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Hard target. What card eludes you?
doubledragon
Posts: 23,017 ✭✭✭✭✭
What card gave you the biggest headache to find? Is there a card that continues to stay one step ahead of you?
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doubledragon
Posts: 23,017 ✭✭✭✭✭
doubledragon
Posts: 23,017 ✭✭✭✭✭
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I'll get the ball rolling. I searched for this card for over five years. This card was issued on Quaker Oats Puffed Wheat boxes back in 1961, and it is a hand cut issue. Most people that ate the Puffed Wheat just threw away the boxes after they finished the cereal, so very few of these survived. I got desperate and decided one day to reach out to a guy through the PSA Joe Louis master set registry. The guy lives in England , and I was just curious to see if he had an extra copy of this card, I never expected him to actually have an extra copy. Through pure dumb luck, he did have an extra copy, and the rest is history.
Congrats on the nice pick up.
There are about 30 NY Yankee cards I have ben looking for.
However many are out there but not in the quality I want and if so are very overpriced.
Or don't have the funds available when I saw hem.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
Thanks. I hope you find some of those Yankee cards you're looking for!
I think of ten, though in most cases I did not believe I would EVER find one available.
1) 1962 Gehl's Gold Mine Ice Cream Roger Maris premium - Full length batting pose -- PSA 6.5 EX-MT+
2) 1962 Gehl's Gold Mine Ice Cream Roger Maris premium - Bat on Shoulder, Photo to waist -- PSA EX-MT 6
3) 1961/62 Topps Bobby Hull -- SGC 96 MINT and DEAD-CENTERED!
4) 2004/05 In The Game Ultimate Memorabilia base card -- Maurice Richard -- the unique 1 of 1 GOLD background
5) 2005/06 Upper Deck Bee Hive Photographs Autograph Bobby Hull Black Hawks 5 X 7
6) 1962 JELL-O Mickey Mantle unfolded box, unique 1 of 1 -- authenticated by SGC (PSA did not grade these at the time)
7) 1962 JELL-O Roger Maris unfolded box, unique 1/1 -- authenticated by SGC
8) 1953 Stahl-Meyer Franks Mickey Mantle -- PSA 9 MINT and virtually DEAD-CENTERED! I am deeply humbled to own this huge gorgeous blue diamond. I've given this card the name, "THE MALTESE FALCON OF BASEBALL CARDS". The name fits perfectly, given its extreme beauty, provenance, and the promotion from whence it came. I paid a record price for this baby in the late 1980s and did not bat an eye.
9) 1960 Post Cereal Sport Stars, appearing on backs of Post Grape Nuts Flakes, a nice geriatric non-kid cereal, a very well-cut Mickey Mantle, having no creases, no stains, no sun bleaching, no pin or tack holes, and no tape residue. Twas the very first Mickey Mantle I ever saw, when I was 6 years old, while shopping with my mother at the old A&P grocer in Skokie, Illinois where I grew up. I was not able to get one at the time, but I finally got this card in the late 1990s, and had it authenticated by SGC at the 2008 National in Chicago. PSA did not grade the over-sized 1960 Post cards then, so I had to go elsewhere......
10) This is not a card, but it fits the question, hardest one to get for me. A 1935 World Series press pin at Chicago. This was the Great Depression, and Mr. Wrigley was very frugal, so he made only enough press pins to get by. Since it was the Cubs versus Detroit, Mr. Wrigley did not have to make many pins, unlike in '32 or '38 when their opponent was the New York Yankees, with their many newspaper sportswriters. My pin is in mint condition, and I got it from the man who was then the dean of press pin experts--- Mr. Jim Johnston. I also received a big assist from the late Barrie Sullivan, a fellow press pin collector and expert.
Keep the responses coming, guys and gals. This is a great thread idea.
----Indiana Jones (Brian Powell)
City Bakeries Football Club Shields for Scotland featuring Willie Woodburn. I have only seen a picture of one and have never seen one in the wild 😢
Personal Collection | Willie Woodburn | Legion of Doom
Shouldn't have been a hard find, but it took me forever to find a sharp and centered 1964 Topps Niekro RC PSA 7.
