That's what happens when you stumble across a deal at the flea market that's just too good to pass up.
When: Sunday, August 31st
Where: Capitol Flea Market
What: Baseball, Football, and Basketball Cards
How much?: $70
Now before I show off my purchase, I should let you know that I came within a few seconds of walking away without these cards. The vendor had a bunch of toys and I was quickly flipping through his bins. I began to walk away and started talking to me about Hot Wheels and the collection he recently purchased in a storage unit.
After a minute or so of listening to him, I attempted to save both of us time and told him I wasn't really interested. Just as I was about to leave, I mentioned that I was into sports cards. He got excited and pulled out a tub from his truck. There were eight binders filled with everything from baseball to hockey.
And even though most of the stuff was from the 90's... there were actually some decent cards in them. There was one specific binder that caught my eye. Unfortunately, he didn't want to break up the collection. I asked if he'd be willing to meet me half way and sell me four of the binders.
At first he didn't seem like he was willing to budge, but he asked me how much I'd be willing to give him. As soon as he heard my number, he was more than willing to accept. Based on his reaction, I'm pretty sure I could have offered a lot less. Oh well. I think this is one of those rare occasions where we both felt we were getting the better deal.
Below I broke down each binder with a price, but in reality, I paid $70 as a package. But I figured you'd like to see how I came up with the magic number.
Binder #1: 98 Leaf Rookies and Stars Baseball $10
Whoever owned the storage locker had obviously been trying to build a master set of this product. He had almost a complete set, including the SP's... as well as several pages full of parallels and inserts.
Binder #2: 1999 Pacific Prizm and 1999 Topps Chrome Baseball $10
This binder had a lot less inserts and parallels, but it contained a complete Prizm set and some beautiful, shimmering refractors.
Binder #3: 1998 Black Diamond, 1998 Encore, and 1998 Odyssey Football $10
This binder contained three partial sets that I have no intention of completing, but the thing that caught my attention were all of the Peyton Manning rookie cards.
Binder #4: Michael Jordan Collection $40
I haven't actively collected basketball cards in a few years, but I'll always treasure my Michael Jordan PC. Unfortunately his cards are a wee bit expensive... so I might pick up a single maybe once or twice a year.
This binder was loaded with parallels and inserts. A few of them are considered hard to find and sell in the $40 to $80 range. Now normally I wouldn't even consider spending $40 for a basketball card unless it featured an on-card autograph of a hall of famer or current superstar.
But the fact is... this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. This single purchase doubled the size of my Jordan collection.
Alright... it's your turn to chime in.
Do you have a budget? How often do you go over it?
Do you collect anything outside of baseball cards?
Happy Wednesday and sayonara!
32 comments:
You know you probably could have got the whole tote for $70 just saying. But great stuff Fuji, I love the flea market finds. I have a very strict budget now that we have a little one in the house, but every now and then I still splurg or pick up a pack of something when I go to the store. As far as collecting other things that sports cards, I've got a $1 casino chip collection, elongated pennies, comic books, legos - mostly minifigures, and patches.
Awesome finds, and definitely worth breaking the budget over! I don't have a hard weekly budget, but I'll typically allocate X amount when I go to a show, and when it's gone it's gone. I'm generally pretty frugal (Kate prefers the term "cheap"), so I'm under budget rather than over more often than not. But if it's something too good to pass up, being cheap...err, frugal, also means I don't feel as bad about breaking the budget. I spent nearly twice my entire show budget this spring on higher end Pirates memorabilia at the Robert Morris show. But everything I picked up were extremely rare prints, lithographs, and autographed pieces that I know I'll have on display for a long, long time. Everything was professionally framed, and framing costs alone would be more than I paid for some of the pieces.
I probably collect too much. Aside from cards, I also collect game used Pirates memorabilia, McFarlane figures, and occasionally comic book action figures. Now I just need the space to display it all...
I don't have a budget, but I know when I've spent too much. Great Jordan collection. You should definitely make your money back if you decide to part with a couple of them.
I can never pass up on a deal. (Sometimes, it bites me back, but not usually). Great pick ups, and I agree you probably could have had all 8 binders for the $70. maybe even $50.00. Storage auction goers typically bid between $50-$100 for the entire unit. I keep telling myself to look some up and go do it myself, one day. Besides the Elway and Braves Super Collections (want all of them whatever they are), I also have a very small collection of $1 Casino chips, some old records, vintage games, T206 cards (lol), vintage trading cards other than sports, usually the tv shows that I watched as a kid, or old movie cards. I collect a lot of odd ball items, too.
I'm a baseball-only guy, but I'll buy nearly anything with the Brewers on it. As for a budget, I need to make one. I went through the "hey, wow, I'm back collecting, let me buy everything" phase earlier this year, and then realized that that was not a viable way to be a collector. Now, I'm putting together my lists of what I don't have in an effort to be smarter about buying things when I do jump back in.
And, I stay away from eBay unless I have a specific rifle-shot I'm looking for there. Too easy to get sucked into the bid battles.
20 bucks. Occasionally, I may go over it...but then we're talking 25 bucks. I collect mostly baseball, but also football, hockey and basketball. I have a pretty decent music collection too.
Budget very low as of late. I have a pretty big Peanuts collection, LP's, old sheet music, books. Some of that is more of an accumulation than a collection. Some really interesting cards in your purchase. But you know that.
I tell people I have a budget, but it's closer to the truth to say that I'm cheap... or maybe it's more accurate to say that guilt starts to kick in at a fairly early stage.
I've got a large number of dormant collections - stamps, coins, radio station bumper stickers. I've recently revived my hockey card collection, and I'm always on the lookout for vinyl. One could say I collect comic books, but it's more a matter of reading comic books and then letting the accumulation build up.
