i was a craigslist genius

remember those great posts over at bad wax about the people advertising on craigslist who wanted thousands of dollars for some 91 donruss cards?  good times.  earlier this year, i was able to parlay some junk wax stuff into this - a 1956 topps sandy koufax card.

i was visiting my parents and needed to clear out my old closet.  i had left mostly complete sets behind, and it certainly wasn't worth shipping a 1989 topps set, or any of these other sets, back to myself.

i did bring a couple of sets back with me, plus some loose cards that i had forgotten about, and i also scavenged some cards from my 1981 fleer set, 1991 upper deck set, and a couple others before posting the above photo on craigslist. in addition to those partial sets, there was a 1989 topps set, 1990 topps set, 1991 topps set, 1990 donruss set, 1994 topps set, 1992 topps set, 1993 topps set, a score set from 1991 i think, and a few others too.  i asked for $50 with same day pick up for the lot.

 

i received two bites.  the first guy wanted the cards.  the second guy wanted to know if $50 was for the whole lot.  i met up with the first guy in a nearby grocery store parking lot.  he got out of his truck and walked towards me holding a beckett. 

 

turns out he was mostly concerned with the derek jeter cards in the 92 and 93 topps sets.  we opened the sets, but the cards were out of order (thanks topps).  i assured him that i had not taken cards out of those sets (except for the throw-in gold parallels topps put in the factory sets back then) and he handed over $50.

 

so where does sanford koufax fit in, you ask?  i have mentioned before that my dad collected cards for a couple of years as a way to spend time with me.  while i went for post-1970 dodger topps team sets and steve garvey, he went for stars and earlier dodgers.  now he was looking to sell his collection.  i offered him $50 for the koufax (he had a complete run of sandy's cards, but this was the only one i needed).  i also said i would take the fam out to dinner.  sold.

 

he also threw in a 1954 topps card that i needed, clem labine  

i left behind a full run of nolan ryan cards (didn't even ask how much for the 68 rookie), tom seaver, mike schmidt, george brett, carlton fisk, etc. 

 

i did, however, get him to add one more card to my collection, a signed 1963 topps jim gilliam

that is super sweet!  i now have cards signed by all the dodger retired numbers except for jackie and campy.

some may wonder why i had to pay at all for the cards. well, they aren't mine and i have never assumed that they would just be given to me. i am sure that my dad would have given them to me if i had asked for them, but i didn't.  i was pleased to find out, however, that the prospective buyer of his collection fell through, so the rest of the cards are still there.

so that's how i turned a few junk sets into a 1956 topps koufax (and more).  for the record, i borrowed $5 from my dad later in the trip, so the cards just cost me $45 plus a dinner.