Cleve’s Christmas Auction Preview Part 1: My Top 5 Wants

I’m going to bombard you people with yet another series of related posts, now that my COMC Haul posts have mercifully ended.

Here’s the difference though: I’m going to show you some ridiculously cool stuff!  And you will like it!

Cleve is holding his annual Christmas auction next Tuesday.  Last year I got blanked and came home with nothing, but it was still fun.  This year, I’m coming home with something, so help me, that is if I’m able to attend and not screwed over by work travel (fingers crossed).

I guess I should take a step back and re-introduce Cleve’sauctions.  The LCS “Cleve’s Collectibles” holds a card auction every Tuesday night.   There is ALWAYS a nice offering of cards, and I almost always come home with something, much to the Lovely Wife’s chagrin.  Every year, in mid December, he holds a Christmas auction, and the auction materials are top of the line stuff, with tons of vintage, memorabilia and autographs.

Part of what makes these auctions so much fun is the owner, Cleve, is one of the nicest, most generous people you could ever hope to meet.     So I’m happy to dedicate a week of posts to this auction, and if I can steer a few people to give his shop some business, I’d be ecstatic.

That is, unless those people get in the way of me getting any of the cards below.  Then we’re going to have a problem. 

There are going to be well over 100 auction items next Tuesday, but I will share the ones I found the most interesting over the next seven days.  Today, why not start out with the best ones, at least from my perspective.  These are the 5 cards I want the most.  There is no way that I will get all,  or even multiple wins, but if I can get one of these, I will be tap dancing all the way home:

1954 Hank Aaron:  I would love to be able to say to people, “Sure, I have a Hank Aaron rookie card.”  I love the sound of that. “I have a Hank Aaron rookie card.”   Will I be saying that next Wednesday?  Not likely, but I’m going to try.

T206 Johnny Evers:  I have a Joe Tinker T206.  My goal is to complete the Tinker-Evers-Chance trio at some point.  If I can get this under $60-$70 or so, I’m going for it.

Derek Jeter Sweet Spot Signature:  Obviously, Jeter is one of the iconic athletes of this era.  An autographed card of him would be a seriously awesome addition to my collection.

1961 Mickey Mantle:  I don’t have any legit vintage Mantles.  There will be about 10 or so at the auction, and I’ll see if I can swing at least one.  If I could have any of them, this is the one I’d like the most.  My guess is that this goes way out of my range quickly.

1955 Jackie Robinson:  I have a 1954 Jackie Robinson and it’s one of the top 5 jewels of my collection.  I’d love to get another one.

For those interested in these, or any of the other cards I’ll show this week, Cleve does take write in bids. 
Give him a call and he will set you up with a bidder number.    You can reach him at:   479-927-0067