I'm still struggling to find sharp centered PSA 7s of the 61 Marichal RC and 65 Perez RC.
PSA HOF Baseball Postwar Rookies Set Registry- (Currently 77.97% Complete)
PSA Pro Football HOF Rookie Players Set Registry- (Currently 19.26% Complete)
PSA Basketball HOF Players Rookies Set Registry- (Currently 6.02% Complete)
Believe it or not, a solid PSA 8 1966 Gaylord Perry has been my difficult target for some time. It was the 1963 Hank Aaron but I recently filled that need. The Perry's I've seen on the market are either weak 8's or obscenely priced.
Great responses from everybody, it's interesting to see what kind of elusive cards that everyone is looking for. It's kind of a hobby of mine to keep a lookout for cards that people are looking for, so I'll use this thread to keep a lookout for any cards that you guys mention, and maybe we'll get lucky sometime. I know there is a guy on the message boards that is looking for a 1982 Boy Scouts Terry Bradshaw, and I've been keeping a lookout for it, but no luck yet. I'll keep looking and hopefully it will turn up.
1961 topps #492 Ron Fairly Green Ball variation in a PSA 8. It was the last card I needed to complete the entire set in PSA 8 a few years ago. Now it is on my current harder list in a PSA 9. Stupid variations!
For me also it isn't always the card but the holder.
PSA has only recently distinguished backs and has altered the pop reports.
Ex
1956 WB/GB
1959 WB/GB
1950 With/Without copyright
Now 1962 Green tints
I want the case to distinguish theme and hopefully in newer lighthouse insignia.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
The 1949 Victorian Nut Joe Louis has been a card that always seems to be one step ahead of me.
That's me! I really appreciate that you are still looking for that for me. I actually did find an ungraded one but someone signed the recruiter/new member lines so still looking for one that won't get a MK qualifier. The Bradshaw Swedish Sportscaster has also eluded me to this point but I have several different eBay searches setup so they'll turn up eventually.
Ken
You're welcome. I'm still keeping an eye out for the Boy scouts Bradshaw, it's a tough card to find for sure. I'll keep an eye out for the Swedish Sportscaster Bradshaw as well.
1965 Topps Baseball 5-cent wax pack PSA-7 or better!
The top items on my want list have been unchanged for a few years now, most I have not found and one or two I got outbid on the only time or two I've seen them:
A few off the top of my head ...
1975 Little Caesars Johnny Miller
1925 Empreza Walter Hagen
1989 Youngers Seve Ballesteros
One immediately pops into my head. The 1968 Ryan/Koosman card in a PSA 8. I can’t ever seem to find one that’s actually well centered. I have been looking for years. Actually, I did find one a few years back but that was in 2016 when prices were sky high. I even placed a high bid and still lost by about $100. I was a little glad at the time but I sure would still love to own it today.
That is a card I REALLY want to add to my collection.
I'll keep it main stream.... Dead centered 73-74 topps and opc Bobby Orrs, the tough 1962 topps cards in higher grade - FRobby, Foytack, and most of the other #340-360 cards, a perfect Fidrych rookie, 69 White Letters, nice 76 Bretts and Ecks, centered 1970t all-stars, some of the 72 in actions (centering), centered Ozzie rookies, etc.... these are the fun ones to hunt for -- not the maddening ones
Bosox1976
Not a card but a set. 1974 Topps baseball factory set.
Brian
I've got a few that have eluded me for a decade or so
1. '09 Topps Heritage ad panels- down to 4, never see them. Hoping they actually exist
2. '10 Topps Heritage ad panel- down to 1, see above
3. E91a- still missing 2 cards, Bender and Oldring. Been looking since '06
4. '61 Topps penny pack. Wasn't even sure it existed, until I saw a wrapper last year. Have never seen a pack.
5. '53 Topps salesman sample. I've seen one. Got blown away on it, should've just sucked it up and paid it. Last one I need
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
That's right Joe, you're now a fugitive!!! If you've seen this 1968 Mira Tuttosport Joe Louis card, please contact Sheriff doubledragon immediately!
The last 11 cards I need for my 48 leaf graded boxing set. Mostly commons. They are out there, but are overpriced, or over graded.
