What card did you never think you'd own, but now you do?
 

Growing up, I always remember the allure of the 1952 Topps Mantle, but was more intrigued by the 1951 Bowman one, especially enjoying that it was produced a year earlier, during Mantle's actual rookie season. But I thought the price tag was higher than I would ever be able to afford.

Many many years have passed since I first dreamed of owning one, and I now have acquired a '51 Mantle. It's not perfect, but it makes me quite happy......

Would love to hear about other cards you never thought you'd get to acquire, but have been able to do so!

Nice card Scott...terrific color and registration! Congrats!

For me it's the Newsboy Cabinet of Mike Tiernan. They are uncommon for starters but I finally had the right combination of timing, money and a seller willing to let me pay it off over a few weeks.

For me it was a T206 Magie and at the time, I didn't think I would ever get one because my card budget was about $200-300 a month. In fact, the only reason I got the card is because I showed it to my dad and then after I went to work, he won it off Ebay.

That was an odd phone call at the time, around late 2000, maybe early 2001. He called me at work, told me he won the card, then said you can pay me back when you have the money. So I went from excited, to realizing I had a lot of money to pay back, then back to excited. He ended up taking some of the price off for either a birthday or Christmas present.

While I was paying off the Magie, he bid on a Plank and I had to draw the line there. He didn't come close to winning, but I pictured myself finally paying him back right around now.

Primarily because I believe this example is unique, this KBat cabinet of my favourite team with Harry featured prominently with tophat in the center still awes me everytime I look at it:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...rry-wright.jpg

You should have taken the Plank.....

I have a similar story. I was collecting the t206 set and got to 520 which at the time was the complete set in Beckett. They didn't count the big 3 as you never saw them. I figured that I was done. Then I had a chance to buy a Plank and Magie, but I was recently married and could no longer afford them. Fast forward to a couple of years ago at the National and I saw a Magie for sale. It was now in my budget by selling off duplicates from my collection. That gave me the drive to sell more cards to get my avatar.

Marc that is an amazing card!!!

I didn't like owing money, so at the time I remember having something like a dollar left to my name at the end of that first month of paying off the Magie because I gave everything to my dad. I couldn't picture five years straight of that same scenario each month. I would have actually paid it off sooner because my financial situation got better about a year or so later, but I didn't know that at the time.

I should have been a little more clear when I said I had a $200-300 card budget each month. I literally had a $200-300 budget each month for anything after I paid my bills, I just always spent it on cards, so there was nothing to cut back on to help pay it off quicker.

Would have been nice to get the Plank, but I don't regret it.

1960 Post Cereal Box...
 

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/204295...MANTLE_NEW.JPG

..the pin-hole brought the price down to a point where I could just about almost barely sort of justify the purchase to TheWidowGarcia.....She eventually agreed that it "looks nice..."

..

For me its a mantle rookie....51 bowman...only because I never thought I'd be "silly" enough to pony up for one!!!!!

My aspirations, at least as a kid of about 8 with no financial sense, were far more modest. All I wanted was an '84 Topps Don Mattingly. :D

This post just reminded me about one card, although it's the exact opposite of a card I never thought I would get. When I was nine, I got a calendar with a picture of the Old Judge Buck Ewing & mascot card. At that time, I said I was going to get that card. Considering that I had been to many card shows and stores at that point and never saw an Old Judge card, it was quite a declaration on my part.

So it wasn't a card I thought I would never get, it just took about 17 years before I actually bought it. I'm sure if you told me when I was nine that it would cost me $400, I probably wouldn't have been so confident I'd get it one day.

I'm right there with you buddy:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4581/...3eef36a159.jpg

Great topic. For me it was a centered 1952 Topps Mantle that was in my price range with a clean image. Once I began shopping for one, I just kept seeing tilt after tilt or OC after OC. Eventually I settled initially on one that was 60/40-ish with some tilt. And then a few years later my dream example finally came along.

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...slugger-museum

As a kid that was my answer, too. I never was able to get one. Always so expensive in NYC. The Donruss I just gave up on. I equally coveted the 83 Traded Strawberry and 84 Topps and Fleer Goodens. Never had them as a boy. Were the first cards I circled back for after college.

This is the other card I never thought I'd own:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4531/...07c091e8ba.jpg

Thanks for sharing - fantastic Mantle! Those Mantle rookies were the stuff of dreams for a lot of us - nice to see it becoming reality for some of us now!

