Regrets, I have a few ….
 

Seeing the insane price escalation on many cards, I’m sorry I didn’t grab a lot of things when I could have. Always put the Goudey Ruths off to another day. Same with some of the top CJs. Now I think the ship has officially sailed. Every auction now I see cards for $30,000 and think “yeah… I almost got that once for $6000….” For those of you in the hobby far longer than I have it must be downright surreal.

Very happy to have the cards and collectibles I have but there are times when I think what it coulda been.

In 1998 I bought a W514 Joe Jackson card. I paid $322 for it with the idea I wanted to collect HOF players from their playing years and never expected to own a Jackson card. The seller had 2 of the W514 Jackson cards and I only bought one.

Goudey Ruth and Gehrig, T206 Cobb green, T206 Cobb, Johnson, Young, every exhibit of Ruth or Gehrig or Cobb or Johnson I didn't buy, especially the 1925 Gehrig, 1948 Leaf and Bowman Robinson and Paige...the list of misses is endless. Even the T206 Wagner was affordable at one point. But why even go vintage? 1986 Fleer basketball in 1987-88. I remember one show where a dealer had an entire table of unopened product and I didn't even give it a look. A case of that in hand right now and I am retired on the proceeds. Heck, as recently as last year I was eyeballing a 1952 Topps Mays but didn't want to spend $800 on a g-vg card. D'oh!

Of course, hindsight is 20-20. My wife demanded to know why I hadn't purchased these cards back in the day. Because I was trying to do the responsible thing and put money into my IRA, and if I'd come home and announced that I spent my IRA contribution on baseball cards she'd have had me committed.

Well at least you guys aren't collecting golf. Nicklaus's rookie just sold on REA for 10x what you could have bought it for 2 years ago.

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My biggest 1st and 2nd Regret is the 1911 Pinkerton Joe jackson. And this card is so so rare.

I always wanted this card. Then I had the card. But I needed the cash to get the Rookie Ruth(no regret on the Ruth)
Regret 1 I auctioned the Pinkerton Jackson to raise the funds needed.
Regret 2 I wanted it back but could not find that one or another (I think there is less then 5 known). Then it sold on REA last summer and I did not see it some how and missed my chance to potentially get it back.

https://robertedwardauctions.com/auc...kson-sgc-vg-45


Since I am trying to collect jackson this would have been one of my center pieces

There was a thread a little ways back where we were all listing the pieces we actually had in hand and sold. Some I remember I couldn't practically give away and in the last 2 years they have gone exponential and then some. Man, I could literally be retired at 45 or just a happier collector if I kept a mere handful of cards I sold. It's enough to make you sick if you focus on it too much or don't balance it with the right perspective. Gotta just be happy with the wins that were kept and see where things go long term— whether there's more $ to spend or things wind up costing less. Easier said than done of course and when the saltiness come on what works is stepping into real life for a martini or a great meal and a night out or a vacation, etc. Hit the old reset button ;)

I started collecting music memorabilia about two years ago. Over that period, I have seen this stuff steadily rise in price just like cards. One piece I always wanted was a band-signed, Queen, Night at the Opera Record. Two years ago, this rare item was $3k-$4k. A few months ago, one sold for like $15k (but I question the real value there since the AH has hidden reserves). Anyway, I was thrilled to pick this up the other day, knowing that the value/price may soon get beyond what I would be willing to pay.

Not only is the topic timely, but the item is perfect for the title of thread (wrong album though)

as my friends and I like to say about "investments" over time...you were not wrong...just early!

i saw this and thought someone may be about to get a really cool item

congrats!

This one yesterday morning. It sold way too fast for me not to have had way too low of price. $450 isn't bad for a 1994 Simpsons card but I should have added a few/several hundred to the BIN price.

+1, too many too count, but thankful for what I did buy before the runup.

At the National 3 years old I could have bought a PSA 6 Gehrig Caramel for $6000 cash. Keeps me up at night that one,.

Only sorry about selling some of my cards in the 1990’s.

