Thursday, August 2, 2018

Take A Chance On Me

My father's words have always carried a lot of weight with me, because I know whether I want to hear it or not... it'll be the truth.  And one of the things he'd always tell me when I was a kid was to not be afraid to take risks.

Well... I'm sure this isn't what he meant, but I recently took a chance on this Tony Gwynn autograph:

2000 UD Pros and Prospects Game Jersey Autograph #TGw

I had some COMC credit I wanted to use up and was sifting through Gwynn cards, when I stumbled across this card.  The seller had two condition notes attached: top left hand corner ding and surface scratch/impression bottom right corner.

These things probably scared off some collectors, but I was really interested in this card, because I hadn't added a new Gwynn autograph to my collection in awhile.  So I threw out an offer and the seller accepted.  When I received my COMC shipment, I immediately looked for this card to see how badly damaged the card actually is.

See for yourself...



If you look closely, the top left corner is soft... although calling it "dinged" seems a little harsh.  The bottom right corner is much more severe, but the damage isn't obvious unless you tilt the card and the light hits it just the right way.

Click Here for Abba's Take a Chance on Me

At the end of the day, I'm very pleased with this card.  It will be headed to my Tony Gwynn PC, instead of the Damaged Card PC.  And I owe it all to my father for encouraging me to step outside of my comfort zone and take a chance from time to time.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

7 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

It's not too bad. Hopefully the price outweighs the imperfections. It's a great looking card!

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I most definitely could live with it. Congrats!

gcrl said...

Good seller to have noted the condition. Looks like you got a good deal.

SumoMenkoMan said...

It isn’t damaged, just a little bit loved. Great card and nice pick up.

Corky said...

I like finding those hidden gems. Like you said, condition issues will scare away some buyers but others see it as a true find no matter what the shape the card is in.

Twitch said...

The condition notes on COMC are so weird and downright incoherently applied, but they seemed to be fairly accurate on your sweet new pickup. I've ended up with a few severely damaged cards due to no notification whatsoever and a couple I picked up with qualifiers that I wasn't even able to detect the alleged damage on once they were in-hand. The lack of a coherent strategy in addressing condition is especially noticeable in the pursuit of vintage cards.

Fuji said...

TLC - I think it did. Very happy with the card.

John Miller - Thanks!

gcrl - Yeah, I was very impressed. I've definitely received cards in worse condition that didn't have any condition notes.

SumoMenkoMan - That's the spirit! I call it "cards with character".

Corky - I'm normally one of those guys who avoid purchasing damaged cards (unless it's vintage or very rare), but I'm glad I gave this card a closer look

Twitch - Yeah... I've definitely experienced damaged cards that didn't have condition notes. Normally they're just cheap 90's inserts, so I don't bother saying anything. I did complain about a card once (forgot which one it was) and COMC kindly replaced it.