Oops! Disasters In the Hobby
jskirwin
Posts: 700 ✭✭✭
Recently the owner of a Picasso painting valued at $100 mill put his elbow through the painting while showing it off.
Last night I noticed my new dog (lab-border collie mix) was quiet... too quiet while I was troubleshooting my wireless network.
I found her chewing on my 1972 Topps Rod Carew IA raw that I had just received from Ebay. Luckily I was only out $12.
Do you have any "oops!" moments to share with the hobby?
Last night I noticed my new dog (lab-border collie mix) was quiet... too quiet while I was troubleshooting my wireless network.
I found her chewing on my 1972 Topps Rod Carew IA raw that I had just received from Ebay. Luckily I was only out $12.
Do you have any "oops!" moments to share with the hobby?
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Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
Well to make it worse I left them in the basement in stacks on the floor and our faithfull mut "Dodger" decided to whiz all over them. They ended up in a large hefty bag and went on their final adventure to the county landfill.
matt
1994 Pro Line Live
TheDallasCowboyBackfieldProject
Mark
1992-93 Topps Basketball PSA 9 or 10
1976 Topps Baseball PSA 9 or 10
1981 Topps Los Angeles Dodgers PSA 9 or 10
1982 Topps Los Angeles Dodgers PSA 9 or 10
1986 Topps Los Angeles Dodgers PSA 9 or 10
1975 Topps Wacky Packages Series 15 PSA 9 or 10
<< <i>I started collecting cards when I was about 6, and somewhere around the age of 9 I turned my attention to collecting coins. Then to comic books. Then back to cards for good. Anyway, during my first go round as a card collector, I really wanted a Babe Ruth card for my birthday. This was around '81 or '82. My father could not find one cheaper than $250 (gulp), so he bought me a sweet '57 Mantle instead for $40. I don't remember the condition off the top of my head, but it was probably NM or NM-MT. Anyway, I wound up trading the Mantle straight up for some rare U.S. quarter. They both had the same book value at the time...and that quarter is probably still worth the same lousy $70 it was at the time of the trade
Ouch!
Matt
1994 Pro Line Live
TheDallasCowboyBackfieldProject
In the stack was a '55 Mays and Mathews, 'and 56 Aaron and Al Cerv.
I have several framed vintage cards in my living room, among them a T206 Cy Young w/ Glove. A few years ago I decided to take out the Young and possibly grade it. It's VG, but has no creases and presents well. I have it adhered to a foam riser in the frame with Rubber Cement (many years ago). No big deal. A little thinner and it comes right off. Right? Wrong. As I removed it, I pulled the paper right off the back!
All so his poverty-stricken family could eat. Alcoholic mother, etc.
This thief must die.
I put them next to the stick shift - slam on the break - coke goes flying into cards - now the cards are an interesting shade of brown!
From Exmt to F-P in a blink of the eye.
From then on, I carried my own cardsavers when I go buying.
mike
julen
RIP GURU
Sent out some Double Die FF versions on accident. Instead of a $1 and $5 card they got a $10 and $40 card.
I put Dodger cards in envelopes and let my boys pick one when their good. I went to open one by cutting the end off to put in a screwdown and cut the card. $10 card
Bought a cello case and 2 rack cases that I could tell were cherry picked and resealed but I opened them anyways "in case". Nope they were picked clean.
While inspecting cards for prospective grading potential, drop said card on the desk.
For some reason they seem to always land on a corner.
Don't waste your time and fees listing on ebay before getting in touch me by PM or at gregmo32@aol.com !
so as I run through the door...with the 3 monster boxes one on top of the other....and the 800 count box of singles sliding around on top of that...
My daughter runs out of no where and greets me with a huge hug around my knees!! Which of course stops me in my tracks. The boxes start to shift forward..as they still had what momentum I had lost..
I trying to catch up to the boxes..not step on my daughter...and save the whole load from hitting the floor..
End result...the 800 card box with the pristine vending singles take the dive.....700 cards...not enough to fill the box..so there was some room to move..AND the box landed right on an edge...every card had the slightest little ding to the bottom left corner!!!
I saved the junk....but turned the gems into NM cards in .5 second flat!!
I'll remind her of this story when she askes about her college money!!!
