Blunders and Wonders in Collecting

[JustinD]

I haven't made too many huge mistake purchases. My problem is overthinking everything and always missing the bus.

I can just only remember tons of triggers I should have pulled and never did.

I think the big one I wish I did is much like a few have mentioned. In the late 80s I really thought the basketball cards were a passing fad and passed on so many jordan rookies its silly. Instead I was buying modern 80s and 90s baseball which is now about good as kindling.

Luckily I was never monied enough to buy the stuff I wanted to so I didn't really get buried under it. I just wish I had grabbed that 80s fleer basketball.

I could say I wish I bought prewar in the 80s, but at the time I wouldn't have gave it a second thought. It makes me remember once sitting at the local card shop around 84, dreaming at the 1978 trammell and Whittaker rookies and buying Topps commons to finish that years set as the shop owner bragged to his friend about selling t206 cobbs to some old lady for a hundred bucks each and how he made a killing.

[njdunkin1]

Blunder - I first began to collect about 5 or 8 years ago, then took a 2 year break in the middle. I'm just getting back into the swing of things now and I realize how much Trout rookies go for - I probably opened up a few and threw them away as commons

Wonder - nothing major, I just try to soak up as much knowledge as I can about cards, so I can get good deals when I go to shops or garage sales and whatnot. I went to a shop owned by two older gentleman outside Minneapolis a few months back. Happening to look through the .25 pile, I found a Dirk Nowitzki Bowman's Best rookie refractor /400. Raw that card sells for about 50 bucks. Profit margin = 19,900%

[xplainer]

Blunder - Dean Palmer. Bought in quantity. They now sit in my moms attic.

Wonder - Still waiting on it.

[GregMitch34]

Blunder: One of my first big ticket card purchases ever, more than 20 years ago, was an ungraded Hugh Duffy Mayo Cut Plug, which turned out to be a reprint.

Wonder: The dealer, Alex's in Manhattan, took it back without question, and gave me a t206 Matty PSA 4 Cycle, which I still have.

[judsonhamlin]

My biggest blunder was not buying all the Broadleaf 460 cards that I found at Ft. Washington in an older dealer's case. I bought two (Snodgrass and O'Leary) and consigned the O'Leary to Barry Sloate. I left at least 4 behind, with some 350's as well.

[bmattioli]

I will always regret not buying more '86 Fleer basketball. I could have had all I wanted.. Also, trading away my signed in person Mickey Mantle 8x10 for comic books was a blunder..

[irv]

Wonder: Receiving my current collection of 52 Topps from my Father.

Blunder(s): Likely not offering enough for some cards from a member on here(?), and not acting fast enough to purchase a 56 Clemente from another member on here just recently.

[ajquigs]

Biggest blunder is willfully ignoring the value difference between PSA and SGC. Even though I knew better, I was able to justify some good sized SGC BIN purchases based on the market for PSAs in the same grade. I'm happy with the SGCs I have in my collection and it doesn't keep me up at night, but there were a couple of definite overpays (20% or more). I still like buying SGCs, but I'm more rational about it now.

Wonders are limited. I had some good luck pulling singles from sets that I had since I was a kid ... a 1978 Murray rookie (PSA 8.5) and a 1979 Rose (PSA 9) each sold in the $150 range. Those plus some PSA 9 Ripken and PSA 8 Rickey rookies gave me a chance to have some fun on COMC picking up ungraded 50's and 60's cards that I like way more than the cards I sold. Backfilling the sets with a decent looking card cost only a few bucks each, so I was happy with that deal all the way around.

[ooo-ribay]

Who the hell is (was) Marc Newfield???!??

No out and out blunders.

Maybe my Bonds GU LS H238 will someday be a wonder when the sanctimonious a**holes pull their heads out and recognize greatness.

[Bill77]

Biggest blunders: Not selling my Prince Fielder autograph rookies when they were worth more than $150, as well as my Francisco Liriano autographed rookie when it topped out at $210. Other blunder trading a topps traded Pujols rookie for a 1987 Topps Barry bonds rookie.

Wonders: Will I ever sell anything?