What cards did you get for a steal, although you didn't realize it at the time?

[Republicaninmass]

A bought a lot of 1952 hi numbers on ebay, the seller threw in a poor eddie mathews rc!

[jimq16415]

I also collect postcards, caught this on ebay with a buy it now 2 minutes after it was listed for under $300. I was happy to have ANY ty cobb for under 300. I think i could sell it and make a profit.


Later again on ebay a 1952 topps Mantle KSA 2 for 3400. I thought as long as PSA authenticated it, I would be ok. I jumped in the bidding at the end and was afraid I paid too much.

[Jay Wolt]

As Raulus stated anything vintage bought pre-pandemic has appreciated nicely.
Modern, not so much. Imagine stockpiling on unopened cases of 1988 Donruss,
Fleer, Score & Topps?

15 years ago when I was working on my 1st set of T3 Turkey Red's
I won on ebay an ungraded Mathewson for a song, maybe $240. dlvd
My bid was much higher, so was curious why it went so low.
Then I noticed the seller was from England & back then there was no ebay protection
for lost or stolen packages.

It did arrive in the condition as advertised, worn & stained. Had it graded & it fit in nicely in my set.

[kmac32]

All of my E121-120 Ruth Cards

[icurnmedic]

Bought a small "lot" at Hillsville Flea market for less than $20. I knew nothing of T206 at the time, just knew there were some older cards in the group. Brought home and it sat on my desk for 3 or more months, until one day I decided to look up what it was. Turns out it was a Broad Leaf Billy Purtell, sent it to PSA , now 2 of them are known, sold for $750, but really wish I had it back. But Alas , I am now hooked on the vintage!

[metroac]

Sometime in the '80's, a dealer/friend from who I'd bought many times, asked me "How'd you like a '52 Bowman Mantle for a dollar? It's beat up, but it's still a '52 Bowman Mantle." Of course I said, "Sure." Pix are below, but now it could be the single favorite card I own, just as a reminder of a more innocent time.

[skil55voy]

I went to a card show in Dearborn. Michigan in 1987. Gordie Howe was the autograph feature. My daughter wanted to get her Red Wings pennant signed and I had a jersey to be signed. We got there and bought autograph tickets. We numbers 407 and 408 for the line which had not started. Everyone was sitting in the bleachers waiting for Howe and no one was walking around the tables. My daughter and I started looking. She got a couple of grab bags and I got to the last table and saw a stack of 1962 Jello cards. There were 42 cards in the stack with 2 Willie Mays cards. The price was 120.00. I looked through the stack and there were decently cut. I had 100.00 in my wallet. I asked him his best price. He said he hadn't sold anything all day and would take 105.00. I told him I had a hundred in the wallet but, would like to have 20.00 to take my daughter to lunch, He said ok. We then sold our autograph tickets to someone else who had come in. (By then they were into the 700's) We went to lunch.

So, in the stack besides the 2 Mays, was a Koufax, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks and three that I had no idea are the incredibly tough to find:

Bobby Richardson, Bill Stafford and Curt Simmons.

[Yoda]

In the late 1990's, I did a deal for most of Lew Lipset's Sporting News M101-5s that he had advertised for several months. These included Jackson, Cobb, Stengel etc., but the crown jewel was the Ruth RC. Lew wanted $5k for the Bambino but dropped to $4.5 since I was buying a large lot. I subsequently had it graded by Derrek Grady at SGC, where it received a grade of 5.5. It is long gone, of course, sold when I folded the Full Count tent.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by skil55voy

I went to a card show in Dearborn. Michigan in 1987. Gordie Howe was the autograph feature. My daughter wanted to get her Red Wings pennant signed and I had a jersey to be signed. We got there and bought autograph tickets. We numbers 407 and 408 for the line which had not started. Everyone was sitting in the bleachers waiting for Howe and no one was walking around the tables. My daughter and I started looking. She got a couple of grab bags and I got to the last table and saw a stack of 1962 Jello cards. There were 42 cards in the stack with 2 Willie Mays cards. The price was 120.00. I looked through the stack and there were decently cut. I had 100.00 in my wallet. I asked him his best price. He said he hadn't sold anything all day and would take 105.00. I told him I had a hundred in the wallet but, would like to have 20.00 to take my daughter to lunch, He said ok. We then sold our autograph tickets to someone else who had come in. (By then they were into the 700's) We went to lunch.

So, in the stack besides the 2 Mays, was a Koufax, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks and three that I had no idea are the incredibly tough to find:

Bobby Richardson, Bill Stafford and Curt Simmons.

WOW; simply WOW! Congratulations and way da go, Michael. --- Brian Powell

PS---Unless he already has the story for his 1962 JELL-O chapter, you must tell or send this story to Ken Marks. This is a beaut!

[The Detroit Collector]

Originally Posted by skil55voy

I went to a card show in Dearborn. Michigan in 1987. Gordie Howe was the autograph feature. My daughter wanted to get her Red Wings pennant signed and I had a jersey to be signed. We got there and bought autograph tickets. We numbers 407 and 408 for the line which had not started. Everyone was sitting in the bleachers waiting for Howe and no one was walking around the tables. My daughter and I started looking. She got a couple of grab bags and I got to the last table and saw a stack of 1962 Jello cards. There were 42 cards in the stack with 2 Willie Mays cards. The price was 120.00. I looked through the stack and there were decently cut. I had 100.00 in my wallet. I asked him his best price. He said he hadn't sold anything all day and would take 105.00. I told him I had a hundred in the wallet but, would like to have 20.00 to take my daughter to lunch, He said ok. We then sold our autograph tickets to someone else who had come in. (By then they were into the 700's) We went to lunch.

So, in the stack besides the 2 Mays, was a Koufax, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks and three that I had no idea are the incredibly tough to find:

Bobby Richardson, Bill Stafford and Curt Simmons.

Do you remember where in Dearborn the show was?