Slab-tober

This is going to be one of those posts most card bloggers loathe: a showoff post (gasp!) that involves selling a significant card (gasp!!) to buy graded cards (GASP!!)

I wasn't even sure I wanted to share this with the group, but this was years in the making. As you may recall I sold my Alex Ovechkin SP Authentic RC, shown here:

total received: $6,008.75

I also consigned two other cards which sold for a combined $820. In total I raked in just shy of 7k. Setting aside 3k for home improvement projects and Christmas gifts left me with just under $4,000 to build my graded card PC.

Behold ! My Summer of slabs September of slabs Slab-tober spoils!

total spent: $1,224.00

I'd never considered acquiring RCs of Mario Lemieux or Patrick Roy, they were condition sensitive and out of my price range. Mario is super undervalued compared to Gretzky's RC but his OPC is hard to find centered (did the best I could but it's still 80/20) Roy's RCs often have a speck of blue ink in the name bar. Took me a long time to find a centered copy with no ink speck. 

total spent: $447.83

This was somewhat of an impulse buy. I had planned to purchase a 1987-88 Fleer Michael Jordan in Near Mint condition, but I wasn't satisfied with the centering - and it's a $600+ card. Considering I don't like Mike (and never have) it seemed like too much money to spend on a pure investment. Instead I spied this Mint condition card of the guy who went #1 ahead of MJ in the 1984 draft. I was always an Olajuwon fan, and the only reason I never owned this card was because Star made everything confusing for me. 

Honestly I'd rather have this Akeem card, but it isn't his first Star card. His first Star card is waaay out of my price range, and both/all of them have card backs that look like unlicensed knockoffs. 

Total spent: $346.50

Here's a couple of LT rookies. I always liked Tomlinson, and his RC was $60 more than Taylor's. The OG LT strikes a thoughtful pose on his '82 Topps single, which is appropriate since I've thought long and hard about how a player's off-field character factors into my collecting choices. Short answer: it's complicated. Perhaps I'll dig deeper into this topic one day. 

Total spent: $647.20

Add A-Rod to that discussion. Ergh..I got those plastic display stands so I wouldn't have to scan slabbed cards, but the lighting in my card room is horrible. Ebay's authenticity wrappers are distracting and  unnecessary. I haven't broken the seal on any of them, but it's tempting. 

Total spent: $597.03

No character issues with these legendary aces. These '60s singles were roughly the same price, yet Koufax didn't have to pass through eBay's authenticity program. Perhaps because it was purchased from a Canadian seller? Palmer was one of the few 1960s-70s greats that wasn't represented in my PSA box. I actually prefer this second-year single to his '66 Topps rookie card. 

Total spent: $452.53

Joe Montana's rookie card is an infamous part of my collecting life. In my early teen years it was a 'grail' card, one that I could only afford because the owner of my LCS was friendly with my mom and allowed me to make payments. It took me all summer, but I paid off the shop owner and had my Montana card. Shortly after, when Mom argued with me about my sports card "obsession" and accused me of caring more about my cards than my family... I ripped it up right in front of her.

Mom stared at me slack-jawed, and after a second or two she said "well, that was dumb."

For a long time I thought about replacing the Montana RC, but whenever I saw one it brought back that unpleasant memory. It was time to patch that hole in my collection. 

And that brings the total to $3,715.09. There was also a Jack Eichel rookie card and a Terry Sawchuk that I'll scan up and discuss some other time. The pictures from my phone are just too blurry :/

Obviously this all happened at the worst possible time. It seemed frivolous to spend so much on trading cards, but that's how long it took to re-slab the Ovechkin, get it back from Beckett, consign it with 4 Sharp Corners, and receive my payout. Acquiring these cards in particular has helped me focus on which cards I would prioritize in order to consider my collection 'complete' and after this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that list is much shorter. 

I've got a post or two planned to track my vintage base and modern-ish rookie card collection and where these news slabs slot into those lists, plus that project on overlooking(or not) great players with bad reputations. 

Thanks for reading!


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