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This happen to anyone else?

I got a sweet card in the mail the other day and opened it up while my girlfriend was there. She liked the card and the following conversation occured :

her : That's in great shape
me : Yeah, it was better than expected
her : How much did it cost?
me : something
her : How much did it cost?
me : enough
her : really how much did it cost?

Now I am thinking fast as to wheather I should lie and downplay it or tell her how much it was. Not wanting to go down that slippery slope I chose the latter

me : 200 bucks
her : well it is a nice card

So the night goes on and later on she looks at me and says, it is kind of funny how a guy who sits on a ripped up sofa and not even dream of wasting money on a new sofa can pay 200 bucks for a baseball card and be happy with it!

I then proceeded to tell about Zardoz's post that was along the lines of there is nothing wrong with living in a cardboard box under an overpass with a really nice card collection.

Anyone else have similar conversations with significant others?

----------------------------

trying to find Wilson Franks...........
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Comments

  • WabittwaxWabittwax Posts: 1,984 ✭✭✭
    That's beautiful image
  • nortynorty Posts: 201
    More times than I care to remember when I was a collector. I'd pay for items by credit card (since I paid the bills and handled the checkbook) and the better half really didn't know what I was spending since the payment to Mastercard got buried in the checkbook with all the other monthly checks. There would be LOTS of little white boxes showing up during peak buying moods and eventually we had to have THE conversation. It went very similar to the way you laid it out above (though she was a touch more negative than your significant other).

    What brought her around was when I started to help out another guy at shows. He'd let me sell off some of my stuff in exchange for helping him. Finally I liked it so much that I started getting tables on my own and selling off my collection. I'd bring home the cash and let my wife count it. She REALLY liked that! of course I then re-applied the money to buy more cards. The rest, as they say, is history. The collection is long gone and here I am doing this full time. Now when cards come in, she knows it's part of the business.

    I have this discussion with lots of collectors at shows who are trying to figure out how to get the stuff into the house without walking the gauntlet past the "one who must be obeyed".
    Joe Tauriello
    Setbuilders Sports Cards
    Ebay: set-builders & set-builders2
  • "I then proceeded to tell about Zardoz's post that was along the lines of there is nothing wrong with living in a cardboard box under an overpass with a really nice card collection."

    You would have been better off telling her that she looks fat!
  • 1420sports1420sports Posts: 3,473 ✭✭✭
    This is always a good topic, as I have learned some good pointers from the masters on this board. Here are some of my responses to questions about card purchases

    "I traded for it" - I must have several issues of the Mays I "traded"
    "I sold the Clemente" - 300 bucks can be used for 700 worth of cards
    "I got a great deal" - if 127% of SMR is a great deal

    dstudeba - I am sure that card you bought for $200 was really $300 and if it was 200 you should have told her it was $80.

    My girlfriend - less than two months away from being my wife - is getting smarter. I need to know some new good tricks.
    collecting various PSA and SGC cards
  • wolfbearwolfbear Posts: 2,759 ✭✭✭

    You can have your cards delivered to your place of business,
    or you can rent a postal box at one of those Mail-Boxes-R-Us type places.

    Or, you can just tell your wife "This is how it's going to be, get used to it !" image
    Pix of 'My Kids'

    "How about a little fire Scarecrow ?"
  • AlanAllenAlanAllen Posts: 1,530 ✭✭✭
    Try replying "one MILLION dollars" in your best Dr. Evil voice.

    Joe
    No such details will spoil my plans...
  • FBFB Posts: 1,684 ✭✭
    When I was 20 years old, I was still living at my parents house and came upon a baseball card brainstorm. I figured that if I bought some vending cases, I could break them down and sort out complete sets. Since an 83 vending case was around $110, I knew that I could double my money for each case that I sorted - so I bought 5 and brought them home to start sorting.

    When my mother so what I had done - I got a much more harsh response than I was expecting... "How stupid could you be???", "Why are you wasting your money???", "I know business and I can tell you that it won't work!!!"... Well... I figured that I had better talk to her quickly, because Topps had already called and scheduled delivery of the other 55 cases for a week later.

    I told her that I was taking a shot - while I was young, had no wife and kids that I was responsible for. And the worst that could happen would be that I lost 6 grand with plenty of time to recover before I retired...

