Worst Missed Buy of Sports Memorabilia

margoaepi · #1 10-05-2011, 01:01 PM

I only really got back into collecting about 3 years ago. There is a local flea that I sometimes hit up if I am bored and the wife is otherwise occupied. When I was first getting involved again a dealer had a 1930's era scrapbook of various baseball clippings, and what turned out to be a near complete set of Butterfinger premiums, including Ruth. He wanted $200, and probably would have come down. I walked away, did some grocery shopping, went home, reconsidered, and by the time I got back it was long gone. Lesson learned the hard way.

Exhibitman · #2 10-05-2011, 04:18 PM

I will always regret not doing whatever it took to buy a T206 Wagner about 20 years ago. The biggest bone-headed maneuvers I can recall both happened at one National on a Tuesday: (1) having a stack of 1918 Zeenuts in my hand, and not even bothering to ask a price because there wasn't an O'Doul in there [later found out the price was very, very low per card], and (2) seeing a couple of E121 Henry Johnson backs for sale at the same price as regular cards but not buying them because I don't collect them even though I knew they were tough to find. D'oh!

jsage · #3 10-05-2011, 05:45 PM

It is not very vintage - but not buying the 1986 Fleer Basketball Wax Boxes at Costco for $10 per box. When they were first issued, they had big supply.

Like most of us, I was a "Baseball Purist" and thinking -who would want to collect Basketball Cards?
At that time most people did not realize the Jordan rookie would quickly escalate to $1,000 for a top graded card...................

slidekellyslide · #4 10-08-2011, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsage

It is not very vintage - but not buying the 1986 Fleer Basketball Wax Boxes at Costco for $10 per box. When they were first issued, they had big supply.

Like most of us, I was a "Baseball Purist" and thinking -who would want to collect Basketball Cards?
At that time most people did not realize the Jordan rookie would quickly escalate to $1,000 for a top graded card...................

There was a guy who had a cardshop in his basement that I would go to once a week in the mid 80s...he had mistakenly been shipped a box of the 86 fleer basketball and wanted to know if I wanted it at his cost... I told him I'd take a box if it helped him any...I opened the box when I got home..put two complete sets together..got three Jordan's..so I gave the extra Jordan to my brother in law who is a huge North Carolina fan...I sold both sets off before the Jordan card went crazy. I still remember seeing ads in the SCD for cases of that stuff at $20,000+

steve B · #5 10-09-2011, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsage

It is not very vintage - but not buying the 1986 Fleer Basketball Wax Boxes at Costco for $10 per box. When they were first issued, they had big supply.

Like most of us, I was a "Baseball Purist" and thinking -who would want to collect Basketball Cards?
At that time most people did not realize the Jordan rookie would quickly escalate to $1,000 for a top graded card...................

It's amazing how many of us passed those up. For me it was McCrorys in the mall. They had a full island display, 8ft long with 3 tiered shelves and cabinets below. All 86 fleer basketball. I bought a handful of packs, stopped by a few days later and bought a few more. Found out they were supposed to be hard to find, went back and they were all gone. Total time maybe 10 days, and only 2-3 days between the last few I bought from the still full display and the empty display.

Steve B

mr2686 · #6 10-13-2011, 09:10 AM

First "big" show I ever attended at the Anaheim convention center. Must have been about 40 or 50 very long rows of dealers. The very first row I found a framed and matted lithograph of Ty Cobb with a signed Check dated the day and year I was born. Not having any experience with shows, I decided to go through and look at every other table before deciding that I really really wanted that Cobb. Of course, it was long gone when I got back.

Exhibitman · #7 10-17-2011, 12:34 PM

Mike's story reminds me of when I was about 14 or 15 and at a local show here in LA. A dealer had a stack [I mean dozens] of Cobb checks at $50 each. I thought about it but $50 was a big piece of my budget and there were so many of them that I passed.

Kzoo · #8 10-17-2011, 08:41 PM

I remember the card like it was yesterday and exactly where I saw it. I believe it was around '86 or '87 and my parents used to drag me to an antique show once in a while on Sunday afternoons. Now fast forward twenty some years, and I love going to the same antique show during the summer. To this day, I remember the exact spot where a dealer had a '52 Topps Mantle in a thick screw down case for $500. It was in Good condition with some soft corners, but I only had like $20 back then and I could get a lot of 35 cent wax packs with that money. That Mantle was way out of my league, but I'll never forget it.

Matt

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