My What's a Grand Getcha Game (Rd. 9 & 10 Update) 5/15/14

vintagefun

I returned to collecting mid-2012 after a roughly 20 year layoff, though that layoff did include a few eBay or card shop hit and runs along the way, but few and far between.  When I fully returned I was buying raw cards off eBay with varying degrees of success.  The occasional burn along the way got me into graded cards for security.  The graded cards got me onto this board.  This board got me into Unopened.  So most of 2013 was spent acquiring an assortment of boxes and packs, that will be displayed for a while, until the kid and I eventually rip it over the coming years.  With a nice footprint in Unopened now established, combined with rising prices, it was time to get back on track with the individual cards I always wanted as a kid, but couldn’t afford.
 
Based on a question around what would you do with a grand posed here, I decided to create a challenge for myself based around a $1000 budget.  Goal would be to get 5-7 Graded RC cards with each $1000.  Have to get at least 1 card from each of 4 sports, and ideally not pay more than $500 for any one card.  Since I am the judge and jury on this, I can break any rule I want, but will do my best not to. 
 
I did the first challenge with some Christmas/Birthday/Fantasy cash and posted the results in another thread, but those cards are listed below for the sake of this one. Now that Parts 2 and 3 are complete, and 4 and 5 are in process, I will update this thread moving forward.
 
This has been a fun project, but I am quickly running out of affordable cards that I want/need, but have about 7-9 cards that will surely flirt with or outright break the $500, which will make the 5-7 card metric tough.  So once I complete Parts 4 & 5, I may just take the rest of the list and create a new challenge.  Really hoping to get to the National this year, so I can try to knock off some of my whales in PSA 3-5/6; 65 Namath, 61F Robertson, Chamberlain, West, Baylor, Russell (not RC but 57T ain’t likely), and I want a 54T Gordy Howe (not RC but a stellar card)…if you have a line on any of these please PM me.

Here's Round 1: detailed in a previous post so cards grouped here.
 




Here's Round 2: may upgrade Terry and Roger someday, but very happy for now. Yes, the Gretzky is Topps, and a 6, but was quite happy with eye appeal and price. Julius and Gibson are also nice.







Round 3: first 3 cards are all courtesy of fellow board members. Happy with all, but Jordan is the prize here. Yaz and McCovey were nice finds, and two that I've wanted since I was 11.







More to come. I have the anchors of the next 2 rounds in hand. Now need to fill gaps. Anyone got a Messier RC?

CW

This is great! Quite the collection you're putting together here -- good luck with the next 2 rounds (will be looking for the results)!

PMKAY

I really enjoyed this.

slum22

Very awesome thread. Congratulations on a fantastic collection. Those are some great looking cards. I am mainly a basketball and football guy but I really like the Gretzky and Bob Gibson RC's. Like you I reconnected to the hobby in the last year and a half and 2013 was taken over with the unopened bug. Having a solid run at unopened in 2013 I am planning on changing my focus for 2014 and I am looking to do something similar to your projects. I am looking to build a PSA HOF RC collection of various sports from various eras. This thread is an inspiration. Thanks.

stown

vintagefun

Well Round 4 is in the books and under budget. Round 1 is the only one that's popped the budget so far, though it did have 7 cards. Round 5 is almost complete as well. Just need to find the right hockey card. Messier anyone????

Round 4 is anchored by Jimmy Brown. My dad's favorite. It's got some fish eyes, but presents nicely enough and for a fair price. 


Another great, Gale Sayers follows. Not the best example, but budget friendly for the game. Who didn't cry during Brian's Song?


A huge shout out to Steve (slum22) for the sweet hook up on the Baylor. I love this set, and this is the first card from it that I've owned. Very happy with this Laker legend.


70's hockey is written all over this card. It's a long time favorite, and he was a legend between the pipes. It's a Topps, but another budget friendly addition.


Finally, Rickey. Nothing special here, but needed a BB representative, and he's a welcome addition for the price.


Stay tuned. Round 5 coming soon.

Please take a look at my BST thread for a list of wants.

Thanks
Jim

jordangretzkyfan

I love what you are doing here. Talk about the iconic rookie cards of the hobby. And you are doing great on a very reasonable budget. Well done!! I personally love the eye appeal of the Yaz...looks more 7.5 than 6. Great cards!

baseballfan

Great stuff

Congrats!

PM770

That is incredible value you getting for under $1000 in each round. Very entertaining thread.

