Cleve’s Auction Night: Changing My Mind By The Minute

I have alternately gone back and forth tonight on my opinion of how I fared at Cleve's just a few hours ago.  I initially left the auction feeling a little let down, mostly due to what I didn't get. 

There were a couple of cards on the docket tonight that I really wanted, but I was soundly beaten on both of them.  One was a magnificent 1959 Roberto Clemente.  It was clean, perfectly centered and had sharp  corners.  I hoped I might be able to get it for $25, but it went for around $40 something.  The other was a 1933 Goudey of some fella I don't remember.  But it was a 1933 Goudey, and it too was in great shape.  It went for north of $40 also, and was out of my range.   I can live with missing the Goudey, since I didn't know anything about the player and one of these days I'll get one at a price I can live with.

That Clemente is going to haunt me for a while though.  It was absolutely gorgeous, and at a minimum I could have flipped it for a nice profit if I had a case of buyer's remorse. 

However, no one wants to hear me whine about what I didn't get.  Let's get to what I brought home.

After I win an item,  I quickly have a gut instinct as to if it was a good purchase or not.  Yes, it would make sense to think that if my immediate reaction was that it was a bad purchase, I should not have made it in the first place, only moments beforehand.  That's the power of impulse purchasing, and that is why I keep telling myself I need to have a detailed strategy going into each auction.   That said, after some reflection,  I think my gut instinct was wrong on almost every purchase I made tonight.  I'll explain purchase by purchase:

We were about halfway through the auction, and I didn't have anything to show for the evening.  This pair of former Razorback Joe Johnson cards came up for $3 and before I realized what I was doing, I bid on them.  I immediately was ticked at myself.  Yes, I wanted some nice Joe Johnson's for my Razorback binder, but honestly,  I couldn't even see the cards from where I was sitting and hadn't scouted these cards beforehand.  They could have been anything and my dumb ass just heard "Razorback rookie" and stuck my hand in the air.  Thankfully, these are pretty sweet cards.  The Avant-Guard is numbered to #500 and the Topps Chrome is nice looking too.  So despite my immediate despondency,  I'm good with this purchase.

I had about the same Pavlovian response to hearing "Jeter Rookie" as I did "Razorback Rookie" and paid $2 for this 1993 Jeter card.   Again, I immediately was ticked at myself since this is probably one of the more boring Jeter rookies.  But it's still a legitimate Jeter Rookie and I'm not going to get this for less than $2 anywhere probably.  So again, I'm fine with my purchase.

Ok, I was excited about this then, and am excited about it now.  I got this 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn Rookie for $4.  I'll take that every time I can get it.

I don't know how to feel about this one.  I got this 1973 Hank Aaron for $5.  Normally, I would be ecstatic about adding a Hank Aaron to my collection for $5.  It should be the card of the night.  But take a look at the right side, about 3/4 of the way down.  The card has a nice size split in the side, about a quarter of an inch long.   You know what?  Who cares?  This is going to be a great addition to my sampler album, and I would have spent that $5 on a lousy rack pack of 2012 Topps anyway.  I'll just put my thumb over the cut when I look at the card and pretend it's not there.

I think this was the best value purchase of the night though.  I got this pair of great looking 1959s for $3, and one of them is Whitey Herzog.  The Herzog is in great shape.  As a point of reference, the Clemente I spoke about earlier was in every bit as good a shape as this.  Man, I'm still bummed I didn't get it!







Grades:


Joe Johnson Rookies $3  B+:  Nice cards of the former Razorback


Derek Jeter 1993 UD $2  B+:  Solid pickup of the Yankee great

1983 Topps Gwynn Rookie $4  A-:  I will make this purchase any and every chance I get, no matter how many I accumulate.

1973 Hank Aaron $5  B:  This should be an A+ but for that blasted cut on the side of the card. 

1959 Topps Lot $3  A:  The Herzog alone was worth $3 and this pair will go nicely in my sampler album.



1959 Clemente Miss:  F:  I wish I had that to do over again.  Big time fail on my part.