Friday, July 12, 2013

The Junk Is No Longer In My Trunk

Big post today. I recently unloaded a huge burden. I had about 3500 Reds cards from 1987-1992. Chunks of '87 Topps. Stacks of '90 Score. Piles of '89 Donruss. No Tiffany. No Gold. No stars. Just trusty ol' junk wax from the era of quantity over quality. I have nephews that are into sports, but not cards. I have cousins who have become too old for the hobby (we ain't though, are we fellas?). I suppose donating was always an option, but I'm guessing the kids that get the donations couldn't give a crap about Bo Diaz and Todd Benzinger. I quite literally can't give these away. So I crammed em all into a large flat rate box, posted on the 'bay, and prayed. Five or six re-lists later, someone bit. I actually sold junk era commons. For American money. 3500 cards. $50 even. After the shipping cost, that's $33.15 of straight cash, homey. For you math majors out there, that's a shade under a penny per card. Nice. So what do I do with my newly found wealth? Oh, I don't know, how about I piss it all away on COMC? DONE! Let's see the new booty that fifteen pounds of Mariano Duncan cards gets. I'll go ahead and provide the prices, and the junk equivalents, because I can't believe how well I did.

1949 Leaf Kent Peterson - $5.65 (approximately 597 Billy Hatchers)
Splurged a little on this one, but it's nice. The stains are unseemly, but greats corners and no creases. My first pre-50's Leaf.

 
1954 Topps Chuck Harmon and Frank Smith - $1.60 each (approximately 169 Rob Murphys)
I'm chippin' away at the '54 set. The Chuck Harmon is an RC. Nice pair.

1973 O-Pee-Chee World Series Game 6 - $1.00 (approximately 106 Ron Robinsons)
I bought this card because les Français sur cette carte est magnifique. Gotta love the Chee.

1975 Topps Mini Terry Crowley, George Foster - $0.80, $0.95 (approximately 185 Nick Esaskys)
Love the vintage minis. Only have 6. Need more.

2004 Sweet Spot Signatures Austin Kearns - $1.85 (approximately 195 Rick Mahlers)
These cards are sweet. Wicked thick. And I've never seen one so inexpensive. It's too much to ask for that to be a game-used ball, I suppose. But a Kearns auto for under two bucks is solid no matter the medium.


2007 Bowman Signs of the Future Richie Gardner - $1.25 (approximately 132 Bill Dorans)
2012 Bowman Sterling Autographs David Vidal - $1.50 (approximately 158 Glenn Sutkos)
Richie Gardner never made it past Triple-A. David Vidal is currently struggling in Single-A. No matter. These are good looking cards.

1980 Burger King Pitch, Hit, and Run - Tom Seaver - $0.70 (approximately 74 Tim Belchers)
1979 O-Pee-Chee Tom Seaver - $0.89 (approximately 94 Kip Gross's)
Seavers still pull some demand. And they should. Love snaggin' some old oddballs.

2005 Topps Pristine Relics - Adam Dunn - $1.00 (approximately 106 Dan Wilsons)
I told myself I wasn't going to buy any relics. Only vintage and autos. But I checked for relics anyway, and this was only a dollar. I'm not gonna pass up a Dunn relic for a dollar.

2012 Topps Triple Threads Emerald /250 Brandon Phillips - $0.50 (approximately 53 Rick Wronas)
Just felt like picking up a BP parallel. Phillips doesn't garner a lot of pull, card-wise, but he always seems to be included in premium sets. Fine by me. I loves me some BP.

1979 Kellogg's Tom Seaver, Bill Bonham, Dan Driessen, George Foster, Ken Griffey - $0.74, $0.45, $0.50, $0.58, $0.45 (approximately 287 Glenn Braggs'sses')
1980 Kellogg's Tom Seaver - $0.75 (approximately 79 Kent Tekulves)
Same guy was selling all of these. Most are chipped in standard Kellogg's fashion. NBD. I have such good memories of pulling cards out of cereal boxes in the 90's that I have a soft spot for these. It was excellent to find this many.

And onto the badass of the haul...

1953 Topps Ted Kluszewski - $8.50 (approximately 898 Van Sniders)
Yeah, I splurged again. It's a solid card, though. Busted up along the edges and one bad corner. But no creases and a relatively clean photo. The '53 Topps Set is one of the greats, and Big Klu is a Reds all-timer. This one went straight onto the display shelf. My Kluszewski collection is pretty solid at the moment. I may have to do a Klu-post soon.

Well there ya go. If you were keeping score, that was $31.26. With the $3 shipping, less the $33.15 from the sale, I had to go into my own pocket to the tune of $1.11 (or approximately 117 Norm Charltons). If that ain't how you keep score, I also traded 3500 cards for 20 cards, which is somehow unsettling. 

Congratulations if you stayed with me. Go Reds.

4 comments:

  1. Nice work. I'm wondering what to do with all thee stacks, May try something similar.

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    1. Thanks. I was getting frustrated because every time I'd put it up I'd get 4 or 5 watchers and then no bids. So prepare for a bit of frustration. At least ebay let's you post for free.

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  2. Brilliant work. I'm inspired.

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    1. Thanks. I'd like to go back in time and tell everyone in the 90's the trade ratio of 150 to 1 they're collections will be devalued to.

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