Cry for me the Beloved Cards

[Yoda]

I know this subject has been raised in the past, so please forgive my repetition, but I find myself a bit morose these days when thinking of cards once held and now gone.
Here are my top 5:
1. 1915 Sporting News-SN reverse, Ruth SGC 5.5
2. E107 Matty ungraded, about vg/ex
3. T206 Griffith batting PSA 7, Drum back4.
4. T206 Cobb Red, PSA 7 EPDG back.
5. 1933 WWG bi-lingual Ruth PSA 7
That's enough. Urg.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by Yoda

I know this subject has been raised in the past, so please forgive my repetition, but I find myself a bit morose these days when thinking of cards once held and now gone.
Here are my top 5:
1. 1915 Sporting News-SN reverse, Ruth SGC 5.5
2. E107 Matty ungraded, about vg/ex
3. T206 Griffith batting PSA 7, Drum back4.
4. T206 Cobb Red, PSA 7 EPDG back.
5. 1933 WWG bi-lingual Ruth PSA 7
That's enough. Urg.

OUCH!!!
My Top 5 (in no particular order):
1. 1948 Leaf Paige, PSA 4
2. 1948 Leaf Robinson, SGC 6
3. 1951 Bowman Mantle, PSA 5
4. Some Brady Rookie that is 1 of 1250 in a BVG 9.5 (sells for like $30k+)
5. Several, complete and unopened 1986 Fleer Basketball sets (but these were sold in the 1990s so easy to swallow)

[samosa4u]

We've all been through it, Mr. Yoda.

Years back, I had a 1958 Alifabolaget Pele rookie in PSA 8.5. I sold it for over $13,000 USD and set a record price. People thought the whole thing was crazy because nobody gave a shit about soccer cards back then.

Now, this card is worth $350,000 - $400,000 USD.

I'm not a brain surgeon or one of America's top criminal lawyers who charges a thousand dollars per hour. So, when I think about this card, it makes me very sad.

[Leon]

I sold my '25 Gehrig to Hal, in a 5 holder (think it's in a 6 now) for 10k, about 17? yrs ago. I can just quit now. The rest pale...

I won it raw in a Mastro auction in 1997, pre internet. It was listed as NRMT-MT. I was on vacation in Mexico and placed a phone bid from my shower at the end...

.

[ocjack]

I consciously try not to think about it.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Two PSA 8 Orrs.
PSA 8 Russell and Wilt.

[jingram058]

I sold a '34 Goudey Gehrig, '41 Play Ball DiMaggio, '58 Topps Mantle along with about 15 other great cards for what I remember was $200 in the mid-1990s. Just for gas money, food, etc. I was a Navy CPO at the time, stationed in Charleston, family in Fort Lauderdale, and I was driving all 540 miles each way virtually every weekend that I did not have the duty. Needless to say, money got to be tight. I memorized everything on US Highway 17 and Interstate 95. I could not take out a loan due to my Top Secret clearance up for periodic review (You had to be squeaky clean, no issues or skeletons in the closet of any kind). I vowed I would never do anything like that again, and I still feel sick about it to this day.

[Aaron Seefeldt]

I'm a true baseball card whore! Here are a few that I sold over the years:

2 diff t206 Cobb Backs
t210 Old Mill Joe Joe
t206 Uzit Cobb SGC 3
15 different Darby Chocolates including Wagner/Snodgrass box
22 diff Victory tobaccos including Cobb port SGC 2 & Walter pitching
1932 US Caramel Lindy
3 diff e90-1 Joe Joes
Both Wolverine Cobbs
t206 Lenox Cobb port SGC 2
t206 Red Hindu Cobb PSA 4
t206 Carolina Brights Cobb
12 different Boston Garters (locker room series) including Mathewson
d304 Martens Cobb SGC 2
5 or 6 different 1925 Gehrigs (highest being PSA 5)
e125 Am Caramel set (missing 2)
e135 Joe Joe PSA 6
1916 Ware's basement Joe Joe PSA 4
1914 CJ Joe Joe PSA 5
1916-20 Complete Big Head strip set
e107 Cy Young

And the list goes on... enough to make one throw up!