I had loads of cards from the 50's and 60's. probably had a dozen or so Mantle's, a Koufax and Clemente rookie, and just about any other card from 53 on. The piece of crap Fiat ran about a year before I took it to the scrap heap. OOOOOpppss !
<< <i>Bob Ugstad stole about $25,000 worth of cards from my father's collection. The '52s came from packs and were pristine. You know, that gentle, sloping curve, with flawless corners.
All so his poverty-stricken family could eat. Alcoholic mother, etc.
This thief must die. >>
Who's Bob Ugstad?
Also, I passed up a chance to trade a 1987 Topps Tracy Jones blankback for a gorgeous 1967 Seaver. So that was special.
My Dad had an uncle that worked for Topps. Every Christmas the uncle would come over with the entire year's set in a butter box. While how far into the 60s these sets ran he can't remember but he knows for certain that he had '52 - '59. They're somewhere in a land fill right now. The thing is, he never even collected cards.
The horror ... the horror ....
Arthur
EWWWW!!!!
Mantle and all!
Guess the lure of Kal Daniels and Mike Greenwell rookies were too much to pass up.
<< <i>Not by me but it happend at a show I attended. A guy walked in with a GEM 1952 Topps Complete set all in sheets. His intent was to sell the set to a dealer. Well he showed it to the first dealer all in his 9 card sheets and he replied I cant afford this set but Ill show you to someone who would be interested. Well the dealer looked through them for about 2 min until he said wait. These are 9 card sheets, this set is larger than normal topps and they cant fit in these. They were all trimmed. Then the man said but I spent all last night cuting them so they could fit in these sheets so I could display them for sale.
EWWWW!!!!
Mantle and all! >>
Man, what a sad story. That could be a made for TV horror movie.
<< <i>I traded what had to be a nm/nmmt Nolan Ryan rookie to my local card dealer in 1987 for a hobby box of 1987 topps and a $20 bill.
Guess the lure of Kal Daniels and Mike Greenwell rookies were too much to pass up. >>
Don't forget Kurt Stillwell
Arthur
Hey donavan I jus opened a error case and found someo fhteseff that look printed twice are these double dies as you call them. can you tell me what they are worth . Ive been through 100's of these cases and these are the first i've ever seen like this
What version is it? I got GAI to grade my FF and they have my scribble Double Die (F showing I think it was). On the FF Double Die- they sold in 1989 for $150 I think it was. I have the ads at home. The DDie FF on a few has teh words doubled in black and one my buddies in doubled in red.
If I can get a pic I would appretiate it. Im gone for teh weekend so I'll get back on Monday.
rd
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Smokestack Lightning (Live) 1968
Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Hat (Live) 1971
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 2 (2003). My son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 17 on December 31, 2009. We were stunned that another child of ours had been diagnosed. Please, if you don't have a favorite charity, consider giving to the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
JDRF Donation
1977 Topps Star Wars - "Space Swashbucklers"
<< <i>I walked away and bought boxes and boxes of 1988 Topps and 1988 Topps Big instead >>
Oh no!
1977 Topps Star Wars - "Space Swashbucklers"
I think this guy is an idiot!!!
<< <i>
<< <i>I walked away and bought boxes and boxes of 1988 Topps and 1988 Topps Big instead >>
Oh no!
It became even more tragic when I couldn't sell those boxes for 99-cents on eBay this summer. I said this another thread: it wasn't what I spent on the 87-89 garbage (it was all cheap) but what I didn't buy instead. Not just pre-war cards but high-grade vintage (mainly because I wasn't that knowledgeable about condition).
<< <i>
<< <i>I traded what had to be a nm/nmmt Nolan Ryan rookie to my local card dealer in 1987 for a hobby box of 1987 topps and a $20 bill.
Guess the lure of Kal Daniels and Mike Greenwell rookies were too much to pass up. >>
Don't forget Kurt Stillwell
Arthur >>
Yeah, forgot about him.
Thanks Arthur, I feel better now.
shawn
Adam B.
c.1988: Sold my entire NM or better Clemente collection(1956-73), to buy....Eric Davis and Dwight Gooden rookie cards!!!
c.1995: Set up at a show to well my doubles, a dealer by me with some beautiful stuff. I purchased a 69 Banks for $10 (later graded PSA 9).
Passed on the following: lot of Nolan Ryans 1968,1969,1970,1972 all in NM, for $500.
