As I went out running errands Saturday afternoon I popped into a couple Target’s in search of more Bowman. I went 0-for-2 at my two stops, and the second store is just a few blocks away from a card shop.
Maybe I’ll pull the trigger on a hobby box, I thought. I walked into Jim’s Card Korner and he had hobby boxes for $159. That’s the cheapest I have seen.
Jim and I talked about Bowman and as we conversed I talked myself out of it. In years past it’s been difficult paying $80 for Bowman. Why would I want to pay double what I already don’t like paying? Diamond Kings Hobby boxes were marked at $89. It’s a really nice product and loaded with Ohtani. But at $89 for two hit and only 96 cards in a box I couldn’t pull the trigger.
There are not too many singles at this shop, but I happened to ask Jim if he had any vintage singles. “Actually this box (vintage G.I. Joe figure box) came in this morning. They’re in pretty rough shape.” Perfect! I love poor conditioned vintage. Mainly because it’s much cheaper. It also shows some character.
I like beat up cards. A few years ago a friend and I would set up at a card show in Springfield, Illinois. There was an older guy that called himself “Mr. Fair to Good,” a play on Mr. Mint. He loved beat up vintage because they were cheap.
The first stack of cards was 1956 Topps. Hank Aaron was on top. A few cards in was Ernie Banks. It’s actually not too bad, at least for me. Someone had initialed “M.H.” in pencil.
I flipped through and there were a few more Cubs. Some of them I already have in the collection. One card I didn’t have was the team card.
How much for the Banks, I asked. Jim said, $20. Seemed fair to me. How about the Cubs team card? I’d do $5, Jim answered. Sold!
After a Costco run, I opened the mailbox to find a small bubble mailer. This was an eBay purchase from the week as I have been shopping for some pre-War cards. I stumbled upon an auction for a 1921 W516 strip card of Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Initially my max bid was $20, but was outbid with about an hour remaining. This is too cool a card, and you don’t see many Grover Cleveland Alexander Cubs cards. I raised my max to $30 and when the final bell sounded it was mine for $27.50.
There were also two flat rate boxes on my porch. I’ll post about those tomorrow.