Tell us about a memorable find (or one that got away)

I've had a few minor "finds" during my time collecting, but living in Canada, they don't pop up very often at all. At least the "in person" kind of find. Most of my "finds" have come by scouring the nooks and crannies of ebay, back when good stuff fell through the cracks when listed in strange categories.

Which brings me to my one that got away

This was at least 6 years ago, but I still kick myself about it till this day. I had more free time on my hands then (probably too much) so I was spending my afternoon searching the "paper items" category and came across a live auction that included 15-20 postcards. The majority were modern PC's (1970's or later), but my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I noticed a 1914 BOSTON GARTER LAJOIE (the b&w ones) pictured there in the pile. Unbelievable. It was in nice shape too, no creases or paper loss, just a ragged cut on the top border. There were still a few days left in the auction so I was on pins and needles for a while, but there were hardly any page views, which was encouraging. So I planned on placing a late ceiling bid on the auction. But alas, when the auction ticked down and I was ready to place my bid, I realized that the auction had gone live to the floor, and the internet component had finished!! The auction ended for LESS THAN $1000 (my ceiling bid was multiples of that). Needless to say I felt like a huge idiot.



So there's my "one that got away". Hope to hear some great find stories, or even some more heartbreakers like my BG Lajoie story!

Cheers all.

This might be under the one that got away category. Around 1992 I had a lady contact me about an old photo of a baseball player she had and was curious what it was worth. We met and she showed me the photo. It was a cabinet photo depicting a player in a Omaha uniform. When I turned it over, there was a long note written on the back. It was a love letter and signed Charles Nichols. I asked if she knew who the player was. She said that all she knew was that her great grandmother dated the man for some time and until moved East. Understandably, she wasn't too interested in parting with it and was never able to get her sell it to me.

Jay

About a year ago, I attended a small card show located about twenty minutes from my home. I arrived a few minutes early before the show opened and came across a dealer who had a significant amount of vintage material (albeit, overpriced).

The dealer had two stacks of T206's that he claimed he had just purchased. I went through the first stack pretty quickly, seeing nothing but high prices.

As I made my way through the second grouping, it hit me. A few weeks earlier I read some valuable information regarding the very card I was holding: the T206 Murr'y variation.

I plunked down the $45 sticker price for the card and headed home. Through some research and helpful insight from a few T206 collectors, I shipped it off to SGC for grading.




A few weeks later I sold the card for $5,200 to a fellow collector (which also enabled me to buy my car).


My other find consisted of a T205 Moran Stray Line that I bought in early '06 for $20. Oddly enough, it was from the same dealer.

i missed out on julie's t206 plank because i was/am poor...thanks for bringing back bad memories ben!

I missed out on Julie's T3 Johnson and E90-1 Plank. Thanks for bringing back bad memories Q.

cccc wrote:i missed out on julie's t206 plank because i was/am poor...thanks for bringing back bad memories ben!

Anytime Quan! I'm sure you'd be tickled to know what she sold it for. Let's just say it was quite a bargain, even for then.

btw. I've conversed with Julie recently and she's doing quite well, as lively and good natured as she ever was

asoriano wrote:A few weeks later I sold the card for $5,200 to a fellow collector (which also enabled me to buy my car).

That's phenomenal. Just goes to show that if you know your stuff, get a little lucky, and play your cards right, the hobby can pay you back in spades.

When I was eleven years old (1996) I had $30-$40 in accumulated allowance that I was looking quite forward to spending on some form of baseball card. I was visiting an antique store with my mom and grandmother and found a case with three T206 cards for $10 a piece (I have no idea of the players) as well as a 1912 Helmar Leather (again, unsure of the player) for a similar price. After briefly weighing my options, I decided against purchasing any of these, as they were old and I hadn't heard of any of the players. With my money I bought a box of 1996 Fleer Ultra baseball cards instead. At the time I felt vindicated with pulling a Mark McGwire insert card that is now worth maybe five bucks. It was a few years before I realized the ramifications of what had happened. Ahhh, the bliss of childhood card collecting. It crosses my mind every so often and still makes me shake my head in shame.

[code]We were on our way down to Ridge Maryland around two months ago when we stopped at an antique store in Mechanicsburg, where I had no expectation of finding anything vintage baseball. I was idlely pressing the button on one of those carousel display cases watching crap whirl past when my wife interrupted me to have me take a look at something she found. One of the many things she collects is old autograph books (that sometimes have unusual drawings), and she looked inside what she thought was one (that was actually a yearbook) that had pictures of Ty Cobb inside it. It turns out it was a Ty Cobb scrapbook pasted in about one-third of a 1905 yearbook for Western Maryland College. It's really cool as it documents his career from around 1911, his battle with Lajoie for the batting title, his controversial slide into HR Baker, and various articles about being the greatest player of all time. If that isn't cool enough, there are team pictures in the back of it of baseball, football, and basketball teams (w/ a female basketball team; I read elsewhere Western Maryland was the first college to go co-ed south of the Mason-Dixon line). Anyway, I got it for cheap and it made my vacation.

rman444 wrote:I missed out on Julie's T3 Johnson and E90-1 Plank. Thanks for bringing back bad memories Q.

rman you would've had better luck with them for sure, even tho they both graded 6s.

the orientals are still hurting you didn't go harder after the broadleaf johnson...should've stood firm in the face of bad advice...

A couple Years ago, I ran across a small group (10) Successful Farming M101's at a tri-Star show. Dealer didn't know what he had and I didn't either at the time. I didn't buy them, I think he had 40.00 each on them and they were mostly beaters as most SF's are. Well I remembered them and did some research and had to wait on pins and needles for 3 months until he came back to town for the Astrofest show at Minute Maid Park. He was from Louisianna. To make a long story short, he still had them, I paid 22.00 each for them. I think I realized around 3800.00 for the 10 when it was all said and done. All were commons.

Thats my best recent find.

cccc wrote:

rman444 wrote:I missed out on Julie's T3 Johnson and E90-1 Plank. Thanks for bringing back bad memories Q.

rman you would've had better luck with them for sure, even tho they both graded 6s.

the orientals are still hurting you didn't go harder after the broadleaf johnson...should've stood firm in the face of bad advice...

Holy crap!! I can't believe you brought that up! Let bad memories from 5 years ago die already!!