The Trader Speaks

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Posted By: bruce Dorskind

If we can take the liberty of borrowing a legendary hobby pub name
from Dan Dischley, let's take a moment to reflect on the good
old days when collectors were as likely to trade baseball cards
with one another as they were to buy and sell cards from each other.

Our question is to ask the Board what is the "best trade"
you ever made and, if you care to share it, the worst trade you made.

Ours was:

Best trade: Two common Ramlys to Sir Edward Wharton Tigar
for a near mint large Gypsy Queen

Worst trade: St Mary's Yearbook (with several pictures of a young
Babe Ruth) for a Kalamazoo Bat Team card of Boston. The other
trader was Barry Halper.

Best wishes for a Prosperous New Year!


Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List

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Posted By: sean

best trade: a signed tommy thevenow 1933 goudey for two cal ripken 82 topps
worst trade: a genuine signed james stewart its a wonderful life poster for Indiana jones and the last crusade poster that im pretty sure was fake. Dont ask why I even thought of that trade in the first place.

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Posted By: Rich S

Nice to see Dan's name mentioned, I went to high school with him. My best trade was a lot of Boy Scout memorabilia I traded for a set of 1955 Bowmans. Hopefully he is on a Boy Scout web site talking about the great deal he got.
My worst was a 1962 Mets yearbook in mint condition for some 1962 Topps commons that were never delivered.

[Archive]

Posted By: bruce Dorskind

Let's hear about some more trades.

We're especially interested in hearing from long-time
collectors who traded with hobby legends like
Frank Nagy, Buck Barker, Wirt Gammon, Lew Newman
and others.


Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List

[Archive]

Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

Ah... so nice to see Bruce pouring on the charm again.

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Posted By: leon

This board is in a small part, like The Trader Speaks was, in that we can still do trades on the Buy/Sell/Trade pages. I can't say I have been around long enough to do trades with any of the forefathers of our hobby but I do trades regularly with other forum members. I am not sure there is any place else that so many "trades" with our cards can be done today, as on our BST pages. Last week Robert A (Hi Robert) and I traded a card for a card. He let me get a little better deal (I think) and next time I will try to reciprocate. I try not to forget good deeds and repay them when I can....

ALSO, I think this is a very legitimate topic so lets don't pile on Bruce for starting a good thread, please...

warm regards
moderator dude...

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Posted By: Ed Hans

I don't trade much anymore, but my best by far was in the early 90's. I traded a 1989 Upper Deck factory set to a local dealer, for an E97 Meyers. The dealer threw in $35 to even up the trade. I sent the E97 to PSA. It came back a 7.

As far as bad ones, I'd have to go back to the early 70's, when I would routinely trade major stars (in multiples, if necessary) for commons I needed to complete series. That was actually fairly common practice in those days.

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Posted By: peter ullman

when I just started collecting as a child...I was probably 8 yo and the only cards I had were a bunch of 1970 topps commons. there was a bb card "event" at the local public library and I attempted to trade my whole collection to a cute young girl for a 1976 sporting news babe ruth...she declined!

pete ullman

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Posted By: Andy Cook

Back in the 70s my friend and I routinely traded future hofs for commons at a ratio of 2 commons for one 1 star. My best trade was trading 2 NM Rickey Henderson rookie cards for a nice Nolan Ryan rookie. My worst was probably trading away my Crofts Cocoa Wagner - I got a good deal, but I just miss that card.

Andy

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Posted By: Matt

Andy - what did you get in return for the Croft's Wagner?

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Posted By: GHG!

This may be slightly off-topic but does, in fact, involve the old publication, The Trader Speaks, and a resulting t206 purchase in 1972.

Personal files include a 35-year old handwritten letter from a dealer/collector named Ray Leone, Brentwood, NY, as follows: "Enclosed are 106 T-206 and 25-cent refund. I made a counting error previously stating I had 107. I hope these cards are OK."

This, I believe, speaks volumes about dealer integrity in those days (not to mention t206 prices in 1972).

Best wishes to all for a prosperous 2008.

(No, not a 'newbie'...merely a first-time poster.)

GHG!

