What's the best item you've ever pulled from a dealer's bargain box?

[mannequin1]

Originally Posted by akleinb611

One of the things I miss the most about card shows (which are far less numerous than they were in the pre-ebay era) is the dealer's bargain box. You know, that big box of items prices at a dollar or so, filled with oddball items or mainstream items in off condition. If you like collecting unusual stuff, these boxes could be a treasure trove. Occasionally, you could find something really, really good.

So, to those of you out there with years of experience at card shows, what's the most impressive gem you've ever fished out of a bargain box?

I'll start. There was a dealer whose name I don't recall who was a regular at the White Plains show from the Nineties onward. He had separate bargain boxes priced at $1, $2 and $5. At some show about twenty years ago, I was rummaging through his $5 bargain box. He had a bunch of off-condition 1949 Bowman and I was looking for some condition upgrades, in spite of the fact that these cards were pretty rough. A few of them had uneven edges, indicating they had either been trimmed or had been cut from a sheet. It took me a moment to realize these were not 1949 Bowmans, but rather were 1949 Bowman PCL cards. I walked away with four of them, at $5 each.

This may trigger a debate regarding whether or not I should have brought this to the dealer's attention. My attitude is that this is not akin to some SOB cheating a clueless little old lady out of some rare cards. This was an experienced dealer. Any card on his table was priced for what it was, and I had no obligation to point out to him that the cards may have been worth more.

I realize I sound a bit defensive. But those 1949 PCL's are in a binder on my shelf and they're not going anywhere...

Alan

At a NYC show about 1975 someone had a box of Kelloggs 3-D baseball cards for $1.00 each. At the bottom of the box were 7 1968 Topps 3-D cards which I bought. I left a cracked Perez.
I also found a 1972 Topps Test set (like repros of 1953 Topps) for $5.00 (I think 8 cards).

[GasHouseGang]

1960 Jim Kaat rookie card for 10 cents each. The dealer had 5 in the box at that price. My friend and I each bought one, and I informed the dealer that these cards should be at around $10 each (at that time). He thanked me for letting him know, and removed the other 3 from the bargain box.

[Rich Klein]

But they are applicable to this thread

1) Back in the day, a friend of mine would bring a big box or two to one of my LCS. My friend who owned the store always gave me a shot to take the box home and go through them or do them at the store for a very reasonable price point. Pulled about 5 Fergie Jenkins RC's (they were probably $5-10 each at the time) and thought that was good for each of us. There were another 115 of those Jenkins RC's in that box. We told the dealer who was in town to visit his folks and he let us keep like 5 each and we gladly gave him back over 100 Jenkins RC's

2) At the 2019 NSCC one of my friends had a 68 Topps White Letter Mike McCormick in his $1 bin. I went back and forth with self-discussion before telling him. We ended up sending the card to PSA and split the proceeds.

Doing the right thing, especially with friends, pays off not only in the short term but in the long term as well. Now if either of those people were schmucks, well that can be a different subject

[btcarfagno]

Not sports related but..

Had a table at a paper/movie memorabilia show in NYC in the late 1990s. Before the show started i was going around to other tables. Guy had a box of folded movie posters priced at $5 each (i guess that meets the $5 box criteria of this thread). The posters were from the 40s and 50s so I figured it was worth it to have a look see. About half way down the word "Laura" was written in pencil on the folded side of one poster. I figured it had to mean one.of the stars of the film. Couldn't be the movie by that name. Started to unfold it and got about 1/4 of the way and realized it was indeed the movie Laura. Original release.

Still have the poster. Worth a few thousand even back then.

[akleinb611]

Originally Posted by mannequin1

At a NYC show about 1975 someone had a box of Kelloggs 3-D baseball cards for $1.00 each. At the bottom of the box were 7 1968 Topps 3-D cards which I bought. I left a cracked Perez.
I also found a 1972 Topps Test set (like repros of 1953 Topps) for $5.00 (I think 8 cards).

DING-DING!!! I think we may have a winner!

Alabn