The One That Got Away

[Jason]

We all have cards we missed out on for one reason or another.I want to focus on the ones you were offered,had the cash to purchase it/them,and for one reason or another passed on picking it up.

For me it was a 1909 Richmond Colts team postcard I was offered a couple years ago by a forum member for a very fair price.For some reason I passed to pick up a Orange Border T210 in which that particular player I have seen for sale a few a times since.I think I have seen 3 other examples of the OB but I have never seen another PC of the Colts for sale.I still think about it from time to time and it stings to this day.Sorry to rehash any old memories but I think we can get a few good stories in this thread.Any old time collectors pass on a T206 Wagner back in the day?

[Sean]

I passed up a T206 Walter Johnson portrait, ungraded but in excellent condition, for $500. I wish now that I had bought it.

[ullmandds]

At the 95 nat'l I passed on a binder full of t214 victory's...although I'm sure I couldn't afford them then! I also passed on a $1500 T215 pirate card that looked nrmt...I thought the price tag said $150 and I put it aside to purchase only to realize it was $1500!!!!!

At the willow grove show in the early 90's I passed on a bl 460 for $350 and an m113 for $300 or so.

[Sean]

Pete, where did you see that Pirate?

[ullmandds]

I think David festberg had it. He was all lovey dovey when I said I wanted it...then when I went to pay and he said...not $150...$1500...he wasn't so nice!!!!!

[bnorth]

Not pre war because I only recently started collecting it. I had access to buy print errors and proofs directly from Score for several years and the only thing my dumb a$$ bought was partial sets of 1989 & 90 baseball wrong backs. They are the only ones known even after all this time because Score had very good quality control for print errors leaving the factory.

The only other Score errors I know of that "left" the factory in any quality are the 89 blank fronts the Walt Ankerman has been selling for years

[atx840]

T206 test printer scrap, just couldn't justify the price at the time. At least it went to a good home.

[Vintagecatcher]

In the early eighties I saw two items that I should have bought at a rural New Hampshire antique center.

The first was a beautiful catcher sterling napkin holder. Can't remember the cost, but I went back a few weeks later and it was gone. Another dealer had a Ex-Mt Buck Weaver 1911 Obak for $90.00. I knew the story of "Eight Men Out" and I knew it was an Obak, but I didn't know if it was real. Went back a few weeks later and it also was gone. The concept of buying a card that was not a catcher for later trade bait had not occured to me. Regrets I have a few.


Patrick

[Fred]

I've got a few... the one that pains me the most is being offered about 300 T-206 cards (including HOFers) for about $1500 back in the early 80's. Sometimes I get this involuntary acid reflux reaction when I think about it....

[DeanH3]

I think it was around 2000 but I passed on a PSA 6 '15 CJ Matty. I passed because I was all caught up in the number on the flip and not the card. Beautiful card but I had to have 8's and therefore moved on. Ughhh, still haunts me to this day.

[pete zouras]

returned a e90-1 wagner batting because I was convinced it was trimmed after having the card for several weeks for 300 before the sudden rise in wagners. file under I'm my own worst enemy.

[steve B]

After 35-36 years collecting with a few less active periods there's a pretty long list of stuff I should have bought.

A drum at $200 - Second table at the show, just couldn't buy one card and walk out 5 minutes after getting there.

1912 world series pennant, small, maybe a foot long, red and white sewn felt. Not pointed, but one of the ones like a short flag with a v cut out of the end.
$100, I could have saved up as it lasted a while at that price, but I just never did.

Orr rookie, the USA test version. "only" $100. At the time that was enough to buy something like all the 60's and 70's regular issue hockey sets complete.

A boxful of the tiny Topps felt back football cards at $3 each. I still have no idea why I didn't buy at least one.

Maybe 7-8 Goudey Ruths. All at least VG. All handed to me by the place I was a regular at with a "it's $X you should buy it" Passed on all of them.

Those are the highlights, lowlights?

Of course there's the stacks of stuff that was cheap in the early 80's.

Steve B

[the-illini]

1915 Zeenut Fred McMullen in the old Larry Fritsch catalog for 75 bucks. :-(

[ValKehl]

I have been kicking myself for the last 10 years for not being able to bring myself to pay $3K for the only known-to-exist card #16 of Roger Peckinpaugh in the 1925 Holland Creameries set, which depicts the key players of the 1924 World Champion Washington Senators. I can't remember if this was the only card I needed to complete this 18-card set back then, but it is now.
Val

[Al C.risafulli]

That's funny, Dean, because one of my "ones that got away" was ALSO a '15 Matty.

