What cards did you get for a steal, although you didn't realize it at the time?

[sb1]

In the late 1990's I was set up at a very small hotel show on a Sunday. About 3:00 a teenager walked in with a handful of high powered cards for the time, most of which I don't recall. He walked the room and I was the only one with $$ or interested. We spent 30 minutes trying to hammer out a deal, and then he asked "what time is it?" I said 3:30, he said "I have to be home by 4:00!" he took my $2,000 and hit the door. I spent the next hour before the show closed just knowing that his dad was coming thru the door anytime to get his cards back, assuming he had lifted them. But, alas no dad.

Fast forward I only have one of the cards left, which others thought was fake, but I did not. For $200 I did ok.

[bmattioli]

I would have to say that 99.99 percent of any seasoned collector would know at the time of the purchase or find that a "steal of a deal" was made .. I know I try..

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

I would have to say that 99.99 percent of any seasoned collector would know at the time of the purchase or find that a "steal of a deal" was made .. I know I try..

See my post (#40)...it can happen. Neither seller, buyer (a well-seasoned veteran of the prewar collecting world), or any other of the underbidders had any idea about the special, one of a kind card in the lot I purchased.

Brian

[Cmvorce]

I bought both of these on eBay around 2017/2018. The Jackie was a PSA 2 and the Mays a PSA 1. My offers of $480 for Mays and $750 for Jackie were both accepted. I paid for them with funds I got from rolling my change and selling DVDs to a used record store.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by murphy8276

I was scrolling through ebay just over 5 years ago and ran into an "Old Yankees Schedule Lot, including Willie Mays Card". I thought it was weird to include a Willie Mays card with a Yankees lot, and noticed that the card included was a 1951 Bowman Willie Mays RC. The seller had it identified in the listing as a reprint included for free with the scheduling cards.

I was having trouble believing it was a reprint no matter how many times the seller told me it was because I had never seen a "reprint of a 51 bowman" with a print dot on it and this Mays RC clearly had one right on his name. Before I lost it to someone else who was curious, I went ahead and purchased the lot. I wasn't interested at all in the schedules so I was honest with the seller that I thought the Mays card may be real, so they were welcome to keep the rest of the lot.
They were adamant it was a reprint and they surprisingly sent me a refund minus shipping when they resold the schedules the next day...



When the card arrived a few days later, it was exactly what I thought and I still cannot believe to this day I got a Willie Mays RC for only the cost of the shipping!

It's pretty hard to beat that bargain. I'd send the seller $100 or something lol