What's the most you have spent for a worthless card? (Gauging interest in 96 card player lots)

frankhardy · May 5, 2010 10:00PM

What's the most you have ever spent for a worthless card that you needed? I just broke my record yesterday, and I'm not sure I'm even going to get what I need.

Link to auction is below. As most of you know, I collect Cardinals team sets. Well, there is a very obscure, yet worthless card that I need that I have been looking for a long time. Of course, you remember those 44 card boxed sets that Fleer put out in the mid to late 80s. Well, those boxed sets came in cases of 4 display boxes, which had 24 sets each for a total of 96 sets. The 1988 Fleer Superstars display boxes have cards on the bottom. The only Cardinals card on the bottom of the display boxes (according to the SCD catalog) is a (drum roll please) Cardinals logo card. Yep, I spent over $52 (including shipping) for an entire case (on Ebay from BBCE) just HOPING that there is a Cardinals logo box bottom card in the case!

Where else would I find that stupid card? Believe me, it is no where to be found.

Auction

DavidPuddy · May 5, 2010 10:46PM

Look at the bright side. If you don't get the logo card, at least you've got 96 1988 Fleer Superstars sets

Seriously, I hope you get the logo.
Will you cut it off the box or keep the box intact?

WinPitcher · May 5, 2010 10:48PM

Shane

Are you sure that the Cards logo was not also on the bottoms of some cello or wax boxes?

I seem to think they can be found there as well.

Hopefully I am wrong.

Hope you get a gem one out of that case in any event.

Steve

Morgoth · May 5, 2010 11:12PM

Anytime I spend over 5 bucks for a graded common from the 60s or 70s I feel like I got ripped off.

I spent $50 bucks for a 1980 graded Pirates Team card.

Garabaldi · May 5, 2010 11:18PM

How bad is the cardboard when you can buy a case for only $35.

mbothner · May 5, 2010 11:21PM

I use to collect Larry Johnson basketball cards. I do not remember the exact amount but I spent hundreds of dollars to get all the Star Larry Johnson basketball cards from the 1990's including a couple hundred for the century promo. Over the years I had seen these on ebay and the sellers can not even give them away.

frankhardy · May 5, 2010 11:44PM

<< Shane

Are you sure that the Cards logo was not also on the bottoms of some cello or wax boxes?

I seem to think they can be found there as well.

Hopefully I am wrong.

Hope you get a gem one out of that case in any event.

Steve >>

Yes, there is a Cardinals logo from the bottom of a regular 1988 Fleer box. I have that one. I am not sure if it looks the same as the 1988 Fleer Superstars box card or not. I guess I will find out when I open it (if it's in there). Even if it looks the same, I will still want it because technically, it is a different card and from a different set. It is listed in the SCD catalog.

I will cut the card out and put it in my album. I do not collect entire panels. I may have a few, but it is only in panel form if I already have one cut out and already in my album.

Being as that I will cut it out, I guess I will have to explain my story when I list on Ebay an entire case (minus one box card).

nam812 · May 5, 2010 11:45PM

Shane - I dont think you are doing this to get it graded, but even still, box bottoms are a tough animal when it comes to condition. "IF" there is a Cardinals logo on the bottom of one of those 4 boxes, it will most likely be scuffed/wrinkled/creased (yes, even from a sealed case), and you will have spent $53 not only on just a Cardinals logo from the bottom of a wax box, but most likely a very undesirable copy.

There are instances where the box bottoms survive nicely, but I have found it is about 90/10 against. Good luck.

frankhardy · May 5, 2010 11:50PM

<< Shane - I dont think you are doing this to get it graded, but even still, box bottoms are a tough animal when it comes to condition. "IF" there is a Cardinals logo on the bottom of one of those 4 boxes, it will most likely be scuffed/wrinkled/creased (yes, even from a sealed case), and you will have spent $53 not only on just a Cardinals logo from the bottom of a wax box, but most likely a very undesirable copy.

