The Cardboard Gods Have Been With Me Lately

I have shared a couple of my early 2015 collecting success already on the blog.  Loyal readers will remember my awesome Nolan Ryan pull from a Jumbo Box of Topps Series 1 and the resulting contest.  On Opening Day I shared my great pull from a box of 2015 Topps Opening Day and while not as valuable as the Ryan it was a great, unexpected hit out of a product where hits are quite rare.

This is the story of another great pull, this time out of 2015 Heritage.  I entered into Nachos Grande's Heritage break and figured that would be it this year.  I am trying to scale back a little on the number of sets I am seeking out and Heritage didn't make the cut. However, I had a strong urge to break a little so I hit the local Target and bought a blaster, a hanger and a couple of packs just to satisfy the urge.  Nothing seemed to stick out to me until I was watching one of the Nachos Grande recap videos and Chris was super excited about a throwback jersey card.  The card looked familiar, at first I just assumed I had watched the full break and remembered the card for some reason.  Later that day I was thumbing through my short stack of Heritage and was shocked to see the same card:

I had no attachment to this card and quickly did an eBay search.  I saw one that had sold for $249.99 and another that was listed at around $300 and sold for a best offer.  There was another one for sale with a Buy It Now of around $280 and that was it.  I decided to post my card for $299.99 or Best Offer.  After a couple of days I only had a couple watchers and no offers so I lowered it to $229.99 or Best Offer and in under an hour got two offers - $209.99 and $165.  I declined the lower offer and sat on the higher for about 24 hours.  When nothing else came in, I took the offer.

I have sold a few high end cards on eBay and have regretted not turning the funds into something of big significance.  I would just pick up a $3 card here and an $8 card there.  This time I decided that I wasn't going to let that happen.  I did a search for a card that has been long elusive for me, a 2001 Topps Archives Willie McCovey auto.  I have a story behind this card.

Not too long after its original release, I went searching for the McCovey auto on eBay.  One day I saw one for a $65 Buy It Now and another for $70 OBO.  I put in an offer on the second for $60 that was quickly accepted - I was so excited.  Several days after paying for it the card still hadn't arrived.  I reached out to the seller and he indicated he had been delayed in shipping the card but would get it out in a few days.  I checked eBay and saw the $65 card was still available so I told the seller I would be okay with a refund and figured I would buy the other one.  He assured me he would be sending it.  To make a long story a little shorter, after several back and forths he finally indicated he wasn't going to be able to send me the card but by the time he issued me the refund the other card was sold.

I have been looking for one since then and hadn't seen one for under $100 ever.  Even if I had money to burn, my stubbornness wouldn't allow me to pay that much more than I should have had the card for.  Finally, more than a decade later, I can celebrate having this amazing card in my collection:

 Here it is, a rookie card reprint autographed on card by my favorite player of all time, isn't it beautiful?  I was able to pull this card in for $78 delivered, not the same price as before but close enough for me.  This was my top McCovey want and now it is time to scour my want list to pick another card, something I haven't had to do since probably 2002.

The rest of my funds from that card sale went to finishing off my 2014 Topps insert sets, my 2015 Topps insert sets and scoring some Giants needs from 2015 releases.  I hope my run of luck continues!