Flea markets, antique stores, Goodwill, etc..

[dwr11]

I have had numerous great finds through the years as I grew up going to auction sales, garage sales, flea markets and antique shows. I picked up this Clemente button which is extremely tough to locate a couple of years ago for $20.00 at a show and sold it on eBay to a member of this forum for $700.00 - $800.00. I can't remember for sure. I also picked up at a small show a massive hoard of original snapshot photos. There are a couple thousand at least. I have sold off a small amount but still have many left. An example of some I still have. This happened a number of years ago but I was at an Antique show in Superior, WI. A dealer had some rusty 1964 Topps coins and he wanted way to much for them. I saw one 1955 Armour coin in the bag and it turned out to be a 1955 Armour Mickey Mantle (correct spelling) coin. I asked how much and the dealer said "for the plastic one" 50 cents. I ended up selling it to Mr. Mint at one of the old State Fairgrounds shows in the cities for $200.00 if I remember correctly.

[1966CUDA]

Picked up a Nolan Ryan rookie at a flea market for $125..it graded out PSA 8.. That's my best antique/flea market find I think. I did buy a misc. lot on Ebay that had a Jerry Rice rookie that graded PSA 10... That was the best Ebay find.

Total Items: 43
Date Received: 5/7/2013
Date Shipped: 5/22/2013

Line # Item # Cert # Grade Description Type

36 1 21467184 GEM MINT 10 1986 Topps 161 Jerry Rice Card

Got these this past June during the Rt 301 Yard Sale In NC paid $5.00 for each

[wdwfan]

I travel quite a bit around my area (probably about 200 miles each day), and I try and stop whenever I see a flea market/antique store. But most of the time I see old dishes and 1990 Donruss baseball. Found one just this week that had an 800 count box of 1990 Donruss. Guy was asking $30 for it. I simply told him I'd pass.

No such luck for finding rare hits like you guys.

[Jayjones82]

Maybe 15 or so years ago, I won a small lot of old baseball-related books in a local auction (I don't remember the books having any real value at the time; they were just cool). They sat untouched in a closet for several months before I decided to thumb through them. Found a 1908 Cubs/Tigers (I think that was the year) World Series ticket stub in one. Had it graded by PSA and sold it for something like $1,800 on the bay. I paid $25 for the lot.

[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by Jayjones82

Maybe 15 or so years ago, I won a small lot of old baseball-related books in a local auction (I don't remember the books having any real value at the time; they were just cool). They sat untouched in a closet for several months before I decided to thumb through them. Found a 1908 Cubs/Tigers (I think that was the year) World Series ticket stub in one. Had it graded by PSA and sold it for something like $1,800 on the bay. I paid $25 for the lot.

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. I much prefer these types of stories about stumbling into something vs. fleecing another person.

[Directly]

I once owned a sports card shop directly across the street from an Antique Mall. One day I went to the Mall and began my browsing, the first booth located to the very right when one walked inside, sat an old antique wood dresser with its very top drawer opened. I peeked inside and saw a small stack of say ten old Cabinet photos. One happened to be a baseball team photo of nine players, the Cabinet photo wasn't priced so I walk over to the proprietor, and left as the new owner.

A year later or so I'm looking through the old version THE OFFICIAL ENCYCLOPEDIA of BASEBALL page 392 there it shows Ted Sullivan organizing the Northwestern League consisting of his baseball team in Dubuque Iowa. Thinking back I thought the Cabinet photo I purchased earlier was stamped DUBUQUE.

It took me a couple months or so to find the photo. After searching awhile I thought may be it got thrown away or something? When I did finally find it, yes it's stamped DUBUQUE, hence started my quest and research. The St Louis Antique dealer had already left the Mall---I am compiling my revised evidence for SABR (wish I had bought all the other family photos in the stack, some may have belonged to the baseball photo history?)---- until cheers!

[71buc]

Originally Posted by dwr11

I have had numerous great finds through the years as I grew up going to auction sales, garage sales, flea markets and antique shows. I picked up this Clemente button which is extremely tough to locate a couple of years ago for $20.00 at a show and sold it on eBay to a member of this forum for $700.00 - $800.00. I can't remember for sure. I also picked up at a small show a massive hoard of original snapshot photos. There are a couple thousand at least. I have sold off a small amount but still have many left. An example of some I still have. This happened a number of years ago but I was at an Antique show in Superior, WI. A dealer had some rusty 1964 Topps coins and he wanted way to much for them. I saw one 1955 Armour coin in the bag and it turned out to be a 1955 Armour Mickey Mantle (correct spelling) coin. I asked how much and the dealer said "for the plastic one" 50 cents. I ended up selling it to Mr. Mint at one of the old State Fairgrounds shows in the cities for $200.00 if I remember correctly.

I believe I actually paid you only 30X your original investment for that pin and would do so again. I have only two such finds. One was a large group of autographs that included Koufax, Drysdale, Maris, Paige and many others. I paid $10 for each autograph. The other was six boxes of unopened 1976 Topps Basketball cards. I paid $20 a box and sold them quite a bit more. That was an awesome experience.

[62corvette]

My wife went into a used book store while I sat in the car with the sleeping baby. She came out 10 minutes later with a gift for me: “Head, Hands, and Heart” by Knute Rockne. It wasn’t until months later that I noticed the flyleaf was autographed by him. We did okay on that one.
Also, at an automotive swap meet last year, I saw a vintage Rawlings box with an unused softball in it. Got it for $3, and then realized it was autographed by the old Packer’s coach Lisle Blackbourn.