I went to an auction today, lured by online photos of a white base Cubs bobblehead, a rare 69 Cubs pennant, and some vintage 60's and 70's cards, including a 68 Mantle.
Well. I walked away with a pair of items, the rare 69 Cubs blue roster pennant (very hard to find at $150 or more around Chicago at major shows) and a set of 4 tumblers in their original carton featuring the Cubs all time team. Usually an individual glasses will go around $15-20 or a little more in this area.
The cards were generally 67-71 with a few late 70's or little consequence. The condition, however, was a lot worse than the photos indicated. At best the cards were VG although quite a few had creasing. What wasn't evident on the photos was that most of them had pencil or pen writing on their backs. We're talking Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Banks, Gibson, Maris and others... all with writing on the back.
These cards were going for outrageous prices with the Mantle being the top at $150. Remember, even if it had no writing, at best it was VG and I didn't even check to see if it had creases because I knew with the writing on the back I wouldn't be interested in checking it out even further.
You wouldn't believe the number of cards that went for $45 or $50, all with creases or rounded corners and, of course, the writings of a five year old on the back.
One guy bought four sheets of 90 and 91 Topps Cubs for $15. My wife said I should contact the auctioneer and unload some of my stuff. We could probably pay for a trip to Hawaii.
To give you another idea, the white base Cubs bobble went for $250, when I wouldn't have paid more than $150 given its condition, and I already have one.
A 1984 Cubs pennant went for $45 when you can find it on eBay for $15 and at the big Chicago show in a couple of weeks it'll sell for $10.
As for my buys, my $150 pennant was bought for $50 and the Cubs glasses in their original packaging cost me another $50. The glasses had their original sales sticker on it, which showed them costing $2.49 in 1969, but were discounted to $0.61.
Never have a seen such a collection of gullible idiots.
Well. I walked away with a pair of items, the rare 69 Cubs blue roster pennant (very hard to find at $150 or more around Chicago at major shows) and a set of 4 tumblers in their original carton featuring the Cubs all time team. Usually an individual glasses will go around $15-20 or a little more in this area.
The cards were generally 67-71 with a few late 70's or little consequence. The condition, however, was a lot worse than the photos indicated. At best the cards were VG although quite a few had creasing. What wasn't evident on the photos was that most of them had pencil or pen writing on their backs. We're talking Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Banks, Gibson, Maris and others... all with writing on the back.
These cards were going for outrageous prices with the Mantle being the top at $150. Remember, even if it had no writing, at best it was VG and I didn't even check to see if it had creases because I knew with the writing on the back I wouldn't be interested in checking it out even further.
You wouldn't believe the number of cards that went for $45 or $50, all with creases or rounded corners and, of course, the writings of a five year old on the back.
One guy bought four sheets of 90 and 91 Topps Cubs for $15. My wife said I should contact the auctioneer and unload some of my stuff. We could probably pay for a trip to Hawaii.
To give you another idea, the white base Cubs bobble went for $250, when I wouldn't have paid more than $150 given its condition, and I already have one.
A 1984 Cubs pennant went for $45 when you can find it on eBay for $15 and at the big Chicago show in a couple of weeks it'll sell for $10.
As for my buys, my $150 pennant was bought for $50 and the Cubs glasses in their original packaging cost me another $50. The glasses had their original sales sticker on it, which showed them costing $2.49 in 1969, but were discounted to $0.61.
Never have a seen such a collection of gullible idiots.
