What's your best "find" or purchase you made online, at a flea market or card show etc?

**Savard18** · 06-15-2024, 03:27 AM

I haven't been on SCF in a while, and I really haven't shared this story with much of anyone really outside of a few of my collector buddies.

It will be difficult but I'll try to keep it not too long of a read - and if the auction link is still in my eBay purchase history and the "sold" auction page is still up I'll include it..

Anyway, I buy a lot on eBay - I'm always looking for deals on collections, card lots and generally cards to flip -- and not to brag but I do pretty damn well and have purchased many hockey card lots and collections that contained some pretty significant cards that weren't listed or pictured in the lot.

Anyway, last fall I was browsing eBay as I usually do, and I came across this hockey card lot that appeared to be mostly late 70's hockey with some early 80's visible. There was pretty much nothing of significance showing in the pictures provided by the seller - just stacks and stacks of mostly pretty beat 75-76 Topps. The auction title claimed there were around 1500 to 2000 cards in the "collection" and that the cards were an "estate find". So I was pretty intrigued because I was working on a 75-76 Topps set (since completed) and I needed several dozen mostly commons to finish it, and the price of the collection was absolutely reasonable - so I started to take a more detailed look at the photo's because some of the cards were kinda "spread out every-which-way" in no particular order with the majority of the cards in stacks behind the spread out cards... Anyway, just about every card was a beat up common or semi-star, but then I noticed one card - and it was really difficult to notice because there were junk-cards everywhere -- but it was an unscratched 80-81 Topps Ray Bourque Rookie, so I was very intrigued - obviously that card alone could be worth the price of the card lot/collection if I could win it at the right price so I obviously watched the auction. However out of curiosity I had a look at the sellers other times, what type of stuff he specialized in and what he was selling - and he didn't have much up for sale and the little he did appeared to be antiques and small nick-knacks and stuff like that - the seller had no card history at all so I knew there was a fantastic chance that this collection of cards was almost certainly unsearched - because had it been searched that Ray Bourque rookie obviously wouldn't be included in the lot/collection... I know there are some shady eBay sellers that will display a few nice cards with a bunch of junk and call it an "unsearched lot" - but I looked into this guy and he clearly was one of those eBayers that would flip items he found at garage sales or estate sales, so when the time came to bid I was more than comfortable going a little higher than what I figured the Bourque was valued at and a little higher than I would have normally otherwise bid - so I bid $200.51 USD and ended up winning the collection for around $130 USD, and I must say I was pretty pumped about it and for the next week lots of insane "what if's??" popped in my head when I thought about the collection - I suppose they were pseudo-fantasies, lol... Anyway, a week later the collection arrived in a box about the size of a medium flat-rate shipping box, so I washed my hands, grabbed a couple of packs of sleeves and top-loaders, sat down and cracked the box open - and what I found was pretty unusual - the cards were all wrapped in paper lunch-bags, with perhaps 100 cards in every bag and there had to be at least 25-30 of these bags give or take - so I was pretty dumbfounded by that. My assumption was that perhaps the seller was thinking about selling them off in card lots of 100 each - which wasn't the case because I contacted the seller several days later just out of sheer joy and gratefulness - but anyway I proceeded to start breaking these "sandwich bag packs" and boy-oh-boy were they absolutely loaded.. Yes indeed there were many super low-grade 1975-76 and 1976-77 Topps, however the collection spanned from 1975-76 to 1980-81 and the more recent the year - the better condition the cards were in, so after a few of these packs I was absolutely thrilled with my purchase because I had already found the Ray Bourque Rookie, and a few dozen other Hall of Famers, stars and rookies - however that was just the beginning because there were quite a few (a lot) of 1979-80 Topps mixed in with every year from 75-76 to 80-81 so I really started getting pumped - I mean my adrenaline was going pretty hard because it was clearly obvious these cards hadn't been touched/gone though since the early 80's, because I was pulling key rookies out of every pack - Bossy, Trottier, Bourque, Gartner, Goulet, Palmateer etc with again the more recent cards being in much better grade than the older ones - then perhaps 5 or 6 packs in I pull my FIRST Gretzky - it was an unscratched 1980-81 All-Star in really nice shape, and this trend continued - I kept on pulling all of the key cards from 75-81, and continued to pull more Gretzky's I ended up pulling a dozen 1980-81 Topps Gretzky's 4 of which were card #250 - and the others were Gretzky's All-Star's and Team Leaders (oddly enough I didn't pull any league leaders), however the story and this adventure doesn't end there.. When I was perhaps midway though this insane break I opened a pack and came across a marked 1979-80 checklist and yes indeed - card #18 was marked on the checklist - and at that point I knew exactly what I was going to find somewhere in the rest of the packs. I mean it only made sense at that point after all of the other cards I had pulled -- and yes it happened!! it was the Wayne Gretzky Rookie 1979-80 Topps #18 - I could NOT believe it. I mean I deduced the card was somewhere in the collection, given what I had pulled already and the fact the Gretzky was marked off the checklist but it was hard to believe it until I pulled it and when I did - it was amazing!!

