The Rosen '52 find

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by Johnny T

My first "real" card I bought from John was a 1964 Topps Rose at his booth in the flea market. I paid $19...early 80's...when I showed my mother what I bought and how much I paid she flipped out! I said "I'm simply traded paper (money) for cardboard"...always the salesman. Anyway, my Mom walked me over to John's booth and kind of layed into him, thinking he took advantage of a kid. He convinced her what I bought was a good purchase and that the value would "double" in 6 months. It did!

He handled that better than I would've at the time. Once when I was set up at a show during the junk wax era, a kid (maybe 12) walked up with his mother and asked me a price on something in a 25% off Beckett box, which I quoted him without having to look it up.

Mom drags him away saying something like "don't believe that cause people will tell you anything" (practically to my face). I respond with a dagger glare and hold out the current Beckett, telling her she's more than welcome to check what I said. That was ignored and they walked on.

Obviously you need to teach kids to avoid getting screwed over, but that message of simply "the salesman is a POS and must be lying" is horrible, lazy parenting on many levels. Show your kids how to figure out what's good and what isn't, instead of always assuming the worst.