Vintage Fleer Set Progress

I have on a couple of occasions bid, and won, items at the bigger, more famous auction houses that specialize in sports cards and other sports memorabilia. However, for the most part, those auction houses are targeted to a different type of bidder.  When many of the lots start at $100 or more, it is out of my league.

There is one auction site (not called EBay) that does offer auctions targeted at collectors in my economic strata. That site is Kevin Savage Cards.  To be sure, they often have lots that sell for large sums of money. But, overall, they do offer a wide selection of affordable lots from both vintage and modern sets (including T206 and it's contemporaries), along with other memorabilia like game used items, autographs, and old programs and magazines. I have even won an 1974-75 Acme/Loblaws Hockey sticker album from them. I would encourage you to go check it out.  It is one of my favorite places to go to look to supplement my collection.

With that introduction, you have probably guessed that I am about to show off a couple of my recent winnings. If you did, you guessed correctly.

I won a recent auction of 6 cards from the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set.  I needed the four shown above.  These cards push me over the halfway mark on this set. I now have 43 out of the 80 card set.
This isn't a priority set for me, as card 68 is ungodly expensive.  The card was pulled from circulation early in the release due to a licensing issue.  The card shows Williams signing a contract for the 1959 season. The problem was that the other person on the card, Bosox GM Bucky Harris, was under contract to Topps.  Thus, few of these cards made it into circulation.  Even low quality copies can sell for hundreds of dollars.  So, my expectation is I will get to 79 out of 80, fill the 68 slot with a more readily available reprint and wait until that rare time in the future where I have some mad money to play with and go after the original.

I also won an auction, at a price I didn't think would win, for 20 1961 Fleer cards. I bid low, because I only needed 7 of the 20 cards (when bidding on lots, I set my bid based only on the cards I need and assume zero resale value on the balance of the lot.)  But, I won this one and now I only need 16 more cards to complete 154 card set.  Among those 16, though, are cards 75 (Babe Ruth) and 152 (Ted Williams.) Both cards have high book values of $120.  I will likely target trying to find decent copies in the $30-$40 range, which may take some time.

That is all for now, I do have a couple of posts planned for the weeks ahead.  But with the work week coming, they may not be worked on until next weekend.  In the mean time, I do urge you to visit Kevin Savage Cards.

June Card Show Haul

There was a show at the end of June I attended. My hope was to make progress on my 1975 and 1979 Topps sets. I made no progress on either, but I consider it a success anyways, as I made progress on several other sets I am working on. I got to the show and headed over to say hello to the two sellers I get most of my cards from and to take a quick scan of their tables. I didn't see anything that immediately grabbed my attention, so I decided to walk around the room and see what else was there. Imagine my surprise when, after almost completing the circuit of the room that I came across Roger Neufeldt of Sports Memories of Oklahoma. Roger is the best source for high quality vintage around here, but he hasn't done a local show in well over a year. He mostly does shows in MLB cities and the National. However, the local show is now being organized by a new group and he decided to give it another shot. So, I ended up spending most of my money with him. So, what did I get?

One card from the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set. This is the 39th card I have from that 80 card set.  Interestingly, one of the other sellers told me that he recently sold a PSA 7 version of card 68 from the set for $1000. That is the one card that I think I may never acquire from this set.  Card 68, titled "Ted Signs for 1959" was pulled out of distribution very early in production since it featured a picture of Ted Williams signing a contract next to Boston GM Bucky Harris who was under contract with rival Topps.  Consequently, few made it into the wild.  Even mid grade versions sell for over $400.  I may just end up filling in my set with a reprint, which do seem generally available.

I added a total of 21 cards to my 1961 Fleer set, leaving me with only 23 cards to go to complete the 154 card set.  Among those remaining 23, though, are the Babe Ruth and Ted Williams cards which have book values of $120.   I am going to set a budget of $25 to $30 each, but it will probably take some time and luck to make that happen.

Additionally, I also picked up additional copies of the two Waner brothers cards from this set for my PC.

Finally, I managed to locate another 11 modestly priced cards for my 1956 set, bring me to a total of 219 cards from this 340 card set.

I've got a few other things brewing for future posts, including a call out to the blogging community to find me the single card I need to complete a set.  I was also hoping to have a new addition to my 1963 Fleer autograph project, but the consigner I sent a card to has apparently lost it and is not responding to my requests for information. Hopefully that will resolve itself shortly.

What I am listening to: A Feather's Not a Bird bu Rosanne Cash

February Card Show - Chipping Away

As I implied the other day, I did make a little progress on my vintage sets at the show.  I had hoped to knock off a whole bunch of the 1973 high numbers, but was not able to since a particular seller wasn't at the show. I did manage to find four 73s I needed.

 

This leaves me with needing to acquire 53 more cards to complete the base set.  I also need 18 more of the team checklist cards.  At this point, I think I am going to have to start looking on EBay and other online auction sites, as I am getting to the point where I want this set done so I can move on to working 1975.

Two more cards for 1959 Fleer Ted Williams, which brings me to needing 45 cards to finish the 80 card set.  In particular, I love the first card "Sox Lose the Series."  Why? Duh. Because the Sox lose the Series.  It brings a little tear of joy to my eyes.

Three more for 1961 Fleer, leaving me 56 to go to finish the 154 card set.

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And finally two more cards from 1956.  The Berra has surface wrinkles, which explains why I was able to pick it up for only $25.  But, they are hardly noticeable, and this card has great eye appeal.

So, now you have seen every last card I got at the show, vintage or modern.  Not a large haul, but decent enough for me to declare success.  I even walked out with money still in my pocket.

What I am listening to: Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Card Show Haul

The card show was a bit of a disappointment.  There were only a half dozen sellers there. Apparently, a fair number of sellers cancelled at the last minute, including the one I was counting on for making progress on 1973. 

That said, it wasn't a complete wash.  I did manage to find about a dozen cards I needed for 1973,  the two star cards below and an even 10 high number commons.  This leaves me 58 base cards to go, including the Mike Schmidt rookie card, and 18 of the unnumbered team checklists.

I also found 6 cards towards my 1956 set.  I am now up to 83 cards from this 340 card set.  Almost a quarter of the way there.

I think the big score of the day, though, was this card. 

I dropped $20 on this card, but it is a really nice version of card #1 from the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set.  I've now got 31 of the cards from this 80 card set.  I probably shouldn't have started this because of the presence of card 68, which was removed from circulation early on and commands prices in the hundreds of dollars. In fact, I was following an auction earlier this week for card 68, and it sold for $279. Not really sure what I will do when I get down to only needing that card. I have only spent $100 or more on a single card 3 times and it hurt every time.  Paying 2-3 times that amount is not something I see myself doing right now.

So, that is probably it for card buying for me for the year. Not a bad haul given the poor turnout of sellers today.