What's the largest trade you ever made?

[Matt E.]

What was the largest baseball card trade (card for card or cards for cards) you have ever completed? Of equal value I hope... and I'm not talking when you were a kid.

Would love to hear your trade story.


Thanks,

Matt E.

[Thromdog]

It wasn't card(s) for card(s), but I traded a McGwire rookie card for a tube of American Silver Eagles in '98 or '99.....can't remember which year.

I think I made out ok.

Last June, just before a joined Net54 I traded an SGC 40 T206 Cobb "Bat On" for a 1909 E102 Nap Lajoie in PSA 4.5, a 1951 Bowman Ted Williams in SGC 84 and $200 cash. I think I did okay.

[kmac32]

Had a binder of Topps commons that I traded for a 1958 Nolan Nichols no option line on card back. Commons weren't selling and It was the first time I had run across this particular card. This was well before the days of eBay.

[clydepepper]

In 1991, I traded and ungraded T206 Walter Johnson portrait that was in great shape for a 1970 Nolan Ryan which I then had graded by PSA - 6.

Ouch!

In my defense, at the time of the sale, the 1970 Ryan was at its highest value and the Johnson, while probably higher even then, was not near its current value. But still...I should have been slapped.

[jhs5120]

I traded a two uncut 1960's exhibits sheets for an uncut 1949 Bowman Sheet, 1959 Ted Williams Sheet, a W565 sheet w/ Gehrig and a w565 Sheet with Heilmann.

I'm not sure if anyone came out on top, but it was a very fun trade

[Howe’s Hunter]

I traded a blank-back, Mitchell Cincinnati with no name and full printers marks on the front T206 for seven cards, my choice from Dr. Bill McAvoy's binder of lesser condition T206s at a card show in Omaha around 1992.

The only ones I can remember that I got in the trade were a Tinker hands on knees and a Elberfeld/New York portrait.

Looking back, pretty sure I got the worse end of this deal, but at the time, I thought I struck gold.

[mrvster]

OMG!

A type 1 proof?? you owned??

r u serious??

[SMPEP]

My favorite trade I ever made was as a 9 year old ... I traded for a 1958 Ted Williams AS card. NO CLUE what I traded for it ... but the best card I could have even possibly had at the time was a beat up George Brett rookie (and I'm pretty sure I traded that for a Walter Payton rookie) ... so I probably traded a fistful of Johnny Bench and Pete Rose cards from the 1970s for it.

Still remember riding home on my bike as fast as I could to show it to my dad!

He thought I made out on the trade ... and even if I didn't ... that's all that matters.

[Oh, and while I've upgraded many cards from my childhood - that one is going NOWHERE!]

Cheers,
Patrick

[Exhibitman]

The biggest trade I ever made was in jr. high. A friend and I had a huge deal under way, hundreds of cards, with the closer being a stack of 1960s commons for a 1958 Bell Gino Cimoli SP. Wish I still had that one. I have no idea what happened to it.

The most complicated trade I ever did was one boxing trade at a national a few years ago. It took us four hours to work it all out. Basically, we were swapping cards and related items that really had no market prices so we had to deal the old-fashioned way, by comparing the quality of the athletes and general knowledge of the issues and working it without the crutch of price guides to aid us. I felt like I'd given birth at the end...to an accountant! Some of the items I picked up:

1904 Battling Nelson card:



1935 Joe Louis premium:



Joe Louis Rum label:

[pencil1974]

Traded a 1907 Ty Cobb HM Taylor (VG-EX 4) and a 1932 US Caramel Babe Ruth (VG 3) for this. I feel I did well but depends on what you like.

[philliesphan]

I once traded a D355 Niagara Baking Card, which some might assert is a very tough type to find.

Got a nice T206 Proof + high-grade E104-III in return.

A clear highlight of my time in the hobby.



BTW, I'm surprised no one mentioned the E107 near-set for T206 Wagner trade.

[Runscott]

When I was 13 I traded a Topps 1960 Mickey Mantle for a copy of Sport Magazine. Seems stupid now, but at the time baseball cards had no real monetary value to us, I had two Mantles, and I could read a Sport magazine.

As an adult, I've found it's less of a headache to just buy and sell - no really big trades.

[Jacklitsch]

Traded a raw 53 Bowman color set for a binder of 720 T206 cards.

This was pre-internet days and long distance between Illinois and Virginia.

Owner of the T206's sent me the binder with a note "what do you have for trade"?

Those were the days of innocence. Miss them.

[veleno45]

My T206 collection started when I traded a weekend worth of my labor for a handful of raw T206 cards. I got him there. Then his daughter became my 1st wife and he got me back.

[Nashvol]

Not a trade, but a pretty good transaction in the long run: I basically put my first wife on waivers when I came home from a business trip and she'd thrown out my shoebox of cards collected since I was a kid. Worked out, though: a guy claimed her and I started collecting again with the savings.

(It really didn't happen that way, but my lawyer did mention the shoebox to the judge...)

[terjung]

paging Scott Brockelman...

[Leon]

Originally Posted by philliesphan

I once traded a D355 Niagara Baking Card, which some might assert is a very tough type to find.

Got a nice T206 Proof + high-grade E104-III in return.

A clear highlight of my time in the hobby.



BTW, I'm surprised no one mentioned the E107 near-set for T206 Wagner trade.

You could have gotten more

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by veleno45

My T206 collection started when I traded a weekend worth of my labor for a handful of raw T206 cards. I got him there. Then his daughter became my 1st wife and he got me back.

Now that's funny! Do you still have the cards?

[irishdenny]

I traded a 1985-86 Fleer Basketball Set in Gem Mint to Pristine condition, plus 1750 in cash FOR this Jordan Southern League Proof & a Mathewson Missing Color!

Back about 10 years ago I was selling on ebay, I put the Jordan in my Store for a decent amount of cabbage ~ just to draw customers to my store... Apparently not enough though. The Jordan Sold, in what I believe is a Record time for ebay(Something like 15 seconds)! The Jordan Sold so fast, that right after I put it on the bay, I checked my ebay Store and it wasn't there!? I thought that I had made a mistake in the listing and it didn't show up!? At the same time I received a message from the Gentleman who purchased it asking if I had any more like it!

As far as I know... To this date I believe that the Jordan is the Only Southern Leaguer Proof out there! I made an awesome trade only to sell the card and I had no intention of letting that bad boy go

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by Leon

You could have gotten more

Sounds like...


wait for it...





Every Divorce.

[alanu]

Not vintage

I traded a nice 1963 Fleer set minus the Clemente for a vg-ex Clemente RC, at the time the 1963 Fleer set was worth more, but it was my first Clemente RC

[Howe’s Hunter]

Originally Posted by mrvster

OMG!

A type 1 proof?? you owned??

r u serious??

Yeah, Johnny. It was part of a five card lot in a Ron Oser Auction back before internet bidding. Called the day of the auction to see where it was. No one had bid yet on the final of like two days of bidding. The card I was after was a Joe Lake Uzit back and a Doc Casey Broadleaf 350. The other three cards, including what was advertized as a blank back (again, before the internet and there were no pictures to accompany the auction advertisement) were insignificant to me, as after that, the only cards I needed for a back run were a Drum and a Ty Cobb. Got the lot of five cards for the minimum bid of (wait for it) $275. Kept the other two and made the trade. Two rare backs, and a total of nine others for $275. Seemed like a great deal at the time.

[whiteymet]

I have mentioned this on here before.

The biggest best trade I ever made was trading Bill Haber 10 T200's for Topps Current All Stars of Roberts, Konstanty, and Stanky that he "liberated" from Topps files!

Wish I kept them when I sold my collection including my T206 set with Wagner to Barry Halper in the mid 70's. Believe it or not I would rather have kept them than the Wagner.

I know that is blasphemy here in the Vintage section, but my first love was always the post war stuff, especially Topps and their inserts etc. Not to mention that there are a lot more Wagners than those three Currents......

[Luke]

A couple years ago I made a trade with another board member. He was giving up on his e95 set and I was giving up on my HOF RC collection. I sent him a stack of raw RCs (Koufax, Killebrew, Musial, Berra, Ford, Fox and maybe 15 others) and he sent me 13 e95s. Two of the e95s were Collins and Chance in SGC 50 holders. I had planned on collecting a low grade e95 set, and those 2 stood out like a sore thumb. I intended to downgrade them and add other cards to my set, but I liked them too much. A little while later, I decided to upgrade the rest of my set instead. So that trade had a huge impact on what is the cornerstone of my collection. I'm definitely happy about it from my end.

[veleno45]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

Now that's funny! Do you still have the cards?

I do still have the cards.

[JasonL]

From 2006 through 2007, I traded all of my free time in exchange for the pleasure of re-immersing myself into this hobby following a 11 year absence!

[uniship]

"The biggest best trade I ever made was trading Bill Haber 10 T200's for Topps Current All Stars of Roberts, Konstanty, and Stanky that he "liberated" from Topps files!"

fascinating trade. btw - can you elaborate on the "liberation"?

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by pencil1974

Traded a 1907 Ty Cobb HM Taylor (VG-EX 4) and a 1932 US Caramel Babe Ruth (VG 3) for this. I feel I did well but depends on what you like.

I think you got the better end of that one - by far.

[drmondobueno]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Sounds like...


wait for it...





Every Divorce.

Used my collection back in the '80's to pay for my divorce attorney. Got next to nothing for it. Several near complete '60's sets and around 15 '62 Mantles...made me ill for years but looking back it is the best 'trade' I ever made....besides, who wants a bunch of Mantles...

[GehrigFan]

While I've had numerous big trades that were kind of ongoing over time, one of the most recent big ones was here on this board. I traded an entire collection of my pre-war duplicates (mostly HOFers) for a 1925-31 W590 Lou Gehrig RC SGC A and a 1922 Babe Ruth Holding Ball in Poor condition. I won't give awy the other party's name since he is a board member, but I was happy with the trade since I focus on Gehrig and Ruth. I've been trading like crazy on the B/S/T boards this year. Very grateful for a trustworthy place to do so - thanks Leon!

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by uniship

"The biggest best trade I ever made was trading Bill Haber 10 T200's for Topps Current All Stars of Roberts, Konstanty, and Stanky that he "liberated" from Topps files!"

fascinating trade. btw - can you elaborate on the "liberation"?

Hi Eric:

Here is the story I posted about Bill back in 2010:

Bill's main job at Topps was writing the backs of the cards. In fact Bill desperately wanted to move out of NYC and decided to move to WI. Bill hoped it would help his asthma and I think he also really wanted to be near Larry F.

When he was moving he offered his job to me. I visited Topps and was interviewed by Sy Berger. At the time I was living in "bucolic" NJ working for Bill Mastro's father. I was not a fan of the location of Topps offices in Brooklyn, and when Bill told me he had two batteries stolen out of his car when he parked it at work, I knew the job was not for me. As it turned out Bill kept his job and wrote the cards from WI. but his wife got home sick and didn't like cows she said, so they moved back and settled in Staten Island.

A memory just returned to me recently when I saw the Current All Stars of Roberts Konstanty and Stanky in the recent Legendary Auction. Those cards originated with Bill.

He was known to go hot and heavy for the set he was collecting at the time. Talk about tunnel vision! I recall his quest for Seattle Popcorn cards most vividly. But usually once he completed a set like that he would sell it and start on the next project. I digress.

He started working on a T200 set and I had about 12 nice ones. At the time I didn't collect T cards as much as Topps. I LOVED oddball Topps, test sets, etc. I could never get his 3 1960 Topps cards of Hadley, F. Thronberry, and Cimoli with the different team logos that were changed once they were traded.

But when I turned up the T200's he asked me what I wanted. I told him the 3 Currents I lacked for my set. He said he didn't have them. I told him he know where he could get them. Meaning the Topps files. I had seen them while doing research for Woody Gelman and Rich Egan for what was to be a new Standard Catalog that never came to fruition.

For those of you who don't know, Topps kept two of each card they printed and GLUED them onto plain paper, front and back, side by side.

In a week or two I got a call from Bill saying to come on over he had the Current All Stars for me. He "liberated" them form the files I guess. Bill Mastro and I drove over to Staten Island and Bill H. showed me Roberts, Konstanty and Stanky with glue on the front. He offered them to me for the T200's. I told him I wanted the ones with glue on the back. He said, sorry he promised them to Larry F. For what, I had no idea. After hours of haggling I told Bill Mastro, "lets go" and we headed down the stairs. All the way down Mastro is whispering to me " are you crazy!! You can't walk away from those cards!!" I said, just wait.......

As we hit the bottom step Haber said "OK Fred you win come back up". That's how I got the three cards that were in the recent auction. I took the Stanky with glue on the front because it was in better shape than the other.

They later ended up with Halper when he bought my collection in 1975 (UGH!! a few years too early!!). I recall him telling me he traded them for some Yankee W.S. rings. What happened to them from there I don't know. But they were always my favorite cards even after I completed T206 and lots of other sets. Who won them from the Legendary auction? Anyone here??

AH, memories........ Sorry to bore you all

[uniship]

I could read posts like that for hours and hours and days and days - incredible stuff! thx for sharing!

