Member’s most precious card
 

Hello everyone,
Been on here for a while but haven’t got time to get any post up yet. I finally have time now!

I’d love to see one card you all would never sell. I hope this post gets approved. I’d love to see the cards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f6b6ca6162.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Beautiful card !
Why’s it so precious to you ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably posted in the wrong place, unless this has become the Buy/No Sell/No Trade section. This should be in the main section.

Correct. And that's a nice card!
.

Oh thanks man. I’ll have it reposted on the main section.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think this is my first card prior to 1960s Topps. I got it because he was Dr. Steve Hardy on "General Hospital" for years. This one really means a lot to me.

Say Hey

The year was 1989, I was a 13-year-old heading to Fenway Park with my 63-year-old grandmother for her first Red Sox game. The Sox were playing the mighty Oakland A's in a late September battle. It was a Sunday afternoon to which I had been looking forward to all summer long. I had spent countless hours thinking about this day: just my second Red Sox game, and my grandmother, a diehard fan, getting her first visit to Fenway. I can't tell whether it meant more to me then or now, but the feeling is still overwhelming.

In preparation for that game, I had thumbed through countless baseball cards, in an attempt to find cards of players to ask for autographs during batting practice at the dugout. Of course my parents and grandmother thought I was a dreamer for thinking I could actually get someone to sign one of my cards, but I had heard that players would willingly sign.

Herein lies a problem I had to deal with that day: the Red Sox latest star, Nick Esasky, did not have a Red Sox card yet as he had been a recent trade. He was on a tear with 26 home runs, probably leading the team at that point, and I needed to hunt for a card of his. I could not show up empty handed in case the once in a lifetime opportunity occurred and Esasky decided to sign my card. I finally found one in my stash, a 1989 Score card of him with the Reds. Now I was ready for the game.

I entered Fenway with the wide eyes only a child could have. When I walked up that ramp and saw the green monster and the outfield grass - after watching it on television so many times - it took my breath away. The sheer size, color, and smells of the park sent me into sensory overload. With my plastic freezer bag filled with cards and a pen I headed down to the mob scene which was looking for autographs around the Red Sox dugout.

After trying and failing with many of the players, some who signed, and some who didn't, along came Esasky. I started yelling: "Mr. Esasky! Mr. Esasky!" while thumbing madly through my bag looking for his card. I don't know if it was the lack of his having a Red Sox card that helped my efforts that day, but it seemed like I was the only one yelling his name. Our eyes locked, and sure enough he came over and granted my wish.

When I got back to my seat I was wild. My grandmother couldn't believe I actually got a card signed by Nick Esasky. The only thing that could have made that day better was if he were to hit a home run after touching my card for luck. Which he did in the seventh inning.

Nice card you got there man.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow!
I’m jealous man lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Incredible! Thank you for sharing. I love stories like that.

Neat story Ted

How do you pick just one??!!!

I will restrain myself and suggest that these two are the nearest to my heart, although they are not necessarily the most valuable in my collection.

Mostly because they are somewhat challenging to find, I guess. And if I ever did let them go, I suspect that I would have a hard time ever getting them back.

Many Great Cards everyone is sharing

And always tough as a collector since we do not want to give up any

For me this would be one of the hardest to part with

The first card, T206 Hannifan, was my very first prewar card, first T206, and most importantly, my first Jersey City Skeeters card. I wanted a T206 since I was a kid and at the end of my college career I decided to get one. I got a Kit Young catalog and rifled through it and got to the T206 section. There was one image as an example and then just a list of cards available. I picked this card because it was a Jersey City card and I'm from Jersey so it seemed a natural choice. I loved it when it arrived and couldn't believe I finally had a T206. It was a Sovereign back as well. No backs were listed in the catalog, it was before backs were a big thing.

This not only made me love prewar cards and start my prewar collecting, it also started my Jersey City Skeeters collection. The second card shown is my T215 Red Cross Billy Purtell Jersey City card which has one card (this card) graded by SGC and no cards graded by PSA at this time. So I'm defintiely keeping this one as I wouldn't be able to replace it any time soon even IF there are any others out there that aren't graded.

Take care fellas.




.

Love this. That’s a neat one right there !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Love the way y’all are sharing stories of these cards. They’re all great stories.

So i got one more question, would you give up your “most precious” cards for $5m if you got the offer. Sorry to drop this bomb on y’all lol. I’d love to hear your answers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Easy choice for me. I'm a Hall of Fame collector, and this is Frank Selee's only known copy of his only known card.

