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you guys won't believe this! ***pic added***
Southerncards
Posts: 1,384 ✭✭
I had the day off today and took my truck in for repair. Figured I'd hit an antique store or 2 and see if my run of luck would continue after picking up that Ted Williams Moxie bottle last week.
Store number one, closed on Monday....AARGGHH!
Store number two, open and ready for business. Now I've been in this store before and never really found anything. This time is the exception. I strolled through the rooms and saw a few neat things but nothing that grabbed me. Walked by this one table and saw a small cardboard box of plastic army men. Wait, those aren't army men, they're baseball players. Yellow, blue and white plastic baseball players, like the ones you'd buy in a bag for 99 cents. I chuckled to myself as I grabbed a handful. Boy they looked cheap, even had a few cake topper players in there. The one white one in my hand caught my eye as I saw something written on the front....
Pee Wee Reese
Wait.....
Pee Wee Reese
No, can't be. I picked up another....
Mickey Mantle.
Quickly grabbing the white ones was like looking at a 50's all star team. Campy, Snider, Reese (2 of them), Avila, Musial, Mantle, you name 'em.
Now I knew that I had seen these before but couldnt remember where. A quick search of the net yielded my answer. 1955 Tastee Freez/Dairy Queen Big League statues. 18 in the set, some ultra rare ones, bats are easily broken.
Well, I have 11 intact ones (2 Reese). The other 4 have broken bats but are still collectible. Check the current ebay auctions and Mastro auctions and you'll see lots selling for $500-1000.00 Wow!
Coming to an auction house near you soon!
Also picked up a neat ceramic figure of a lion with a baseball and a red letter H. I assume its a city name (Havana?). Got some other little goodies too and now I have some research to do!
Jim
Store number one, closed on Monday....AARGGHH!
Store number two, open and ready for business. Now I've been in this store before and never really found anything. This time is the exception. I strolled through the rooms and saw a few neat things but nothing that grabbed me. Walked by this one table and saw a small cardboard box of plastic army men. Wait, those aren't army men, they're baseball players. Yellow, blue and white plastic baseball players, like the ones you'd buy in a bag for 99 cents. I chuckled to myself as I grabbed a handful. Boy they looked cheap, even had a few cake topper players in there. The one white one in my hand caught my eye as I saw something written on the front....
Pee Wee Reese
Wait.....
Pee Wee Reese
No, can't be. I picked up another....
Mickey Mantle.
Quickly grabbing the white ones was like looking at a 50's all star team. Campy, Snider, Reese (2 of them), Avila, Musial, Mantle, you name 'em.
Now I knew that I had seen these before but couldnt remember where. A quick search of the net yielded my answer. 1955 Tastee Freez/Dairy Queen Big League statues. 18 in the set, some ultra rare ones, bats are easily broken.
Well, I have 11 intact ones (2 Reese). The other 4 have broken bats but are still collectible. Check the current ebay auctions and Mastro auctions and you'll see lots selling for $500-1000.00 Wow!
Coming to an auction house near you soon!
Also picked up a neat ceramic figure of a lion with a baseball and a red letter H. I assume its a city name (Havana?). Got some other little goodies too and now I have some research to do!
Jim
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Late 60's and early to mid 70's non-sports
Congratulations! Those are great items.
What were they asking for them? Did they have any idea what they had?
I think they command a premium if they're still in their original packing?
thanx for sharing
mike
there are a few more...most of them run $50 or so depending on how nice they are.
Groucho Marx
I'm on the fence about whether or not to keep or auction them. In all honesty, they are pretty ugly little statues. No personal likeness to the players, no team id's. Not even the uniform numbers on the back like the cheapo ones had.
I didnt discuss with the owner what she paid, I just took my figures and other goodies and ran far far away.
To answer the question of the night, they were 25 cents each. Yep, a quarter a piece, and then the lady took another 30% off as they are having a moving sale. Can you believe it?
Here's the rest of what I bought....
a 1976 Cleveland Cavaliers record album, some type of commemorative thing......$1.00
a Baltimore Orioles baseball bat shaped pen. The Orioles bird logo looks to be like what they used in the 50-60's.......$2.00
The statue I mentioned earlier. So far, my research has led me to it being a souvenir of the Havana Lions, a team considered to be the NY Yankees of Cuba. I'm guessing that its from the early to mid 50's. It appears to have been trimmed in gold and it is beautiful...and it was $2.00 !!!
Now, lets see, thats 15 statues at .25 each so $3.75, plus another $5 for the above listed items. $8.75 minus the 30% discount.
I think my luck is going to run out soon!
edited to add: calleocho - I found the site you were refering to, The pic shown is my exact item. Its identical.
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Sorry, SC, I just couldn't resist. Congrats on a very nice find.
Congrats!
Dave
Collector of Vintage Golf cards! Let me know what you might have.
I'm not even sure which find I'm more excited about, the Tastee Freez figures or the Havana Lions figure. Both are exceptional finds and I consider myself very lucky.
<< <i>Boopotts - touche' my friend. >>
LOL--- you're a good sport, SC, and a class guy. I hope your auctions treat you well.
I hit some more stores today and I swear that I looked at a gazillion pieces of ceramic crap hoping to spot more Cuban baseball memoribilia like the Havana Lions piece. I doubt that much of it exists in the U.S.
<< <i>Thanks for all of the nice comments. I was quite please seeing the results of some of the recent auctions regarding the tastee freez figures. An ebay auction had 15 pieces and was over $500. The Mastronet auction was the complete set of 18 and was $1000+. I figure that the 11 (plus the 4 broken ones) should bring about $400 at auction. That is, if I decide to sell. My wife is pushing, and I'm on the fence.
I hit some more stores today and I swear that I looked at a gazillion pieces of ceramic crap hoping to spot more Cuban baseball memoribilia like the Havana Lions piece. I doubt that much of it exists in the U.S. >>
Let's see, you spent a little over $6, but auctioning should realize around $400. I can only imagine what your wife will say if you keep 15 ugly little statues (with 4 broken!), instead of maybe getting $400 for them?
LOL!
edit: Super find!
rbd
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Smokestack Lightning (Live) 1968
Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Hat (Live) 1971
My wife is actually very tolerant of my habit (collection). She knows that I dont spend much on myself and only buy stuff that I know is worth something. I'm not dumping oodles of cash on new product that is worth nothing when opened. Now, she also knows that the likelihood of me selling my collection anytime soon is not probable, but knowing that I spent $6 and could make $400 is enough to keep her happy.
edited to add: Saturday looks like a good day for more antique store shopping!
I have a Mantle just like that one and another with a broken bat. All part of that group of 15 that I found. The website across the street says that in 2001, it was selling for about $250....