Show me your "steals"

[Bicem]

(just kidding!)

[Leon]

I paid pretty good money for this at the time, around 11k. Today it looks like I did ok on it...

.

[deadballera]

bought for $30 or so....and sold it last year

[pete zouras]

Steals are few and far between in my collection, except for stuff I collected from when I was a kid. I picked this up for $10. Polar bear back.

[Kawika]

Won this baby for about $425 in 2004. I thought that was a steal even then (although any "gain" has been offset many times over by other items upon which I have seriously overpaid).

[jb217676]

I think these are two steals. The 1940's Mel Ott blotter was $20.00 and the 1970's Louisville Slugger bank (autographed bat version) was $30.00.

[timn1]

The most mind-boggling steal I got was late on Saturday at the first National I ever went to, I think in 2001. I walked by a booth manned by people I didn't know, who had had most of a T206 set for sale. I had glanced at some earlier but felt they were too high. This time as I walked past I saw a new sign: "T206 collection $995." Just out of idle curiosity I asked how many they were selling for that price, as I could see they still had a bunch. "All of them-- we want to get on home." My jaw hit the floor and I said "Sold." I left them what cash I had in my wallet but I had to rush off and borrow the rest from a dealer and good friend of mine, Ron Barrett. I was afraid they would be gone when I got back but the people and the cards were there.

For my $1000 (I didn't ask for the $5 back) I got 297 T206s including about 60 HOFers and Southern Leaguers. 1 Young, 1 Matty, 1 Lajoie, 1 Johnson, the Elberfeld and several other tougher cards. The fronts were mostly EX or so. Some had been pulled from an album and had a varying amounts of paper loss. Others had been cut from the album with the backing. Those I soaked off carefully over the next couple of weeks, and they came out beautifully. This is still the bulk of my T206 (near-)set. If I had gone past that table five minutes later, I'm sure they would have been gone-- For once my timing was perfect!

Since I can't show all of those, I'll add a pic of my other great steal: M101-5 Becker. Rare variation -- less than 10 copies known. Bought for $40 in a group of graded commons at the old Fort Washington.

Tim

[collectbaseball]

There's really nothing better than a good steal... I know I've had a bunch but this one sticks out in my memory -- it was on ebay listed as something like "American League signed ball" and I got it for $25 or so. Turned out to be a 1957 Orioles team signed ball featuring Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson in his first year and George Kell in his last.

[E93]

Jeff, You are too funny. JimB

Originally Posted by Bicem

(just kidding!)

[wrapperguy]

Luckily, my Dad and I have been going to shows and hunting for baseball stuff since the 1983 Chicago National. Back then, you could run ads in the newspaper or find nice items at garage sales.
1 - At a garage sale, Dad found about 250 beautiful 1965 Topps football cards including 5 Namath rookies, 4 of which we sold via Mastro over the years that graded 7 or 8. At the same garage sale, Dad bought 2 1959 White Sox World Series programs.
2 - Ran an ad in the Chicago Tribune for "Baseball Items". Went to a guy's house who had created a scrapbook from the late 1930's, which was my Dad's hey day. Dad and this guy had a ball just reminiscing and I loved listening to all the good stories. The man sold us his scrapbook for $50. In it were cut up R310 Butterfingers of all the stars of the day. On the second to last page, sitting there in photo corners was a beautiful T222 of Walter Johnson. Sold via Mastro 5 years ago and helped pay for my oldest son's first year of college.
3 - Dad would go to a local shop in Des Plaines, the suburb right next to Rosemont, home of the Chicago Nationals, and got to know the owner well as they were contemporaries. Dad goes in the shop one day about 15 minutes after a guy had come in with some 1930's stuff. Dad paid $300 total for an EX National Chicle complete set, half of a 1938 Goudey set, and a bunch of 1939 Playballs.
4 - I did my teaching in a well-to-do North Shore suburb of Chicago. In between classes in 1984, I am looking in the classifieds and see a garage sale advertising "baseball stuff" being held in a more wealthy suburb. I figure what else do I have to do on a Saturday morning? I am the first guy there and immediately see a deck of cards that have "Philadelphia Athletics" on them. The owner asks me if I like baseball stuff. I say sure, and he replies "The good stuff is inside!" He has a dozen Black Bats dating back to the mid-1930s, 65 autographed baseballs, and a near complete run of press pins with duplicates from 1911-1961.
Amazingly, I had stumbled upon the garage sale of Bill Harridge, grandson of American League president, Will Harridge! Dad and I went back later that week and helped him identify most of the autographed balls and bought 4 of them. I bought and later sold the Black Bats. The press pins were too expensive so I brokered the deal with Jim Johnston, one of the early press pin gurus. Those were the days!

[edhans]

Bought off ebay just 3 years ago. Photos were very blurry. When I blew them up I was stunned to see the back. It's now in an SGC 50 holder.

[3-2-count]

Picked up for what I think was a modest price of $800 bucks.

[dwr11]

My parents were antique dealers so I grew up going to Flea Markets, Garage Sales and Auctions. I have had numerous finds through the years but some of the better ones include 1915 PM1 pin of Eppa Rixey in a free box at a garage sale. A run of complete Topps sets from 1955 - 1961 for $100.00 each. I was only able to afford two of the sets at the time so I bought the 1956 and 1961 sets. A nice 1952 Red Man set with the tabs found in an Antique shop. I later sold this to 707 which I regret doing. Around 12-14 autographed team balls from the early 1960's for $5.00 each including two 1963 Dodgers signed balls. The best was probably a collection of hartlands some of which are included in this photo.

[triwak]

Not prewar, but back in the early 70's (I was a young teen), a buddy and me found a garage sale while riding our bikes. They had a HUGE box of cards from the 50's - 60's, selling for a penny a piece. We dug through it for about two days, until the man finally kicked us out of there! I probably spent a whole 25 cents. No telling what we left behind or didn't recognize? This essentially became the foundation of my HOF set. Here are some highlights: