What's the largest trade you ever made?

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by uniship

"The biggest best trade I ever made was trading Bill Haber 10 T200's for Topps Current All Stars of Roberts, Konstanty, and Stanky that he "liberated" from Topps files!"

fascinating trade. btw - can you elaborate on the "liberation"?

Hi Eric:

Here is the story I posted about Bill back in 2010:

Bill's main job at Topps was writing the backs of the cards. In fact Bill desperately wanted to move out of NYC and decided to move to WI. Bill hoped it would help his asthma and I think he also really wanted to be near Larry F.

When he was moving he offered his job to me. I visited Topps and was interviewed by Sy Berger. At the time I was living in "bucolic" NJ working for Bill Mastro's father. I was not a fan of the location of Topps offices in Brooklyn, and when Bill told me he had two batteries stolen out of his car when he parked it at work, I knew the job was not for me. As it turned out Bill kept his job and wrote the cards from WI. but his wife got home sick and didn't like cows she said, so they moved back and settled in Staten Island.

A memory just returned to me recently when I saw the Current All Stars of Roberts Konstanty and Stanky in the recent Legendary Auction. Those cards originated with Bill.

He was known to go hot and heavy for the set he was collecting at the time. Talk about tunnel vision! I recall his quest for Seattle Popcorn cards most vividly. But usually once he completed a set like that he would sell it and start on the next project. I digress.

He started working on a T200 set and I had about 12 nice ones. At the time I didn't collect T cards as much as Topps. I LOVED oddball Topps, test sets, etc. I could never get his 3 1960 Topps cards of Hadley, F. Thronberry, and Cimoli with the different team logos that were changed once they were traded.

But when I turned up the T200's he asked me what I wanted. I told him the 3 Currents I lacked for my set. He said he didn't have them. I told him he know where he could get them. Meaning the Topps files. I had seen them while doing research for Woody Gelman and Rich Egan for what was to be a new Standard Catalog that never came to fruition.

For those of you who don't know, Topps kept two of each card they printed and GLUED them onto plain paper, front and back, side by side.

In a week or two I got a call from Bill saying to come on over he had the Current All Stars for me. He "liberated" them form the files I guess. Bill Mastro and I drove over to Staten Island and Bill H. showed me Roberts, Konstanty and Stanky with glue on the front. He offered them to me for the T200's. I told him I wanted the ones with glue on the back. He said, sorry he promised them to Larry F. For what, I had no idea. After hours of haggling I told Bill Mastro, "lets go" and we headed down the stairs. All the way down Mastro is whispering to me " are you crazy!! You can't walk away from those cards!!" I said, just wait.......

As we hit the bottom step Haber said "OK Fred you win come back up". That's how I got the three cards that were in the recent auction. I took the Stanky with glue on the front because it was in better shape than the other.

They later ended up with Halper when he bought my collection in 1975 (UGH!! a few years too early!!). I recall him telling me he traded them for some Yankee W.S. rings. What happened to them from there I don't know. But they were always my favorite cards even after I completed T206 and lots of other sets. Who won them from the Legendary auction? Anyone here??

AH, memories........ Sorry to bore you all

[uniship]

I could read posts like that for hours and hours and days and days - incredible stuff! thx for sharing!

[spec]

Fred's reminiscences about his trade with Bill Haber reminded me of the many swaps I did with Bill, who used to visit me in Boston each time he visited his in-laws in Brookline, MA. Bill and I shared an interest in biographical research and he was particularly focused on acquiring cards of obscure major leaguers, especially those he was trying to find death records on. For that reason, his favorite sets were E107, V355, T209-2 and Colgan's Chips.
However, the most memorable trade I made back when the modern hobby was young (1970s) was with Frank Nagy. I had purchased a batch of tobacco cards (not an unusual occurrence in those days) that included some cards I couldn't identify. I send a photocopy to Nagy, who was always very helpful to younger collectors, and he identified them as D381s (Ferguson Bakery). He also said he'd like to trade me for them since he knew a collector who'd trade well for them. His offer was overwhelming in terms of my wants at the time, so I sent between 70 and 80 D381s to Michigan and received a 1954 Bowman Ted Williams, T206 St. Louis variations of Demmitt and O'Hara plus an entire set of R330 Double Play (75 cards, including Williams and Joe DiMaggio), all cards that are still in my collection.
In an interesting twist, I also have most of those D381s. The ones Nagy didn't trade wound up in his monthly auction and I won a lot of them for no more than $10 apiece. The D381s he swapped returned to the fold years later when the collector Nagy traded with, Harry Kenworthy, died and I purchased them from Bill Mastro and/or Robert Lifson.
By the way, I'm still working on the set and need two to complete, Fred Toney and Hugh Jennings, in case any of you can help.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Bo.b Rich.@rd$son

[sycks22]

It's a good football trade, but I remember when I was in Elementary school a buddy brought in his '86 Topps cards with a Jerry Rice rookie that was worth around $80 at the time. I pick it up for a couple Ken Griffey cards. The good ol' days

[jthorst75]

I'm with you Pete. In junior high I traded a 1960 Topps autographed Musial for five 89 UD Griffey rookies. I was trying to get his 86 Donruss Canseco when it booked for $100 but I stuck with Griff; good move on my part.

[dabigyankeeman]

Traded with a dealer once, I gave him a few thousand cards from the 1960's (assorted conditions, mostly commons and minor stars, some stars) for one card - a 1954 Bowman Mantle in really nice shape.

[brian1961]

Whiteymet, Thank you for taking the time and trouble to share your anecdotes of the ultra rare Current All-Stars. You were by no means boring. I could intently devour these kind of memories for hours.

Bill Haber was such a dear man. I miss him. You sure knew how to play him, all the way down the stairs!

Again, thanks. ----Brian Powell

[irishdenny]

Mr. Whiteymet & Mr. Bo.b Rich.@rd$son,

Stories such as yours should be gathered & placed into a Collector's Edition of Memories for those of us who would wear the pages out reading them over & over & over again!

My Dad loved Baseball enough to pass on all of his Grand tales of the Diamond Hero's from the 40's thru the early 60's that past through his life as a Bus dispatcher in New York City. A few articles & autographs to go along with his stories helped mold me into the Collector I've become today.

You Guys only rekindle his presents... A Dad who past 20+ years ago, remembered through your stories!

"Thank You Kindly, 2 the Both of You!"