So would you be giving it up for that offer ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sure. A precious card I’d never sell is, of course, caveated by the bounds of plausible reality. I wouldn’t sell my favorites for 10-20x their worth, but if you’re going to give me a mansion with a helicopter pad for it, I’ll put it in the mail immediately. I get more joy out of cardboard than I will any money I could reasonably get for them, but in exchange for being able to retire? I’m doing it in an instant.

How about showing us YOUR most precious card??

Hard to pick just one, but I'd have to say this one.

Cool story! Nick Esasky was terrific that year and seemed destined for stardom before he got hit with vertigo and never could make it back.

I’d definitely consider it. My wife would take it in a heartbeat.

I’d probably want you to make it $10M, so that I could net $5M after taxes.

At the same time, it’s an uncomfortable feeling recognizing that there’s a price at which I would sell. And it sort of brings your whole collection into play at that point, even if the price is ludicrous.

It reminds me of the joke from the economist’s joke book:

An economist walks up to a woman and asks, “Would you sleep with me for $1M?”

To which she replies: “Why, I suppose I would.”

To which he responds, “How about for $100?”

She then objects, “What kind of a woman do you think I am??!!!”

And then he retorts, “Madam, we have already established that. Now we are merely negotiating on the price!”

This one was part of a group of 5 I purchased for lawn mowing money many a moon ago. It means the world to me and would be the last vintage card I would sell, but I would jump on a 5 million dollar offer. I think unless you have a seven digit value card, and a real strong attachment to it and no need to realize a windfall from it, I believe all of us would for this amount of stupid money.

Brian

My favorites are generally the ones I have an illogical fond memory of collecting when I first started with my father. My T205 Livingston that was my first T card, my T205 Knight (Portrait) that was my first T206, my T3 Admiral Schlei that was my first cabinet, the E94 Lake and Devlin and E98 Vaughn (Red) that I found in Cooperstown, New York for $20 each and my dad bought me. Because of the small budget when I was a kid, none of these cards have much interest or note to anyone else.

This is probably my most precious card item now, not a single card but it was a single sheet. I have 20 of the 25 fragments, 2 of which apparently do not exist anymore 112 years later. The Donovan has only 4 non-proof copies known and was unproven to exist until 2006. I would also sell it for $5,000,000, but have turned down what I would to be consider significant offers for it, since even threads specifically about not-money become about money ;)

Hey Ted - love it! Your story sent me scouring through my attic for an old photo.

I loved Esasky as well in that summer of '89. I was a dorky (as you can see below) high school kid, who would ride my bike a few miles after school to hang out at Fenway and collect autographs.

I was lucky enough to get a photo with Esasky, then on a different day had him sign it. I remember him being super nice and great about signing, which was awesome because he was having such a great season.

It was a bummer when he left after that '89 season, and even worse to see vertigo end his career shortly after. But it is nice to know he created wonderful memories for at least two young fans that summer!

Most people would probably sell. Because most of our cards are not near that value so we sell it and then buy another one, a better graded one, or an even more special card that is on our bucket list or dream list that we never could have had before.
Or at least that is what I would do

This is fact actually. I think everyone would jump on the offer. I think you are just in dilemma because the probability of getting that kind of deal is slim but then if it were to be happening really, i think y’all would be giving the cards up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From my childhood, it would be the only card that I have left: my 1970 Topps Super Roberto Clemente.

From my rebirth as a collector (2012- ), it would be a binder of cards that my wife purchased for me at an estate sale. The cards are worthless in terms of monetary value, but the fact that she purchased them for me is very significant. She puts up with my addiction er, I mean hobby and admittedly I spend too many hours in front of the computer looking at baseball cards which my wife has commented on more than once, dozens of times perhaps. With that being said I know that she purchased those cards for me out of love.

I will never part with the Clemente nor that binder of cards.

Phil aka Tere1071

Complete 1953 Bowman Color, 1971, 1972, 1974, and 1975 Topps Baseball sets - under revision.

A near-complete 1973 Topps Baseball set (647/660) under construction.

1970 Topps Baseball Card partial set (596/720) under construction.

I'd happily sell my entire collection for $5 million, but if I could keep just one card, this is the one for me.

It would be sentimental cards. The Jackie was pulled when my dad took me to the 2001 Fanfest in Seattle for the All Star game. We didn't attend the game. We were there two days. I got a cool card, wrapper redemption Ichiro, met some amazing HOF players and got autos and pics. It was heaven on earth with my dad.