If you don't mind me asking, what were you able to pick up that Gibson for? I'll be looking for a raw one in VG-EX of a little better at the National and would like to know what a nice one like yours went for.

vintagefun

<< <i>That is incredible value you getting for under $1000 in each round. Very entertaining thread.

If you don't mind me asking, what were you able to pick up that Gibson for? I'll be looking for a raw one in VG-EX of a little better at the National and would like to know what a nice one like yours went for. >>



The Ask price on the Gibson was $300. Accepted a $250 BIN. Not sure what VCP avg. is, but it was a fair price vs. what was available.

Good luck with yours. I hope to make it to the National this year too.

Jim

vintagefun

Round 5 is now in the books. This has been a blast putting these lots together. I’ve done pretty well securing the cards I want thus far, but what’s left on my list are some tougher cards to find within my budget, and some cards that are much easier to find at a good price. So I’m gonna slow my roll for a bit and wait for some of the toughies to find me, and once locked down, I can fill the lot with the more affordable stuff. If I can make it to the National this year, that would be a good opportunity to take down some of those anchors.

Anyway, onto the results. 5 of the 7 came from 3 board members. Thanks boys.

The key card from this lot was the Alcindor. Really like the tall boys, but struggle with the holder size…it doesn’t fit in my graded card box, but hopefully he’ll have some tall boy brothers in the not-too-distant future, and they can start their own box.


The next 3 were from gregmo who reached out with a nice package deal. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but the Brett is a beauty. Colors really pop. Butkus is nice too, and having met him once before, he’s a great guy and I’m happy to add this one to my PC. Largent was a childhood favorite.




Carlton was not on my initial list, but when I saw it on the BST, I decided I needed it. Thanks Andy (paleocards) for a solid price.


Herschel is one of my all-time favorite athletes and this sharpie comes courtesy of Brian (bkritz)


Finally, Messier. I’ve been looking for a decent Messier since early December and have struggled to find one that looks like it deserves the grade it got. Many of the ones I looked at were wonky on centering, and in my opinion not worthy of the grade…or price being asked. Some were sharp enough, but an asking price was too high. Found this one within an hour or so of being listed and took it down quick. Quite happy with the price too. No denying Gretzky is the Great One, but I always loved Moose.


Rounds 1-5 only took about 10 weeks to assemble. But now that I'm saving for the National and many of my wants are tougher to find, it'll likely be a while before Round 6 is complete, but I thank you for your comments and especially those who have reached out with offers from my wish list.

This board is awesome!

Thanks for following.
Jim

ThoseBackPages

Jim,

This is a great thread! Really enjoyed the read.

Thank you so much for sharing with us.

lahmejoon

Awesome. I just saw this for the first time. That Yaz rookie is a beauty for a 6. Great job on all of them!

slum22

Jim,

Thanks for the update. My favorite thread on this board. This is what collecting is about. You got a great deal on that Carlton RC. I was about to PM paleo to buy it and it was sold (apparently to you). Great addition! Like you I was not even looking to get that card but at the price you got and with that centering for that great I think it's a home run for your collection. You've inspired me to branch out and collect more sports out of my basketball focus. Recently added some BB and FB HOF RC's to my collection based on watching your collection. Good luck getting more off your want list. I know one we share on our lists is the Wilt 61 Fleer. All the best.

vintagefun

Thanks for the kind words and support. I will say, one of the first things you hear on the board is to buy the card and not the grade. It sounds cliche, but is so true.

This project had me comparing a lot of cards with a variety of grades and price points. While I won't say a 7s not a 7 or a 6 is not a 6, I will say for my eye and my money, I saw a lot of 6s that were more pleasing to me than many 7s and at a lower price point. It really comes down to budget and personal preference on what you value in the look of a card. But once I saw what I was getting for my money, the number didn't really matter anymore. I still wanted and got pretty nice looking cards that I'm happy to have in my personal collection. Many of these are cards I previously thought were out of range for my budget, and at a grade higher many were. But truth be told, I can hardly tell the difference between a single grade in many cases.

The other thing I learned was be patient. What you want will pop up, so long as you're realistic with expectations. If I didn't like what was available one day, i'd check back the next and continually roll items to my watch list until I had enough to compare, and if still not finding what I wanted, keep waiting and move to something else. This paid off on Jordan, Gretzky, Butkus, and Messier to name a few, and I'm glad I waited.

