T206 FS/FT - Journey to $100K Thread
 

I recently saw a video online of a jeweler who set himself a goal of turning $400 into a $100K piece of jewelry via the sale or trade of incrementally better pieces of jewelry.

This idea is reminiscent of the "One Red Paper Clip" challenge that was popularized many years ago. For those who aren't familiar, in 2005 a man by the name of Kyle MacDonald started with a large red paper clip and was able to make a series of trades over the course of a year that ultimately left him with a new house. I have found myself bored with my collecting recently, and for some reason, the video I recently saw piqued my interest. I thought this would be a fun (and difficult) experiment to apply specifically to the card collecting community. Being a t206 collector myself, $400 to $100K *roughly* translates into a John McGraw (Portrait with Cap) card to a low grade Eddie Plank. That being the case, I will make a low grade Eddie Plank my end goal for this exercise (outrageous, I know).

The criteria I have set for myself is pretty straight forward - I will start with my John McGraw card, and will trade or sell each subsequent card for a card of greater value. Being that I need to upgrade with each trade/sale I make, it obviously takes a very specific collector with specific needs to make each trade mutually beneficial. That being the case, I have no idea how this will go, or how long it will take. I will keep this thread updated as my trades progress.

So without further adieu, please see the below McGraw for the very first card up for sale/trade.

If you could trade up to a McGraw PSA4 I would be impressed, haha

With that in mind, here is your first trade offer

Edited: Offer Retracted as card was traded for fair value…..note: that is how it typically works

Very cool project
 

Don’t have anything to trade with you, but looking forward to watching this journey unfold. Good luck!

Thanks Matt! Looking forward to it. At best, I'll end up with a sweet t206 card I couldn't otherwise afford. At worst, I'll spend way too much time looking at cards online and talking to other collectors. Sounds like a win win to me!

No Longer available; back to the Collection Box.

this low Pop HOFer (36 total, PSA and SGC combined) that makes him attractive in the E, candy card pools.
(posing with his son)

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=34974

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=34975

Yes, those are caramel stains on the back; personality.

Ben
"I love baseball history backstory; especially when it involves cards."

Successful transactions with: Casey2296, Jacklitsch, wolf441, shepbuckman, seablaster, Bridwell. brianp-beme, hatchetman325, quinnsryche, joejo20, Brian Van Horn, Thromdog, Webster, shammus, asphaltman, old baseball, obcmac, sb1, tiger8mush, BKaufmann, 53toppscollector.

Ben, unfortunately I dont know nearly enough about candy cards to accurately assess this trade. For now, I will have to pass, but I appreciate the offer.

To be successful at this challenge, it would take someone with a lot of knowledge around cardboard. Knowledge of SP’s, rarities, and trends as well as knowledge around overall current values. Mixed in with high-level bartering skills and a fair number of connections to people in the business would be helpful as well. Topped off with a little luck couldn’t hurt.

I wish you the best in this quest and look forward to following your steps along the way.

Good luck!

You probably need to be willing to trade one card for a stack of lesser value cards and do the work to piece them out. Hard to believe people are just going to give you $250 for your $200 card very many times. And I think you'll definitely need to learn other issues like the e121s for example. Basically, you probably need to do the work that other people aren't willing to to turn their cards into cash. Otherwise it's basically, "hey guys does anyone mind getting ripped off so I can profit?"

I agree, it takes a little creativity. This is why I stressed the importance of finding the right collector(s) in my initial post. If a guy has been looking for a specific card forever, and I am able to provide him that card, I imagine he would be willing to give me a card that might be slightly higher in value to fulfill a specific collecting need that he has. If I fill a need, I would view a trade like that as mutually beneficial rather than "ripping someone off".

But to your point, this is going to require some creativity, especially since a Piedmont McGraw is not particularly special in any way. I expect I will have to do a lot of sideways trades to get unique back combos or branch out to other card types as you mentioned.

All part of the fun of this experiment. I know it will be challenge, but to be clear I have not idea if it will actually work.

Cheers!

There was a guy a couple years ago trying an ultimate trade up turning a T206 WaJo into a 52 Topps Mantle. I didn't reread the thread but he made a handful of trades.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=238153

Serious question:

Are you only trading for graded pre-war cards?

Thats the first thing I think of when I see one of these threads. I know people have done it but man that is a lot of people taking a loss for one person to take a HUGE gain.

LOL, That is one member I don't miss. He was one of those guys that acted like he knew nothing about cards on the forum. In real life he worked at a card shop and run a side hustle of selling cards.

No, not at all. Also willing to sell and use the cash towards another good deal.

Ha! Looks like I am not the first to bring the idea to Net54. Thanks for the link.

Back in 2005, I made the mistake of trading my house for a large red paper clip. Hopefully you encounter someone as bad at trading as I was. :rolleyes:

How much you want for the paper clip?

I think this concept would work if you included trade+cash. So if you have the McGraw plus $50, maybe someone selling a $300 card that hasn't sold in two/three/four months might be inclined to take the offer. Then you have a $300 card, and you add $50 again, etc.

At some point, you would need to up the cash amount to $100, say once you start trading $1k/$2k level cards. And at some point you would need to up the cash amount again to $250 when you get to $10k level cards.

People may not feel ripped off in this type of scenario because it would fall close enough to a 10% - 20% off sale value. Most sellers usually have 10% wiggle room to negotiate.

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☝️ Nice analysis.

I was having a deja vu moment on this myself. IIRC, this just died on the vine because he ended up with a bunch of commons that nobody wanted. And got bored.


Funniest comment I've heard in a while. Love it.