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Monday, June 10, 2013

June Vintage Card Show Loot - Part 1: The Best

Time to show off the Vintage show loot I teased this weekend. Previously I counted down to the best card I picked up at a show with varying results. This time I took my crippling writer's block into consideration (Heritage Frankenset, anyone?) and said hell with it, I'm starting at #1 this time.

NUMBER 1 CARD: 
1955 Bowman Hank Aaron


Isn't that a beautiful light standard? The fake wood grain is also quite classy. And check out that font! Bold but understated, not flashy. And it's also a friggin second year Aaron card.

The last few times I've been to this card show I've been tempted by a pricey card and mostly stayed away. I've passed up Yogis and Satchels and at least one Jackie. Last year I did bite the bullet and snagged a Phil Niekro rookie for a little more than I'd usually spend. Once I get over a certain price point, it gets really hard for me to pull the trigger. Do I want one nice card when I could fill a couple dozen holes in my 1956 Topps set with the dough? That didn't happen this time. I looked through the cheapskate case (not to be confused with the bargain box, which was hit with great ferociousness) passed on another '53 Yogi that was slightly more expensive than the last one I saw, saw a '56 Topps Aaron that I already had (and was probably picked up by MadduxGlavineSmoltz) aaaaaaaaaand then I saw this card.

And then the price.

And then because Roger was across the room I pulled a card show no-no and reached around the glass and snagged that sucker before anyone else even had a chance to walk into the room.

Mind you, by this point I had only glanced at a couple rows in the bargain box so I didn't have much on my plate so far. Even though this card was going to cover about half that plate I knew I had to finally pull the trigger on a pricey one. It's Hank. From the '50s. There's a warter stain at the top and the right side is bent exactly as it would bend if some fool put it in a holder that wasn't big enough for it or stacked it in with a bunch of standard sized cards but who the hell cares? Honestly I have problems finding some Hanks from the '60s at this price, I hadda do it. This came at a price though, as this was the first card show I went to in years where I didn't pick up a '53 Topps card. I've hit that point where everything left is going to be a Jackson at least and I had to decide on priorities this show. Other things left behind: Yet another Niekro rookie in wonderfully horrible condition, a 1952 Topps Brave card I needed and not one but BOTH 1953 Bowman Joe Adcock cards. Oh well, Hank is better than all that.


Another thing I didn't do at this show was finish up any sets or series or team sets. I really wanted to complete something so I could show it off and let the world know how cool I was but it didn't happen. Struck out on '72 Topps cards. Sorta struck out on '74 Topps cards. Nibbled away at quite a few Braves teams sets but didn't seal the deal on any. I did pull off something that will go a looong way toward the completion of a set, but that's another post. Even this Hank didn't kill off my '55 Bowman set. I still need a couple of high series cards and '55 Bowman high numbers ain't easy, even for commons. BUT... while the very last card needed to finish off many a Braves team set will end up being the Hank, that's not the case with this one. Let's stare at it some more, shall we?



Aaaaaaaaaaaah..... it's so pretty. I could stare at this all day.

4 comments:

Captain Canuck said...

that's frakken Glorious.

Capital G.

Greg Zakwin said...

gorgeous!

Chris Mays said...

Oh yeah ... that's a damned great pickup.

John said...

One of my favorite cards of all time. A great thing about that card is his uniform number. That looks like a 5 on his jersey. I think it is his only card with that number showing.