What's the best item you've ever pulled from a dealer's bargain box?

[akleinb611]

One of the things I miss the most about card shows (which are far less numerous than they were in the pre-ebay era) is the dealer's bargain box. You know, that big box of items prices at a dollar or so, filled with oddball items or mainstream items in off condition. If you like collecting unusual stuff, these boxes could be a treasure trove. Occasionally, you could find something really, really good.

So, to those of you out there with years of experience at card shows, what's the most impressive gem you've ever fished out of a bargain box?

I'll start. There was a dealer whose name I don't recall who was a regular at the White Plains show from the Nineties onward. He had separate bargain boxes priced at $1, $2 and $5. At some show about twenty years ago, I was rummaging through his $5 bargain box. He had a bunch of off-condition 1949 Bowman and I was looking for some condition upgrades, in spite of the fact that these cards were pretty rough. A few of them had uneven edges, indicating they had either been trimmed or had been cut from a sheet. It took me a moment to realize these were not 1949 Bowmans, but rather were 1949 Bowman PCL cards. I walked away with four of them, at $5 each.

This may trigger a debate regarding whether or not I should have brought this to the dealer's attention. My attitude is that this is not akin to some SOB cheating a clueless little old lady out of some rare cards. This was an experienced dealer. Any card on his table was priced for what it was, and I had no obligation to point out to him that the cards may have been worth more.

I realize I sound a bit defensive. But those 1949 PCL's are in a binder on my shelf and they're not going anywhere...

Alan

[Fred]

Alan,

If the dealer was a known good person and dealer, I'd probably have brought it to their attention. I hope you don't feel bad about it because the dealer should know what they're doing.

If the dealer was a jerk, then definitely, no way I'd tell them until after the cards were purchased.

This would be a good poll question, but I'm going to guess most people would indicate the dealer should have known what they're selling.

Just curious, about how long ago was the purchase made and what was the value for those cards at that time?

[akleinb611]

Dealer was kind of a hard ass, not a jerk but not a nice guy either. Many years of experience. He may have overestimated the discount arising from the cards being hand cut, but I suspect he didn’t realize they were PCL’s. This was at least 20 years ago, and 1949 PCL’s were just as insanely rare and expensive as they are today. I’ve been a dealer and I’ve screwed up too (although not that badly). My attitude is that once it’s on the table, it’s for sale, and there’s a mistake, it’s on you.

[Gorditadogg]

As Delmar said in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, I'm with you fellers.

It's kind of cool to make a find like that, whether to tell the dealer depends on your personal relationship, I think.

If I remember, Jolly has a pretty good story to tell on this subject.

For my part, I once bought a card for $5 that turned out to be the coveted gold parallel version, worth $100!

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[egri]

Not exactly a 'find', since I paid about what they were worth, but I used to enjoy digging through the commons binders of 1950s-1970s cards for ones to send TTM. The old players were wonderful signers, and most of them have passed on now, but I've still got those cards in my collection.

[Chris-Counts]

I've picked up a couple raw 1949 Bowman PCL cards over the years that were not identified as PCL cards.

I once pulled 7 1940 Play Ball color proofs out of a dealers' bargain bin for $5 a piece at a show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Here's the one I kept ...

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I've picked up a couple raw 1949 Bowman PCL cards over the years that were not identified as PCL cards.



I once pulled 7 1940 Play Ball color proofs out of a dealers' bargain bin for $5 a piece at a show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Here's the one I kept ...

That's pretty cool.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[bigfanNY]

Not a bargin bin but a binder on his table 1977. The binder had some postcards early exhibits that I had no interest in (mistake) ..but he had a Connie Mack that was signed priced at $30. I pulled it out said I would take it and kept looking. On back page he had an odd sized card that was definitely 1800's but I had never seen one before. Written in light pencil on back was $175. I muttered to myself the price and dealer said did I want to buy it for $75? I said yes..he said fine. I needed to go back to my table for the cash and he let me take cards. Showed them to my Dad as I took cash from our little metal cash box. He asked what it was.. I said I don't know, but would ask some dealers about it on my way back from paying for it. Paid and saw John Ramirez who I had met a year or so ago and I was pretty sure he would know. He looked at it said it was from 1890 part of a set of Clevland Spiders the name of the tobacco company was on the bottom Just So Tobacco. He asked where I hot it and told him 2 tables away. He shook his head and told me it was a good one. Held on to it for 25 years.

