T206 FS/FT - Journey to $100K Thread

[drazz5]

I recently saw a video online of a jeweler who set himself a goal of turning $400 into a $100K piece of jewelry via the sale or trade of incrementally better pieces of jewelry.

This idea is reminiscent of the "One Red Paper Clip" challenge that was popularized many years ago. For those who aren't familiar, in 2005 a man by the name of Kyle MacDonald started with a large red paper clip and was able to make a series of trades over the course of a year that ultimately left him with a new house. I have found myself bored with my collecting recently, and for some reason, the video I recently saw piqued my interest. I thought this would be a fun (and difficult) experiment to apply specifically to the card collecting community. Being a t206 collector myself, $400 to $100K *roughly* translates into a John McGraw (Portrait with Cap) card to a low grade Eddie Plank. That being the case, I will make a low grade Eddie Plank my end goal for this exercise (outrageous, I know).

The criteria I have set for myself is pretty straight forward - I will start with my John McGraw card, and will trade or sell each subsequent card for a card of greater value. Being that I need to upgrade with each trade/sale I make, it obviously takes a very specific collector with specific needs to make each trade mutually beneficial. That being the case, I have no idea how this will go, or how long it will take. I will keep this thread updated as my trades progress.

So without further adieu, please see the below McGraw for the very first card up for sale/trade.

[nineunder71]

If you could trade up to a McGraw PSA4 I would be impressed, haha

With that in mind, here is your first trade offer

Edited: Offer Retracted as card was traded for fair value…..note: that is how it typically works

[StraightRaceCards]

Don’t have anything to trade with you, but looking forward to watching this journey unfold. Good luck!

[drazz5]

Originally Posted by LarsHoneyToast

Don’t have anything to trade with you, but looking forward to watching this journey unfold. Good luck!

Thanks Matt! Looking forward to it. At best, I'll end up with a sweet t206 card I couldn't otherwise afford. At worst, I'll spend way too much time looking at cards online and talking to other collectors. Sounds like a win win to me!

[benge610]

No Longer available; back to the Collection Box.

this low Pop HOFer (36 total, PSA and SGC combined) that makes him attractive in the E, candy card pools.
(posing with his son)





Yes, those are caramel stains on the back; personality.

Ben
"I love baseball history backstory; especially when it involves cards."

Successful transactions with: Casey2296, Jacklitsch, wolf441, shepbuckman, seablaster, Bridwell. brianp-beme, hatchetman325, quinnsryche, joejo20, Brian Van Horn, Thromdog, Webster, shammus, asphaltman, old baseball, obcmac, sb1, tiger8mush, BKaufmann, 53toppscollector.

[drazz5]

Ben, unfortunately I dont know nearly enough about candy cards to accurately assess this trade. For now, I will have to pass, but I appreciate the offer.

[todeen]

I think this concept would work if you included trade+cash. So if you have the McGraw plus $50, maybe someone selling a $300 card that hasn't sold in two/three/four months might be inclined to take the offer. Then you have a $300 card, and you add $50 again, etc.

At some point, you would need to up the cash amount to $100, say once you start trading $1k/$2k level cards. And at some point you would need to up the cash amount again to $250 when you get to $10k level cards.

People may not feel ripped off in this type of scenario because it would fall close enough to a 10% - 20% off sale value. Most sellers usually have 10% wiggle room to negotiate.

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

[RCFire82]

☝️ Nice analysis.