '51-'53 Bowmans and '53 Topps, but there were also two Leaf Ruths. I traded one Ruth but I still have the other one, a PSA 4.

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