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

[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.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by 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.

I complain about the completely worthless search engine they have and how the majority of the cards on COMC are insanely overpriced. Saying that like John I I spend a lot of time on there looking for cards. I have found easily 10 cards that I paid less than $5 each for that I sold for several hundred to a few thousand each.

[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?

[ocjack]

Over the course of many years during the 80's and 90's, I would rummage through dealer's 1957 Topps commons looking for the Baker error card. As to scarcity, after two decades I only found 2. Paid the price of a '57 common each time.

[MantleMarisFordBerra]

A bit of a curve ball for this board but several years ago I entered a vintage toy store with my (then) young son. While he picked out a few toys I saw these sitting on a shelf - totally raw, not even in penny sleeves! For those that don’t know the 1986 Carnation Wrestling set is extremely rare. The Road Warriors card in this condition goes for approximately $600 while the Martel would fetch around $200. Guy threw ‘em in at no charge when I purchased some toys for my son. Not too shabby!

[jthorst75]

Not card related but rather coins. I bought a $9 bag of a hundred wheat pennies for my son as he was trying to complete his wheat penny books. We were both shocked to find a 1909 S amongst them. Not big money but it easily filled the spot he had in his book. I later ended up buying a graded S VDB for him, that one is a toughy.