Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Cleve’s Auction Night: This Isn’t Going To Stop Is It, Napkin? Part 1


It’s been awhile since I’ve had a reaction from the lovely wife regarding my trips to Cleve’s.  She mostly just takes a quick look at what I bring home, nods or snorts, depending on if she approves of the pickups or not and goes about her business.  So when I came home tonight with my usual armload she asked the question from the title -“This isn’t going to stop, is it Napkin?”  

It was more of a statement than question, and was posited more with acceptance than indignation.  She was pretty blown away with Cleve’s generosity with me the other day.  Plus, despite her teasing, I think she knows how much I enjoy this stuff.    But the question made me think a little, and what I realized kind of depressed me.  It IS going to stop someday.  Cleve won’t hold these auctions forever.  One of these days he’ll hang up his spikes and close shop.  I don’t think it will happen soon, but it will happen.   Apparently, well run shops with owners who care about the hobby like Cleve are apparently a rare breed.  That’s really a shame.   And selfishly, I dread that as when eTopps decided to pull the plug, another source of cards (and blog material) will be taken from me.  I can’t imagine anyone will take over the auctions when Cleve has had enough.  He’s too well connected and has too many sources across the country to be easily replaced.  

But, like I said, I don’t think it will stop anytime soon, so I’m going to enjoy the auctions while I can.   This week was really, really solid.  Here is part 1 of what I got:

  This 1960 Topps Whitey Ford is in fantastic shape.  I would bet it would get a very nice grade if I were to send it in, which I'm not. This is one of the few 1960 Topps cards I have, so it will make a great addition to my sampler album (which I've not yet started).  Great deal for $6 I think.

Speaking of sampler album, I bought this lot of 1972 Topps Cards for just that purpose.  For $3 I got this nice little assortment of stars, all of which are, like the Ford above, in great shape:
Finally, from the vintage side of my auction winnings, I got this lot of 1965 Topps embossed cards for $3.  I was mostly just curious about them, since I don't own any.  They will go in the Topps sampler album too. 

Vintage Grades:

1960 Topps Whitey Ford- $6   A:  A vintage card of a Hall of Famer that is in near mint condition.  Hard to beat that.

1972 Topps Lot $3  A:  Great looking cards, and all of well known players.

1965 Topps Embossed Lot  B+:  These aren't all in great shape, and not exactly star players, but they're still pretty cool looking, and only $.60 per card.

4 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

A++++ on the Whitey! Great card from a great set.

Glad this isn't going to stop. I live vicariously through you.

Spiegel83 said...

That is a great deal on those 72s. That is one of my favorite sets.

I also go to a shop that is rare in the sense that the employees are super kind and always down to talk baseball. They have a cool bid board and are starting a trade night in a couple weeks. But, I would love an auction night, which seems social and interactive. I hope the new trade night at my LCS becomes a cool gathering of baseball fans and collectors.

Greg Zakwin said...

Awesome pickups. The Ford especially. Great, great price.

Play at the Plate said...

I'd probably pay that much just for the Bench. Nice going as usual.