[jcmtiger]

My 4 T206 Cobb poses, but only paid around $500 in total the 80’ Sold in 2016. My Wolverine news Cobb cards. Whatever!!!! Could have listed more, close to AARON’ list. Holy moly. But still did ok.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by Aaron Seefeldt

I'm a true baseball card whore! Here are a few that I sold over the years:

2 diff t206 Cobb Backs
t210 Old Mill Joe Joe
t206 Uzit Cobb SGC 3
15 different Darby Chocolates including Wagner/Snodgrass box
22 diff Victory tobaccos including Cobb port SGC 2 & Walter pitching
1932 US Caramel Lindy
3 diff e90-1 Joe Joes
Both Wolverine Cobbs
t206 Lenox Cobb port SGC 2
t206 Red Hindu Cobb PSA 4
t206 Carolina Brights Cobb
12 different Boston Garters (locker room series) including Mathewson
d304 Martens Cobb SGC 2
5 or 6 different 1925 Gehrigs (highest being PSA 5)
e125 Am Caramel set (missing 2)
e135 Joe Joe PSA 6
1916 Ware's basement Joe Joe PSA 4
1914 CJ Joe Joe PSA 5
1916-20 Complete Big Head strip set
e107 Cy Young

And the list goes on... enough to make one throw up!

Wow Aaron. That is an amazing list

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Aaron Seefeldt

I'm a true baseball card whore! Here are a few that I sold over the years:

2 diff t206 Cobb Backs
t210 Old Mill Joe Joe
t206 Uzit Cobb SGC 3
15 different Darby Chocolates including Wagner/Snodgrass box
22 diff Victory tobaccos including Cobb port SGC 2 & Walter pitching
1932 US Caramel Lindy
3 diff e90-1 Joe Joes
Both Wolverine Cobbs
t206 Lenox Cobb port SGC 2
t206 Red Hindu Cobb PSA 4
t206 Carolina Brights Cobb
12 different Boston Garters (locker room series) including Mathewson
d304 Martens Cobb SGC 2
5 or 6 different 1925 Gehrigs (highest being PSA 5)
e125 Am Caramel set (missing 2)
e135 Joe Joe PSA 6
1916 Ware's basement Joe Joe PSA 4
1914 CJ Joe Joe PSA 5
1916-20 Complete Big Head strip set
e107 Cy Young

And the list goes on... enough to make one throw up!

Aaron, yeah, but you are the whore with the heart of gold. I remember when you bought the Cobb Lenox at the Chicago National back when I bought my Cobb bat off. It was a beautiful card. John

[russkcpa]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Two PSA 8 Orrs.
PSA 8 Russell and Wilt.

Ouch !!

[esd10]

I have a couple of cards I wish I didn't sell 1 was a e90-1 johnny siegle in vg-ex and a e90-1 mathewson in a poor condition.

[t206fix]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

We've all been through it, Mr. Yoda.

Years back, I had a 1958 Alifabolaget Pele rookie in PSA 8.5. I sold it for over $13,000 USD and set a record price. People thought the whole thing was crazy because nobody gave a shit about soccer cards back then.

Now, this card is worth $350,000 - $400,000 USD.

I'm not a brain surgeon or one of America's top criminal lawyers who charges a thousand dollars per hour. So, when I think about this card, it makes me very sad.

This story makes me feel a lot better about the cards I used to own -

1. 1951 Bowman Willie Mays SGC 4
2. 1954 Topps Hank Aaron SGC 5
3. 1952 Topps Willie Mays SGC 5
4. 1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson PSA 3.5
5 t206 Walter Johnson Hindu back
plus many, many more

[bobbyw8469]

1) 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson PSA 6
2) 1965 Joe Namath PSA 7
3) 1954 Hank Aaron SGC 8
4) 1986 Michael Jordan BVG 9.5 (x4 - Yes, I had 4 of them)
5) 1953 Mickey Mantle PSA 5

This is just off the top of my head. I don't try to dwell. But one can't help but wonder. I sure would like to be retired right about now.

