Collecting Mistakes

[Mark17]

Many mistakes, mostly selling stuff I should've held. The one that made me feel stupidest was when I was collecting GU bats. I logged onto ebay, ran my usual searches, and found what I thought was a gold mine. A beautiful Owen Bush GU bat that was ending in just a couple minutes. Well, I knew Owen was actually Donie Bush, the famous Tiger, so I hastily flew into action. I won it for about $250, which I thought was the steal of the year.

When it arrived, though, there was something amiss. My first clue is that it arrived in a medium flat rate USPS Priority Mail box. Turns out, it was a mini bat. I went back to the original listing and while it didn't actually say "mini bat," it didn't say anything intentionally misleading either. So I just kept it and sold it later at a loss, as a lesson learned.

[Touch'EmAll]

Many year ago I bought a '39 Ted Williams RC PSA 8 but centering side/side was bad (not quite bad enough for the "oc"). That was mistake #1.

Frustrated with myself I sold it through REA soon after - mistake #2. A very low bid got it and I ended up taking a bath.

[ullmandds]

None of us have a crystal ball, so I cannot include timing of the sale of cards on my hobby mistakes list. Esp since i regret practically one!

At a card show in nj in the early 80’s i bought a fake mayo lave cross for a few bucks. It didnt have a black back!

In college 90’ish i bought an obviously fake to me now fro joy uncut sheet for $150

Bought a fake t3 on ebay that turned out to be a color photo copy pasted onto a piece of wood. Not sure how that happened???? no

Ive been pretty lucky i guess.

[71buc]

About ten years ago I had the find of my lifetime. Although I didn’t recognize it as such at the time. I won’t go into the details but I purchased these six unopened boxes of 1976-77 Topps basketball cards at a local comic shop. I paid $20.00 a box. The following day I sold them to Baseball Card Exchange for $600 a box. I was thrilled and had a very fun hobby shopping day. I bought a nice 1955 Clemente, a pretty 1954 Hank Aaron, a game worn Pudge Rodriguez jersey, and a game used Reggie Jackson Black Adirondack among some other fun things. Year before last Goldin sold a single box certified by Baseball Card Exchange for $13,000. I am still traumatized by my absolute lack of foresight.

[bmattioli]

1986 Fleer Basketball..

[jcmtiger]

Had complete Topps sets 1967 thru 1990 . I was moving to Las Vegas in 1996. Ended up selling before I move. This was before grading, so those cards especially 1960 & 1970’s probably would went for bigger money after grading.

[The Detroit Collector]

Earlier on into my collection I bought numerous cards raw which were trimmed or altered. Didn't do the research I should have prior to buying. I saw the cards and was too quick to jump on it.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

1986 Fleer Basketball..

Ditto. I vividly remember scoffing at a table at a local card show full of 1986 Fleer back in 1987. Bought a signed 1972 Willis Reed instead of MJ. D’oh!

[GoCubsGo32]

Early 2010's I got back into hobby. Started into vintage cards since I didn't really have any as a kid. Saw a very nice 1948 Leaf Babe Ruth...paid a decent amount..end up being a fake