The 1961 Koufax and Snider were cards I asked my mom to buy me on two random occasions when someone was selling cards in a weird unexpected spot. I asked not expecting her to say yes, but she did! I didn't know until a few years later that she was a Dodgers fan. That was about 1995, and she was rooting hard for the Mariners cuz I was. I had just assumed she was a Mariners fan.

And would I sell for $5 mil? Yes. Mama didn't raise no fool.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...efc02564ff.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8416f0f4bf.jpg

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

i would gladly sell anyone my most precious card...let alone my whole precious collection for 5 mil.

Anyone?

The last line got me cracked up [emoji23]
Beautiful cards by the way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Easy for me, this is the only card that my Dad and I ever bought together.

And yes, offer me $500K and I would sell it in a minute, or my Dad would kick my ass for being a dummy.

_

May 11, 1986. My Dad was coaching my team and we had a game that night. Before the game he and Mom told me to come into their room that they had a special gift for my 13th bday. It was this 56' Mick. Dad bought it from a Kit Young catalogue for $35 (which was more than was normally spent on birthdays and more than Dad had ever spent on a card for himself at that point).

Dad passed almost 19 years ago at just 54 years old. I think about that day every time I see this card.

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=29601

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=33531

Felt so emotional reading this. He must’ve been a great dad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would never sell this one. It's nowhere near my most valuable. I would put it's value around $10K, maybe a bit more if I got lucky and a couple guys bid it up. Would I sell it for $200,000? Sure I would, but that's not realistic because no one would offer that. But if someone offered double, triple, even 5x its current market value? No, I wouldn't sell for that.Attachment 538653

Attachment 538654

Would I sell my choices for $5M? Yes. In a heartbeat. That would go a long way in helping my family. And taking care of and providing for them ranks above cards all day long.



.

I've never seen a Pirate back! Thanks for sharing!

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

Jeff—Beautiful card for the grade!

Thank you for the kind words. Yes he was awesome. Mickey was his childhood hero but he never owned a 1956 for himself. He also insisted we not duplicate cards as he always said his cards would be mine one day.

When he passed, together we had most of the stars from 54, 56, 58, 59 and so I put those sets together as kind of a tribute to our days collecting together.

Great thread and I am enjoying reading all of the posts!

I hadn't seen the post about the $5 million offer until now. I think I"m with raulus on that one. I'd probably sell my Selee for $5 million after taxes, which I know that no one would ever pay me anyhow. It's hard for me to imagine my collection without this card.

My father left when I was 9 years old and my mom worked three jobs to keep things going in our house. In 1981, my whole neighborhood was obsessed with 1981 Fleer, finding all the errors and variations in the set.

Graig Nettles was my favorite player, and when I found out there was an error with Nettles’ card in the 1981 Fleer set, I HAD to have it.

My local card shop was a place called Dollars and Sense, in Ridgewood NJ, and when the owner got a Nettles error and priced it at $17, I knew I would never have one. In 1981 in my family, seventeen dollars might as well have been seventeen million dollars.

And then on my birthday, my mom gave me that card. She worked as a teacher during the day, and in a factory and a medical office at nights, so she could buy me that card. Not really, of course, but that’s what it felt like. I’m sure at whatever she got paid to work in a factory in 1981, it was half a day’s work to get that card.

I’ve still got it, and when they say “you can’t take it with you,” well, I’m taking it with me.

-Al

Fantastic story, Al...

So many of these treasured/favorite cards are linked to childhood memories of our parents and loved ones. I think that's what draws many of us to collecting in the first place.

My favorite items are not cards, but photos that my Dad took of the Reds and visiting teams at Crosley Field in the 3 years preceding its 1970 demise. It was the formation of the Big Red Machine, and those photos represent my best memories as a kid.

I also collect pennants, because Dad would always be sure we had a souvenir to take home with us after the game. Eventually my brother and I had enough pennants to form a full "pinwheel" circle on the wall.

Fast-forward to now, I've acquired many rare pennants that date back to the early teens. But the ones closest to my heart are still the 1960s Reds pennants (which are all worth under $100).

The definition of a true keeper. Great story, Al.

The other shared stories are great too! I don't think I have any that are so sentimental.

Mine is not even my favorite sport or team, but it's one card that I remember pulling at my local card shop in my hometown. I remember it so well because the guy working there offered me $120 on the spot, which was A LOT for a 10 year old me to turn down, but I didn't hesitate and still have the card to this day. It was an absolute thrill to pull!

