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

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by milkit1

In 2015 I was preparing to go to Spacefest in Arizona and had the bright idea to make a panorama of Gene Cernan during his Gemini 9 spacewalk. One had never been made before and there was only one good picture of his fateful spacewalk that nearly killed him. Anyways I got the panorama made (2 copies) on board and paid Cernan $500 each to sign. As I was handing over $1000 cash I started feeling a little regret. However Cernan was the coolest person I have ever met. Super nice and after hearing his story about the spacewalk I was in awe. Well he died 6 months later. Flash forward to 2019. I consigned one of the two to an auction and it sold for $32,000. When I saw the final bid i refreshed my screen about 8 times because I thought it had glitched.
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WOW! That's awesome!

Happy you got a good price, but those pieces are just cool as hell regardless of what one of them sold for.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

WOW! That's awesome!

Happy you got a good price, but those pieces are just cool as hell regardless of what one of them sold for.

+1!

THAT'S what I'm talking about!

[Vintagedeputy]

I don't like discussing good deals on cards that I still own, but I'll tell you one that I got and that got away.

When I was 16, I found an absolutely gem mint 1957 Topps Mantle / Berra #407 Yankee Power Hitters card along with an Al Cicotte card from the same year. Bought them at a garage sale for $5.00.

Fast forward a year and I'm a big time (I thought) card dealer at a show in NJ and the Power Hitters card is booking for about $40 or so....and I sold it. Had it on the table and a guy bought it. Stupid, stupid kid.

[bnorth]

My best deal was a trade back in the real early 90s. I was young and broke at a gun show. I seen a older lady sell a dealer a older German made Walther PPK in the factory box with the target used for test firing in the box. It is the gun James Bond used in most of his movies.

Back then a somewhat local dealer was there that sold guns, fishing equipment, and vintage baseball cards. I traded a 1966 Topps Sandy Koufax in NrMint condition for a new Smith & Wesson 38. I then traded the S&W even up for the Walther PPK I wanted from the other gun dealer.

The dealer with the Walther didn't look close to see it was a German made gun and not the American version. In card terms I traded a common T206 even up for a T206 Red Cobb in the same condition.

[sreader3]

Paid $30 for this beauty at the 1985 National in Anaheim when I was in my teens. Obviously ungraded at the time. From a "dealer." Imagine that!

(Also wow great Hindu group Pat!)

[steve B]

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]

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]

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.

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