What is your best and worst card collecting decisions?

I enjoy reading other members stories about their collections. It can be a great deal you got, trading for or getting rid of something, keeping something, not buying something, or overpaying for something that went ultimately down in price.

Here are a few of mine. All of these except the baseball card happened pre-Covid before prices skyrocketed.

Best

Keeping Giannis RCs - Back in 2016 when Giannis wasnt a superstar or worth that much, I worked out a large trade and to even sides out I had a list of cards to choose from. I didnt know who Giannis was but there was an Elite Die Card numbered RC and a Prizm Blue RC. Luckily I chose both of them but also didnt just trade them away right after. Today these are two of my most valuable and favorite cards in my PC.

Buying Lebron RCs off EBAY in 2003 and 2004 - I got the Topps, Bazooka, Upperdeck, and Upperdeck MVP RCs from boxes I bought. I went to EBAY to buy the others. Even though they seemed kind of expensive back then, $20 to $40 a card was a lot twenty-three years ago. I was able to get all these RCs before they skyrocketed in price: Bowman, E-X, Flair #/500, Fleer Platinum #/750, Fleer Showcase #/1000, SPx Winning Materials, and Topps Pristine. Still have all these cards today.

Spending over $100 on one card twice - I rarely spend a lot of money for a single card. I dont think I ever topped $40 other than for these 2 cards. I had been looking for an Ultra Lebron Lucky 13 RC #/500 for a few years. All the ones I found on EBAY were dinged or way overpriced. I finally found one in good condition back in 2007. Seller on EBAY was asking $150 Best Offer but I got him down to $130. I also needed a 98-99 Fleer Dirk Lucky 13 RC to complete my set, was looking for that card for close to ten years. I found it on EBAY in 2012, the guy was asking $140 Best Offer. I got it down to $120 and he also sent me a few extra Dirk RCs. Both are still in my PC.

Selling Wander Franco Auto Rookie - I dont collect baseball at all but I won a contest on SCF where this was the prize. This was around the time he got called up the Rays. I think it was Bowman Prospects on card auto rookie. The going rate on EBAY was around $625-$700 but mine had a few small surface scuffs. Vendor at card show gave me $475 cash. I just took it since that was the best offer I got that day and the card was free. Looking back now, good thing l sold that card and didnt hold out for wanting $25-$50 more.


Worst

Not buying Kobe Topps Chrome RC - So this was way back in 1996 when product first came out. Vendor at card show had several of them on table at $10 each or 3 for $25. To me, it was just a parallel version of the reg Topps RC which I already had so I passed. Considering Kobe became my favorite player a few years later and this card skyrocketed, I still regret not getting at least one that day.

Selling Kobe Bryant Autos - I traded a ton of stuff to someone and got 3 Panini Kobe Autos in same deal back in 2011. Two were sticker (one being out of 99) and the other was on card (out of 25). The going rate on EBAY was between $110-120 each. I stupidly sold all 3 of them right away because l wanted to use the funds to get an on card SP Authentic or Upperdeck Kobe auto instead. I never found the Auto I wanted and regret not even keeping one of the Panini autos. This is probably my biggest blunder in my 34 years of collecting.

Selling Lebron Topps Chrome RC - I traded for this card around 2009 at card show. Traded several Kobe and Shaq RCs for it. Lebron goes to Heat and win a title. I was trying to sell some cards to recoup for the Dirk Lucky 13 RC I just bought. The going rate on EBAY for card was $55-$60 at that time. I sold it to vendor for $55 and regret that I didnt keep it.

Best Decision: Changing my collecting style.... I was a full set builder. Started back in 2011 with Crown Royale football. I can't tell you how much I spent on Hobby Boxes!! It continued into Topps Chrome and Platinum. Prizm, Prestige, Score, Elite, Archives, Totally Certified. I completed all those from at least 1 or 2 years. (I recently started collecting again in 2011) that may be a good decision... to complete sets, but for me, when it was all said and done I was left with a binder full of players I never followed or really cared to have a card of. The only reason I did was because it was part of the set. There is ONE exception... finishing the 1996 Playoff Prime base set, X's & O's, and Boss Hogs was a project my grandpa and I started back then, I quit collecting around '98, he passed in '99 and I didn't see any of my cards until 2010 or 2011.... I was determined to finish the sets (in his honor type thing). But now for the BEST decision... Team Sets. Cowboys specifically. I'm currently working on 5 or 6 team sets. You'd think it wouldn't take long, but I go for the more rare variety, not base set. The 2009 Classics was a fun one, so I decided to go for the Silver and Gold parallel Cowboys. Might do Platinum if I complete those 2. The Cowboys specific sets are probably the hardest, the 1993 Pinnacle Super Bowl cards are a rare find. I have 3, and have only seen 1 other one that I don't have and of course it was WAAAY overpriced! And the 2010 Classics 50th Ann. Team Set has become few and far between. But ya, Team Set building is ALOT more fun for me because of the players and I can work on more than one set at once. Plus their value holds up better than a 1st rd. DP that busts and their value plummets!

