I bought a small box of cards for $5 from someone on Facebook Marketplace this weekend. In all my years buying from people online this was my first "flaky" experience. I rang the guy's bell a couple of times but it took about 5 minutes for him to come to the door. He didn't seem to understand who I was - I told him I was supposed to come to this address to buy some cards from Scott. Turns out he was Scott, but until I showed him my phone with my texts from him, he didn't seem to understand who I was.
Don't do drugs, kids.
Seriously though, once he remembered that I was the guy he had texted about two hours before, the transaction was completed without a hitch.
It was a small stack of modern cards. From the photos it seemed worth the $5, and it turned out it definitely was. But it wasn't for the cards itself that I replied to this post.
These were also in the photo in the Facebook post. As you probably know, I sort-of collect ephemera from defunct retail chains. Cheap Johns had 25 locations on Long Island, going out of business in 1996. If anyone has something with a price tag from a long-defunct retailer, I might be open to trading cards for it.
On to the cards. No purchase like this is complete without some junk wax. About 100 from 1990 Topps. One nice thing about this purchase was that the stars weren't weeded out. Some key cards from this set, including the Griffey rookie, in case anyone is working on a 1990 setbuild.
Fleer Triple Crown. Lots of big names here - Jeter, Griffey, Ichiro, ARod, Pujols etc.
2001 Topps Archives. Pretty much all huge names here, and a few dupes for trade as you can see.
Lots of '03 Chrome.
Some Topps Gallery HOF cards. Phil Rizzuto! And a couple of the shiny Artist Proof variations.
The last time I had 2003 Finest available for trade they all went quickly. I've got a few more to trade now. On the bottom is one card from '93 Finest and two from the '01 insert set that used the '93 design.
Some more random baseball. Some more quality cards here.
Finally, a few cards for my semi-dormant football collection. Two basketball cards, both serial-numbered, that are up for trade.
Pretty good for something I probably wouldn't have considered if not for the Cheap Johns pricetag!
That's a nice lot for $5!
ReplyDeleteAkili Smith!
ReplyDeleteThe name Cheap Johns sounded vaguely familiar. After some quick online research, I found the yellow logo and cartoon face, and then it started to ring more of a bell.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm building a 1990 Topps baseball set right now! Still need about 150 cards or so. I'll send you an email, and maybe we'll be able to set something up. I wonder if I have anything with an old price tag on it.
I knew of your affinity for ephemera from defunct retail chains, but I didn't know that you were actually collecting it! Now that I do, I will certainly be keeping an eye out for such things.
ReplyDelete$5 of WOW! Def worth the weird experience! Wish I were brave enough to attempt such things - buy and sell!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how something as little as a price tag and bring back such fine memories. Two weekends ago, I saw some action figures with KayBee price tags and it made me reminisce for a brief moment.
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