30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Not So Local Card Shop

According to Google, the nearest baseball card shop is 13.8 miles from my doorstep.  The last time I shopped there was way over a year ago.  It's probably been closer to two or three years, but distance doesn't have anything to do with it.  It's their card prices.  I completely understand that they need to make a profit to pay the bills, but I have bills to pay as well... which is why I've been mostly a bargain hunter ever since I reentered the hobby a little over a decade ago.

One of the places I hit up for deals is an online card shop that's roughly 2,400 miles away from me.  A few days after my birthday, I checked out their inventory and found a few cards for my team collections, a few singles for my "sports card time capsule", a cool 1 of 1 for my hockey collection, and a great deal on this autographed card:

1998 SP Authentic Chirography #TH

Helton is one of the greatest players in Colorado Rockies' franchise history.  I was surprised at how little pack-pulled on-card autographs he has.  I was even more surprised to see the four dollar price tag on this card.

Next up are a trio of autographs for my team collections:

2013-14 Panini Rookie Anthology #179
2019 Gypsy Queen Indigo Autographs #GQA-MO
2016 Prestige Rookie Signatures Xtra Points Red #JRE

These three cards added $10 to the running total, which isn't exactly a great deal.  However there's plenty of upside for these three rising stars.

Here are a pair of singles for a project I'm currently working on:

2016 Leaf Trinity Patch Autographs #PA-DH1
2016 Donruss Optic Rookie Signatures #RR-KT

I purchased the Hudson for $7 and the Marte for $2, which brings my total purchase so far up to $23.

I'm planning on putting some cards (and possibly packs) into a box and sealing it up for one or two years... then opening it up and seeing how much their values have appreciated or depreciated.  As soon as I add a few more items to the box, I'll seal it up and write a post about them.

And finally here's one of those Vault 1 of 1 cards:

2010-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects National Pride Jersey #NATP-08

This card matched the Dakota Hudson as the highest priced cards in the purchase.  Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, I don't really buy many hockey cards anymore, but I really like Subban and his passion for the game.  When I saw this card, I thought it would contain a piece of his Team Canada jersey, but it actually features a jersey swatch from his from his OHL days with the Belleville Bulls.

There were three more cards I added to this order, which when you tack on shipping brought the price to an even $40.  At the time of purchase, I was really eager to pull the trigger and make this purchase.  However after breaking things down in this post, it doesn't quite look like a bargain anymore.

Oh well... too late now.  It's not like I can hop into my car, drive to this not-so-local card shop, and ask for a refund.  Wait.  Do local card shops even offer refunds to customers with buyer's remorse?  Probably not.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

9 comments:

Adam Kaningher said...

I've seen a lot of Helton cards, but never that one. Nice find!

Big Tone said...

Helton was such a beast!I'm gonna have to google his career stats.I forgot about him.

Sean said...

4$ for a Helton autographed card is a great deal! Nice find.

Jon said...

I'm looking forward to seeing what goes in the time capsule, although I'm hoping that you leave the stuff in there for more than a year, as such a short period of time wouldn't make for a very interesting time capsule.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Good idea on the time capsule. Now don’t forget you sealed them and where you put the box.

Fuji said...

adam kaningher - i actually pulled this helton back in the day, but either sold it or traded it years ago. glad to have another one in my collection

big tone - yeah, his numbers are pretty awesome. plus i love the fact that he's a one franchise player

sean - thanks. definitely inspired this purchase. without this card, i probably wouldn't have placed the order

jon - it'll definitely be one to two years. i though about doing it longer, but i don't think i have the patience to wait that long. right now i have four cards for the box.

sumomenkoman - i'll probably just bring it into my classroom, since i have my students write letters to themselves where they open them 20 months later when they graduate.

Spyda-Man said...

Which online card shop were these cards from? I'm always looking for great deals on Bo cards?

Matt said...

Great stuff! that Helton is a great card.

Fuji said...

spyda-man - cincy cards and supplies

sport card collectors - he's just one of those guys who doesn't have a lot of signed stuff out there