Here's a long and boring story. In the mid-late sixties. I was about 14-15 years old. There was a guy (Goodwin Goldfaden...he only died just a few years ago at 94, Was quite well known in the trade) who had a sports cards/books/publishing/etc shop in Los Angeles. I bought most of my pre-war vint from him. Later he sold all but the cards, and worked out of his house and garage. And he had also just happened to move just a quick bike ride from me. So I spent a summer going over there and sorting/cataloging a ton of cards. I'd seen them all anyway and already had anything I wanted. Mostly this was all post war vint. Stars and commons and future HOFers. I'd sit in his kitchen, his wife served me lemonade, I'd plow through a box and he'd bring in another from the garage and more lemonade. It went like THAT! A kid's dream! He paid peanuts but I would have done it for free. So, one day I'm sorting all this boring sixties stuff, and POW, there's #311 staring straight at me! I'm like WHOAAAAA.... Now, I had a ton of Mantles, him being my favorite player and me being born in NY. But not this card because it was always too expensive for me, even then, at a ridiculously low price. I set it aside and thought about it. I should have asked him just to hold my pay and give it to me at the end of the summer. Or we could have worked out a layaway. I wasn't sure. He was a miser but his wife was very very sweet. Maybe I could get her to intervene. But, instead, at the end of the day I showed it to him and said, Look what I found!" I still kick myself daily. And still don't have one. In fact I can afford it even less so now than then.
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