Whats the most expensive mistake you made in the vintage hobby

[maniac_73]

veryone has at least one: a card they sold too early, a fake they bought, a raw card they thought would gem, a grading fee disaster, a trimmed card they missed, an auction house surprise, a pop-report trap, etc.

What’s the hobby lesson you had to learn the hard way?
Figured this could be a good thread for newer collectors to learn from.

Mine is spending too much on lower grade cards thinking I would upgrade later. Buy in the best condition you can.

[ValKehl]

Don't you just love it when someone starts a thread asking members to post their best, favorite, worst, most expensive, etc. whatever, but doesn't post their own item? To me, this is a total turnoff!

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

Don't you just love it when someone starts a thread asking members to post their best, favorite, worst, most expensive, etc. whatever, but doesn't post their own item? To me, this is a total turnoff!

Sorry to ruin your day


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[Peter_Spaeth]

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make, and I've been there too, is passing on cards because they're slightly overpriced relative to perceived current market. I know several people, for esample, who passed on a 101 Jordan over a few hundred dollars, then the card took off on them. Same with the 311 Mantle.

[Wanaselja]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make, and I've been there too, is passing on cards because they're slightly overpriced relative to perceived current market. I know several people, for esample, who passed on a 101 Jordan over a few hundred dollars, then the card took off on them. Same with the 311 Mantle.

This.
The reason I’ll likely never own a 51B Mays, E90-1 Speaker or a 14 CJ Speaker.

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make, and I've been there too, is passing on cards because they're slightly overpriced relative to perceived current market. I know several people, for esample, who passed on a 101 Jordan over a few hundred dollars, then the card took off on them. Same with the 311 Mantle.

*angry recently purchased a N172 King Kelly noises*

"I'm not ready to spend $1000 on this card." turned into "I'm not ready to spend $3000 on this card." turned into a much more expensive landing point...

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

*angry recently purchased a N172 King Kelly noises*

"I'm not ready to spend $1000 on this card." turned into "I'm not ready to spend $3000 on this card." turned into a much more expensive landing point...

Yes! Reminds me of when I passed on a 52B Mid Grade Mantle for 700. Still kicking myself


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[bandrus1]

Panic about the economy right when covid hit and sold 56 Topps mantle PSA 6 for 1700

[Brent G.]

Not buying and keeping every pack of 1986 Fleer basketball at my local convenience store when they were marked down to $0.25 because no one wanted them.

[ALBB]

for me...missing closing/bid on a few auctions for cards I "desperately needed" ( yea right ! )

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I bought this Baltimore News Ruth...

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make, and I've been there too, is passing on cards because they're slightly overpriced relative to perceived current market. I know several people, for esample, who passed on a 101 Jordan over a few hundred dollars, then the card took off on them. Same with the 311 Mantle.

Bingo. Guys 20 years ago that said the 311 was too much are now saying the same thing.

If you want a quality card, spend the money. They rarely go down in price.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

Bingo. Guys 20 years ago that said the 311 was too much are now saying the same thing.

If you want a quality card, spend the money. They rarely go down in price.

I agree on both of your comments with one caveat if the card looks really nice. It makes it even easier to overspend. If not, it’s OK to pass, but if it’s a beauty and it’s very expensive and overpriced, buy it anyway you only live once.

[Smanzari]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make, and I've been there too, is passing on cards because they're slightly overpriced relative to perceived current market. I know several people, for esample, who passed on a 101 Jordan over a few hundred dollars, then the card took off on them. Same with the 311 Mantle.

Pretty much mine; multiple times including one priced reasonably well ~+/- $4k in 2017/18; saw same card sell for almost $19k in like 2023 (was auth/altered in a way you can't forget - IIRC, missing borders to make it "standard card size"; was BVG Graded)

[Chris-Counts]

When I was about 16, I bought a 1952 Topps Mantle for $75 and sold it a few weeks later for $150. I thought I was a genius.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by Chris-Counts

When I was about 16, I bought a 1952 Topps Mantle for $75 and sold it a few weeks later for $150. I thought I was a genius.

Did they same with and 86 fleer Jordan.


Worse was sold the highest graded 52t signed Mays for about 1/20 of what its worth now

[marzoumanian]

I put my 1967 Topps Mantle in my bicycle spokes with a clothes pin. Made a great noise. Decades later I found the card in my room. Yikes! Wrinkle city.

