Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Harpooned My White Whale

The one card I was missing from my Cubs collection was Ernie Banks' rookie card from 1954. I had a reprint of the card, plus the two Cards Your Mom Threw Out cards from this year, but not the real deal. It wasn't a matter of availability of the '54, it was price. Call me cheap, but I wasn't going to spend a couple hundred dollars for one card, not even for Mr. Cub.

But a couple weeks ago, I spotted an auction for a card that seemed in decent condition except for a missing piece in the upper right hand corner. That ding didn't bother me too much. Plus, the auction was ending in the middle of the week and in the morning. My experience has been that midweek, early day auctions were easier to win. There isn't as much action on them, since most people are at work.

I set my Bid-o-Matic and waited...and I won...at a reasonable price! I'm a happy boy!

So my binder page goes from this....



to this....



May I introduce to you, Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks:



You can see that a tiny piece of the upper right hand corner is missing. But otherwise, the card is clean and the corners are pretty sharp.



Here is the back.

All is all, for the price I paid, it was well worth the wait and a very welcomed addition to my collection.

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations! That's a super nice card to own.

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  2. I think I was watching that same card... maybe. I'd love to get one one day, but I'm glad you got it. His '54 Topps is a great looking card, for sure.

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  3. Great card...it's nice to know that a great card has found a good home.

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  4. That's a great card! If you're satisfied with what you paid, I salute you, Sir!

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  5. that's awesome. Congrats. Card looks pretty good to me!

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  6. Congrats! It is always nice to net a white whale, especially that sneaky last one to complete as set (or just a page)

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  7. Congratulations on the pickup and on completing your Topps run! It looks like a good copy. I love cards that have a defect that drives the price down but doesn't take away from the appearance very much (I didn't even notice the paper loss the first time I looked at it).

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