It was at a National in Chicago a few years ago. I saw it at a dealer's table - an outstanding PSA 5, absolutely gorgeous. The dealer wanted $1,500 for it. I agonized over it - not because the price was high, but because it was LOW. I thought there must be something wrong with it. The show closed for the day and I left the room.

That night, I decided to get on the shuttle first thing in the morning and buy the card. On the bus, I got into a nice conversation with Net54's Daniel Enright, and took my time getting into the show, which hadn't opened yet. When I got to the dealer's booth, the Matty was gone. I told the dealer the story, and he said that the person who bought it did the same thing - went back to his hotel, decided to buy it, and came back first thing in the morning. He beat me to the card.

Probably one of you guys.

-Al

[Wite3]

Told this one many times...At an early Anaheim National I got to rifle through the deck of Allegheney playing cards and was told I could pick the Phillies for $150 each...did not have the money and thought that was too high at the time...silly me.

The second worse one was losing out on a large ebay lot of T205s that included a t205 Hobby no stats...a friend (and fellow board member) won it because I forgot to put in a high bid. Next day, I signed up for Gavelsnipe...

Joshua

[TheBig6]

late 80's/Early 90's Card show in the Astrohall adjacent to Astrodome
N173 Wilbur Robinson $1400.00
Couldn't afford it and didn't have a clue of it's rarity.

I'm pretty sure I also saw a Black Border N173 Connie Mack at the 1990 National in Houston.
Don't remeber the price but evidently it was out of range for me at the time.

The Mack or the Robinson would have been cornerstone cards for me.
Oh if we could go back in time,

Owned a Nice Dogshead Stovey at one time but sold it in a momentary lack of judgement.

[z28jd]

Mine has to be the dumbest reason for passing on a card.

At the 2003 National in Atlantic City, I had $400 on me and I was looking to spend it all on Old Judge cards. One table had 150+ OJ's, but all of them were $200 or more. I looked around, then went back to the table right before I had to leave. I really wanted a Kid Madden card, pose of him leaning on a rock. Thought it was the best pose of the group and the price tag was $250 so I put it to the side, looking to see what else I could get.

After realizing I couldn't find any other low-priced cards($150 or less) I ended up passing on it, because it meant I would have $150 left in my pocket and that couldn't happen. So I bought a nice Dave Orr card for $400, which was $150 off the tag price.

In the ten years since, I have not been able to buy a Madden/Leaning on Rock.

[MattyC]

What a cool thread.

For me-- easy: a dead centered PSA 8 Mantle 51B. Was offered to me days after I tapped my card funds on another purchase. Had to pass. Regretted it instantly. I still keep the scans of it on my laptop and admire them time to time, daydreaming I made it happen.

[packs]

For the longest time a guy had a severly miscut Cobb T206 that had about half of two portraits on it at the White Plains Shows. Like a head above a head. It was always there. I can't remember what he was asking for it, but I remember thinking, who would ever buy that card?

What a mistake.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by packs

For the longest time a guy had a severly miscut Cobb T206 that had about half of two portraits on it at the White Plains Shows. Like a head above a head. It was always there. I can't remember what he was asking for it, but I remember thinking, who would ever buy that card?

What a mistake.

Which Cobb? Was it the Green Cobb?
If so, I'm pretty sure that I know where it ended up.

[Roofman4]

Went to an in Delaware that was selling of the estate of an elderly lady that was down sizing and moving. I saw the add (with pictures) describing the typical items and "some old baseball cards". In that group was the card in the pic not to mention a few Goudey Ruth's and Gehrigs' and basically every Topps and Bowman Mantle cards up to 1966, not to mention a 1948/49 Leaf Jackie Robinson. Turned out the cards belonged to the ladies father who died in 1966. She found them in a safe among her dad's "stuff".

After a very close...and I mean close inspection there was no doubt it was real. Knowing that only a couple of cards might be possible, I took a sizable amount of cash to go for the 1914 Ruth and work down/back from there. The Ruth ended up at $10k. I was $2k short. At least I can say I had a "chance", I got to hold one and get a picture with it. just goes to show any card can show up anywhere...anytime.

[packs]

Originally Posted by Sean

Which Cobb? Was it the Green Cobb?
If so, I'm pretty sure that I know where it ended up.