[Eric72]

This wasn't a big mistake from a monetary perspective. Still, it makes me angry to this day.

Back in the early '90s, I was 21 years old. I had been collecting for a while and decided to start setting up at local card shows. Like most people that age, I thought I knew it all. Someone was walking around the show, selling their cards. My young, stupid, foolish self wound up buying a fake Donruss Mattingly rookie.

I still have the card. It still makes me mad to look at the damn thing.

On the flip side, I thoroughly learned my lesson. That transaction seriously humbled me; apparently I didn't know everything. The whole experience kicked off a very successful run of about ten years as a show dealer. I was motivated to never make a mistake like that again,

[Lorewalker]

Hopefully this, https://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=312702, was not one of those that made anyone's most expensive mistake.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

Hopefully this, https://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=312702, was not one of those that made anyone's most expensive mistake.

Colectable also seems like a bad one

[pete zouras]

Returning a Wagner batting E90-1 card after having it in my possession for several weeks incorrectly believing the card was trimmed (it was a factory miscut), exchanging it for a couple common T207 HOFers, somewhere in the $300 price range. This was just before Wagners took off in the early aughts.

[bmattioli]

Ignoring this

86 Fleer Basketball

[raulus]

Well, if we’re talking about the biggest economic mistake, it’s probably being too focused on the Mays oddball cards pre-pandemic, at the expense of buying nicer versions of Mays mainline cards. I figured I would circle back to make upgrades to the mainline cards once I finished buying the oddballs. Only by then, the prices on the mainline cards had gone up 10x in some cases, whereas most of the oddball stuff hasn’t moved nearly as much.

Naturally all of this just means that I’m going to need to live with the nice stuff that I have rather than trying to upgrade further.

[bnorth]

Vintage would be selling my T206 Red Cobb way to early. I bought it round 1/4 of the way into the big run up in prices on them. Then sold it about half way through the run up. I made a very nice chunk of change but they are now 4 times what I paid for it.

In life card wise not buying a ton of scrap/error cards from Score. Due to life circumstances I had the opportunity to buy them directly from Score and only took advantage of it one time.

[Tyruscobb]

When the pandemic first hit, I thought card prices would plummet along with the economy. I did not foresee the mass stimulus checks, or that cabin fever would cause people to jump back into the hobby increasing the demand.

In March 2020, I sent a lot of cards to auctions, including a Babe Ruth and a Willie Mays rookie.

I thought I was so smart. I’d sell before the crash and then buy the cards back (maybe even higher graded ones) at significantly reduced prices. A win-win. I would make some profit and buy better cards while still keeping some money in my pocket from the sales. Little did I know that I’ll likely never own those cards again, at least in the grades I had, due to the boom.

[jchcollins]

In the early 2000's, sold a nicely centered and boldly colored '52 Topps Jackie #312 for $500.

It had a vertical crease that was hard to see, and my guesstimate if it had been graded would have been a 2. Oh well. I was in my mid 20's and couldn't afford what I had paid for it then (even less...) and such is life. At the time, it wasn't a horrible decision.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

Hopefully this, https://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=312702, was not one of those that made anyone's most expensive mistake.

It always makes me nervous when these old threads are posted bc I never recall if I commented on them, and if I did, whether my comments stand the test of time. I did comment in that thread and I am happy with my comments 5 years later.

Meanwhile, I have made a ton of mistakes. Mistakes can be assets if you learn from them. Two general mistakes I have made over the years is (1) equating rarity with value- just because something is rare does NOT mean it’s valuable or desirable, and (2) hoarding rare items thinking I can corner the market, only to lose money when I realized that without me as a buyer/bidder, the rare items aren’t worth nearly as much, especially when I didnt have the patience to sell them over a longer period.

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

It always makes me nervous when these old threads are posted bc I never recall if I commented on them, and if I did, whether my comments stand the test of time. I did comment in that thread and I am happy with my comments 5 years later.

Meanwhile, I have made a ton of mistakes. Mistakes can be assets if you learn from them. Two general mistakes I have made over the years is (1) equating rarity with value- just because something is rare does NOT mean it’s valuable or desirable, and (2) hoarding rare items thinking I can corner the market, only to lose money when I realized that without me as a buyer/bidder, the rare items aren’t worth nearly as much, especially when I didnt have the patience to sell them over a longer period.