I still have the card (I'll post a picture of it below) - I'd say it's in Vg-Ex. I mean it has terrific near-perfect centering - and centering has always been an issue with Gretzky Rookies. The corners do have a touch of wear, the edges are fantastic - there is no chipping, there is no "white" or any of that jazz - the surface is an issue - it's not terrible by any means - it's just flawed and unfortunately it as a scratch (that cant be seen with the naked eye, but it's there) however the color and focus is great.. I mean I'm confident it would grade a 5, but it would be a 5 with fantastic eye-appeal and I could certainly see the card demanding a premium based on centering and eye-appeal - tho it's the surface and bottom right corner that would hurt the card the most during the grading process - but still - it's a Gretzky Rookie.

As for the other Gretzky's I pulled - I sold most of them a long with a few Bourque rookies to make my money back on the lot, but I still have a couple of Gretzky's and Bourque's a long with the rest.

**chet09** · 06-15-2024, 12:12 PM

I think you missed on trying not to make it a long read.

**ethunder** · 06-15-2024, 12:16 PM

Love the story! Thanks for sharing!

**dafoefan34** · 06-19-2024, 04:20 PM

I have two stories worth sharing:

- The year was 1999, and I was 17. Went to the nearby store which had just opened a box of 98-99 Crown Royale. These boxes had the Cramer's Choice Jumbo box toppers on them and the shop owner must not have known about the rarity of the different color variations despite them being serial numbered on the back. This particular box contained a Jaromir Jagr Red Cramer's Choice. When I asked how much for it, the guy said $15, I nonchalantly accepted the price. I had $20 in my pocket, which was just enough for that a pack of MVP and a soft drink.

- While my the-girlfriend and now-wife were dating, we'd go thrifting quite often. In the sports section, she found a Kelly Hrudey goalie stick wedged behind a bookshelf. As she grabbed it, realized it had a bunch of signatures on it and pointed it out to me. Turns out, it was signed by the 1991-92 LA Kings and included Gretzky, McSorely, Robitaille, Hrudey, etc. The marked price was $9.99 in sharpie near the handle (unfortunate), but everything in the shop was 25% off that day, so I got it for $7.49. I still own it to this day. We figured it was an angry wife, but it was more likely to be somebody who stopped paying the fees for their storage locker.

**RGM81** · 06-20-2024, 05:53 PM

Best card show purchase - Carey Price OPC RC - I think it started a whole thing for me LOL

**doniceage** · 06-21-2024, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by dafoefan34 View Post

I have two stories worth sharing:

- The year was 1999, and I was 17. Went to the nearby store which had just opened a box of 98-99 Crown Royale. These boxes had the Cramer's Choice Jumbo box toppers on them and the shop owner must not have known about the rarity of the different color variations despite them being serial numbered on the back. This particular box contained a Jaromir Jagr Red Cramer's Choice. When I asked how much for it, the guy said $15, I nonchalantly accepted the price. I had $20 in my pocket, which was just enough for that a pack of MVP and a soft drink.

- While my the-girlfriend and now-wife were dating, we'd go thrifting quite often. In the sports section, she found a Kelly Hrudey goalie stick wedged behind a bookshelf. As she grabbed it, realized it had a bunch of signatures on it and pointed it out to me. Turns out, it was signed by the 1991-92 LA Kings and included Gretzky, McSorely, Robitaille, Hrudey, etc. The marked price was $9.99 in sharpie near the handle (unfortunate), but everything in the shop was 25% off that day, so I got it for $7.49. I still own it to this day. We figured it was an angry wife, but it was more likely to be somebody who stopped paying the fees for their storage locker.