Can't remember if it was Red or Green. Definitely one of the portraits. I walked past it a thousand times.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by packs

Can't remember if it was Red or Green. Definitely one of the portraits. I walked past it a thousand times.

It's never too late to make an offer...

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by calvindog

it's never too late to make an offer...

$4,263.60

[packs]

I'm pretty sure that's the card. I wish I could remember what he was asking but I really don't think I ever even asked.

[bigtrain]

My near miss was not a card but a pair of Spalding trophies, pitcher and catcher that I found at an antique shop in late May 1996. I remember the date because my wife and I were on a short vacation to celebrate our anniversary. That is also the reason that I didn't spend $500 on each trophy. She was standing next to me at the time. Of course, now every time I see one sell at auction I can point it out to her. Remember those trophies you wouldn't let me buy? They are now worth...

[Bugsy]

These don't keep me up at night, but I didn't see either of these until after the fact. Since I collect Bugs Raymond stuff and have the T205, T206, T202, T204, T3, M116 Sporting Life, S74 Silk, Colgan Chip, Sporting Life Supplement, and Police Gazette Supplement, these two would have fit right in. Oh well...

[bwbc917]

In May REA had a Lajoie Novelty Cutlery on the docket. Medical concerns kept me out of the bidding. I could easily have beat the $900+ bid. Now the same card is being offered at $2995.

[mrvster]

I have passed on T206 printer scraps.....Wagner when I was a kid......brown om scrap....drums at $200.00....broadleafs at $100.00......red hindys at $200- 300.... lenox for dirt......I am making myself sick......I need a nap

[mrvster]

Multi strike T206 backs(on ebay sandigoodwill).....Ghost scrap fronts....it's like flashbacks........there are so many unique, one of a kind cards that I have passed up...makes my stomach churn...........

[Jason]

Originally Posted by mrvster

Multi strike T206 backs(on ebay sandigoodwill).....Ghost scrap fronts....it's like flashbacks........there are so many unique, one of a kind cards that I have passed up...makes my stomach churn...........

Sorry to make you relive those nightmares.

[Rickyy]

I passed on a VG T206 Magie error card that was selling for about $800.00 at the SF Moscone Show many moons ago... I thought about pulling the trigger on it and didn't... -_-

Ricky Y

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

$4,263.60

Throw in the chicken dinner and we've got a deal.

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Throw in the chicken dinner and we've got a deal.

I'd like to make a stronger offer, but I've got my daughter's wedding to pay for. In 15-20 years.

[Zach Wheat]

I passed on a T201 miscut that showed 4 players almost equally on the front, back in 2007-ish. It did not look like printers scrap or a test cut....it looked just like a severaly miscut card.

I have never seen a 4 player miscut card before. I couldn't justifying paying so much for a severly miscut card....and have never seen one since.


Z Wheat

[Spike]

Around 2002, I found two 1949 Leafs in a $5 box: Luke Appling and Dom DiMaggio. Bought the Appling because I'm a sucker for HOFers. Upon returning home, I discovered DiMaggio was the hideously rare short-print. Oops.

[Exhibitman]

So many I can't even begin to recount them; 35 years of collecting will do that to you...Dumbest maneuver I can recall right now:

When Cobb checks hit the market in quantity they were selling for $50 each. I remember passing on them but thinking that I should probably buy a few.

[GasHouseGang]

Like you Adam, so many I can't even remember them all. But the main one that comes to mind is not prewar. It's the 1952 Topps Mantle. I had a chance to buy one from a doctor in town that was selling his whole childhood collection. He had two, and they both sparkled. He wanted $900 each, your choice. The 1952 Mantle had earlier hit a high of around $3K and then had dropped to back around $1K. I thought "there's no way that card will return to those levels!" Well, of course I was wrong. I did buy a beautiful 1953 Topps Roy Campanella from him, but I've kicked myself ever since for not taking the chance.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Adam- I remember Cobb checks going for $18.00 in the old THE TRADER SPEAKS, I passed because I didn't have $18.00 in the mid-70s most of the time!

[Leon]

A couple of times I have hit a Buy it Now on ebay and someone purchased the item in the meantime between me thinking to hit the button and actually hitting it. That kind of sucks.....


I won 1 of these 2 Ruth cards (batting) as my best offer was accepted on ebay at the same exact time another board member hit the Buy It Now on it. I was fortunate on that one....

[thehoodedcoder]

tinker, hands on knees cubs & chicago on jersey.

5k turned out to be a steal of a price, when it later went at auction for like 16k, then a second example sold for 30k later.

kevin