I think we all have put our foot in our mouth at times. Glad you are good with your post on the thread I linked. Not sure what you said but I agree with you 100% on the mistakes. Done both of those more than once. I am not in your income bracket (at least I don't think I am) but it is all relative.

[dfletch00]

Enjoy this thread ... glad to know i'm not alone !!! sold a ruth 1921 exhibit years ago .. not a yankee fan but would have worked well for a Joe Jackson trade now ... then again have some great cards and more importantly enjoyed my Cleveland collecting ..

[whitehse]

If you were in the hobby in the 80's and 90's it would be very easy to regret not buying a mint '52 Mantle from his famous find and laughing at the fact he was asking $2500 for each of the Mantles from this stash.

I truly considered hocking my future to buy one of those cards until EVERYONE in my life talked me out of it.

[ctownboy]

I am sure that everybody can look back and see some small deals (relative to their income or net worth at the time) that they can regret not buying either because the items have increased in value or because of how rare they are.

One of mine was not buying a stack of Curtis Ireland Candy cards plus some other cards from the early 1920's for $1,300 in the early 1990's.

The big boy, however, was not buying this 1914 Joe Jackson Cracker Jack in 2008. It was at a local auction and sold for $5,000. I would have had to dip into my IRA to buy it.

I know, saving for retirement was the right thing to do but at that time I was 38 and would have had time to make it up. Also, looking back I have to wonder if I could have / would have invested the money in the IRA the right way to match the amount that card has increased over the last 17 years.

[Exhibitman]

1925 Exhibit Gehrig, Babe Ruth RC, 1933 Goudey Ruths, 1934 Goudey Gehrig portrait: all items I did not purchase because I was too busy buying something else far less important.

1952 Topps Mays, 1954 Topps Aaron PSA 7, 1954 Topps Mays PSA 7: all sold too early and not replaced.

In 1987, walking past a table of 1986 Fleer to buy...a Willis Reed card.

[Orioles1954]

Sold an EPDG Cobb Bat Off PSA 3 for $1500
1933 Goudey 181 Ruth PSA 3 for $1800


Yeahhhhhh…….

[Stampsfan]

If you're a hobby veteran (20, 30, 40 years), pretty much any vintage could have been picked up for a fraction of today. T206 Cobbs, 1933 Ruths, Mantles, and any other sport out there. I had about 8 OPC Gretzky RC's at one time, and sold them to buy diapers for our first daughter.

Later I moved a 1936 WWG Dimaggio for $14K. Likely a $50-75K card now.

Could have bought a full 1911-12 C55 hockey set for $1500.

But overall, most purchases I've made have ended up OK. Vintage is blue chip IMO.

[steve B]

So many cards or lots of cards I didn't buy in the late 70's to maybe 83.

T206 Hof ers at $10 each... including Young. Eventually most were $20.
Goudey Ruths at $100, at least 5 of them the guys in the shop handed me saying "you need to buy this"
Orr Topps Rookie for $100, crazy for a hockey card at the time.
A boxful of Topps felt backs for what ever tiny price they wanted. 60? 100 probably at least 200 of them.
"Give me 10K and I'll find you a Wagner" Credible at the time....
52 Mantles at 1977-83 prices. Not an easy card despite being a double print, but not unavailable if you had the money.

And of course a bit later on the 86 Fleer. I bought a handful of packs to see what they were like, went back the next week for more and what had been and entire 4x4 island in McRorys was gone. Of course, then passed up a full set for 600 a few years later.


On the other hand, I did get a bunch of stuff that while it isn't worth life changing money would be very hard to get today.

[darwinbulldog]

I suppose I could have picked up some 1984 Star Jordans for $1 apiece when I went to my first show back in '86. Tough to beat that, but I did sell my PSA 1 '52 Topps Mantle for $2,000 20 years ago.

[62corvette]

Summer of 1973. Passed on a T206 Wagner for under $1000. Right out of 9 years of college, and no money.