Worst Decision: Trading 2 Mahomes RC's in January of 2018 on "that other trading site" for practically nothing!! Not gunna say what I traded them for, but lets just say those cards are STILL in the Traders boxes after I realized I didn't want them anymore.... no one else does either, apparently! Last time I looked, the 2 Mahomes RC's I traded were booking at $300 each...

*Great topic! I'm anxious to see what others have done in their past that haunts them!! I believe the word I'm looking for is "schadenfreude" lmao




https://www.google.com/search?sca_e...97345aSAxVBl2oFHXBQDnkQyNoBKAB6BAgbEAA&ictx=1

I only got a worst (lol). Before the season selling a Drake Maye RC Auto /75. What is the most iritating thing about this is that I was quite sure he was going to have a great year (easiest schedule/best OC in the league/one of the best head coaches coaching right now imo/a now VERY good O-line) and most likely a great career...what a bad move. It's already over double what I sold it for. / :

parrrp said:

I only got a worst (lol). Before the season selling a Drake Maye RC Auto /75. What is the most iritating thing about this is that I was quite sure he was going to have a great year (easiest schedule/best OC in the league/one of the best head coaches coaching right now imo/a now VERY good O-line) and most likely a great career...what a bad move. It's already over double what I sold it for. / :

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Ya, it's never easy trying to decide which QB's are gunna be good or busts early on. I try to hold on to a few of each QB RCs (even Score) each year just in case. But, you never know... they may lose the Super Bowl and Maye might end up in Derek Carr territory for his career.
Which card was it of his that you sold?

TC84 said:

Ya, it's never easy trying to decide which QB's are gunna be good or busts early on. I try to hold on to a few of each QB RCs (even Score) each year just in case. But, you never know... they may lose the Super Bowl and Maye might end up in Derek Carr territory for his career.
Which card was it of his that you sold?

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That is true, but what makes it hard is not that its double the value, but that I went against my instincts about the situation and his play. Bad move / :

You made me look it up. Dang you! It was actually to /35.... 2024 Topps Inception Red Auto /35

Regrets:

• There is an amazing mid to late 2000s triple threads booklet with j-roll and ryan howard gu autos and the jersey relics spell out PHILLIES across the booklet. #d to 7 or 8 I think. Didn't do the deal after haggling over $200 vs $220 or something like that on ebay (worth over $500 easy now). Then had another chance in an auction where it was in a lot with a nice Dice-K triple threads card. got sniped at end of auction and it sold for less than I would have paid... Haven't seen one anywhere in over 5 yrs now.
  
  
• sold my 2021 stadium club 91 variation harper auto because the price jumped from like $150 to $200. was my favorite card bc grew up on 91 stadium club. that one's over $500 easy now too (similar theme)

Lesson: Don't fuss about $20 when it's a forever PC sort of card

Wins

• Got a nice Ray Liotta auto from Goodfellas from Leaf pop century for a good price, shortly before he passed away (RIP). That's in hte PC forever.
• Sold a nice Wander auto just in time
• Decided to focus on HOF rookie cards that have eye appeal and just look good and not worry about grades or what brand of holder it's in. Have several SGC 5s that are centered and look clean that I got for have the price or less as a PSA 7 that's horribly off center or has weird color to it (but sharp corners). This was by far my biggest lesson. And it's paid off investment wise too

@newguy338

Looks like we both lucked out on selling our Wander Franco Autos at perfect time. Lol.

Yep. It was technically a redemption I pulled from museum collection I think. And I remember accepting the offer very hesitantly, worrying I didn't get enough...

Which also means there are 2 people out there listing their regrets

Worst: I traded away a Babe Ruth jersey card numbered 3/3 and a 1954 topps Hank Aaron rookie.
Best: Bought a 108 pack fat pack case of 2018 topps update for 350.00 in Feb. of 2019

Not taking my cards from my parents house when I moved out and quitting when i started again in the late 1980s (despite it was the junk wax era…).

Best - just starting collecting in general.
Worst - just starting collecting in general.

Worst decisions,there are 2 and I chalk it up to being young and stupid lol:

1) Selling a 1986-87 Fleer Basketball set w/ stickers for $500 back in 1992 because I thought I had engine trouble when in fact I didn't.
2) In 1991 I sold off some vintage cards highlighted by a 1955 Topps Clemente RC and 1956 Topps Mantle and buying boxes of 1991 Studio.

My best decisions were collecting Albert Pujols and set building. The Pujols bug bit me in the summer of 2003 while everyone was still going Ichiro crazy and I always felt that at the time,Pujols was second-fiddle and felt he was undervalued by comparison. At a show in Cooperstown during induction weekend I bought a 2002 Topps 206 framed auto for the now laughable price of $25. After buying the card I said I was gonna start collecting him and I haven't looked back since.

