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

Exhibitman · #1 04-19-2022, 03:42 PM

I had a lot of fun with this one:

A few years ago, I went to a vintage paper fair. A seller had a case of miscellaneous sports cards from the 1930s to the 1990s. Mostly offbeat stuff like match covers and 'humorous' sets, but there was a lot of it. One card caught my eye in there, a 1958 Topps Jim Brown RC. It was in an old-school snap-tite holder (these were a thing around 1990) and looked completely roached. I couldn't even open the holder. I asked how much. The dealer barked at me (way too angry for 10:00 a.m., IMO) that it was $450 for the whole case, no cherry picking. Well, I could see enough value there that I was gonna make the deal anyway but I had to ask if he'd take less. Apparently, not a good question...someone needed a Starbucks I guess. Anyhow, I paid for the collection and he gave me a box to haul it all. The box had all sorts of packing detritus at the bottom, mostly moldy newspapers, which I left in there. I took the box to my car and went back to the show for a while. I then went to my office to look over the collection I'd bought.

One thing I've learned is never, ever throw out anything without checking it thoroughly first. I went through the newspapers carefully and this snapshot tumbled out:

Satchel Paige in 1949, shot by the team photographer, in the same sequence as the photo that became the TI that year in the picture pack. Needless to say, I was thrilled since I had no idea it was in there.

Oh, and the Jim Brown RC? Well, the holder was so old and brittle that when I tried to separate the halves it basically exploded. Shards of plastic everywhere; one even hit my glasses. The card itself:

That was a good day!

JollyElm · #2 04-19-2022, 05:44 PM

This is relatively small potatoes compared to some of the sick sh*t appearing in this thread, but I found this 1964 Topps #423 Aaron/Mays 'Tops in NL' floating around a bin of discounted (TAKE 40% OFF!!!) cards at a show out here. It looked gorgeous (and I frickin' love this card!!), so I negotiated with the seller and ended up taking it home for a measly $40...and it eventually came back as a PSA 8 through Bobby's group sub. The last two 8's on eBay sold for over a grand each, so it was a pretty good deal...

1964aaronmaystopsinnl423beforeafter.jpg

Bobsbats · #3 04-19-2022, 06:03 PM

As a kid, walking around the Willow Grove/Fort Washington card show, a dealer asked me if I knew who this was. As a 10 year old, I said I did. He said if you know who it is, you can have it for $90.00, to which I replied, it's Sam Wahoo Crawford and he played for Detroit, that's a W600 Sporting News....to which, the dealer smiled and said, it's yours for 90.00 if you want it.

Crawford W600 front.jpg

brianp-beme · #4 04-19-2022, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobsbats

As a kid, walking around the Willow Grove/Fort Washington card show, a dealer asked me if I knew who this was. As a 10 year old, I said I did. He said if you know who it is, you can have it for $90.00, to which I replied, it's Sam Wahoo Crawford and he played for Detroit, that's a W600 Sporting News....to which, the dealer smiled and said, it's yours for 90.00 if you want it.

Attachment 513018

Great story and nice dealer! I have a similar and less pleasant interaction with a dealer at a show when I was in my late teens/early 20's. I asked to see the stack of W517 cards in his case. He handed them to me and I was going through them looking for a Dazzy Vance card. I must have taken too long or he was just tired of this punk kid going through his merchandise, as he inquired, real aggressively, "you probably don't know what cards those are." I was kind of shocked, but I fairly quickly replied "1931 W517 strip cards." I had found the Vance I wanted and was about to make the purchase, but I slapped his stack of cards back on his display case and walked away.

Like I said, yours was a much nicer story. My story ends well though, as later a W517 Vance landed in my collection without the help of this grumpy seller.

Brian

fisherboy7 · #5 04-19-2022, 06:42 PM

These deals all took place between 2000 and 2003, several were on ebay...

W514 Joe Jackson gd - $200 BIN

E90-2 Wagner fr/gd - $400ish

T206 Cobb Bat off w/American Beauty back g-vg $1200

The one(s) that got away....I remember passing on several E107 HOFers listed on ebay by Levi Bleam with very low BIN's (all well under 1k) including Lajoie, Bender, etc. I was a young college student and just didn't have the cash.

There were others, but these ones stood out.

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