There are so many cards I thought I could never own, but then I find a way. If you look at my join date, that is my first day collecting. I started looking at the archives here, at all the amazing cards you guys have on the board. One of my first loves was the '41 Play Ball DiMaggio, I always thought it was out of my reach, but I finally found one going under the radar and got this one. Leon was the one that got me going with PCL cards, though not in your traditional way. He posted about some E100s he thought were suspicious on e-bay, and I hit the link, decided to take a chance on one, and won that. He also had I think four of the E222s, and I never thought that one of those would end up in my collection, yet a few years later, here I have two. Cobb has always been special to me, I read books about him as a kid, and we have the same birthday. This D304 is my favorite Cobb card, but prices always made it seem out of reach, but by lowering my expectations of having a pristine example, I was able to get a low grade beater. But the card I never in the world thought I would get was the Bishop. I can't tell you how many hours I spend looking at these, and finding this one of San Francisco blew my mind, and I still have a hard time believing it is in my collection. So I guess this palaverous post of mine is basically intended to encourage you to keep going and not let your dreams for a specific card ever stop. Keep going and one day, you will figure out a way.

I totally agree with your lady, Mike; that Mick DOES look nice! Glad she gave you her permission. My lady did the same for me when I poured out my heart to her about the card that I never, ever thought I would own. Congrats. ---Brian Powell

I completely understand. This seems like a rational approach. But in my case I went for the Plank. It took me two years to pay it off. :o

1910 Washington Times Frank Oberlin, it resided in an advanced collector's collection for ions and I had offered well in excess of $10K and couldn't pry it from him. I then won the exact card in an REA auction for $2750 after he sold his collection.....

Every now and again some dumb luck has to happen thank goodness.

Dan Mckee

None yet, but I've got a list of cards that I want and I hope to be able to one day say "Never thought I'd get that one..." about at least one of them.

For me, it's probably the Zeenut Jimmy Claxton.

Jason Greco touched on this, but oftentimes I still look at my whole collection with a childlike sense of amazement. Like many of us on here, I entered the hobby during the junk-wax mania and bought new factory sets and "special" sets (Donruss Opening Day, Donruss Baseball's Best, anyone?) because the older cards were permanently out of reach. Things to gaze at that sat in a display case, or to be owned only as detachable reprints from a glossy book my dad bought me. I eventually "outgrew" the hobby and never dreamt I'd be back in 20 years later.

I know I am a pretty small fish compared to many collectors, but to survey my collection now - to own all of the post-war rookies - Mantle! Mays! Aaron! - all of them! And on top of that, over half of the mythic T206 set, not to mention a bunch of other cards from the 30s, 40s and 50s - well, I never stop getting a thrill out of this fact. The 10 year-old collector in me is still alive and well and in disbelief that I grew up and is blessed enough to have the resources to afford an incredible collection of baseball cards that may as well have all cost a million dollars each back in the '80s. And that junior collector in me is also pretty thrilled that we finally have an '86 Donruss Canseco and '89 Ripken FF stashed away.

Well, with apologies to the OP, I'll reverse his question:

What card did I always think I would eventually own, but never will:


1952 Topps #311- Mickey Mantle


-

Carl, great description of how it feels to collect something that you love. I feel the same way, I'm just much less eloquent about it. :)

When I first got interested in T206 (in the late '90's) I always figured that I would someday get a Doyle variation. I didn't realize how truly rare (expensive) that card really was.

Dan gives me hope that someday I'll get that T215 Merkle. :D

anson mayo
 

The card fell in my lap in a trade from a collector who contacted me out of the blue for a card he needed that I had won years ago in a B&L auction. (It helps that I'm not a stickler for condition.)

I was thinking on a similar line, but more "What card did you think you would never own, but now that you do you think, eh, not as cool as I thought it would be?"

This one:


Attachment 297710

I've known for a decade or so that a signed T206 Lajoie existed, but I really thought I'd never own one. But then about a year ago, I reeled in this white whale...

<img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/699/31469346824_d0d4d9275c_b.jpg" width="637" height="1024" alt="Lajoie_Batting_SGC_A"></a>

There were a lot of cards that I have always wanted and eventually got my hands on. Before I discuss the cards with you all, I want to say that all of this was possible because I still live at home with my parents. When you don't have to worry about paying the bills, then it's not that difficult to buy expensive sports cards.

As a kid I always wanted a high-end 1966-67 Topps Bobby Orr RC. When I started working in my early 20s, I saved up and purchased a beautiful example from BMW Sportscards. It was an SGC 6, but looked stunning. Many years later, when I ended up in debt, I decided to have some fun by cracking it out of the case and submitting it raw to BVG. It came back a 7.5. :) I ended up flipping it and paying off my debt.

Another special card that I eventually got my hands on, and still own, is the 1951 Parkhurst Gordie Howe RC in SGC 6.5. Now the centering isn't that great, and that's very common among this cards, but the corners are so sharp that I just had to trade for it.