Fast forward 8 years and I was getting bored collecting just one thing. 2011 Topps comes out and I see these really shiny sparkly cards in the Diamond Anniversary parallels. I challenged myself to make the set and then Series 2 came out,then Update and there were the Cognac parallels in Update so I had to go for those too. After about 4 years or so I had both sets completed including all of the retired/HOF SPs. Sure,I've made sets before this but base sets are pretty easy for the most part. I wanted a challenge so that was the set that started me on my set building journey and it's kept my interest alive today.

Sorry for the long-windedness.

I also didn't take my cards with me when I moved out of the house in 1974. One day I walked into my old bedroom, and the remaining siblings were combining everyone's card and putting them alphabetic order. It was too late to stop it. I had the most cards of any of my siblings. They were later split up. But I didn't get back my complete sets of 1969 & 1970 Topps.

bblair_2002 said:

Worst decisions,there are 2 and I chalk it up to being young and stupid lol:

1) Selling a 1986-87 Fleer Basketball set w/ stickers for $500 back in 1992 because I thought I had engine trouble when in fact I didn't.
2) In 1991 I sold off some vintage cards highlighted by a 1955 Topps Clemente RC and 1956 Topps Mantle and buying boxes of 1991 Studio.

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Oh no! My condolences!

In your defense we all got fooled by the hype during the junk era. I spent gobs of money thinking everything was going to be valuable, Luckily I did not sell any vintage to fund my "can't miss" investmetn but I could have just put the money in the fire[place and gotten the same result.

To quote The Who "We (I) don't get fooled again".

Too bad I can't learn "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" from the same song when it comes to politics. But I digress.

I did learn my lesson from that junk era however, I have not bought a pack a box or certainly not a case since 1992. Don't miss it either. I buy entire collections or decent sized lots. to feed my addiction. I have saved a ton of money not buying new unopened and I'm not hurting for cards that is for sure.

SymphonicMetal said:

Oh no! My condolences!

In your defense we all got fooled by the hype during the junk era. I spent gobs of money thinking everything was going to be valuable, Luckily I did not sell any vintage to fund my "can't miss" investmetn but I could have just put the money in the fire[place and gotten the same result.

To quote The Who "We (I) don't get fooled again".

Too bad I can't learn "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" from the same song when it comes to politics. But I digress.

I did learn my lesson from that junk era however, I have not bought a pack a box or certainly not a case since 1992. Don't miss it either. I buy entire collections or decent sized lots. to feed my addiction. I have saved a ton of money not buying new unopened and I'm not hurting for cards that is for sure.

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We all learn at some point but at the time I was only 2-3 years into the hobby and with age certainly comes wisdom. To be fair,I only paid $80 for the Fleer BKB set because my college buddy wanted to take a girl on a date. At the time I was happy with it,not so much now lol.

Last hobby box I opened was close to 4 years ago. I'll bust an occasional blaster and Derik and I just went nuts on a 520 Topps WWE retail pack lot we got super dirt cheap but aside from that,I don't miss opening boxes at all. Digging for singles at shows and card shops are much more fun.

bblair_2002 said:

Worst decisions,there are 2 and I chalk it up to being young and stupid lol:

1) Selling a 1986-87 Fleer Basketball set w/ stickers for $500 back in 1992 because I thought I had engine trouble when in fact I didn't.
2) In 1991 I sold off some vintage cards highlighted by a 1955 Topps Clemente RC and 1956 Topps Mantle and buying boxes of 1991 Studio.

My best decisions were collecting Albert Pujols and set building. The Pujols bug bit me in the summer of 2003 while everyone was still going Ichiro crazy and I always felt that at the time,Pujols was second-fiddle and felt he was undervalued by comparison. At a show in Cooperstown during induction weekend I bought a 2002 Topps 206 framed auto for the now laughable price of $25. After buying the card I said I was gonna start collecting him and I haven't looked back since.

Fast forward 8 years and I was getting bored collecting just one thing. 2011 Topps comes out and I see these really shiny sparkly cards in the Diamond Anniversary parallels. I challenged myself to make the set and then Series 2 came out,then Update and there were the Cognac parallels in Update so I had to go for those too. After about 4 years or so I had both sets completed including all of the retired/HOF SPs. Sure,I've made sets before this but base sets are pretty easy for the most part. I wanted a challenge so that was the set that started me on my set building journey and it's kept my interest alive today.

Sorry for the long-windedness.

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Oooffff

Best card decision was joining my sons in collecting and doing card shows together. Worse card mistakes, selling 2 2006 Fleer Greats of the Game Kirby Puckett autos for 20 bucks each right after my sons had pulled them. Ouch and the second is all the Ruth and Gehrig game used I have traded away or sold over the years