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Posted By: leon

Congrats on your first post. It's not that hard after the first one is done . One comment on dealer integrity of the past. I am sure there was a lot of it....however, with that being said, I have also seen some really remarkable acts of kindness and integrity on this board. I would venture to guess (and hope) that 99.9% of the folks on here would return something that wasn't theirs....I am not saying the hobby is the way it "used" to be, as I don't know more than the last 10-11 yrs of it, but from what I have seen the hobby is mostly full of really nice folks and ones I am proud to be associated with. When we had the last National Net54 dinner it was great to see a room full of so many nice people....top notch, every one of them , all imho....best regards

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Posted By: Anonymous

Leon, agree with you completely. Intent was not to compare dealer integrity of today with that of yesteryear. In fact, my experience with today's dealers is almost always totally positive.

GHG!

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Posted By: Andy Cook

I think I got a number of E104s. Valuewise, it was a good trade, I just miss my Cocoa Wagner. At that time I had over 20 different Croft Cocoas and my set quest had stalled, that's why I traded the Wagner. The E104s were great though.

Andy

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Posted By: leon

I think the first, and maybe only, time we met (if I remember correctly)was when you just got your E104-2 Wagner....That was a sweet card....

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Posted By: Paul S

Welcome GHG.

Here's my $.35 credit slip from CCC (1970).

*edited for scan

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Posted By: steve yawitz

I guess this could go in the new pick-up thread, but it seems well suited to this one. Anyway, I'd like to thank Jim R. for having the patience to negotiate a swap with me, since I'm probably the most deliberate trader in the world. I hope he's as happy with his card as I am with this:



It's kinda nice that I acquired two of my top three T206's in trades. Not that it'll ever be as innocent as it was when I was a kid - and for some reason, memories of painstakingly peeling out stickers from the Topps sticker albums of the early '80s just popped into my head - but there's still something cool about cash-free transactions.

http://imageevent.com/yawie99

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Posted By: Stephen Mitchell

Although they do not rank as the best or worst of my trades, two swaps with card giant Frank Nagy come immediately to mind. The first was exchanging my childhood collection of approximately 3,000 different (1957 to 1964) baseball cards with a similar number of duplicates to Frank for about $75 in 1967 or '68. I viewed it as an even swap at the time since I had paid roughly one cent per card. (The 1500 or so football and non-sports I threw in were not especially valuable to me, either.)

A short time afterward (perhaps 3 to 6 months), I had seller's remorse although I never directly let these feelings be known to Frank. In those days Frank was still running his own auctions and I "won" a 1954 Topps baseball set for $4-5 plus a nominal 50 cents or so shipping charge. The cards were like new - without exception. As I look back, the prices of those mid- to late 1960's years were pretty low but I think I either got a bargain or else Frank suspected I was getting back into collecting and wanted to encourage me.

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Posted By: DD

Not vintage baseball, but a trade I made with a legend, Mark Macaluso comes to mind. My brother and I traded him 50 or so 1966 Funny Rings and Maya Puzzle pieces, just as they were getting hot back in the early 80's. In return we got a Brady Bunch set with wrapper, Casper set, unopened box of Dark Shadows Postcards, and some other stuff.

We had just bought the cards a day earlier for $5.00.

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Posted By: Steve D

mark macaluso that is a name from the past. great guy. Steve Yawie nice Uzit p/u

sorry guys I don't have a favorite trade to share.


Steve

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Posted By: CN

Back in 1981 I worked part time helping at the local Drakes cake factory when I was in high school. That was the year they came out with a set made from Topps. The hobby was in a frenzy back then. Anyway I was able to purchase 25 boxes of 500 cards in the old Topps boxes for $8 a piece or $200 dollars before they were released. Ironically I think the the Trader Speaks and BHN was abuzz about this set. In the spring of 1981 I drove down to Philadelphia to sell these cards. The NY Daily News I think Bill Madden just wrote an article about the potential value of the set. I lucked out in that many spectulaters wanted these cards and I was able to sell them to a dealer from Cleveland who I think was named Pasternack after a lot of interest for $225 a box or $5625. I then went to the table next to his and was able to get Complete Topps sets in Ex-Mt which I still have from 1967 to 1973,1975 Minis,1970 and 1971 Supers,1968 Topps Game,1970 Topps Booklets and I got him to throw in a 1957 Mantle and Mays. For $200 dollars I was pleased as by midsummer the Drakes set was going for $10-$15 and is now worth about $5. CN