My dad worked in a mfg setting in the 70's also. Was tough work but he make good money for working hard. As a baby boomer raised in rural PA he was somewhat tight with money. A couple bucks here and there for some packs was cool but I was informed that there was no way I was gonna be allowed to "waste 50$ on a Pete Rose card" even if it was his rookie card. Besides, I had several Rose cards with him in a Phillies uniform and they looked better than the floating heads anyway.
So, 40 years later my son and I are at this Gettysburg estate auction of a old time, hard core card collector. It was literally a ranch home full of cards in the middle of an apple orchard. There were hay wagons loaded with unopened modern, baseball reference books, postcards, a house full of boxes of random cards, early 20th century cards, and 3 large fiber drums of random cards- plus, lots of dealers & collectors.
The "mystery drums" seemed interesting as we noticed some '67's, a nice morgan rookie, and a few other decent cards mixed in the top layer with early '80s commons. And they did not seem to be drawing much attention.
My son was excited about the idea of buying over 120,000 cards at auction so I let him pretend to bid when they came up. The auctioneer would look at him and then check w me for the bid when it came around. We wound up buying the cards for under .01 each. Some guys were cool and congratulated him on they buy, and a few "know it all's" dropped comment's like "man I got some junk cards for ya at that price" and "ya ain't gonna find a Mantle in that barrel kid". We still laugh about that comment because he was correct... there were over 2 dozen of them. Along with near sets from every year 1960 thru '83 that turned out to be straight from the wax packs.
We were like card archeologists finding cards from all different years as we carefully excavated the drums that summer. I recall Tom Petty played in the background and Joey shouting "dad, we got one, it's Pete! " we sold most of the cards and put the money in the kids college funds.He got to keep the Rose card as payment for being my helper with the deal... so, I couldn't sell it even if I wanted too ;)

This:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ps%20Dropo.jpg

This is the first 'old' card I ever got and it is the earliest acquisition left in my collection. I'd guess I was under ten and got it in a NYC antique shop. I'd never seen colors or designs like that because no cards in the mid-1970s were made using Flexichrome and that was my frame of reference. And it was bigger than my usual cards. I studied it for what must have been hours and I was hooked on vintage cards.

Now, would I sell it for life-altering money? Sure. Sadly, but certainly, and for enough money I'd even hand-deliver it. Ditto for my whole collection. In the final analysis, it's all just stuff, not friends or family. To paraphrase a song I like "Truth is I thought it mattered. I thought that cards mattered. But does it? Bollocks. Not compared to how people matter."

I'd be hard pressed to let go of my Cafe du Monde as well

https://www.louisianacards.com/uploa...63269_orig.jpg

Can't pick 1
 

The standout of the group is the Clemente rookie - the exact card that I begged and pleaded my mom to get for me at 13YO. $5 was a lot for a card back then - the $48 she layed out was incomprehensible! It began a lifelong quest for Clemente cards and memorabilia!

The Giant Stand Up - well, it's a giant stand up and a memory attached to a collection that was passed from 1 Clemente Collector (Ron Gordon) to another - me!

The 58 Kahns - again - a memory of the first one I didn't buy because I didn't know how rare it was at the time and a reminder that with patience most things come around again!

The 67 Venezuelan - a card I bought from John R. - John introduced me to Venezuelan cards back at the Philly show in Fort Washington in the 90's. I "visited" the card for about a year before pulling the trigger as John wanted considerably more for it than most of the rest of the Venezuelan's he was selling.

The 1960 Bazooka box - the culmination of an intense 30+ year search just ended a couple of years ago! Only known example and the last piece to my complete run of Clemente Bazooka boxes.

The Clemente rookie would be the hardest to sell, but for $5Mil - I'll personally deliver them to your door.

The way I've been saying it for years is - there is no card/collectible I own that in theory does not have a price - just quite a few that no one in their right mind would offer enough to tempt me.

Those du Mondes are fantastic, was just on your website last night, great site with great information.

In the summer of '93 my Father took our family to Boston for a weekend trip, the highlight of which was a Sox vs. Mariners game (1st ever pro ball game, and Fenway!). He was working for Standard Coffee, 3 hrs from home in Braintree to make ends meet, and was a chance for us all to reconnect as a fam. My siblings and I each got $50 to spend over the weekend and at the game (I never had that much money in my young life). I saved it all and bought Griffery's '89 Upper Deck rookie at Ben Franklin's in Gorham, ME (what a card shop that was!). Still worth about $50 today, but priceless because of the association to that weekend and my Father & Mother.