[EGreenwood]

I was working on a signed 55 Bowman set and had about 20 cards to go. I was too cheap to pull the trigger on a $50 signing fee for Mantle. It was such a dumb move, I sold the set a couple of years later for about $1,000. That was an even dumber move. But hey, I kept the (pre-accident) Campanella and a couple of others.

[samosa4u]

Most expensive ?? Hmmm ... let's see ...
I bought a 1958 Alifabolaget Pele rookie PSA 8.5 for $6,500 USD and sold it about a year later for double. The guy who bought it from me sold it for over 20k shortly after that (during the World Cup). So, what happened next? The pandemic hit and a PSA 9 copy of this card ended up selling for over a million f**king dollars !! Not kidding either !! My mother wanted to kill me because she did not want me to sell it. She still brings it up to this day ...

[puckpaul]

i passed on multiple T206 Planks and 33/34G Lajoies over the 35 years I have been collecting….not the right grade or look of the card for the price, always thought i would find the right one,. Now the ship has sailed and they are at levels where I will never own them likely. The recent Goudey Lajoie in REA really hit this home, as I didnt even like the card, but it was a 5 holder and it went for almost $200k! Oh well.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by 62corvette

Summer of 1973. Passed on a T206 Wagner for under $1000. Right out of 9 years of college, and no money.

Mic drop!

[Hankphenom]

In the late 70s, a nondescript listing in the Trader Speaks had for sale what they claimed was a silver dollar inscribed from the famous Walter Johnson replication of George Washington's feat of throwing a coin over the Rappahannock River. The price was $60. I passed on it, thinking it could e a phony from the time or later, how would you know? Later, I came to find out that WaJo did indeed successfully toss two of the three inscribed coins they gave him across the river, and that the one in the listing was probably one of those. I have to wonder what that coin would bring in an auction today, but it would be a heck of a lot more than sixty bucks!

[robw1959]

I have several, including buying multiple 1950 Topps team cards in 1975 that I thought were so scarce and valuable - paying $20 for each of five of those when I could have had two Goudey Ruth cards in the same mail order auction for $50 each (Frank Nagy's auction).

My selling mistakes were probably just as bad, including selling several 1955 Topps exmt/nm cards (Koufax, Clemente, Mays) along with a 1957 Topps Mays, 1957 Topps Mantle 1955 Bowman Mantle, 1963 Topps Stargell for a grand total of $1500 to Sports Alley of San Diego in 1989. I also sold a 1933 Goudey Ruth #181 PSA 4 for $2200 about 15 years ago.

[gunboat82]

I took a beating on Ruth strip cards in the past year or two, with the biggest loss coming from a W511 strip card that was worth far less than I thought.

[NiceDocter]

Starting with #2….. everything I ever sold especially years ago.
And Number One of course…… Everything I didn’t buy. Just got to be happy with what I did buy I guess…..

[trib01]

Selling my 52 Topps Mantle back in the day for $1,500. Now, of course, an easy $20,000

Oh...and my PSA 7 Koufax rookie for just under $2,000

Boston Store Walter Johnson SGC 50 for pennies. The list goes on and on.

[Kzoo]

A couple signed cards I sold too soon.... a '52 Topps Mays about 15 years ago that is eventually coming up in a Hunt Auction ( I saw it on preview at the National) and a '47 Tip Top Berra about 10 years ago that I mailed to him to get signed back in the day for $35 (I believe that's what they were charging).

Painful.

[sb1]

Technically for the thread purposes it should probably be about cards owned and sold vs. what they would bring now. All of us have had hundreds or thousands of missed buying opportunities, it's not really the same as having an item and fumbling it away, for lack of a better term.

Let me know when it's time to weigh in with the winner....Or biggest loser as the case may be

[judsonhamlin]

Picked up a vg/vge O’Leary for $60 at one of the last Ft. Washington shows and thought I was a genius when I consigned it with Barry Sloate and got about $200 for it. To be fair, I offered it to Levi at the show itself for 120 and he passed, so there’s that.

[LEHR]

Around 1998'ish I started collecting high grade T206's. I amassed approximately 20 PSA 8's and 15 PSA 7's in a little under a year; all commons but including at least half a dozen southern leaguers. I got bored with them and sold them off to pursue other things. At the time I was getting $400-$500 for the PSA 8's and $125-$150 for the 7's. Now that little group of cards would be six figures easily.