30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Flea Market Finds #45: Pogs, Coins, Plastic, Cardboard, Porcelain, and Comics

I have seriously hit a rough patch in terms of flea market finds.  Last weekend, I found a couple of cool items.  However my final purchase of the weekend definitely left me feeling a little ill.

When:  Saturday, August 7th
Where:  De Anza Flea Market
What:  Comics & Sports Figures
How Much?:  $10.50

Purchase #1:  Disney Comics (from the 50's)  $2.50



I guess this is my new PC.  A few weeks ago, I picked up a Mickey Mouse comic book.  And now I've added five more to the collection.  One of them has a cool back cover that I'll share in a future post.


Purchase #2:  1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr. Porcelain Reprints  $2


I'll probably never actually own the real thing, so I decided to pick up a pair of porcelain reprints for a buck a piece.


Purchase #3:  1988 Wade Boggs SLU & a 2003 Ichiro McFarlane  $6


Three dollars for a 1988 SLU of one of the greatest hitters of the 80's?  Yeah... this was definitely a no-brainer and probably my favorite purchase.


The vendor had a bunch of figures... including several McFarlane Sports Picks.  It's not the best looking Ichiro figure, but for $3... I'm not complaining.

That wraps up my Saturday flea market adventures.  So far, so good.  But things won't stay that way.


When:  Sunday, September 8th
Where:  Capitol Flea Market
What:  A Basket of Cards/Pogs & Coins
How Much?:  $30

Purchase #1:  Mystery Basket $5


Have you ever bought something that's probably a good deal, but in the end it was still a waste of money?

That's the best way to describe this basket.  Five dollars for over 1000 Pogs (including 100 sets of Bikini Open Pogs), hundreds of Courtside promo cards and inserts, uncut sheets, around 500 random sports cards, and an autograph for my Cal PC... isn't a terrible price.  

But do I really need any of this crap?  Unfortunately... that's not the purchase that left me feeling like I had been taken by a shady insurance salesman.


Purchase #2:  Vintage Shell Coins $25


1968 Shell President Coins

1969 Shell States of the Union Coins

Towards the end of my Capitol run... I came across a guy with these cool looking coin sets. He went into great detail about how they were part of some promotion and I ate it up like a fat kid eating ice cream on a hot, summer's day.  He told me that these have continuously gone up in value over the years and they now sell for close to $50/set.

Long story short... I bought them without doing any research and discovered that I paid way too much.  At the time, he made me feel like I was getting the deal of the century.  But in reality I paid about twice the going rate on eBay.

I have nobody to blame, but myself... which makes me feel that much worse.  Oh well... that's the last time I take some stranger's word at the flea market.  I guess that's how all of those people felt after buying cards off of Don West during the Shop at Home years.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

17 comments:

Greg Zakwin said...

That Ichiro SLU is sweet!

Hackenbush said...

Hey, considering how well you've done at these flea markets I wouldn't worry about a bad buy or two. I know I had a bunch of those Shell coins at one time from when I was a kid (and gas was probably like 30 cents a gallon). I don't think I still do but it's possible.

petethan said...

Enough positives to let the negative roll off your back. Never actually seen one of those porcelain reprints. Sounds nifty.

Play at the Plate said...

The Ichiro is excellent and I love shot old Shell coins.

Ana Lu said...

Today the best are the Disney books. No need to say more. Donal Duck to rule the world! ;)

Unknown said...

Great article and a reason i visit flea markets. Visit http://www.swapmadness.com to find all your local flea markets.

Unknown said...

Awesome stuff, but I think I beat you with the greatest flea market steal of all time. I grabbed a 65 Topps Clemente for half a buck.

sg488 said...

Buy a smart cell phone ,so you can look up anything on e-bay at any time.I do it all the time ,would have shown the guy the cheaper prices,and told him he was full of it haha.

Jafronius said...

Nice Boggs and Ichiro pickup. That's the SLU I have of Wade, so I had to smile to see him still in the package. Bummer about the shell coins, but It does appear you've gotten more deals than duds at the market.

Brad's Blog said...

Love Pogs!!

Fuji said...

Any idea on how they (the coins) were distributed? My sets came in an envelope that made me think they were a mail-in redemption or something.

Fuji said...

Thanks... I'll actually be checking a local flea market on this site that I didn't even know about.

Fuji said...

Yeah. That definitely beats any of these purchases.

Fuji said...

Lol... had my iPhone with eBay installed... and I still didn't check. The guy just seem so sincere and knowledgable. I F'd up!

Fuji said...

Lol... I'm actually figuring out a way to utilize them in my classroom. The backs are blank, so the kids might be able to use them as game pieces for the board games they design. Or I can write their names on them, pull them from a bin, and call on them in class.

Hackenbush said...

It's a loooong time ago but I think you got them each time you bought gas. Maybe there was a way to "send away" for a complete set or even buy a set at the stations. Wish I had a memory like Marilu Henner instead of one like a goldfish.

Fuji said...

Thanks. Appreciate any information I can get, since I'm not exactly sure I can trust the guy who sold them to me.