whats your greatest find ever (yard sales, garage, shows, etc) ?

gradeddream

mine was actually my grandfathers. he went to a garage sale & for $5 bought (35) 1957-58 topps baskets. the highlights were (1) russell, heinson, ramsey, heinson, (2) cousy & a bunch of other. they would grade from the range of 3-6
.
also there was a bunch of football & the best card was a 1958 jim brown. it would grade a 6 or 7.

i sold them all for a nice profit before there wad grading companies or at least before i knew psa was existence. i sold them all on ebay in 1998.

my greatest find myself was at the fort wash show last spring when i bought a 1982 hawaii gwynn rc & got it graded & it came back a 9.5


list your best finds!

julen23

i can't touch your grandfather's story...

julen

mercurynut

A few years back I got dragged to a flea market by an old girlfriend and found 2 Hartland Statues in EX+ condition for 5 bucks each.

tkd7

at a flea market in Pennsylvania about 30 years ago, a run of NY Yankee World Series programs from 1955 to 1964.

sandmanfromlv

I traded a Brien Taylor RC for a 1980 W3TV Charlotte O's Cal Ripken...

smallstocks

When I was about 9 (1972), my aunt gave me all over my older cousin's baseball cards since his preference shifted to girls. It wasn't until years later that I went through the 1500 or so cards in the box and discovered three Nolan Ryan rookie cards and one Bench rookie in there!

NBAFan

Guessing that was a 9.5 GAI

jmbkb4

A few months ago, I was in my great, great grandfather's attic, I found a really gorgeus T-206 Wagner. I know he collected these cards and I know he bought the tobacco tin in which it was found, but I cannot guarantee its authenticity unconditionally.

eyebone

Did not happen to me, but interesting nonetheless.....

A few years ago there was an article with picture in one of the Toronto newspapers about a young guy who was at a yard sale of an older woman. I guess she had a big cardboard box with all sorts of cards just tossed in. There must have been some OK cards, because he asked her if she had more. She took him into the house and he ultimately purchased a couple more similar boxes for a total of $1,200 if memory serves. He knew there were some good cards, but was happily surprised when he discovered a T-206 Wagner. The picture showed him holding it. Naturally it was beat up and I recall he said that it had paper stuck to the back like it had been removed from a scrapbook. He took it to some dealers in the Toronto area who all told him it was a fake, until one guy confirmed it was real. I seem also to recall that he was going to consign it t one of the big US auction houses.

Me? Well, I once found an SI with Michael Jordan on the cover.

Eyebone

Stone193

Fort Gordon, Ga - 1992

I bought a pile of old programs from a guy for 400$.

Just on the top were 2 1955 Brooklyn Dodger programs in ex condition and two WS ticket stubs.

There were a few WS programs which go back to the 20s - in poor condition but nice and number other really nice programs.

mike

Allen

Maybe he made up the story for publicity. That could be a pretty cool April Fools to pull on the local media.

gradeddream

<< <i>Guessing that was a 9.5 GAI >>



it was a bgs 9.5

bowdowntome

I can't count the many flea market/swap meet/garage sale "finds" I've had since starting to collect in 1969. Back in the 70's it was fairly easy to find shoe boxes full of "old" cards from the 50's and 60's, for a couple bucks, and I bought any and all I could, if I had the money. I remember specifically finding vending cases of 1969 football cards.....at the dump (free). A pretty good run of 1962 and 63 Topps baseball in a shoebox, at a swap meet, for the princely sum of $5 (Willie Mays sitting right on top of one of the piles). Boxes of approximately 5000 1964 Topps GIANTS at a swap meet for $5 each. T205 Frank Chance and Miller Huggins for $15 each at an outdoor antique "swap meet". Shoebox with nearly complete 56 Topps and 55 Topps AA football sets ($10) at a garage sale, which I traded away years ago because I wasn't into football......I now kick myself regularly. Most of this was back in the 70's/early 80's.

More recent stuff - 1946 "Oil Bowl" ticket stub at a local card store for $5, flipped it on ebay for $250+. A large box full of L.A Dodger programs (about 150) form the early 60's, plus some minor league hockey programs from the 60's, at a swap meet. Nearly complete 1962 Post football set at a local card show (a guy set up and was selling stuff he had as a kid, not a dealer), along with good runs of 1962, 63 Topps, and 64-66 Philadelphia. Didn't quite get these that cheap, average about .50 per card, and most in exmt+ condition), but they gave me good starts on those sets. 1915 Notre Dame football progarm at a local antique store for $15, sold on ebay for just under $300.