There are instances where the box bottoms survive nicely, but I have found it is about 90/10 against. Good luck. >>

I agree. It will probably be scuffed. However, my goal with my Cardinals collection is completion, not necessarily condition. Don't get me wrong, my newer and many of my vintage cards are nice, but condition is not my priority. For example, my 1948 Bowman Stan Musial rookie is in low grade. I got it for less than $60. I would rather spend $60 on that Musial and have more money left to buy something else that I need than to spend hundreds on mid to high grade. That is just my philosophy and a choice that I have made.

On this logo card, I don't feel like I can be too picky because this card is impossible to find.

burke23 · May 6, 2010 12:10AM

Don't feel too bad - I've spent several hundred on junk wax trying to get a gradeable set of the 1992 Fleer Basketball All-Stars set. They are inserted in Series 1 (so no rookies). I have self-subbed maybe 15 cards (10 unique for my set) for my troubles..and it is a horrible rip. And still have like 3 or 4 cards I'm missing (looking for a 9/10 set). At least if you are going for box bottoms you can try to recoup costs by selling the actual sets in lots.

PowderedH2O · May 6, 2010 12:27AM

I spent $62 on a 1985 Topps Football common last year to help complete a team set. I've probably got about $250 in the set and there is only one star card in the whole thing and no major rookies. But, gee, I do have pride of being at the top of the registry for that big prize at the end of the month. wow.

frankhardy · May 6, 2010 12:29AM

<< I spent $62 on a 1985 Topps Football common last year to help complete a team set. I've probably got about $250 in the set and there is only one star card in the whole thing and no major rookies. But, gee, I do have pride of being at the top of the registry for that big prize at the end of the month. wow. >>

I take it that it was a PSA 10?

edited to say - I had to have been because you mentioned the registry.

digicat · May 6, 2010 12:48AM

On the bright side... if you find a gradable Rickey Henderson or Ryne Sandberg card among the box bottoms, you'll probably make your money back.

bishop · May 6, 2010 12:49AM

Shane....you have an illness. I recognize the symptoms. Unfortunately there is no known treatment

frankhardy · May 6, 2010 1:31AM

<< Shane....you have an illness. I recognize the symptoms. Unfortunately there is no known treatment >>

Al,

Are you speaking from experience?

On the other hand, you have eased the pain of the illness for me a time or two!

CrimsonTider · May 6, 2010 1:35AM

I bet you could make your money back by selling player lots on this board. I would purchase a 96 card lot of Dale Murphy from you.

MULLINS5 · May 6, 2010 1:39AM

I spent $1,000 on Gretzky rc that never showed up. Lost every penny

frankhardy · May 6, 2010 1:56AM

<< I spent $1,000 on Gretzky rc that never showed up. Lost every penny

>>

Ouch!

eagles33 · May 6, 2010 1:58AM

I spent 20 bucks for this eric murdock auto insert card.. i bought it raw.. then spent another 10 bucks just to get it slabbed.. It was an auto insert from the manufacturer.. I collect Providence college basketball cards..and try to get any autographs that were from the manufacturer. the auto inserts from the early 90s are tough to find... i'm still looking for a marques bragg or marty conlon courside auto insert and will pay top dollar for one.

NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1991 COURTSIDE 37 ERIC MURDOCK PSA/DNA CERTIFIED

Griffins · May 6, 2010 2:21AM

$500 in '88 dollars for a case of '88 Donruss. But it is serving a useful purpose now, providing food and shelter for a large extended family of termites in my attic.
In time I think anything over a buck for any card issued in the '80's or later will be overpaying. Too much supply, rapidly decreasing demand. Not to mention steroids tainting everyone of the era.

akuracy503 · May 6, 2010 2:25AM

Everytime I get the urge to bust open wax boxes I think about this question, worthless, worthless!

Garabaldi · May 6, 2010 3:05AM

<< I spent 20 bucks for this eric murdock auto insert card.. i bought it raw.. then spent another 10 bucks just to get it slabbed.. It was an auto insert from the manufacturer.. I collect Providence college basketball cards..and try to get any autographs that were from the manufacturer. the auto inserts from the early 90s are tough to find... i'm still looking for a marques bragg or marty conlon courside auto insert and will pay top dollar for one.

NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1991 COURTSIDE 37 ERIC MURDOCK PSA/DNA CERTIFIED >>

I have a bunch of old PC programs, yearbooks, VHS tapes and ticket stubs if interested.

larryallen73 · May 6, 2010 3:22AM

Shane....you have an illness. I recognize the symptoms. Unfortunately there is no known treatment

Actually they do have medicine for people with severe OCD like half of us on these boards.

I, fortunately, have finally been able to draw the line and realize I don't need the worthless card that badly. I do not need to have every single one. Case in point, I collect all of the many (joke) "alumni" of my alma mater (Sonoma State) who have been paid to play. Larry Allen is of course the most notable. There is another guy who had a cup of coffee with the Yankees in the early 80's. He has a few minor league issued cards. There is one on Ebay now for $12 or $13. I am just not going to do it. It's absolutely "worthless" and I am just not going to drop the dough on it. I have beat OCD and you can too!

onefasttalon · May 6, 2010 3:44AM

Who spends $$ on worthless cards??? ... I mean, REALLY!?!?!? Not me! .... oh wait.

frankhardy · May 6, 2010 4:20AM

As far as the illness goes, I do have a limit. I mean, I am not going to go absolutely bonkers on this. I passed on many cards that I need. I saw this very case on BBCE's website for (I think) $150 a few months ago. No way was I going that much. I even emailed him to see what he could do, and he would not come down any. So, I passed.

Right now, there is a 1973 Topps Pin Ups Joe Torre that I need. It has a BIN of $300. Not buying.

There is a 1974 Topps Emblems Cardinals card for $395. Not buying. (Wouldn't give $50)

There is a 1973 Topps 1953 Reprints Harry P-Nuts Lowrey for $275. Not buying.

I passed up a 1968 Topps 3D Curt Flood for $1800. Definitely not going there.

bishop · May 6, 2010 5:38AM

<< $500 in '88 dollars for a case of '88 Donruss. But it is serving a useful purpose now, providing food and shelter for a large extended family of termites in my attic.
In time I think anything over a buck for any card issued in the '80's or later will be overpaying. Too much supply, rapidly decreasing demand. Not to mention steroids tainting everyone of the era. >>

Anthony---I hope you are wrong since I did pay more than a buck a card for my Topps 82 blackless, 84 Encased , 85 mini ( regular and blank back ) and 88 ( as opposed to 89 ) Big Floating Heads sets...and then there are those 88-90 Folders, 81 Thirst Break Comics, the Silver, Bronze and Aluminum Gallery of Champions, the 86 3Ds ( so much nicer than my 68s), and those fabulous 9 LJN Baseball Talk cards and machine....sigh....nevermind

akuracy503 · May 6, 2010 8:18AM

This is a great thread, keep them coming, makes me feel better about my failed purchases.

It's really just an addiction more than a "love for a hobby".

frankhardy · May 6, 2010 8:19AM

<< 

<< $500 in '88 dollars for a case of '88 Donruss. But it is serving a useful purpose now, providing food and shelter for a large extended family of termites in my attic.
In time I think anything over a buck for any card issued in the '80's or later will be overpaying. Too much supply, rapidly decreasing demand. Not to mention steroids tainting everyone of the era. >>

Anthony---I hope you are wrong since I did pay more than a buck a card for my Topps 82 blackless, 84 Encased , 85 mini ( regular and blank back ) and 88 ( as opposed to 89 ) Big Floating Heads sets...and then there are those 88-90 Folders, 81 Thirst Break Comics, the Silver, Bronze and Aluminum Gallery of Champions, the 86 3Ds ( so much nicer than my 68s), and those fabulous 9 LJN Baseball Talk cards and machine....sigh....nevermind >>

Yep, I've definitely got the symptoms because I actually know what you are talking about on every one of those sets. I have all of the Cardinals except the 82 backless and the 84 encased. When you mentioned the 88 and 89 "Big Floating Heads", where you actually talking about the 89 and 90 "Heads Up"? If that's what you are talking about, I would say you paid much more than a buck a card on the 1989 version.

