[raulus]

Sadly, I haven’t been tracking it all that well. It also doesn’t help that I peaked pretty early, at least after coming back from my hiatus.

But a few stand out.

It was 1991, and I rode my bike down to the bank to withdraw $5 from my bank account to pick up the 52T Mantle of my childhood - the 89 UD Griffey.

When my parents found out, they freaked, and I was thoroughly reprimanded for my folly. I think it might still be buried in a box in my childhood bedroom, and if I’m lucky it might be worth slightly more than I paid for it then, assuming I didn’t maul it too badly.

Not long after returning to collecting, and deciding to focus on the Amazing Mr. Mays, I picked up a 52T Mays in PSA 7. Probably around 2016 or 2017. Since most databases will pick up sales of graded cards, it’s almost certainly a matter of public record that I paid $7,500 to pick it up.

Fast forward another year or two and the top Mays collector decided to liquidate his entire collection at auction with ML. I ended up picking up a lot of great stuff, but one piece stands out as the highest cost, a record which it continues to hold for me to this day. Since they rarely come up for sale, I went all in on the 61T Dice Game Mays. Given that ML auctions run all night, I went to bed not knowing if I had actually won or not. But the next morning, wonder of wonders, no one stepped up to top my high bid. Given that this sale is also easily found in public records, I can confirm that I paid $85k for it.

While I’ve certainly picked up plenty since then, including stuff that began to approach that amount, that was the summit for me, and I suspect it might stay that way. And if I’m being honest, 10 years ago I would never have guessed that I would pay so much for cardboard.

Some pics of the last 2, since the Griffey is not currently in my possession.