When it comes to shopping for collectibles locally... I prefer flea markets over antique stores, card shops, card shows, social media, or garage sales. That being said... there's no way I'm passing up the opportunity for a private garage sale with items specifically catered to me.
That's what happened back in April when this woman was helping out with her friend's estate sale. She had invited me to a street sale, but by the time I arrived, some of the sports related items had already been sold. She told me there were still plenty of boxes that hadn't been sorted or organized at her house and invited me to come over the following weekend to see for myself.
When I arrived, she had four tables spread out in her driveway and garage with a ton of sports and card related items. The gentleman's collection was truly impressive. Unfortunately most of the interesting stuff was more than I was willing to pay. I did find a few items within my budget...
Purchase #1: 1967 Topps Posters Lot $50
1967 Topps Posters #6
1967 Topps Posters #11
The posters were stored in two pocket PVC pages (the thicker gauge plastic pages that people used in the 80's), which made removing the posters a challenge. They're printed on very thin paper (like newspaper), so they're very fragile (especially along the folds).
1967 Topps Posters #12
1967 Topps Posters #15
As a result, more than half of these posters are torn or have missing pieces. I should have examined them at the garage sale. If I had, I would have asked her to reduce the price or put it back.
Giants vs. Dodgers 9/30/99 Ticket Stub
This ticket stub is from the last San Francisco Giants' game at Candlestick Park, which is one of the ballparks from my childhood. As much as I wanted to add this to my collection, her asking price was a little steep.
I asked her if she'd toss in this ticket stub:
Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran 6/20/80 Ticket Stub
She had a stack of these at the flea market. This was another situation where I should have paid closer attention to what I was buying. I thought this was an actual ticket stub to attend the fight. However the fight took place in Montreal, Canada... not Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Purchase #3: Vintage Lot $70
The third and final purchase ended up being the best deal... with a pretty cool surprise. It consisted of ten vintage sports cards:
The key card was the Willie McCovey rookie card:
1960 Topps #316
This is a card I have wanted to own for a long time. I always assumed it was a high valued card (even in poor conditions), but lower grade copies like this one can be found for under $50... sometimes under $25.
I also added this reasonably priced HOF rookie card to the stack:
1952 Bowman #5
Hidden among the eight remaining cards was this interesting surprise as this card ended up being worth more than the McCovey and Minoso combined:
1963 Post Cereal #119
At first glance, it looks like your standard 60's Post Cereal card. However after doing a little digging, I discovered that Willie Davis is one of the short prints in the set.
Well that wraps up my first trip to a garage sale in years. Not sure if I'm gonna start seeking them out on a regular basis, but if I do... I'll start a Garage Sale Grabs series.
It's not high on the priority list, but you never know.
Until then...
What's the coolest item you have ever found at a garage sale?
I look forward to reading and responding to your comments down below.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!