Cornhusker, that's an awesome story! :eek:

The 1967 Topps Stand Up would be my choice. The card has never been publicly sold. When I was trying to find the value a few years ago, I couldn't even find a picture of one on the internet. Mine came from Woody Gelman's personal collection via Alan Rosen, who knew I was a huge Clemente collector.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4548/3...bf4127fe_w.jpg

I could understand the box as it is the only one know, although singles and panels of that Clemente are easily found. The other 3 cards have sold on eBay within the past year or so. Your Kahns and Venezuelan are beautiful high grade examples for those issues.

The OBC guys gave me this one because they knew I liked it. A very nice and generous gesture.

https://luckeycards.com/pbowman1953reese.jpg

I won't ever sell this one. Sure, some day I'd like to upgrade it to a full copy, but I won't sell it. It's been my favorite pre-war card since the day I saw it. Just wish I would have snapped up the SGC60 for $200 back in 2006.

Cafe Du Monde
 

Those Cafe Du Mondes are cool...spent a few mornings there hungover...Jerry

1

that mays is awesome. how rare is that? seems hard to find any 1961 dice game cards (other than the slew of remakes)

There are 3 total Mays dice game items that I know of. Two in PSA holders (including this one), and one in a SGC holder. Could be that there are more, because you never know. As I understand it, until somewhat recently, there were some real questions about the maker of this issue. So I suspect it’s possible that we’ll learn more in the future, although considering how much I have tied up in this one, I hope that there’s not a gigantic stash of a few thousand that will come out from someone’s secret hidden supply.

Member’s most precious card
 

They are one of the rarest post war releases ever made. I don’t think a single card has above 3 or 4 examples graded in the set.
My friend is a big Musial collector, after he saw the dice game scarcity and price he told me “I’ll just pretend like I never saw that one”

I have found that the best way to make more of a card appear, is to pay high end of market for a copy of that card. Works for me every time!

Definitely seems like a pretty solid inducement to flush out previously undiscovered specimens. The SGC version sold around a year or so ago for $100k+. So if they’re out there, I would expect them to come out at that price point. But maybe they’re waiting for 7 figures before they leak out.

When I reentered the hobby in the mid 90's, I decided to focus on pre-war and Cracker Jacks in particular, since I knew, like so many, they were popular, held their value or appreciated over time and were so damn attractive compared to other E cards.

So I picked up a bunch, all raw because grading companies were just entering the picture, and reasonable, dirt cheap by today's standard. I decide to keep two of the same player because to me he represented the essence of the dead ball era, and that would be Fred Clarke. I still have both the '14 and '15 in my PC

A great player/manger who played and managed tough. Perched on some bats, looking out at the horizon for answers how to get the Pirates out of their slump.
Tough on the testicles, though.

Not sure this is my precious, but this is definitely one of favorites

Ha! I've been collecting for 40 years and for $5MM I'd give you the entire collection and the new house it's housed in.
Everything has a price aside from my family and animals.:)

Hard to beat a card of Moonlight Graham. Can’t be too many of those out there. That has to be one of the best postcards out there.

I think my wife would draw the line at the house.

that's wild

amazing. i never even heard of it before seeing your copy. super cool item.

Great story. Mine is the '56 Mick too. I traded for an offgrade one as a kid when I was 13 or 14, and what I had to give up at the time almost totally cleaned out my vintage collection. A couple of years ago I upgraded to a nicer copy of the card, (and yes I got rid of my original offgrade one - I can understand why many people wouldn't, but doing so allowed me to pickup another grail card...) However - I never would have gotten rid of my original without securing an upgrade. There is just something magical about Mantle and the design of the '56 Topps cards. Pure nostalgia. My favorite card of all-time.

Same!

I've talked about this story before on the board, it's my 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle. It was my first, vintage card, that I received around the age of nine. I had to have a surgery performed, and I just started getting into card collecting. My father would regale me with stories of Mickey Mantle, from his childhood. When the surgery was completed, he took me to a local card store, that sold vintage cards. It immediately caught my eye, and he purchased it for me. It set me down the long path I'm currently on, as I will collect for life. I couldn't possibly thing of selling it. It's too precious to me.

My father sent me this card while I was stationed at Torrejon AB Spain in 1985.. It's Never leaving my collection