    To make a long story, short - I bought and sold cases up until 1989 when my last invoice with Topps was for over $100K (I still break into a sweat thinking about that 900 cases of 89 Topps - aachh!!) but I made money year after year breaking cases into sets or flipping them at 20% markup. I bought 3 houses with that card money.

    That doesn't mean that I don't get questioned on purchases - but I at least have a track record to point to.

    So Joe - you going to be at the Fort in May? Or is this one that you skip?

    Frank Bakka
    Sets - 1970, 1971 and 1972
    Always looking for 1972 O-PEE-CHEE Baseball in PSA 9 or 10!

    lynnfrank@earthlink.net
    outerbankyank on eBay!
  • mrc32mrc32 Posts: 604
    I myself was never a very good basketball player. I never really was a good football player. And the the only way I was ever going to get into the big leauge was if they made it MLTB (Major League Tee Ball).

    The one thing I was / am good at is buying cards of all these heros without telling the women how much I was spending. When I was growing up and would blow every cent I could get my hands on buying cards I would lie to my mom and then take my loot to my closet and hide as I went through my bounty.

    Today as I collect the blow on the wife came one day when I started my 54 set several years back. I told her that it was this lot at 250.00 or this other lot at 475.00. She thought I made the right choice.

    Now I spend my time selling off low grade parts of my collection I don't really want anymore constantly telling her about all the "stuff" I've sold. I very rarely tell her about all the stuff I buy. It evens out in the end. Plus now all my "bounty" has been put in the basement.

    Kind of funny how life comes full circle. I used to hide from my mom with my cards in my closet. Now I hide from my wife with my cards in the basement. But oh how I love my basement.... image
  • i have the exact same problem (im in college)....my girlfriend is over, its about 330 or so and i rush out to check the mail, get my latest ebay purchase, she asks how much it costs.......

    me: no idea, it was a steal though
    her: you know damn well you remember, now fess up.
    me: umm, around $200 tops. but that was a good deal!
    her: (making a "why am i dating such a loser" face) thats 200 bucks you could have spent on taking me out!
    me: (completely at a loss for words) ummmmm i love you!

    happens every time. her shopping addiction is totally fine, but my card addiction is terrible! ugh
  • My darling wife thinks I sell $1,100 worth of cards everytime I spend $1,000 on one. She never asks why my collection keeps growing rather than shrinking.

    Thank god for Poland (her maiden name is Jankiewcz)!!!
    There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"
  • BasiloneBasilone Posts: 2,492 ✭✭

    I have the double-whammy right now....not only do I have THE conversation...but we usually have it while house hunting.....

    John
  • dstudebadstudeba Posts: 215 ✭✭
    Actually it was a $200 card, and I had it shipped to my business address.

    I forgot later on in the conversation, I felt a little guilty, so to ease my guilt this was a later conversation:

    me : when we buy our next house you are in charge of selling my recently acquired cards (not my childhood collection which is untouchable)
    her : no, there is no reason to sell your cards
    me : thinking (God bless her!)
    her : I mean it isn't like it will make much of a difference in the down payment
    me : yeah it could
    her : why how much do you paln to spend on them?
    me : thinking (uh oh!)
    me : yeah you are right, I only collect small sets like Wilson Franks

    I mean how much can a 20 card set cost? right? Oh Boy.

    -----------------------------

    anyone seen Wilson Franks?
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  • My wife and I made a deal:

    She doesn't ask how much I spend on cards and I don't ask how much she spends on cloths.

    It has worked out nicely!
  • I try to avoid such conversations although she knows that the cards from the 50's and 60's are worth a little more than pennies. I still get her nice things and told her if she wants to spend some of her money on stuff that she wants I'm all for it. image
    In an earlier post I think it was correctly said. "When I die call Chris Porter and you'll get the money back."