Wanting to get a Kaepernick shield eluded me for a little over a year. Always searching for one, just brought on more self induced pressure to get one. I'm glad to finally have gotten one.
Been looking for a good looking 1951 Topps Ringside #1 Gus Lesenevitch for awhile with no luck. A lot more scarce than the Bob Murphy IMO
1977 Topps Football Cello pack with Walter Payton on back
PC Walter Payton - Bear Down!
WOW those are some Joe Louis cards I may never find!! Good show
I was able to cross off one from the top of my wantlist with the 89 Gigantes MJ that I posted in the April pickups thread. There were two of the highest graded copies sitting on ebay forever with pretty high BINs and after searching for close to 3 years for an original raw unpeeled copy in any condition I finally just spent the money on one of the graded ones before they were both gone.
That now leaves this MJ 5x7 Nike Poster Card "Orbit" below as the next toughest to find item from my wantlist. I've only seen one copy show up on ebay during the three years I've been collecting these. The seller of that auction had listed many NPC's that I needed and while winning a few I was runner-up on this one.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
A 1964 Topps Stand Up WIllie Mays, PSA 8 or 8.5 to put a bow on my 1964 Stand Up Set.
Been building the set for about 5 years and focused on the Mays as the last card for the last year or so... A few have surfaced on EBAY - but they weren't up to my requirements (buy the card, not the holder)..... too much green over-ink
sjjs28@comcast.net
Collector of 1964 Topps Stand Ups, 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game and 1969 Topps Decals
Registered Sets: 1964 Stand Ups, 1965 Embossed, 1968 Topps Game, 1969 Topps Decals
Until I gave into the reality that I will never reasonably find these cards the 2009 Topps Heritage errors/variations of the Jeter, Pedroia, Pedro Martinez, and Feliz never found their way into my collection. I have two SSP variations that I have been unable to obtain for my 2012 Heritage set: the Francoeur color swap and the Carlos Perez Minor League stats variation. With these two I have the all of the errors/variations for the set.
Common cards, uncommon grades. I need 2 1985 Topps football PSA 10's. One has a population of 1 and was in FabFrank's set (he passed a few years ago) and the other is a pop 0.
i just purchased a somewhat large Patrick Roy collection on another forum, that knocks about 10 of the toughest to find cards off my list. I'm still struggling on finding the serial #ed /5, /10 and /25 St. Patrick Relics cards from 02/03 Stadium Club that I need to complete that set, so I'd haft say those are now the top of the list.
Main collecting focus is Patrick Roy playing days 85/86-02/03, expect 1/1, National/All-Star stamped cards.PC Completion: 2,548/2,952; 86.31% My Patrick Roy PC Website:https://proy33collector.weebly.com
I have been looking for a Mickey Rivers game used bat for a few years now. Rumor has it he didn't have many because he lost so much at the track that he just borrowed his teammates bats. Which is funny since Bucky Dent used his bat to hit THE homer to win the pennant in 78.
2014 Leaf Originals Wrestling Autographs Lance Storm - Alternate Art - Red (/5) and Black (/1).
Wrestling - Danielson - Storm - Tajiri
1961 Quaker Oats checklist (as no one's ever posted it):
1. Charlie Chaplin
2. Wilfred Pickles
3. Winston Churchill
4. James Mason
5. William Shakespeare
6. Field-Marshall Montgomery
7. Ralph Lynn
8. Mr. Herbert Morrison
9. Julius Caesar
10. Jean Simmons
11. Sir Thomas Beecham
12. Stewart Grainger
13. George Robey
14. Sir Laurence Olivier
15. Mr Anthony Eden
16. Joe Louis
17. Mr. J.B. Priestley
18. George Bernard Shaw
19. Ivor Novello
20. Paul Robeson
21. Mr. Attlee
22. Charles Dickens
23. Jose Ferrer as "Cyrano de Bergerac"
24. Glynis Johns
25. George Arliss
26. Napoleon Bonaparte
27. Spencer Tracey
28. Maurice Chevalier
29. Ronald Shiner
30. Mr. Gladstone
31. Bob Hope
32. James Cagney
33. Jimmy "Schnozzle" Durante
34. Clark Gable
35. Danny Kaye
36. The Quaker Man