Ruth
 

For me it’s the 1916 M101 Ruth RC
I remember reading an article in a 1983 issue of “Baseball Cards Magazine” about Babe Ruth cards. As a 12-year old beginner collector I was drawn to the picture of the Ruth RC. I would look at it and think to myself “I’ll probably never even see a real one”. I was able to see a few at the National Conventions that I attended in 1992, 1999 & 2007....Turn the clock up to 2009. A fellow board member offers his up for sale. I see the card and immediately tell myself....”There’s my Ruth Rookie”. I contacted him. We talked. In couple weeks it was in my hands. Never forget slowly unwrapping the packaging and slowly pulling card out. I was 12-years old again for a few moments ����

Greatvcard and story Daryl. Sounds like you got your card around its last time of semi affordability. Congrats on acquiring that gem.

This an interesting thread, although I have toi admit that Marc's K-Bats is the most amazing card I have seen in quite some time.

My humble addition would be one of my favorite So. League players, Buck, don't call me Bock, Hooker.

Cheers, Mike

Thanks, Sean!

I have a little side collection of Jersey City Skeeters prewar cards and there are several cards on my wantlist that I don't think I will ever obtain. This T215 Red Cross of Billy Purtell listed with Jersey City was one of those cards I never thought I would find considering the rarity of Red Cross cards let alone finding a specific non-HOFer. I was very happy to have this example fall into my lap years ago and was able to acquire it. I don't even care about the condition, I don't think I'll ever see another one.


Thanks,

AndyH

I've been lucky to acquire a number of cards I never thought I'd own. But if I had to choose just one, its the Tomas Gutierrez Oscar Charleston. It was the No. 1 card on my want list for probably 20 years but I never thought I'd get to own one.

Great stuff guys! I really appreciate the stories.

For me it is more about cards I never thought I would find rather than price per se. sometimes I get the perfect one and it is the end of that subject in my collection.

First one like that for me is my signed Bowman Groucho Marx card. I wanted a Groucho autograph since I was a little boy because my favorite uncle is an entertainment lawyer and met Groucho and got a signed photo that I saw every time I visited him. When I saw the Bowman cards I thought how perfect would it be to have a signed one. I have insomnia and I often surf eBay in the wee hours of the morning. One day I was online searching and the signed Bowman Marx I’d long sought popped up with a BIN.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...utographed.jpg

Another card that comes to mind is my 1951 Topps Ringside salesman sample panel with Rocky Marciano’s rookie card. Sample panels are tough to begin with and having one is ambitious but to get The Rock’s RC is fantasyland stuff.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...Sample%201.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...Sample%202.jpg

Finally, a family heirloom item. My avatar is Ray Miller, a former #1 contender in the lightweight division and well known boxing referee. Ray is a first cousin of my grandfather. I never got to meet him; my father never even mentioned him until after he died in 1987. I actively collect his memorabilia and have several signed items. Ray is one of two refs in the Topps Ringside set. I have seen a signed card once. I bought it and would never sell it. But that’s not even the best part: when Topps liquidated its Ringside contracts through the Topps Vault program I was able to buy Ray’s signed contract.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ler%20auto.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...t%20Miller.jpg

That's more like how it is for me.
When I started everything was cheap even if it didn't seem that way. And I thought someday I'd have "everything"..........

Now 40 years later I know there are a lot of things with so few copies known that getting a set is incredibly unlikely even with a fantasy unlimited budget. Also my concept of just what "everything" includes has changed drastically. Well beyond the then available reference works.

So it's minor stuff, like figuring I wouldn't find another George C Miller I could afford, but then a beater turned up on ebay listed simply as "old baseball card". There's a bunch of cards now that I figure I simply will never have the money for - Wagner, 52 Mantle - Or have to opportunity to buy. (Funny how the most expensive stuff is usually available if you have the money. I was told that back in 78 or so, but didn't believe it at the time. )

Overall I'm pretty happy with what I've put together so far, some of what I have now has become more expensive than I'd be willing to pay so I'm glad I bought it years ago.

Babe Ruth RC
 

For me, It was The Babe Ruth RC. I read about it and saw it many many years ago and thought their would be no way I could ever afford that card. Then fast forward 20 years. My business was doing really good and my wife convinced me to pull the trigger and get it. I still wake up every day and can't believe I own it. Now, my son likes it even more then I do!!!, lol

Troy

I'd look though those now old 1980's Beckett Magazines, look at the prices and the photos and wonder how on Earth anyone could afford those prices? I have 4: A Wilt Chamberlain RC, a 1957 Topps Gene Baker error and a guy I know was gracious enough to sell me a 1916 M101Holmes to Homes and Green-Joyce.

I think at some point we all ask ourselves "How did our collections get to this point?" Some of it was by sheer luck and through connections but all of it was through hard work and determination.

Add me to the '51 Mantle crew.

E121 Ruth
 

Since its now in-hand I can finally add mine to this thread!

I have several to be thankful for:
51 & 52 Mickey Mantle
48/9 Leaf Satchel Paige
Rc's of Mays, Aaron, Clemente & more
but I am more excited about my 1915 CJ Joe Jackson.
(pics are in my imgur link in my signature)

beautiful copy! congrats!

Thanks Pete!!

Paige