Gamble Paid Off

One of my favorite EBAY searches is for Cardinals lots.  There are thousands of them listed.  Every once in awhile I will find a listing that catches my eye among the hundreds of auctions for junk wax lots.  I love Ozzie Smith, but I do not need 50 of his 1991 Fleer cards for a starting bid of $10.  Last week I found a listing with a bad title that contained 8 Cardinals for $3 plus $5 shipping.  Only drawback was the seller had 0 feedback.  I went back and forth over whether to bid, but in the end was the only bidder for the $3 price.  I figured if I did not receive the cards, I would not be out much and EBAY would make things right anyway.  

I won the auction on a Monday.  The seller provided a tracking number on Tuesday morning.  The cards arrived in Illinois from New York on Friday.  That was pretty good service.  The postage was $4.95, so the seller was dead on with his charge.  Each card was in its own top loader, taped with painters tape, and all cards were then taped between 2 pieces of cardboard.  Nice job on his part to make sure everything was secure.  So lets see what I ended up with for less than $9 delivered.

I will start with 2 2021 Topps cards I did not need.  One of my pet peeves is when you say you are selling Cardinals , but I receive a non Cardinals card.  Yes Arendao is know a Cardinal, but this is a Rockies card.  At least it is easily tradable as a lot of collectors are going after this insert set.  I have mutiple copies of the Whitley card from a previous box break.

 

Things got better with these 2 Goldschmidt cards.  I have both of these also, but maybe a fellow Cardinals fan needs them.  

The Carlson Chrome is the first card I needed.  I have 2 copies of his base card, but these are pretty hot right now so I will save this one back.  

Now things get a lot better.  I know it is not a licensed card, but I will not turn away a Carlson autograph for less than $10.  This 2020 Leaf Draft card pictures him in his Peoria Chiefs uniform.  I bet I saw him play at least 10 different games there during the 2017 season.

How about a Christmas card orange autograph from 2019 Finest to finish the 8 card lot.  O'Neill is slated to be the opening day left fielder.  For how long depends on how well he hits.  So that is all 8 cards that were in the scan, but the seller included another in a one touch holder.

Kelly was one of my favorite Peoria Chiefs.  It was sad to see him get traded to Arizona, but it helped the Cardinals get Goldschmidt and gave him some much needed playing time.  This is my 4th different autograph of his.  Panini does well with catcher's cards.  

I ended up with 3 autographs and a nice Carlson chrome insert for less than $9.  Overall I cannot complain about that.  Sometimes it pays to give new sellers a chance.