They're both forms of entertainment that I approach with the exact same attitude in regards to paying for it. Only spend what you can afford to lose. The good news is I spend way more on card collecting than I do in the casinos, because at least I walk away holding something in my hand.
In fact, if my mother didn't enjoy playing penny poker as much as she does, I'd probably never go to the casinos. But I view my annual contributions to them as a way for me and my mother to bond, so it's worth every cent.
Every now and then, the roles get reversed and the casinos actually pay me money. Last year, I walked away with enough money to cover the expenses for one of my trips. And last week, within ten minutes of sitting down at the machines, I hit the biggest slot machine jackpot of my life.
It wasn't the kind of jackpot where they take your picture and hang it up on their walls, but it was large enough that I'll have to claim it on my taxes. It also paid for a few nice additions to my collection as well as a DA Card World Black Friday purchase that I'll share in future posts.
In the meantime, since I'm talking about gambling and card collecting, I figured I share a different kind of jackpot I recently discovered.
After Mookie Betts took home his first AL MVP Award two weeks ago, I wanted to pick up another autograph of his for my collection. That's when I discovered that his signature no longer fits into my everyday budget. If I'm planning on purchasing one, I'll definitely need to save up.
Luckily... two and half years ago... I went out on a limb and purchased a pair of his signatures from my favorite online card shop:
2015 National Treasures Player's Choice Signature Die-cuts #37
I'm not a big fan of logo-less trading cards, nor do I enjoy collecting sticker-graphs anymore. But I'm so glad neither of these things kept me from pulling the $14.49 out of my pocket for this card back in May of 2016.
That same day, I also purchased this card:
2014 Five Star Autographs #FSA-MBE
I dropped a little more cash on this card, since it's on-card, fully licensed rookie card. The damage? $17.65.
These days... people can expect to pay at least $100 to $120 on a good day for either of these. Some collectors have spent more than $150 each in recent weeks.
I considered flipping these on eBay for a brief moment... but quickly came to my senses and realized that I didn't buy them for financial gain. They're purely for entertainment purposes only.
Speaking of entertainment...
Did anyone take advantage of any Black Friday card deals?
Well... that's it for today. Thanksgiving break sure flew by, but thankfully Christmas is right around the corner.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
Good for you Fuji! Glad you were able to hit a jackpot and get some Black Friday stuff you weren’t planning on.
ReplyDeleteI put in an order on COMC for some Player Collection guys and some missing Rays/Tigers, although I think I am going to wait to ship it until they do their Spring sale and add some to it.
As you know..i posted about BF the other day and though overall it was disappointing i still picked up some stuff. My favorite deal was DA having a case of 2018 update jumbo baseball with 12 silver packs for $440...to me the best deal of the day.
ReplyDeleteI actually preferred Blowout's Cyber Monday sale over their BF Sale. Picked up 3 boxes of 18-19 hoops for 49.95 and a box of 18-19 basketball prizm for 199
I picked up a bunch of singles at COMC and for the first time in years I ordered a box, Mars Attacks Revenge. It just came today but I haven’t opened it.
ReplyDeleteI know zero about slots but if a credit is = $1 then dang Fuji! Congrats! I've spent zero dollars however, on cards since my last card show set haul. It's hard to avoid the Black Friday sales esp when emails from D&A and Blowout are hitting my inbox. I have to concentrate on Christmas shopping and cannot spend the money on myself, just can't do both.
ReplyDeleteI started to put some PC gamers in my cart on COMC, but didn't go back and confirm that I need them or actually place the order. I've already got some GU/autos coming from eBay for xmas presents, but didn't take the plunge on Friday (or Monday). I've been buying a lot lately and I'm still jonesing to go back to the card shop where my phone died the other weekend, so I wasn't of the mindset to make another big purchase.
ReplyDeleteYou did well to pick up those Mookie autographs! Beautiful cards!
ReplyDeleteI took advantage of COMC's Black Friday promotion, got some nice discounts and free shipping on my order (also took care of my Secret Santa shopping as well!).
ReplyDeleteNo money equals no Black Friday fun. So I went empty
ReplyDeleteI picked up a few boxes from Blowout Cards and a bunch of singles on COMC.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the win Fuji! Nice job grabbing those Betts cards when you did too, with the season he just had and his young age you'd be hard pressed to buy them at this point. I've even seen base and parallel RCs reaching triple digits this past summer.
ReplyDeleteMy Black Friday shopping consisted of just a small batch of maybe 25-40 singles on COMC, nothing too crazy.
kA-CHING!Time to pick up that '89 Starting Lineup Athletics team set !
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the big jackpot! I haven't been to a casino in years but when I went I was very tight-like if I was up $10 after a half an hour I'd be ready to go home lol.
ReplyDelete"I spend way more on card collecting than I do in the casinos, because at least I walk away holding something in my hand." This is 110% exactly how I feel about gambling/collecting. My mother in law would never understand how I can spend $1,000 a year (or so) on cards, and I'll never understand how she can shove that much money in a machine.
Also, that Mookie Betts Five Star is fantastic! Nice to see you buy low and hold it, no matter how profitable it might have been to flip (I was tempted to sell my Blue Refractor for about half a second, but I knew I'd never get it back at these prices.)
jeremya1um - i wasn't able to take advantage of comc's free shipping deal, because part of my secret santa's present was in the order and i didn't want to risk it coming in late.
ReplyDeletechris p - i didn't even bother looking on cyber monday. by then i had spent way too much money. glad you found stuff though.
corky - i thought about buying that mars attacks set. that was a good deal. can't wait to see which sketch you pull.
julie owens - lol. not a dollar. it was 1¢. but it was still big to me. i ended up blowing more than half of these winnings on presents for me and others. i think i'm pretty much done with christmas presents... except for something small for my students.
gca - hope you find some great stuff at the killer card shop.
matt - thanks. i'm glad i was able to pick up something from him before his prices went soaring
nick - nice. can't wait to read about it on your blog.
sport card collectors - lol. i'd say i'm sorry... but you just recently hit the jackpot with posey 1 of 1 and molina autograph that topps sent you.
defgav - i never updated this post... but i ended up buying stuff from blowout b/c of your post.
shoeboxlegends - i'd like to pick up a base rookie of his at some point and build a trifecta. don't want to pay triple digits though
big tone - lol. depending on what i pull from the boxes i purchased... i probably should have
chris - lol. i can see you and your mother in law's point of views... but i agree with you more.