I LOVE flea markets/swap meets/antique stores, etc....

QUIK

Grandmas basement when i was 10 and had just started card collecting. My mom and uncle said they both had collected as kids and cards could possibly be found. Well after while i did find about 30 1957 topps all beat up they were beautiful though. 25 years later i still have those cards and also a #3 master 57 set on the registry. I LOVE THIS STUFF!!

frankhardy

Bought an album full of 53 Topps for $1,000. Got it home and realized that it was 7 cards short of the complete set, plus some doubles as a bonus. I bought the 7 cards on Ebay for $700 (Mantle, Mays, etc). Sold the set on Ebay within 2 weeks for $3,800.00. Not to bad for a couple of weeks work.

matrixbend247

i found hundreds of 56 - 58 bb cards in a forclosure i did. also hummells, a lionel blue comet train set in mint condition, a ton of 3x5 autograph cards from the brooklyn dodgers and jewelery. apparently the previous owner was very well off, but a total nut case. i think the find is worth more than than house profit. matrix

rbdjr1

A 1955 Topps #124 Harmon Killebrew RC PSA 9.

Some years ago, I was going thru a box graded PSA material at Broadway Rick's Stike Zone (when he was located in Boynton Beach, FL).

I picked-up the Killebrew PSA 9 Rookie card (along with some other nice material!), ...and the Killebrew for about $500-$600. It is possibly the best example of this rookie card ever graded, as it looked just perfect!

I later sold it at a Superior Action, and was "written up" by Superior. "As the best example they ever witnessed!"...

Today's SMR: $ 5,250 (who knew? LOL!)


rbd

edit: From a European Tobbacocanna card Auction, some years back. I bought a huge, beautiful leather bound tobbaco card album, with my guess (I don't recall!) at least 30 complete sets, of English (black and white) cigarette photo cards. All original and mint! (not glued!)...

I cannot even guess what these 30 or so complete sets are worth today? I think I paid 230 pounds (sterling) back then. Can I put a $50 to $100++++ value on each mint set? (30 sets?). Who knows? I salted them away, and maybe some day (when I win the Florida LOTTO LOL!, I'll send these beautiful sets into PSA!)...

TheThrill22

A find of mine just recently happened. I was going through a box of things that my Dad gave me, which happened to be part of my Grandfather's collection. In it I found his press credentials and season passes(he worked for the Chicago Daily News) for the White Sox from 1944-1960, for the Cubs for the same period, the Bears, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Chicago Rockets. There were quite a number of programs and ticket stubs, but near the bottom of the box I found the fight program from 1937 in which Joe Louis beat Jim Braddock at Comiskey Park. According to my Dad, my Grandfather put it in the box and its been there ever since.

ptper

After 20 years of searching, my2 best flea market finds happened this summer.

In July I was going thru a box looking for 1939 World's Fair post cards and came across a seemingly unopened pack of 1934 Jungle Gum Cards. I asked the dealer how much he wanted for the post cards and the Jungle Gum combined and he said $25. I almost dislocated my shoulder getting the money out of my pocket so fast. The pack, it turns out, was not unopened because there was no gum. I guess the gum had been taken out and the cards re-wrapped. As I opened them, I thought this is what it must have been like in 1934 to open a pack. The 2 cards were absolutely pristine, whiter than I've ever seen for any 1930s Goudey issues. The wrapper alone is worth about $150. The funny thing is, I was supposed to be working that day, but got an unexpected day off the day before and, on a whim, decided to go.

Two weeks later at another flea market, I spied some 1936 R311s along with Wide Pens and Fine Pens. There was also a 1936 R213 Joe DiMaggio rookie on the table. I asked the prices for some of the R311s and they were totally over the top, maybe 3-5 times what they should have been. It seemed like he was just making them up on the spot. So we talked for a few minutes and I was able to get a fair price on a few Fine Pen commons and minor HOFers like Bucky Harris and Earl Averill. Just for laughs I asked about the DiMaggio. He said he wanted $50. I tried to keep my best poker face and non-chalantly pulled an additional $50 from my pocket, thanked him and left. I went back 2 weeks later, looking for more stuff but he had sold the rest of the cards to another dealer.

Timing is everything.