I cannot remember if I dealt with Bob or Don (Fluckinger?) originally, but I will email Tom to see if I can get the listings corrected (thank you for his email address).
I sold the cards (along with most of the rest of my meager collection at that point) because I needed the money. I told him I would buy them back from him if he was unable to make a profit on them. Over the next several years, he offered to sell me the binder back (at cost). I declined several times because I did not have the money. He never had the binder with him, and I believe it was in his attic over the years.
Within the past several years, my situation changed, and I began trying to reacquire the binder. He and I would see each other at a few local shows every year, but he would always forget the binder! Finally, I saw him at a local show a few weeks ago and he had recently uncovered the binder in his attic. We met the next day and I purchased it for the same price I sold it for ten years ago.
I have mixed feelings when it comes to this set. It does not really fit in with my regular collections (one image of every Red Sox player, same for every HOFer, Cobb/Ruth photos and memorabilia, and 19th century stuff), but it is also cool to have the cards that changed the Standard Catalog listing.
I bought my first small group of these in the early 1990s at a flea market, and they included the Drysdale. It was my only un-catalogued card in my collection for years. I was amazed both at finding what I thought was a rare card, and that the regular set was so cheap in the catalog. I am still somewhat amazed at how cheaply this set lists at, but because of this, I was able to buy the red backed set for 10.00, and a pack with the Mantle for the same price.
I taught a dealer friend some of the nuances of the set, and he ended up doing well with grading them, and selling them to player registry collections. He found the Yaz version (I never found one). I am amazed at the prices he got for some of his graded ones, but I do not like grading (never bought a graded card and hopefully never will) and will not follow in his footsteps.
Of course, these cards are paper thin and look like they could have been photo copied yesterday. I hope (maybe too naively) that folks would not be reproducing these because of how cheap they are to begin with. To me, their price, along with the player selection (large number of HOFers) makes this set a really cool collectible from the late 1960s, and easily within most collectors' budgets.
Alan
|