I have an unlimited budget....and I frequently exceed it. And you've seen my blog. I collect pretty much anything that stands still long enough.
You definitely got your value from the collection with the Jordan cards alone, that was a pretty good find. I am a extreme tightwad and once I figure a price for a card/product I will not go over that price. I have missed out on cards because the price was 50 cents or a dollar over what I considered the card to be worth.
I collect a variety of sports though I usually stick to a team or a specific player.
No budget really. If I find a deal I go for it. Mostly baseball. Collect vintage hockey,football and basketball.
A budget for cards, what's this thing they call a budget. Some day I will probably run in to you at a flea market if I can ever get myself up early enough-great find.
No budget. I just have that little alarm in my head that goes off when I know I spent too much.
I collect WVU to go along with my Pirates collection so it allows me to dabble in football and basketball to keep things fresh.
I probably ought to have a set budget, but like others I mostly can just feel when I have overstepped myself. Usually by then it's too late.
I have a few collections. I collect comic books and related merchandise, NASCAR die-cast, LEGO sets (mostly Star Wars), and wargaming miniatures.
That Jordan binder was a good find. Buying those inserts and base cards from the 90's can be pretty expensive if you get them as singles, but in big lots they can be pretty good, especially with a superstar like Jordan. On eBay with shipping fees and whatnot you'd hit that $40 mark pretty quick and just have a handful of cards to show for it.
No budget, but I make most of my purchases at the tri-annual shows nearby or at the National. I withdraw cash for them and try not to hit the machine again. (That theory fails at the Nat most often.) Luckily the girlfriend doesn't govern that (yet). Otherwise, I'm only supporting my dog.
I then try to back off purchases for a while. At least until the next time I sit down at the computer on COMC and pile up $60+ in less than 30 minutes.
That's exactly what my buddy said. The way the guy reacted, I might have been able to get everything for $50.
Casino chips? I wish I knew more about them. I saw a guy with them at the Branham Flea Market earlier in the year and they looked really cool. Thought about picking up a few, but that guy also wanted to sell the whole thing as a collection.
Sounds like we could be long lost brothers. I too am cheap... and collect too much stuff.
I'm debating on it. I've thought about selling two of the bigger cards to a friend and paying for the entire purchase. One problem... I'll never add those cards to my collection ever again.
Sounds like you and cynicalbuddha are on the same page. Yeah... I agree $50 probably would have fetched me the entire 8 binders. By the way... love those odd ball items. Some of my favorite PC items are oddball stuff.
Yeah... bidding wars suck. That's why I use a sniper program. Plug in the most I'm willing to spend and target the item with 5 seconds left. If I'm on top... awesome. If I'm not... oh well.
20 bucks a month? That is awesome. I really, really need to become more self disciplined. I also enjoy collecting music... mainly CD's and LP's.
I just did a quick Peanuts search on your blog. Very cool stuff. Loved Snoopy and Woodstock as a kid. Looking forward to seeing more of your collection.
I totally thought about collecting old radio station bumper stickers. I've seen them here and there over the years and passed them up... but I'm definitely looking to pick up some of the ones from my childhood like KOME and KSJO.
I did a quick search on your blog and found a pair of your posts with bumper stickers. Can't wait to see more in future posts.
I wish I could afford to collect anything... but two things keep me from doing that:
#1 - My bank account
#2 - My living arrangements
I'd say that more than 50% of the time I miss out on cards because they go for more than I'm willing to spend. I'd say I'm on the border of extreme tightwad and total tightwad.
Nice. I hope to one day be able to afford no budget. But as long as I'm teaching... I'll be on a budget. ;-)
That would be awesome. Let me know when you're ready to head out there.
My little alarm in my head was on a lunch break last Sunday :(
It's insane how expensive LEGO sets are. I've always been okay with my decision to not become a parent. But every now and then, I think... damn it would have been cool to have a kid, so I could build all of those different SW LEGO sets.
If and when I ever attend the National... I'll definitely need to stick to the one ATM visit rule. As for COMC... once upon a time I would add a specific amount to my account each month. But after they changed their format, I stopped. However... I know what you mean. It's easy to go on a shopping spree over there.
Another great Flea Market haul from Fuji-san! Nice work! I don't have any basketball in my collection, and plan to keep it that way, but I enjoy seeing what others are picking up.
Regarding a budget, I don't have anything set in stone. It's mostly based on working with an allotted amount to enjoy the hobby over the course of the month, and then the year. And I tend to focus on areas of need I'm collecting at any one point, for example right now I'm really working on building my Anaheim Ducks collection.
I collect baseball cards (Tony Gwynn, Yonder Alonso, Padres, Ryan Braun, Hank Greenberg, Al Rosen, Sandy Koufax, Ralph Kiner), football cards (Chargers), and hockey cards (Anaheim Ducks.
I'm working on refining my collection of McFarlane's and Starting Lineup boxed figures. The pride and joy of my figurine collection (and I don't have many but I'm working on it) is the Willie McCovey McFarlane chase in the San Diego Padres uniform.
I used to collect comic books, but I sold most off, keeping only the few that are meaningful for me.
I also used to collect vintage media guides, but I've let those all go in an effort to make room and help focus me on my priority, which is as a card collector, first and foremost.
I do collect sport-related books, mostly rare Padres and Chargers history, as well as the special baseball or football novel.
I try to keep it to 25bucks a week..collect Broncos..especially from 90s and earlier.. working on a PSA registry set of their all time team and ring of fame. also Rockies..well the Blake Street Bombers of the90s..And have a very nice Dale Murphy collection..then thereis my eyes for hall of famers.. all sports.. and nice older non sports.. i am eclectic and have random tastes.. if its a bargain i usually grab it.. maybe trade bait if i ever get going on these blogs..
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