Honorable mention
6) 1951 Bowman Willie Mays PSA 6 (x2) - Both had qualifiers, but who cares
7) 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle SGC A (Looked like an '8' though - wonder if it is still in that case)
8) 1958 Jim Brown PSA 7

[pawpawdiv9]

dang Aaron & Chiprop:
Where were you guys when you sold those 1916-20 UNC sets?
Still am fortunate to get what i have & still looking for more of these.

i think i faired better and to forget what i have had sold, because mostly was mantle card collection that let to my 51 & 52 mantle.
I had my share of the Zeenut Dimaggio and Mays RC 7oc, 1915 CJ Joe Jax, 1948/49 Leaf Jackie sgc4.5

[Hankphenom]

This thread strikes me as almost confessional in tone, so I'll tell get mine off my chest. About 25 years ago, I needed some quick cash, so I took my WaJo card binder to the Fort Washington Philly Show to shop it around. I've always been more of a memorabilia guy anyway, and many of my cards had been given to me by a friend of my Mom's who got into cards very early and would pick up WaJo's for me when he found them cheap, so selling them didn't seem like any great sacrifice when I really needed money. I had all the basic cards, most in G-VG condition, but there were also some extreme rarities, like a Texas Tommy type I, BB Bats, Vassar Sweaters, others, along with some great early postcards. I decided on a price of 4K for the binder, and started with Bill Huggins, who turned the pages quickly and without a word pushed the binder back across his display case to me. The next stop was to Dean Zindler, set up near by, who told me the price was too high. "What the Hell?" I thought, I KNOW these cards are worth that much, and started breaking the binder up to sell individual cards at that and several succeeding shows. After quickly pocketing about 8K for maybe half the contents, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. The next show after Fort Washington was a tiny show promoted by Phil Wood outside of Baltimore that had some great dealers but for which few collectors showed up, and my friend Val Kehl happened to be the lucky WaJo fanatic who got the pick of the binder largely still intact. I remember gouging him out of $300 for the Texas Tommy and sticking him for a few hundred more for what I now know are some of the rarest WaJos around. If he sees this, he can offer more details of his bounty, and my consolation is that if there is one collector whom I would never begrudge this good luck, it is Val, one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Among the many other consolations in telling this sad tale--including how great the hobby has been to me in general all these years--is the fact that I, like most of us, would like to have back everything we've ever sold, but this is the one I do still think about from time to time, although I try not to think about it too often--how much would I be able to extract from that binder today?

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

This thread strikes me as almost confessional in tone, so I'll tell get mine off my chest. About 25 years ago, I needed some quick cash, so I took my WaJo card binder to the Fort Washington Philly Show to shop it around. I've always been more of a memorabilia guy anyway, and many of my cards had been given to me by a friend of my Mom's who got into cards very early and would pick up WaJo's for me when he found them cheap, so selling them didn't seem like any great sacrifice when I really needed money. I had all the basic cards, most in G-VG condition, but there were also some extreme rarities, like a Texas Tommy type I, BB Bats, Vassar Sweaters, others, along with some great early postcards. I decided on a price of 4K for the binder, and started with Bill Huggins, who turned the pages quickly and without a word pushed the binder back across his display case to me. The next stop was to Dean Zindler, set up near by, who told me the price was too high. "What the Hell?" I thought, I KNOW these cards are worth that much, and started breaking the binder up to sell individual cards at that and several succeeding shows. After quickly pocketing about 8K for maybe half the contents, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. The next show after Fort Washington was a tiny show promoted by Phil Wood outside of Baltimore that had some great dealers but for which few collectors showed up, and my friend Val Kehl happened to be the lucky WaJo fanatic who got the pick of the binder largely still intact. I remember gouging him out of $300 for the Texas Tommy and sticking him for a few hundred more for what I now know are some of the rarest WaJos around. If he sees this, he can offer more details of his bounty, and my consolation is that if there is one collector whom I would never begrudge this good luck, it is Val, one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Among the many other consolations in telling this sad tale--including how great the hobby has been to me in general all these years--is the fact that I, like most of us, would like to have back everything we've ever sold, but this is the one I do still think about from time to time, although I try not to think about it too often--how much would I be able to extract from that binder today?

Thanks for sharing. I am amazed at the hobby industry GIANTS not even interested at 4k. Maybe they wanted it for 10 cents on the dollar?? Who knows.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Thanks for sharing. I am amazed at the hobby industry GIANTS not even interested at 4k. Maybe they wanted it for 10 cents on the dollar?? Who knows.

It is mind-boggling, and the only explanation is that things were a LOT different back then. I don't think either of them spent more than a couple minutes looking through my binder before making clear their disinterest. Today, collectors--and especially dealers--would be running from all over the room to look through those cards and postcards.