Buying the same card twice

 

 

I've written about this card a few times on this blog. It's the first autographed card I ever bought, at one of the first card shows I ever attended back when I was a teenager.

 

It was a pretty savvy move at the time, though I was not thinking of getting a deal or anything like that. Still the value of Koufax cards and Koufax autographs have shot up in the decades since. I'm very happy I have it.

 

But my main focus as a collector has not been autographs, it's completing sets and completing Dodgers team sets. Because of that, this Koufax card has always stood in the way. Since it's autographed, I never considered it part of the 1961 Topps Dodgers team set, though I list the set complete on checklists, like on TCDB.

 

While attending the monthly show in town over the last few months, I've noticed that the one dealer I go to all the time had a 1961 Koufax under glass. Just your regular, "ordinary" '61 Koufax, no signature scrawling on it.

 

I've passed on the card at least the last three shows, because I technically already have the card, and vintage Koufax cards are not cheap.

 

But, on Saturday, unburdened by any vintage set pursuits, I pulled the trigger.

 

I now own a second 1961 Koufax. For me, this is the perfect reason for buying the same card twice. I will happily insert this card in a nine-pocket page with his 1961 Topps teammates. I never did that with the autographed card, it had to be separated with other autograph cards.

 

This '61 Koufax is not in as nice shape as the autographed card. Understandable. My autographed Koufax was bought back in the early 1980s. I want to say I paid like $12 for it. It's been a long time since you could pay that kind of price for a vintage Koufax. But this card works with the other '61s in my collection.

 

So it was nice to settle a long overdue objective at the monthly show that I was not even planning to go to because of my last experience at the show. There was a bigger, better show slated for today an hour from here. But then the weather changed (of course), roads looked slick, and I abandoned those plans and attended the monthly show as a backup.

 

I got to the show late -- so late that no one was at the check-in table to take my hard-earned $5. Good, because I didn't know if there'd be anything there for me. I couldn't even find the dealer I go to, he wasn't at his usual spot.

 

I later discovered him way over on the other side of the room. He thought my story about having the signed Koufax was very cool. We talked about the show in Syracuse that I skipped. He planned to go down there anyway and didn't think the weather would be a problem.

 

Per usual, I bought some other discounted vintage from him.

 

Two more examples of buying the same card twice. The Durocher purchase was a dumb move. I bought this card from the same dealer a year ago! My blog want list betrayed me as I never removed it when I bought it the first time. The McGraw get was a good one though, it's an upgrade over the card with a big crease through McGraw's head that I stored upside down in my '67 binder.

 

 

A nice-looking Luis Tiant '69 Deckle Edge. Since I finished the '69 Topps set I've thought I should probably get the Deckle Edge cards done since they're so tied to that set. I've got just a handful so far.

 

 

I always add 1965 Topps cards when I'm at this table -- he's got random '60s cards in there and I gravitate toward '65 and '61 (as well as '57). Roger Craig has some wax-stain stubble here, but it's not very visible in hand.

 

 

Outside of the Koufax buy I consider this my best pickup of the day. This 1953 Bowman Color card is my first playing days Joe Garagiola. This is also way overdue considering how much Garagiola was a part of my formative baseball fan days as the voice of the NBC Game of the Week.

 

So changing the game plan worked fairly well, though I know I would have done some damage at the bigger show if I went.

 

Still, looking outside the window now at the freezing rain, I'm wondering if the dealer got down and back OK.