Summer of Slabs preview... maybe...

On May 1st, I sent an 8-card submission to Beckett Grading. The plan was to get these cards back in mid- July, keep a couple, and send the rest (along with 10-15 cards I already have) to 4 Sharp Corners for consignment. Those cards would be listed on eBay in late July, and I'd receive my payout sometime around the second week of August. This would align perfectly with my birthday and the East Coast National in White Plains, NY. 

I received two emails on Friday, one from Lucky's Promotions listing the autograph guests for the show, including Julius Erving, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Allen Iverson, and Barry Sanders. Of particular interest to me: Packers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer LeRoy Bulter, and Basketball Hall of Famer Alex English. 

I've never had an opportunity to meet any of the Packers stars I cheered for as a kid/young adult, and I only have autographs of two: Brett Favre and Dorsey Levens. Butler was the anchor of Green Bay's secondary for the entire 1990s. He invented the Lambeau Leap! 

Alex English was a guy I never even saw on TV, an out-of-market star that I learned about through trading cards and became a fan simply because his stats popped off the page. $39 bucks to meet him and get his autograph - on an 8x10 or a basketball?!?!? That's a steal!! 

The other email I received was from Beckett, informing me that my order would be delivered to me via FedEx on Monday(today). Cool, I'll just tell my wife and she can sign for it, and...

.....nope, she has a chemo appointment. Up until the end of May, she had two appointments every two weeks. But the surgeon took her off chemo so she can get her strength up for the major surgery she needs to have somewhere around the end of August/early September. She shouldn't have any chemo at all. But she's still taking pills and going in for hydration and checkups and whatever. So she would not be home from about 10 am-12:30pm or so. No problem, I can come home for lunch at Noon, and my office is right down the street, so there will only be a two hour-window when no one will be home. 

Yeeahh, no one was home. Of course they attempted delivery at 11:15 a.m. What are the odds? 

Glad you asked. July has 31 days, and every day has 24 hours, and Mrs. Collector has exactly two two-hour chemo appointments per month, and does not leave the house on a weekday for any other reason. So the odds of the FedEx delivery truck arriving at a time when neither one of us would be home to sign for a package that contains $5,000+ worth of trading cards is:

100%, exactly. 

Well, that sucks, but they'll re-attempt delivery tomorrow when the Mrs. will be here. No problem. 

They'd better, because she already has to go upstate on Wednesday for an exam and meeting with some more doctors. That will take her out of the house all day. And, the surgeon called her today to discuss her condition. Apparently her tumor is growing a bit larger no shit sherlock, you took her off the good chemo so he wants to schedule her for some tests on Thursday. He's already starting to waver on his initial steadfast diagnosis that he can remove all of the tumors in one single six-hour surgery. 

What was I talking about? 

Oh yeah. Cards. So, I'm still going to send a consignment order to 4 Sharp Corners and (assuming there are no unforeseen issues with my cards) I'll have some money to spend in August. But I can't drag my wife around a big convention center for 4+ hours while I browse through dime boxes and stand in line for autographs. Instead, I'm going to visit my mother that day. My wife can handle a 2+ hour drive, but standing and walking for more than a minute is an issue. The surgeon told her to exercise but she didn't listen. I kept trying to get her to take walks but she's been too tired or busy. 

I'm torn about what to sell though. If I send everything I initially wanted to consign, that will include hockey cards which are out of season and would likely sell for more during fall/winter. But I don't know what I'll be able to do by then; when I sent my BGS order on 5/1, none of this surgery shit was on our radar. Will things be better, or worse, in November? And it is worth waiting just for the potential to make a couple hundred dollars more?

But if I don't send the hockey cards I have a lot less to work with. My goal was to upgrade these three:

...plus pick up a Nikola Jokic RC, a Joe Montana RC, and some of the remaining 1956 Topps cards on my need list (Willie Mays in particular) If I don't include the high-end hockey cards in my consignment, I'll basically have enough to upgrade the Mantle. 

Not that any of this is important under the circumstances. It's just that the window for enjoying my collection is closing fast.

I won't be able to squeeze in another card show, but maybe I can make the best of it somehow. If the BGS order arrives as expected I'll show those off before I ship them out to 4 Sharp Corners.

Thanks for reading!



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