[swarmee]

Scanning COMC nonstop for the past few years feels like going through dollar boxes. I've found 4x 1952 Topps Gray backs over the years, 3x raw priced at $5-10 each, and 1 KSA graded VG-EX Yogi Berra that was priced at $200.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

Not a bargin bin but a binder on his table 1977. The binder had some postcards early exhibits that I had no interest in (mistake) ..but he had a Connie Mack that was signed priced at $30. I pulled it out said I would take it and kept looking. On back page he had an odd sized card that was definitely 1800's but I had never seen one before. Written in light pencil on back was $175. I muttered to myself the price and dealer said did I want to buy it for $75? I said yes..he said fine. I needed to go back to my table for the cash and he let me take cards. Showed them to my Dad as I took cash from our little metal cash box. He asked what it was.. I said I don't know, but would ask some dealers about it on my way back from paying for it. Paid and saw John Ramirez who I had met a year or so ago and I was pretty sure he would know. He looked at it said it was from 1890 part of a set of Clevland Spiders the name of the tobacco company was on the bottom Just So Tobacco. He asked where I hot it and told him 2 tables away. He shook his head and told me it was a good one. Held on to it for 25 years.

Jonathan, have to ask. Was Cy Young pictured among the Spiders?

[sbfinley]

Not sports related, but about 20 years ago I was on an antique trip with the wife and we found an shop in Kentucky. It listed as an antique store, but it was more of thrift shop and after about a two minute walk I decided it wasn't worth the time. I told her I was going to wait in the car and by the front door I saw a box of books with some modern history textbooks on top. I stopped and asked the guy at the register how much the books were and he said they just came in and he hadn't priced them yet. I said "okay thanks" and walked out the door. He shouted and stopped me and told me I could take the whole box for $30. I hadn't seen anything except for the history books so I just replied back "I'd do $15." He nodded, I paid, and took the box out to the car.

An hour later we were at a drive in having lunch and I went to the trunk to see if there was anything worth reading on the drive home. At the bottom of the box under about 20 random history books and autobiographies no older than the 60's was a weathered old book. I took it out and saw it was dated to 1840's. At the time I had a friend who worked for a book dealer in Nashville. I made a call and she said she would call me back.

On my drive home I got a call from the BYU library asking for as many pictures as possible. Once home I took all the pictures they asked for and emailed them. 20 minutes later someone else called on behalf of the University and made a low 5 figure offer for the book with half up front and half when it was received. He ended up sending the whole amount up front and I shipped it the next morning. All in it was $15 to $15k in about 8 hours. A couple months later I saw my book dealer friend and asked if she ever earned a broker fee for the sale and she just smiled so no idea what she got.

I'm pretty sure this is the exact book I sold to the University: https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digita...0-1846/id/3718

I later saw another copy sell during covid for six figures.

[timn1]

Seems to me it's a seller's responsibility to know what he's got. If he's priced it, I have no problem buying it at that price... It's not nearly the same as ripping off grandma for dead grandpa's Honus Wagner card.

My best find of this type was my first two Star Player Candy cards from a longtime dealer's $5 box. He mostly dealt in postwar Topps/Bowman and couldn't be bothered to look these up. I was happy to take them off his hands

(PS: They were raw when I bought them. I later made the genius move to have GAI grade them, LOL.)

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I've picked up a couple raw 1949 Bowman PCL cards over the years that were not identified as PCL cards.

I once pulled 7 1940 Play Ball color proofs out of a dealers' bargain bin for $5 a piece at a show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Here's the one I kept ...

Lonny was a friend of mine and such a wonderful fellow to be around. Nearly made it to 100!

[CobbSpikedMe]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I've picked up a couple raw 1949 Bowman PCL cards over the years that were not identified as PCL cards.

I once pulled 7 1940 Play Ball color proofs out of a dealers' bargain bin for $5 a piece at a show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Here's the one I kept ...

Hi Chris,

Is that a color proof or a regular 40 PB that had some red color added aftermarket by someone? I ask because I have a W572 that has similar red colorization on it and always assumed it was just added after it was issued.



.

[philliesfan]

In the early 1980's I was looking at binders with T206's for $1.00 to $3.00 each. I pulled one and the dealer said $1.00 because it was written on. It was an autographed Rube Marquard. Sent to PSA and it is authentic.
Bob

[rhettyeakley]

At the National a few years back in Chicago I was going through a “bargain box” of a dealer that was seemingly only into grading and was finding a bunch of good items that weren’t going to grade high but were still quality just not PSA 5+

Most items were 1950 to present so I was not expecting to find a skinned N28 King Kelly for…$1

It wasn’t the banner/album card either as it had the blue “Allen & Ginter” ad on front.