[spec]

Fred's reminiscences about his trade with Bill Haber reminded me of the many swaps I did with Bill, who used to visit me in Boston each time he visited his in-laws in Brookline, MA. Bill and I shared an interest in biographical research and he was particularly focused on acquiring cards of obscure major leaguers, especially those he was trying to find death records on. For that reason, his favorite sets were E107, V355, T209-2 and Colgan's Chips.
However, the most memorable trade I made back when the modern hobby was young (1970s) was with Frank Nagy. I had purchased a batch of tobacco cards (not an unusual occurrence in those days) that included some cards I couldn't identify. I send a photocopy to Nagy, who was always very helpful to younger collectors, and he identified them as D381s (Ferguson Bakery). He also said he'd like to trade me for them since he knew a collector who'd trade well for them. His offer was overwhelming in terms of my wants at the time, so I sent between 70 and 80 D381s to Michigan and received a 1954 Bowman Ted Williams, T206 St. Louis variations of Demmitt and O'Hara plus an entire set of R330 Double Play (75 cards, including Williams and Joe DiMaggio), all cards that are still in my collection.
In an interesting twist, I also have most of those D381s. The ones Nagy didn't trade wound up in his monthly auction and I won a lot of them for no more than $10 apiece. The D381s he swapped returned to the fold years later when the collector Nagy traded with, Harry Kenworthy, died and I purchased them from Bill Mastro and/or Robert Lifson.
By the way, I'm still working on the set and need two to complete, Fred Toney and Hugh Jennings, in case any of you can help.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Bo.b Rich.@rd$son

[sycks22]

It's a good football trade, but I remember when I was in Elementary school a buddy brought in his '86 Topps cards with a Jerry Rice rookie that was worth around $80 at the time. I pick it up for a couple Ken Griffey cards. The good ol' days

[jthorst75]

I'm with you Pete. In junior high I traded a 1960 Topps autographed Musial for five 89 UD Griffey rookies. I was trying to get his 86 Donruss Canseco when it booked for $100 but I stuck with Griff; good move on my part.

[dabigyankeeman]

Traded with a dealer once, I gave him a few thousand cards from the 1960's (assorted conditions, mostly commons and minor stars, some stars) for one card - a 1954 Bowman Mantle in really nice shape.

[brian1961]

Whiteymet, Thank you for taking the time and trouble to share your anecdotes of the ultra rare Current All-Stars. You were by no means boring. I could intently devour these kind of memories for hours.

Bill Haber was such a dear man. I miss him. You sure knew how to play him, all the way down the stairs!

Again, thanks. ----Brian Powell

[irishdenny]

Mr. Whiteymet & Mr. Bo.b Rich.@rd$son,

Stories such as yours should be gathered & placed into a Collector's Edition of Memories for those of us who would wear the pages out reading them over & over & over again!

My Dad loved Baseball enough to pass on all of his Grand tales of the Diamond Hero's from the 40's thru the early 60's that past through his life as a Bus dispatcher in New York City. A few articles & autographs to go along with his stories helped mold me into the Collector I've become today.

You Guys only rekindle his presents... A Dad who past 20+ years ago, remembered through your stories!

"Thank You Kindly, 2 the Both of You!"

[whiteymet]

Brian and Denny:

Thanks for the kind words. The only reason these stories by Bob and I resonate is probably because we are OLD HEADS! I have been in the "organized" hobby since 1963 and crossed paths with lots of the OLD HEADS that came before me.

Nagy, Egan, Gelman, McClure, Foxwell, Reuss, Wickman, Lerner, Greenwood, Blazina, John England, and many, many more.

Fred

[lug-nut]

I traded my ex-wife for a set of golf clubs and happiness...and I still have both

Best trade ever!

[Big Ben]

Not vintage, but in 1998 during the home run chase mania, I traded ten 1985 Topps Mark McGwire rookie cards to a dealer for the following cards.

1954 Topps Ted Williams (vg), 54 Topps Phil Rizzuto, 54 Topps Jackie Robinson, '57 Topps Roy Campenella, 59 Topps Sandy Koufax, and a 59 Topps Stan Musial.

The Campenella, Koufax, and Musial are Nr mint. The 54 Robinson had a pen mark on the back and I ended up selling that with the Rizzuto a couple of years later. Then in 2009, I won a PSA 6 54 Topps Jackie Robinson on EBay for cheaper than I sold the raw cards several years earlier.

From a hobby standpoint, at least I can say that I benefited from the steroid era?