Whenever I think of regrets, I remember this lyric from the Sinatra song “My Way”:

Regrets I've had a few
But then again too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption

A 1914 Cracker Jack Ty Cobb SGC 2-4 is the one that gives me sleepless nights. Having both and sold a couple over many years, I can only see an empty hole in my collection. What has added salt to my wound is that I have been the underbidder in 2 recent auctions.
Maybe, someday if the already high prices don't move beyond the stratosphere
where they already reside, I might fill this emptiness.

Don't worry, with the way inflation is going a $50,000-$100,000 card will be pocket change. LOL

Well, I never came into the hobby when it was a hobby thinking about getting rich off of it. Even now, it is still only a hobby for me. I am not encapsulating my 1933 Goudey #144, although it is in a safe deposit box now. Thus, I am not bothered by insane increases in the value of pieces of cardboard. As someone said, you either play the game or you don't.

Agreed with the part is the regret not in the “investment” but the hole in the collection.

I am not bothered about insane increases in the value of pieces of cardboard for investment reasons, but because I don't think I can afford to buy anymore what I should have bought 5 years ago.

Mostly too many to think about....
 

The one that really stands out was one I was REALLY close to pulling the trigger on and just opted not to. 2008-2009 really close to buying a Clemente rookie PSA 8.5 on Ebay. There were only 2 of them graded and I think about 9 - 9's. 8's were selling for about $3K, 9's for about $30K. The 8.5 that I almost bought was $10K!!

I try and look at this through the lens of what I actually did with the money; it'd be too depressing if I only looked at what once was or what might have been, and didn't consider the other half of the deal.

Two years ago I sold a nice 1952 Topps Mays in PSA 5. On price then vs. price now, there's no question that I sold way too soon. That said, I used the sale proceeds to buy a PSA 2.5 T206 Green Portrait Cobb. I miss the Mays, but I'd never have the Green Portrait Cobb today without it.

A bunch
 

Very proud of my PC but one that comes to mind was a t206 hindu walter Johnson I forget the grade it was for around 1K? About 10 ago but I never followed through with it, don't even want to know what it would cost now. Someone on this board was going to sell it to me via pm

I feel your pain more than I can express lol.

I could've owned a nice 51 Bowman Mantle, before the run up. Couldn't convince myself to spend the money. Said I'd wait another day, now the same card in that condition is about 25K.

My main regret is not purchasing more when I came back into the Hobby. Which was about two years before Covid. Hindsight is of course 20/20 and that money that I would've spent was invested, and will eventually help me purchase a Home. But man, what nice cardboard I could've had!

T205 Matty
 

I regret the PSA 7 T205 Mathewson that Heritage sold last December for 15K. (I think it ended up with net54 member trambo, who then sold me his PSA 6, so not a total loss). At the time I thought I would need the money for a down payment on a house, so I didn't go higher. I'm partial to the red Sweet Caporal backs - not sure when I'll see another one like that.

I shutter at the thought of some of the items I have sold in the past. But like others have said, gotta focus on the wins and forget the past. I'm thankful for what I did accumulate before the escalation.

I'm priced out of many issues I once hunted. My goal is to obtain an early caramel or exhibit Ruth. In order to pull that off I will need to sell or trade some current cards for it. Something I'm willing to do for the right Ruth card. At least I'm lucky enough to be in a position to pull that off.

Now I'm on the lookout for other issues that are more affordable and haven't exploded as much. I have picked up a couple Ruth/Gehrig pieces recently that were reasonably priced compared to other issues. So, there are some opportunities still out there.

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=32073
https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=31764

I did end up w/the Mathewson and it's one of my favorite cards! Funny enough, one of my regrets comes from that same weekend when Goldin had a red Cobb PSA 8(oc) and an old holder t205 Johnson PSA 7. I wanted both but backed off the Johnson when it appeared I was going to win the Cobb. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and the same Johnson sold at Heritage for $78k (versus $18k last December!). I definitely have regrets there!

Amen to that.

Still waiting for the beanie baby collection to catch fire (double meaning).