Thanks again.
Jim

Dboneesq

Great cards and a fun thread to follow. Enjoy the cards.

paleocards

Cool project, Jim, glad the Carlton has found a good home. Good luck and I hope to see you at the National in Cleveland this summer.

vintagefun

Well I knew there were a few key cards I wanted that would test the rules of the game. Halfway through Round 6, the right opportunity finally presented itself. I'd been searching for the right Namath since the beginning of the challenge. Good examples at reasonable prices were hard to come by. Until I found one on eBay, listed by OPC Baseball. Hey, that's Tom. A PM or two later and he tells me it's Bobby's. We worked out a deal that I think worked for all of us, and I'm now the proud owner of this Broadway Joe. Slight tilt, but a solid example IMO.


But Joe being a G meant I needed a rule revision, so I decided to spread him over 2 Rounds. Thanks to BST and the coolness of lilmule, sportscardstop, scottiec, cpettimd, and elsnorto I was able to add many of these for great prices.

Note: While perusing Biletnikoff's on eBay I noticed one listed by snortscards. Hmmm. Wonder if that's elsnorto? A PM later I have confirmation and since he lives local, I got a chance to meet my first board member in person, bought the Freddy and a 85 T FB box as well.

Here's the rest of the Football:
Freddy.


As a Cowboy fan, Dandy Don and Bob Hayes were must haves.


As you can probably tell from my avatar, I'm a Dodger fan. Was quite pleased to add these first two in particular. Yount and Murray are cool too, just not as exciting as my Dodgers.




Hockey was a little lucky. With a slim budget, 2 of the cards on my list became available on BST at a good price and I took them down.


For Basketball, I love the 61 Fleer set, and still have a handful of wants. But I did find this KC Jones on the BST and had to have it. He's a bit of a local legend. One of his teammates is part of one of the most memorable calls in basketball history. "Havlicek stole the ball!" So even though he'd been in the league for 7 years, this is still a Havlicek rookie and another must have. And finally, I felt like I needed a big man here, so Akeem fit the bill.




A fun pair of Rounds. And with some of the whales I still want, I may need to combine rounds again. That being said, it's good to be the king and only have to please myself. As much as I want an Orr RC, it's just not in the budget, so I'm looking at the 68, as it's my next favorite early example. While I could probably afford a decent Rose RC, I just don't like it that much, so I'm leaning towards a 64 instead. 57 Russell...probably not, so 61 here I come, even considering the IA cuz it's cool the way he's floating thru the air. I'm just over half way thru Round 8, but the list has narrowed significantly, and I'm only planning to do 10 Rounds. So, I gotta be strategic and patient. Still crossing my fingers that I'll make National this year.

Stay tuned.

jmaciu

Congrats. You have added some amazing stuff to your collection. I can't wait for more updates.

elsnorto

<< <i> >>



Congrats on landing the Namath... that's a pretty major card in the football world!



<< <i>Note: While perusing Biletnikoff's on eBay I noticed one listed by snortscards. Hmmm. Wonder if that's elsnorto? A PM later I have confirmation and since he lives local, I got a chance to meet my first board member in person, bought the Freddy and a 85 T FB box as well. >>



It's great you've been able to pick up so many of these cards from fellow board members. It was great to talk sports/cards with you. We will have to find an excuse to do it again.



<< <i>Still crossing my fingers that I'll make National this year. >>



At the rate you're going, you will finish off this project before the National. But you've got to go to at least one for the experience regardless.

Snorto~

Dboneesq

Jim,

Congrats on picking up some more AMAZING cards. Enjoy the ride!

grote15

Outstanding pickups, Jim! You're putting together quite an assortment of iconic cards!

slum22

Jim,

Thanks again for sharing. I love seeing what you are getting each round. I've said it before, this is my favorite thread up here. Since I've started following your progress I have been inspired to pick up some HOF RC's myself. Good luck on the 61 basketball RC's on your list. I am glad I was able to help you with one of them and be a part of this thread. Have fun if you make it to the National. Being from the west coast I wish the National would make its way back to this side of the country but it doesn't look that will happen anytime soon. The only National I ever went to was as a teenager when it was in Anaheim. I will make it to a National someday but it likely won't be for a while the way my family life and work schedule is currently. In the meantime I will have to live vicariously through threads like yours! Looking forward to the next update.

vintagefun

Well Round 8 went quick. Thanks largely to a pair of anchors that took up a chunk of the budget. But 3 of the 6 came off the BST thanks to Robert (sportscardstop) and Tim (grote15).

