Posted By:
Aaron MichielGather around and I shall tell ye a tale...
About a year and a half ago, my wife and I were reining in our spending in order to save for a down payment on our first house. That meant a steep decrease in the amount of money I had to spend on sports memorabilia.
Like clockwork, during this time of fiscal responsibility, one of my most sought after items appears on E-Bay: an authentic 1957 "Keep The Dodgers In Brooklyn" pin. Reproductions abound of this pin, genuine ones are virtually impossible to find. This was the first one offered since I'd returned to collecting.
I sat back responsibly, maturely, helplessly, watching the end of the auction live, until it finally sold for the bargain price of around $600. I would have been willing to bid considerably more if money weren't tight.
So, I let it go.
About a year later, it's time for the Atlantic City National. The down payment long-since serving its purpose, my wife and I living in our house for almost a year, financially things had returned to normal. So, it was time to do some serious spending (relative to our incomes, of course).
My wife and I took a trip to New York with the plan of renting a car for a day and driving out to Atlantic City for the National. (Don't feel too sorry for the wife--she got a day of shopping on Madison Avenue.)
I had been looking forward to this trip for months (I had a great experience the previous year at the Chicago National), only to arrive at the convention hall and find row after row of "manufactured collectibles" (those ridiculous autographed lithographs, repro jerseys and the like), modern junk and non-sports material (like the dreaded beanie baby). It was laughably bad.
Finally, in one of the glass cases, I hit pay dirt: a beautiful "Keep The Dodgers In Brooklyn" pin magnificently displayed. The heart rate quickened, I was already fumbling for my wallet...only to learn that the item was not for sale, but was to be offered at auction more than a month later by Inside The Park Collectibles.
I ended up leaving the National completely empty-handed (not a good thing for having traveled 3,000 miles) and saved my dough for the summer auction season in August. My eyes fixed on the ITPC auction at the end of the month and getting that pin.
I wait patiently, checking the site frequently believing that the pin won't go for much higher than the $750 minimum bid. Of course, finally on auction day, the pin has topped $1,100 by the time I'm ready to bid just before closing to initial bidders. I'm already worried and kicking myself that I could have had the pin for half the cost if I hadn't let my rational brain overpower my crazed collector a year earlier...
In order to top the existing max bid, I bid more than $1,300 and request the call back service. Yes, I say to myself, I've spent alot of money, but this was something I REALLY wanted (that's a convincing argument to us collectors that requires no further elaboration). Confident in the certainty of my new aquisition, the wife and I go to the music store, the auction having entered its extended period hours earlier...
My mind at ease (no one was crazy enough to bid $1,500 for a lousy pin were they???), I was already picturing where in my display the pin was going to go... Then the cell phone rang. I'd been topped. Someone had just bid close to $1,500. I would have to bid $1,700 to top him.
Did I want to bid?
I had to pause and step back. Yeah, I REALLY wanted the pin, but the price was just too high. I'd already bid well past my imaginary "absolute" limit and this would border on idiocy (plus I was already calculating how many pair of shoes the wife was going to want if I told her how much I spent on "a pin").
A wave of calm swept over me. I let it go.
Later, it occurred to me: This beautiful little pin had just sold for $1,500, I had bid more than $1,300 (and wanted to bid higher). All this trouble and planning, and I could have had the damn pin a year earlier for probably no more than $700. Why, oh why, did we have to buy a house right then??? Couldn't it have waited until I'd completed my collection?? I didn't mind renting, dammit!!
So, it's not the pin I lost during the ITPC auction that makes me wince. It's the one from E-Bay... the one I watched slip away for a song... (cue S&G music from the end of "Mrs. Robinson"...)