The Hall of Famers I still need for my signed 1953 Topps project I always figured were plentiful and I could pick them up later. Since the pandemic, they've been off to the races. They aren't in unobtainable territory yet, but I will have to live with those gaps in my collection for a while. OTOH, I did pick up several cards a few years ago for prices that almost made me sick, and they're now worth several multiples of what I spent, so win some, lose some.

What's even more surprising to me is that supply has dried up completely on some issues. I ran eBay searches today for 1920s Exhibit cards of Ruth, Gehrig, Hornsby, Cobb and Johnson. I found only a handful of cards.

My only regret is I haven't earned enough income to build the collection I want to leave to my kids. My collection is substantial but not perfect. Yet...

That is the beauty of collecting

Hopefully your kids enjoy it

Mine do not have the same passion as I for them

Very few, because historically things I sell or get rid of fund new purchases and I look at it like well, I wouldn't have these cards here had I not sold some other ones...

But they are there, if passive. E92 Dockman Cy Young EX I bought at a show for around $500 in the early 2000's. Not even sure what I sold it for. About 2 years ago I sold a super nice PSA 5 '53 Satchel Paige before the bubble for probably less than half of what it would go for now.

As for cards I passed up, I know I walked past untold Jordan rookies at shows in the 2000's that were priced at something we would consider laughable now. But I never was into basketball, so hard to truly regret that one. As a kid at 90's shows, I saw a few nice '52 Topps Mantles at about the 5k range. But I might as well have asked my parents for a trip to the moon...

Needed the money.
 

In 2009 I sold off almost all of my T206's, which wasn't a huge number, maybe 60-70 of them because I needed the money to ship paintings to my first solo gallery show, and also to pay for the family to fly down for the opening. I sold it to a board member, (can't remember who though) for $1500. What stings was the fact that there were a BUNCH of Hall of Famers in there, including all the Mathewson's, Walter Johnson portraits and others. I have reacquired most of them back at a higher price of course, but I would have LOVED to have kept them all.

so it goes.

I let my '52 Mantle go a few months before the pandemic AT A LOSS. There aren't many cards I get sick thinking about, but that was one. I kept trying to trade back into another one, with no luck. But just yesterday, its replacement arrived: a better-centered-but-more-worn copy in the same grade (PSA 1). It cost me A LOT in trade, although I luckily didn't have all that much in the cards I traded. But most importantly, that hole in my collection is filled. Values be damned, I'm happy.

That Johnson was very off-center though. Hard to believe it was a 7. I didn't even want to bid on it last year at 18!

After 40+ years?

Yeah, more regrets about not buying stuff than... well, pretty much anything else.

I've done pretty well with my hobbies, but have no plans to cash out of most of them. But then, none of my successes are in the " could have bought a really nice house" range like so many of the cards. Or the trashed Hemi Charger that I could have bought but didn't know how to tell at the time if it was for real.

Just have to be happy with the smaller successes.

Let's see it.

If your biggest regrets ends up with a better card, and that card happens to be a '52 Mantle, buddy you are living right!

Well Brian, "better condition" is debatable. But I like it more. A little centering goes a long way.

Card I let go of

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...257961c655.jpg

New card

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fdc510c690.jpg

New one looks better. You done good!

+1

My regrets: walking away from my collection of complete Topps 1967-68-69-70 sets put together from packs when I outgrew cards and moved out of the house (along with comic books, Hardy Boys books with dustjackets, and other cool stuff). My mom got rid of them after YEARS of me saying I didn't want them. Then, years later after getting back into the hobby while I was in the Navy, I sold some VERY VALUABLE cards ridiculously cheap to get gas money to get back to Charleston from Fort Lauderdale. You've all heard these stories before. Suffice it to say, I have all the cards that truly mean something to me once again, including a complete set of 1953 Bowman color and b/w I put together with a lot of help from folks on this forum!

Thanks, fellas. Sorry to clog up this thread with post-war. I did have a raw '33 Goudey Ruth #144 I let go of for $450 a few years ago. So there's that, too. :o

I have one, and the Gehrig also. Paid $500 for both in 1988. They are both among my very favorite cards.

Nice new card.

+1 agreed

1986 Fleer Basketball will always haunt me at $10.00 per box all I wanted..

Ouch.