BY THE WAY - I just checked the SCD catalog again and I am in luck with the box bottom cards. Those display boxes for those sets must be larger than wax boxes because there are 6 cards on the bottom. With only 6 cards in the "box bottom" set, I am guaranteed to get a whopping 4 Cardinals logo cards!! Whoo-hoo!

Steve,

I got out my Cardinals logo box bottom card from wax/cello boxes. It has a border that looks like the 1988 Fleer base set. The Fleer Superstars logo card looks like the Fleer Superstars card, so it is a totally different card, according to SCD.

Griffins · May 6, 2010 8:38AM

Sorry Al, feeling very bearish today. Damn Greeks!

lanemyer85 · May 6, 2010 9:02AM

oh like this one. I guess it depends on condition, mine has wear and stuff...

The sheer audacity of Fleer to place that inferior logo next to one of the greatest players ever...shameful.

CubsFan41 · May 6, 2010 9:32AM

I think you should get all of those slabbed.

<< Who spends $$ on worthless cards??? ... I mean, REALLY!?!?!? Not me! .... oh wait.

>>

byronscott4ever · May 6, 2010 12:21PM

<<

oh like this one. I guess it depends on condition, mine has wear and stuff...

The sheer audacity of Fleer to place that inferior logo next to one of the greatest players ever...shameful. >>

Man, I didn't realize that Tony Fernandez was that good.

hammered · May 6, 2010 12:30PM

I can empathize.
I've spent over $400 on sets, boxes of 91 leaf, grading fees etc to obtain an entirely self-submitted, all PSA 10 set of the 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies. And I'm not even done yet. I have 19/26 and it's taken me 3 years to get to this point.
A complete set in PSA 10 might go for around $100 right now.
But I enjoy the chase and I guess that's what it's all about.

WinPitcher · May 6, 2010 1:00PM

Shane

Thanks for the clarification, yeah I see that the border is different.

You know Fleer had a bunch of those type sets, I wonder if the logo is on any others?

Steve

frankhardy · May 6, 2010 1:13PM

<< Shane

Thanks for the clarification, yeah I see that the border is different.

You know Fleer had a bunch of those type sets, I wonder if the logo is on any others?

Steve >>

Not that I can see. I have searched the SCD over and over and those two are the only ones I see.

WinPitcher · May 6, 2010 1:16PM

How about the various sticker logos? You collect them too?

Steve

hookem · May 6, 2010 1:21PM

<< I can empathize.
I've spent over $400 on sets, boxes of 91 leaf, grading fees etc to obtain an entirely self-submitted, all PSA 10 set of the 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies. And I'm not even done yet. I have 19/26 and it's taken me 3 years to get to this point.
A complete set in PSA 10 might go for around $100 right now.
But I enjoy the chase and I guess that's what it's all about.

>>

,

Wow! Cool chase. I remember all the packs I opened going after the Van Poppel & Klesko cards in that set. Even had the local shop pulling them for me. I remember going to the shop every week or so & hoping they had one. Great memories!!! Thanks for sharing.

frankhardy · May 6, 2010 1:25PM

<< How about the various sticker logos? You collect them too?

Steve >>

I didn't start those stickers recently when I ran across of few of them. So, as of recently, yes I do have them in my Fleer album. I've probably got 10 or 12 from the 80's on up. I haven't really actively pursued them, though.

The reason I have actively pursued the one in the above picture is because the SCD lists it as part of a set. The regular logo stickers are not really part of a set (at least in the SCD listing).

edited to say - I have 12 of them. All are different. If they don't have the dates on the back, I can't really tell what year they are from.

lanemyer85 · May 6, 2010 2:03PM

Man, I didn't realize that Tony Fernandez was that good

Jorge Orta is not amused.

italianstallionyankees · May 6, 2010 3:30PM

<< $500 in '88 dollars for a case of '88 Donruss. But it is serving a useful purpose now, providing food and shelter for a large extended family of termites in my attic.
In time I think anything over a buck for any card issued in the '80's or later will be overpaying. Too much supply, rapidly decreasing demand. Not to mention steroids tainting everyone of the era. >>

lol That is a funny 88' Donruss Story! I feel the same way you feel of the 80's ... I like basketball cards from this era though!

