Last week's visit to my buddy's house came with a bit of drama. I normally go on Thursdays, but he wasn't home. I talked to him on the phone and he said I really needed to come by Friday if possible. He had made a big deal on some cards and he wanted me to come by and get anything I wanted before the stuff got picked up.
Just so you know, all the stuff I've been looking through and buying from him is from a big collection he purchased in October. He spent about $6000 acquiring the collection so it was pretty big. Anyway, he made his money back pretty quick and has been sort of nickel and diming the rest out along the way. That's basically what I've been doing since I first started going over there. I'd spend $10 or $20 bucks at a time and just enjoy the time I spent talking cards with him.
I went over early Friday morning and he explained. He had found someone who was going to buy the bulk of what he had left from that collection. It amounted to 52 binders (most of which I hadn't had the chance to go through yet) and a dozen 5000 count boxes. I had been through the boxes and most of the stuff I'd purchased to that point had been in the boxes. There was still a lot of good stuff in those boxes. Probably 400-500 Topps Tek cards and at least 1000 other cards that I would have bought over time. When I arrived, I told him I wasn't going to look through the stuff he had sold. The buyer had made a deal based on what was left so I didn't want to take something he was counting on getting in the deal. My buddy told me the guy hadn't gone through the 5000 count boxes so I could pull stuff from there if I wanted.
I really didn't feel comfortable doing that because that guy had already made a deal for that stuff. I went through a couple of boxes my friend had held back and pulled around 150 cards. Mostly Rangers stuff I didn't know if I needed or not and a few cards for deals I have in the works.
I ended up spending $50 this trip because I didn't know if any of this stuff would be available next week. My friend felt bad that he'd sold all the other stuff and I told him not to worry about it. He bought that stuff to sell and that's what he should do if the opportunity was there.
He gave me two cards for free because he's a good guy.
This 2005 UD Origins Ivan Rodriguez jersey isn't something I'd buy, but it does go with my Pudge collection so I took it.
He also gave me this 2002 Team Topp Legends Harmon Killebrew auto. I told him he didn't have to give me the card, but he didn't think I had gotten enough stuff for my $50 and wanted to throw it in the deal. Who am I to argue?
In addition to the 150 or so cards. the 2000 Fleer Tradition Glossy set I previously posted and a couple of small binders that weren't included in his deal with the other guy, I got this page.
My buddy told his buyer that he had someone who was buying all the vintage Nolan Ryan's so that wasn't included in the deal. I was that someone and I was so happy to find out he had saved these for me. I decided to bite the bullet and buy them all at once. The page has the 1972-1976 Topps Ryans. You might notice the empty slots for the 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971 Ryans. Those slots are empty because I already bought them. They were all posted here as well. Adding up the money I spent on the first four, these 9 cards set me back a total of $81. I could get more than that for the 1968 Ryan.
My one true regret is that he had a Hank Aaron binder that was just like the Ryan binder. It had every regular Topps issued Aaron from 1954 to 1976. I know full well I would have gotten as good a deal as I did with the Ryans. I will never have that opportunity again.
My friend is looking to buy another collection. I told him to buy one with a 1956 Topps set in a binder. Until he finds another deal, I'll be searching through the inventory he had when he closed his shop. I have no idea what I'll find and he doesn't really know either.
It should be a lot of fun..