    Buying 1957 Baseball PSA 8 or higher. Especially Checklists, and Contest Cards. Topps1957psa8set@aol.com
  • DhjacksDhjacks Posts: 343 ✭✭
    I recently had the same conversation with my wife (not that I had much input). Anyhow, I've managed to gain some leeway by buying her a diamond bracelet, diamond earrings and a week in New Orleans. Sheesh..these cards are costing me a fortune.
    Working on 1969 through 1975 Basketball.
  • WabittwaxWabittwax Posts: 1,984 ✭✭✭
    You guys should try this approach. My wife recently has been "into" $100 hair cuts. I about lost it the first time she told me how much she paid for it. It looked really nice, but $100? I can do without those. So after several arguments about better things to spend $100 on, we reached a compromise. Many times you can buy a full case, sort them into sets, and make a few hundred dollars. I told her that I didn't mind her $100 hair cuts if she did something extra for them. As I am currently typing this right now, she is at the kitchen table sorting my latest vending case into complete sets, "earning" her hair cut. I love it!image
  • GATOR5GATOR5 Posts: 654


    Boy am I lucky...4yrs living with the same girl finally
    getting things into order thinking about getting married I get the
    question everyday. When are you going to buy me a ring. When
    I sell something. Ok well where did you get all that cash. I barrowed
    it from a friend. Her response. "Do you think I'm stupid what
    did you sell" Oh so and so. Her-As long as it's not a tiger 10.
    Me- none of those. Her-So what did you buy. Me-Another case
    Her-I'm sure you could pay for my ring with ungraded set's in 81's.
    Me-Not yet I'd have to hire someone, why would you like to help.
    Her-Fine just get me a watch and some earings. And can we
    have another tiger 10. Me-We'll see..

    Well it won't be long for I don't think I'll ever seeing her sorting
    81's.
  • My fiance bought me my first ebay win. It was a PSA 8 1972 Julius Erving Rookie card. She introduced me to eBay and bought my first eBay win for around $300.00.
    So, we started of on the right foot...

    Now, it is 858 feedbacks later. A few hundred graded cards later...
    and she sort of takes pride in the fact that it was she who introduced me to ebay and to my passion of collecting.

    My fiance is the ambassador of my card collection... we are getting married this wednesday!!!


  • 6 months ago:

    Me: I think I'll buy/sell cards for a living.
    Wife: Ok, dear, I trust you. Just don't put us into financial ruin...
    .
    .
    .
    6 months later:
    Wife: Honey, why are we $2000.00 more in debt now than we were 6 months ago
    Me (with lots of nice cards in the closet now): (silence)

    Bill "diamantedude"
  • Ydsotter,

    Congratulations and best of luck in the future.

    Carlo
    Buying 1957 Baseball PSA 8 or higher. Especially Checklists, and Contest Cards. Topps1957psa8set@aol.com
  • mrc32mrc32 Posts: 604
    <<As I am currently typing this right now, she is at the kitchen table sorting my latest vending case into complete sets, "earning" her hair cut. I love it!>>

    I think my wife would laugh in my face if I suggested she earn her haircuts....not sure wheter you are a slave driver or got it good image
  • mrc32mrc32 Posts: 604
    ydsotter
    Congrats!

    If you choose right it will be the best choice you ever make. If you choose wrong....hide your cards cause she will go after them image
  • I have cases and really expensive cards delivered to my mom's address. My old Italian mother would never "rat" out her sonimage

    On a side note. When my wife and I were getting ready to be married, we also wanted to buy a house before the wedding. I was just starting out in my career and didn't have much cash in the bank, but had a huge card and comic collection. In the spring of 1988 I sat across from the mortgage officer at Williamsburg savings filling out the mortgage application. The officer mentioned that my future wife and mine's salary was adequate but we didn't have anything in assets. Under assets I wrote "American Pop culture and Sports Memoribilia collection". When the bank officer asked what that was, I told him "My comic book and baseball card collection". At the time I valued it at $75,000. He said "Is it really worth that much?". I told him if I retailed it out it's worth 3X as much, but for quick cash I would get $75,000. At this time though the bulk of the value was in the comic books, but the bank officer was a big Yankee fan (like me) and we sarted talking sports and The Yankees. The next day I stopped by the branch and gave him an autographed Phil Rizzuto baseball.
    Make a long story short, we got the mortgage and the house. The bank officer placed a hand wriiten note in our paperwork thanking me for the baseball. Now the basement is full off comics and cards and I need another house just for storage.
    Baseball is my Pastime, Football is my Passion
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