Ryan

Kneel · May 6, 2010 10:37PM

$110

jacksoncoupage · May 7, 2010 4:23AM

<< I can empathize.
I've spent over $400 on sets, boxes of 91 leaf, grading fees etc to obtain an entirely self-submitted, all PSA 10 set of the 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies. And I'm not even done yet. I have 19/26 and it's taken me 3 years to get to this point.
A complete set in PSA 10 might go for around $100 right now.
But I enjoy the chase and I guess that's what it's all about.
>>

Did you know that BC-1 through BC-13 can be found with regular card numbers on back? For example, Scott Leius can be found with #266, instead of "BC-1" on back, continuing from the series 1 base set numbers that end in 265. Only the first series Gold Leaf Rookies exist in this variation. Apparently, they were the first batch printed and were quickly changed.

I have only seen 2 or 3 show up over the years but I haven't been looking very hard. They are pretty rare and would be an awesome, added challenge for your set.

hammered · May 7, 2010 4:32AM

Wow, never seen that, and I've handled a ton of these. Must be super rare

TNP777 · May 7, 2010 5:12AM

<< I think you should get all of those slabbed.

<< Who spends $$ on worthless cards??? ... I mean, REALLY!?!?!? Not me! .... oh wait.

>>

>>

Heh - if I'm not mistaken, he's got another stack just like this one.

jacksoncoupage · May 7, 2010 6:56AM

<< Wow, never seen that, and I've handled a ton of these. Must be super rare >>

Yeah, they seldom show up but there's a brief mention of them in the Beckett Annual. I once found a stack of 150 Tim Costo's at a thrift store and bought them not realizing at the time that the number variation only affects the series 1 guys.

PowderedH2O · May 7, 2010 11:17AM

I think PSA needs to come up with a new holder that holds big stacks of cards like that and grades it as a brick. I think you'd have that Sabo market cornered.

frankhardy · May 10, 2010 10:53AM

I have started a thread in the BST forum. I am gauging interest in selling 96 card player lots from this 1988 Fleer Superstars case. I just received the case today. I don't want to do all of the work involved if there is only interest in one or two of the player lots. The Dale Murphy lot is already spoken for. If I can get a few more player lots spoken for, I will do this in order to recoup some of my money back.

There are players like Cal Ripken, Mike Schmidt, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, etc. There are 44 players in this set. I think prices are reasonable. The prices in the thread include shipping. Here is a link.

Player Lot Thread in BST Forum

thenavarro · May 10, 2010 1:34PM

<< Who spends $$ on worthless cards??? ... I mean, REALLY!?!?!? Not me! .... oh wait.

>>

That's awesome!! A very cool pic. How many is that?

Mike

UlyssesExtravaganza · May 11, 2010 12:51AM

<< 

<< Who spends $$ on worthless cards??? ... I mean, REALLY!?!?!? Not me! .... oh wait.

>>

That's awesome!! A very cool pic. How many is that?

Mike >>

That's one my favorite pics I've ever seen on these boards. Would love to hear the war stories on how you put something like that together.

ajw · May 11, 2010 1:10AM

<< $500 in '88 dollars for a case of '88 Donruss. But it is serving a useful purpose now, providing food and shelter for a large extended family of termites in my attic.
In time I think anything over a buck for any card issued in the '80's or later will be overpaying. Too much supply, rapidly decreasing demand. Not to mention steroids tainting everyone of the era. >>

There are *lots* of cards from the 80s and 90s that I'd pay lots of bucks for. :-)

What's the most you have spent for a worthless card? (Gauging interest in 96 card player lots)

Comments