I'm starting to think that, as a group, we're not all that smart.
Perhaps we'll get better???
shawn
Long story short. They didnt smell that nice anymore. Had to throw them away.
<< <i>
I'm starting to think that, as a group, we're not all that smart.
>>
No, just human. At least we're all able to laugh about our mistakes.
Regards,
Greg M.
References:
Onlychild, Ahmanfan, fabfrank, wufdude, jradke, Reese, Jasp, thenavarro
E-Bay id: greg_n_meg
In 1990, I had a table at a show with a friend (little dinky 25 table show at a local gym). We had a Steve Largent rookie in one of those plastic cases that you had to move in a certain direction to get the card out (remember those things, it was like a puzzle to get your card out). Somebody had the great idea to use a key to get the card out, and what do you know, we keyed it, and keyed the card as well. Turned it from NM to G in the blink of an eye. Sad day for a 12 year old.
In the early 90's, I had a significant portion of my collection into Star Basketball (maybe $2,000-$2,500 worth of stuff). That about says it all. For a young teenage entrepreneur, it was a big loss.
Fun stories guys.
The damage actually isn't that bad, just a slight dent going thru Ryan's hat
Steve
I was dating this extremely hot, and extremely crazy B-actress in LA. She was the quintessential hot bodied, almost psycho Hollywood chick. Anyways, she got mad at me because I looked at a girlfriend of hers a certain way (I was checking her out!) and upon getting home she took an unopened box of 84 OPC hockey out of my closet and threw it across the room into the fireplace!
It doesn't end there. Of course, she then took a lighter to it and before I could blink an eye, my dreams of a perfect Yzerman, Neely or Chelios literally went up in smoke. That was the only time in my life someone violated my passion for the hobby. We broke up the next week and yes, she had to move out of my place and embarrassingly had to go back to her folks place in Palos Verdes.
Her folks really liked me and were upset. They later called and apologized for their daughter's erratic behavior. They also told me she admitted to them she had a coke problem and was $22K deep in credit card debt.
All this....over a great box of cards. I still haven't replaced the 84 box yet, but do have an equally hot wife who tolerates my "habit."
Only in LA.
Matt
Hockey in the 1960's-1970's primarily.
BTW, here's the CNN account of the Picasso-
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Picasso's famed "Dream" painting turned into a nightmare for Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn when he accidentally gave the multimillion-dollar canvas an elbow.
Wynn had just finalized a $139 million sale to another collector of his painting, called "Le Reve" (The Dream), when he poked a hole in the artwork while showing it to friends at his Las Vegas office a couple of weeks ago.
Director and screenwriter Nora Ephron, who witnessed and related the incident in her blog on the Huffington Post Web site (www.huffingtonpost.com), said Wynn had raised his hand to show the group something about Picasso's 1932 portrait of his mistress Marie-Therese Walter.
"At that moment, his elbow crashed backward right through the canvas. There was a terrible noise," Ephron wrote, noting that Wynn has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that damages peripheral vision.
"Smack in the middle ... was a black hole the size of a silver dollar. 'Oh s**t,' he said. 'Look what I've done. Thank goodness it was me.' "
Wynn's office Tuesday confirmed the story, an account of which also appeared in this week's issue of The New Yorker. Both accounts said Wynn had decided to release the buyer from the sale agreement and to repair and keep the painting himself.
Wynn, a millionaire casino developer and art collector, developed The Mirage and Bellagio resorts in Las Vegas in the 1990s, which spearheaded a profusion of luxury hotels and casinos on the once-seedy Las Vegas Strip.
Ripken, Brooks & Frank Robinson, Old Orioles, Sweet Spot Autos, older Redskins - Riggins, Sonny, Baugh etc and anything that catches my eye.
My ghetto sportscard webpage...All Scans - No Lists!!! Stinky Linky
R73 1933 Goudey Indian Gum - Series 288 - Nos. 118
Also looking for 1953 Parkhurst & 1953 Quaker Oats Ripley's BION.
If you have any available for sale PM me
Cool. Then you have a Double Die or Double Print. Unsure if PSA grades those, I know GAI does. Unsure of "solid" value due to lack of sales and only sales I know of were FF friends who really wanted one. Congrats. Rare card. If interested in selling LMK. I can ask around.