I'd been looking for Schmidt in a 7, but was open to an 8. I missed 2 8s on the BST but found this on the Bay for a fair price.


Also got Johnny U, but in an off-eBay transaction by googling seller's handle and finding him on VCP. Got a price that worked well for both of us and since he had more stuff I'm into, we'll likely work together again.


Here's a pair of budget friendly HOF RCs. Would love to see Trammell added to the list someday.


Finally, Basketball and Hockey. An Orr RC just isn't in the cards at this point. I decided to punt and get my next favorite early year card, and at some point will look to add the 67 Calder card as well.


With Cousy, the 57 is affordable enough, just well more than I want to spend for that player. And since I really like the 61 Fleers and it's his 2nd card, is well-centered and came from the board, it made for a nice fit.


Two rounds left, and still many cards I want. But what doesn't get filled will likely move to a new game.

Thanks for reading.

slum22

Congratulations on another great group of cards. I have the Schmidt RC on my saved search list. I look at PSA 8's and PSA 9's often but haven't pulled the trigger yet. The Cousy is beautifully centered. Most 6's in that set have awful centering so congratulations on getting a great card for the grade. Love this thread. Wish I had some extra 61's to help you out. Good luck and keep posting your results.

vintagefun

Thanks for the kind words guys. This is becoming the collection I always wanted as a kid.

Just locked down card 1 of Round 9 off BST.

vintagefun

Well Rounds 9 & 10 are complete. Though I did break a few rules. I spread out the remaining 2000 across 6 cards as opposed to the 10-12 the rules alotted for. When it came down to it, the cards left on the wish list were either relatively available or tougher to find or more expensive. In the end I decided to go ahead and wrap up this budget as the game had satisfied it's intent, which was to get a good footprint into my desired cards on a reasonable "return to collecting budget". I ended up with 54 cards across 4 sports for 10K, with almost all being RCs.

Now I can sit back and relax a bit and slow my roll on a narrower field of wants.

Onto the cards...

First up was 68 Griese off the BST. Thanks hammered.


Then I found this nice looking Oscar on the BBCE store. Thanks to Steve and crew for working with me.


Then I got sidetracked on a Clemente RC that wasn't part of this game but detailed in another thread. Because it was a local seller, we met and he showed me some other items he had. Once I had them in hand I was pretty sure I would need to have them if we could agree on price. We did. One of those cards was a 52T Mays also detailed in another thread. The other three are below. And while only the Maris is an RC, I never liked the 63 Rose, so the 64 is a great substitute, and while a 54 Aaron is on the want list, I could not pass up the eye appeal of this second year card.




Finally, Mr. Gordie Howe. Again, not an RC, but it's one of my favorite cards and it was a "must" on my list.


This challenge has been a blast. And as I stated earlier, it fulfilled its objective. There may be cards I upgrade along the way, and a few cards that I intended to include in the challenge that didn't make it, as well as a few I didn't expect...but overall quite happy. Yes, I could've sunk the money into just a few high quality cards, but I actually feel quite fulfilled with what I've managed to put together. Got some great deals along the way, and also knowingly overpaid for a few items. Hit some great for the grades, and missed on a few too.

It's been fun to share the experience here and I hope you've enjoyed it a fraction as much as much as I have.

Jim

bobbyw8469

This thread is awesome! While I am too lazy to share my own collection, I can appreciate the time it takes to scan cards, and add them to this thread. I am very impressed with this collection!

vintagefun

Thanks Bobby! I have a lot of people to thank for their help in this quest. 20 of the 54 cards came from 16 Board Members.

BIG THANKS TO:

Epruyne
RonBurgundy
Davemri
Slum22
Bkritz
Paleocards
Elsnorto
Gregmo
Sportscardstop
Lilmule
Tsalems
Bobbyw8469
Scottiec2288
Cpettimd
Hammered
Grote15

Your help was appreciated, doing business with you was a pleasure, and your cards have a good home.

Thanks.
Jim

Dboneesq

Jim ... congratulations on your project and thank you for sharing the results with us. Now enjoy them.

esquiresports

I loved reading your stories on how you acquired each card. It's pretty amazing how many quality iconic cards you were able to put together across four sports for "only" $10K. Thanks again for taking the time to share and enjoy the cards.

Scott

ThoseBackPages

BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

belz

Just noticed this thread...so amazing. I'm sure you have a nice display or planning to design. Congrats!!!

Scottiec2288

Great thread and even a better collection! You got some amazing cards. Awesome and congrats on your collection of some really iconic cards.