Probably the best $1 bin card I have ever found.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by philliesfan

In the early 1980's I was looking at binders with T206's for $1.00 to $3.00 each. I pulled one and the dealer said $1.00 because it was written on. It was an autographed Rube Marquard. Sent to PSA and it is authentic.
Bob

I had a similar experience with a big seller on eBay. They had a Kaline RC up for auction, categorized as "Poor/Marked". While the card wasn't winning any condition contests, it was "marked" with a career-era autograph. What's really interesting is that it's particularly rare to find that card signed with anything but a latter-day signature. It was up for auction, so it should have rightly caught a lot of people's eyes since the seller has a large audience. I won it for under $150.

[mannequin1]

Originally Posted by akleinb611

One of the things I miss the most about card shows (which are far less numerous than they were in the pre-ebay era) is the dealer's bargain box. You know, that big box of items prices at a dollar or so, filled with oddball items or mainstream items in off condition. If you like collecting unusual stuff, these boxes could be a treasure trove. Occasionally, you could find something really, really good.

So, to those of you out there with years of experience at card shows, what's the most impressive gem you've ever fished out of a bargain box?

I'll start. There was a dealer whose name I don't recall who was a regular at the White Plains show from the Nineties onward. He had separate bargain boxes priced at $1, $2 and $5. At some show about twenty years ago, I was rummaging through his $5 bargain box. He had a bunch of off-condition 1949 Bowman and I was looking for some condition upgrades, in spite of the fact that these cards were pretty rough. A few of them had uneven edges, indicating they had either been trimmed or had been cut from a sheet. It took me a moment to realize these were not 1949 Bowmans, but rather were 1949 Bowman PCL cards. I walked away with four of them, at $5 each.

This may trigger a debate regarding whether or not I should have brought this to the dealer's attention. My attitude is that this is not akin to some SOB cheating a clueless little old lady out of some rare cards. This was an experienced dealer. Any card on his table was priced for what it was, and I had no obligation to point out to him that the cards may have been worth more.

I realize I sound a bit defensive. But those 1949 PCL's are in a binder on my shelf and they're not going anywhere...

Alan

At a NYC show about 1975 someone had a box of Kelloggs 3-D baseball cards for $1.00 each. At the bottom of the box were 7 1968 Topps 3-D cards which I bought. I left a cracked Perez.
I also found a 1972 Topps Test set (like repros of 1953 Topps) for $5.00 (I think 8 cards).

[GasHouseGang]

1960 Jim Kaat rookie card for 10 cents each. The dealer had 5 in the box at that price. My friend and I each bought one, and I informed the dealer that these cards should be at around $10 each (at that time). He thanked me for letting him know, and removed the other 3 from the bargain box.

[Rich Klein]

But they are applicable to this thread

1) Back in the day, a friend of mine would bring a big box or two to one of my LCS. My friend who owned the store always gave me a shot to take the box home and go through them or do them at the store for a very reasonable price point. Pulled about 5 Fergie Jenkins RC's (they were probably $5-10 each at the time) and thought that was good for each of us. There were another 115 of those Jenkins RC's in that box. We told the dealer who was in town to visit his folks and he let us keep like 5 each and we gladly gave him back over 100 Jenkins RC's

2) At the 2019 NSCC one of my friends had a 68 Topps White Letter Mike McCormick in his $1 bin. I went back and forth with self-discussion before telling him. We ended up sending the card to PSA and split the proceeds.

Doing the right thing, especially with friends, pays off not only in the short term but in the long term as well. Now if either of those people were schmucks, well that can be a different subject

[btcarfagno]

Not sports related but..

Had a table at a paper/movie memorabilia show in NYC in the late 1990s. Before the show started i was going around to other tables. Guy had a box of folded movie posters priced at $5 each (i guess that meets the $5 box criteria of this thread). The posters were from the 40s and 50s so I figured it was worth it to have a look see. About half way down the word "Laura" was written in pencil on the folded side of one poster. I figured it had to mean one.of the stars of the film. Couldn't be the movie by that name. Started to unfold it and got about 1/4 of the way and realized it was indeed the movie Laura. Original release.

Still have the poster. Worth a few thousand even back then.

[akleinb611]

Originally Posted by mannequin1

At a NYC show about 1975 someone had a box of Kelloggs 3-D baseball cards for $1.00 each. At the bottom of the box were 7 1968 Topps 3-D cards which I bought. I left a cracked Perez.
I also found a 1972 Topps Test set (like repros of 1953 Topps) for $5.00 (I think 8 cards).

DING-DING!!! I think we may have a winner!

Alabn