The One That Got Away

[riggs336]

I know this is a frequent post, but I always enjoy seeing what fellow collectors have to say.
:
I have several candidates, but two always come to mind: in 1972 I was offered an autographed 1952 Topps Mantle for $75 and twenty-five years later I turned down a completely set of 1949 Leaf baseball for $3000 because some had pinholes.

I passed on them. What did you let get away?

[Ronnie73]

I have a very long list, especially since eBay and so many other auction houses are online now. Before internet days, everything was very slow paced and easier to remember certain things. I started using eBay in 1998 and even a year before that, I was starting AOL chat rooms and selling coins, stamps, comic books, and baseball cards. The only item I remember getting away from me was back in 1986 when I was 13 years old. I live in Connecticut and a couple weeks during the summers, the family would drive to our summer cottage vacation home in Vermont. I'd try to save money during the year to bring with me. There were a couple small stores that had collectibles and we were right on Lake Champlain so some money went to fishing supplies also. I remember that summer so clear. I had $80 saved for 2 weeks of time. During the road trip up to Vermont, you could see a monster sized tag sale from the highway. I begged to stop, so we did. there were so many different sellers, it was impossible to try and see everything. Plus I was only 13 years old, had limited money, and this was before the internet, so everything was learned by picking up a book and reading it or listening to conversations at dealer tables. While I was at the monster tag sale, (which my parents didn't want to be at), I was able to locate a guy selling comic books. So my parents were like, find something, and lets go. We still had a couple more hours of driving to go. So I started searching a random box of comics. At the time, I was more of a coins, stamps, and baseball cards collector. But I had friends I'd always trade with, and a few of them really liked comic books. Half way through the box, I felt my heart stop beating. It was a Detective Comics #27 (First Appearance of Batman). It was in a comic bag but not even a backboard. Nearly all his comics were that way. It also wasn't some oddball comic that didn't fit. The whole box was very early 1930's and 1940's. Very early issues of Superman, Batman, Action Comics, and many Detective Comics. I even saw the Action Comics #1 (First Appearance of Superman) but it was priced at $200 and I only had $80 and my parents were really pushing to go. I pulled out the Detective Comics #27 and I didn't see a price on it, so I asked the guy. He acted like I was wasting his time because I was young and probably had no money. He said $50. I was thinking, I had $80 to last me two weeks and we haven't even gotten there yet and I'm thinking about spending more than half of my money during the first 2 hours of vacation. So I put it back, made my parents happy by saying, lets go. That whole rest of the ride, I regretted not buying it. I asked my parents if the tag sale was still set up on our way home, if we could stop again, they said yes. I only ended up spending $20 during the whole 2 weeks while in Vermont. On the way home, no sign of the tag sale. It's haunted me ever since.

[Casey2296]

I frequented a card store as a young man and remember contemplating the purchase of a 1915 CJ Jackson that the owner had. I forget the price but it must have been in the few hundreds at the time. I didn't buy it because I thought it wasn't a very good looking card and I was also on a very limited budget. No regrets though I still have cards from that shop that didn't get away like a near mint 52 Jackie that I picked up for $200 which is imo one of the most beautiful cards ever produced.

I've learned over the years to take a Buddhist approach to life and that includes collecting cards. If a card is meant to be part of my collection then the opportunity will present itself when the time is right and I've done the work to be prepared to buy it. Acquiring a 54 Wilson Franks Williams comes to mind, after months of looking at beat up examples I thought that was all that was available and I just couldn't bring myself to buy one, so I wait and contemplate that particular card may not be meant for my collection. But one morning the opportunity presented itself and I knew that was the card, it took under 30 seconds to make the decision to buy it. I've learned to also trust my instinct and any time I've gone against that I've regretted the purchase.

That's one advantage to having a fairly long and diverse checklist. It may be months before before a Cracker Jack that fits my parameters presents itself but in the meantime a Goudey on my list may present itself. As a matter of fact it's been a good Goudey month for me after months of not buying a single Goudey.

Another example: I'm currently looking to add a 66T Willie Mays to my collection. My condition preference for any 60's Topps card is NM 7 and there's not a lot out there so I wait, watch, build up my nest egg, and be prepared for when the "Say Hey Kid" is ready to come home.

[oldeboo]

Thanks for sharing that great story Ron, although painful to hear. It's not that there aren't great finds that can happen nowadays, it's just so uncommon with the ability to research items on the internet. You're more likely to find a $50 comic today that someone wants 1 million for.

You used to be able to find some decent stuff at yard sales and the like on a regular basis, the last few I've been to were just peoples junk that they didn't want to donate or pay to get rid of. Anything of value they probably already sold online. There still has to be a few of those legendary finds waiting to happen.

With the internet, now we have the ability to see a much higher frequency of rare items. That's the case for me at least. I think I generate lost opportunities about every week, in some cases every single day. Since they tend to be smaller "deals" I tend to move on easily though. One pops up in my head once in awhile that I wish I had bid higher on or pulled the trigger.

[PowderedH2O]

In 1987 I was in a Milwaukee card store and he had gobs of 1986-87 Fleer Basketball. He offered me an entire box for $5. Nope, not interested. I bought two team sets of minor league baseball cards because I was certain that Sam Horn and Jose Cano were going to be the next Reggie Jackson and Nolan Ryan.

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by PowderedH2O

In 1987 I was in a Milwaukee card store and he had gobs of 1986-87 Fleer Basketball. He offered me an entire box for $5. Nope, not interested.

I feel your pain. Back in 1986, I was the accountant for a candy & tobacco wholesaler in Maine. Our main customers were small mom & pop stores throughout the state. We purchased 5 cases of 1986 Fleer Basketball. Our salesmen sold less than 10 boxes and asked to send the rest back. Baseball cards did fairly well in the area, but basketball and football sales struggled. I could have purchased the remaining 4 plus cases at cost (around $5/box). With a family of three young boys, I passed and they went back to Fleer.

[rats60]

The worst was not buying a Rosen find Mantle for 3k because I had a nice one that would later grade 6. Second would not buying a Plank and Magie for 10k that were in the 5-6 range. Both in the mid-eighties. Another bad one was not buying a LeBron Exquisite RPA. I was bidding on them when they were under 2k and kept getting out bid. Now a 200 k+ card.

[Republicaninmass]

Passed on 2 signed topps 52 sam jones and tom morgan. Neither has ever surfaced, and neither have been graded by psa

[bnorth]

This is a very recent story and I ended up with the card. I bought a Eddie Mathews Rookie from a fellow member. It had some paper loss on the front and had a small section of the border recolored. The paper loss was very thin and wasn't ugly. The card had amazing eye appeal. I traded it with a fellow member for a nice T206 Red Cobb. I recently sold the Cobb for a nice profit over what I paid for the Mathews. So money wise it was a great deal. In my reality I would rather still have that Mathews card. So I let a card I should have kept get away. Both cards have excellent new homes though.