Have a picture of it in your room? Definitely a great find.

Don

**piper1** · 06-21-2024, 04:21 PM

It actually wasn't even hockey. I found a huge box of old Star Wars and Star Trek Cards at the Sante Fe Flea Market in 2004 for only $10. I was able to make several complete sets of both and even found a couple of copies of the infamous C3PO error.

**moose7766** · 06-23-2024, 02:27 PM

carey price.jpgAt the NHL draft here in Ottawa in 2008, I bought 3 packs with my son, and we actually pulled a 2007-08 SP Authentic FW Limited /100 auto patch of Carey Price.

**Savard18** · Yesterday, 03:41 AM

Sweet stories guys. I appreciate you sharing.

I actually just bought someones collection of 70's baseball the other day. It's not a big collection by any means - it's perhaps 1500-2000 cards. Anyway, half of the collection was/is in one of those "card lockers" that were really popular in the 70's and 80's - the ones with the slots for each team, and the other half of the collection is in a regular old amazon-type box... Anyway, the seller had half of the cards from the card locker dumped/spread on a table, and they were mixed years (72-77) but the majority appear to be 1974 Topps - the cards appear to be in terrific shape, like some kid casually collected for a few years in the mid-70's, then packed his cards away until now.. There were quite a few stars visible in the pictures - a Brooks Robinson, Stargell, Palmer, Fingers etc, so the collection appears to be un-searched.. Of course, as usual when I buy a collection on eBay that appears to be un-searched I do my due-diligence and look to see if the seller had/has any history buying or selling sports cards, and this seller had none, so this collection could be a real home-run. I mean there are some pretty good rookies between 72 and 77 Topps - Schmidt, Winfield, Brett, Yount etc.. Of course 72 and 73 have high-numbers - and there are plenty of big cards in all of the sets included in the collection and to make the purchase worth my investment all I have to do is pull a couple of the better HOF'ers and I'm golden - but realistically the collection is already a good buy for me because if I list the cards the correct way - in card lots by year I should 3x what I paid..

Now I'm not going to get greedy and expect anything beyond what I saw spread out in the pictures or get bent if I don't pull one of the bigger rookies because going though these old collections is usually an extremely satisfying experience for me so it will be a good time regardless of what I pull out of it. I mean I'm 99% confident the collection has never been searched so just having the opportunity to pull one of the bigger rookies from the 70's is worth the investment.. I mean I'd be absolutely thrilled if I pulled a Ryan, Aaron, Mays or perhaps a Schmidt, Bench or Rose - cards that I already have several of - and I'm confident I'll pull a few decent cards - but it's all about the experience for me.. It's like hunting or fishing, two activities I also enjoy - so I really look forward to the collection. It was supposed to be here yesterday according to the tracking but it got delayed and should be here by Friday.. And I sincerely hope if the collection does arrive on Friday I can enjoy the experience as much as I anticipate, because tomorrow I have 3 large ultra-modern mixed-sport "flat-rate shipping boxes" being delivered. And yes, I know many collectors are skeptical about these flat-rate shipping boxes but I already purchased one from this seller and it was fantastic, it was so loaded that before I was halfway though the box I ordered 3 more, lol.. And each box holds a lot of cards - I'd estimate 4-5K per box, so hopefully I don't get too burnt out going though cards, lol... Actually, I'll probably just open one of the flat-rate boxs and save the other two for this weekend.. I mean it takes several hours to search those boxes and get the cards that need sleeving into sleeves and/or toploaded and put into a standard 5-row card box... Of course I made a trade in the baseball forum last week - I traded a 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly RC for another flat-rate shipping box + a few card lots that caught my eye - and that box + the card lots are scheduled to be delivered here tomorrow (I guess later today since it's 2AM, lol) as well, so yea - I have a lot of cards to go through over the next week - but again - I clearly enjoy the experience.. Some "collectors" are in the hobby for money, and that's it - I'm not - I'm involved in the hobby because I genuinely love cards, love sports and enjoy most of what the hobby has to offer...

And look, I apologize (to some) for my long posts and I've been told I have a habit for being a bit too pedantic but talking cards, writing about cards and sharing some of my finds and experiences is one of the aspects of the hobby I truly enjoy, lol...So if you find my posts too long to read - then don't, lol.