I grew up around Antiques and knick-knacks. My parents weren’t just collectors, they were also antique dealers. That meant our basement was always full of “inventory” and I went to their booths in the antique mall, and wandered the halls quite often.
After I moved out, I’ve gotten out of that world for the most part. It wasn’t going to be worth my time, since I wasn’t going to spend my money there as a teenager or guy in my 20s.
Now that I’m older and have a wife and a house, that’s changing some. We have to decorate and get furniture and whatnot, preferably on a budget. That means that antique malls and craft fairs and flea markets are back on the radar. It’s a fun time on it’s own, but it’s even more fun when I see a vendor with some cards to peruse.
I’m really thankful that I have an understanding wife that’s willing to let me look through a box of toploaders even though that’s not anywhere close to the reason we actually went to the place and even though she has no interest in it at all.
Below is what I took home from one particular adventure. I spent $7 total that day, including some stuff I sent off in trade packages months and months ago. We found nothing for the house.
Wake up, old people! You’re watching a future Hall of Famer!
Right out of the paper bag comes this sweet early minor league card of the Big Hurt back when he was just Medium Oww, Hey Quit It. This, I believe set me back $1
Kinda rivals. The teams more than the players
I found one dealer that had a bunch of numbered cards for cheap. This Rivals card is #/2499 and will be going into the Frank binder. I’m not sure how many of you also have to make these decisions, but I have a hierarchy set up. Frank is higher on the list than Kerry, so he gets first dibs. Maddux trumps all, in case you were wondering.
As gimmicky as a Roger Corman movie
Everytime I see this insert, I think of the themesong for a Mortal Kombat ripoff movie called Mortal Challenge. The first two lines are “Mor-Tal Chal-Lenge! Face To Face!” No one will understand that, but it doesn’t matter.
This puppy is #/1500 and is only one of the numerous parallels that saturated Donruss products in 2005. You’ll see more of those another time. On other cards in the set, Kerry was also paired up against Lance Berkman, so I get double the faces. Face 4 Face! Chase the Faces!
I can’t tell if this scans well or poorly
Another one #/1500. Custom built for relic windows as you can tell. I still have 6 other versions to go after for this sucker. This is easiest, numbering wise.
Looks like his bat grew a Shrek ear
I was a little surprised to find this Tony Gwynn card in the mix. I think it was 50 cents? The guy had quite a lot of good stuff in his boxes, actually for low and reasonable prices. I hope to make it back out to that flea market sometime.
This was only how much?
But as surprise as I was about the Gwynn, this was a huge shock. Numbered to 300 on the back, in 1998 that was really big deal. I don’t remember ever seeing a gold bordered studio proof before, but after picking this up I tried to see what kind of steal I got. I couldn’t find any Maddux sales on ebay, but commons typically go for $3 or so and stars are in the $8-15 range. I’m really surprised it was labeled (and sold) for $1.
I’m sure the lack of housewares meant my wife thought the trip was a failure, but I’m going to stick this one in the “success” column.
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