1951/2/3 Bowman and Topps Collection
In 2019, I purchased a boyhood collection from a guy in his late 70's. He had opened packs in 1951/2/3 starting when he was around 10 years old and had stored them all in a large box loose. There were about 600 hundred cards in total. No '52 Topps high numbers and no Mays but still a lot of star cards in reasonable condition. No '53 Topps Mantle or Mays either but a couple of Paiges.
When he was in his 40's, his dad found them in the attic of his old home and asked him if he wanted them so he had him ship them to him. They had been in storage at his home for 30+ years before I saw them.
He had (2) 1951 Bowman Mantles and (1) Mays. I got the Mantles graded and one was a 3 and the other a 3.5. At that time just 3 short years ago I got $11K for the pair which was very high for those grades at the time.
I offered $10K for his collection and he said that was too much and countered at $7500 and told me if I did not make good money on the deal he would give me some money back.
I figured the collection would bring about $20K so I told him I was OK with the $10K but he said no. For sure, the only time in my card dealing time where the offer was refused because it was too high.
I got the $20K eventually for the collection so I guess we were both happy.
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