What eBay Hath Wrought 24: eBay 1/1 and a Sad Story About a Real 1/1

There was a seller on eBay with a card from Topps Chrome that I really wanted, so I put in a bid for it. Since they offered combined shipping, I put in $0.99 bids on a few other cards ending at the same time. I'll show those first. Be sure to stick around for my tale of woe at the end.

First up is this Sepia Refractor of Victor Martinez, numbered # 23 / 75. I don't have any real attachment to the card, but for less than a dollar it might make for good trade bait at some point in the future. I am usually good to go when it comes to trading base cards from certain sets, but I struggle when it comes to exchanging hits.

Next up is this Mike Moustakas Gold Refractor, numbered # 19 / 50. It's a pretty good action shot and the Royals are one of the teams whose cards I look out for, so again it was a pretty good card to get for right around the starting bid. This is the one card out of the three that went for more than $0.99, as someone bid it up to $1.04.

And here is the card I was really going after, an R.A. Dickey Gold Refractor numbered # 50 / 50. And yes, it was advertised as LAST ONE 1/1. So this is one of the infamous eBay 1 of 1's that are considered unique because they are the first or last of a print run, or because the serial number matches the player's jersey number, or any number of other numerical connections that can be made into a selling point. But I have to admit that getting one of those special numbers is kind of fun. I don't know that I would pay a premium for one, but other things being equal I will look at the serial numbers and choose the one that is most aesthetically pleasing to me. And now it is time for my story...

I've tried out a few eBay case breaks recently, as they can be pretty entertaining and it's a chance to try out a product I wouldn't even look at in a card store, as a single pack of this stuff can cost as much as one or two hobby boxes of something else. So I put in a bid on the Toronto Blue Jays slot in a 2013 Topps Tier One case break. I watched it until the very end and put in an insurance bid with about 5 seconds left to make sure I got it. I saw the clock count all the way down to zero and I was still the winner. Then when the screen refreshed due to the auction closing, I had lost. Someone had apparently outbid me by $0.50 within the last second of the auction.

I did wind up getting the Astros slot and watching the break. In the middle of the break I got I think it was a Craig Biggio relic card, but the Blue Jays were getting skunked. I had started to feel pretty good about myself for not winning the Blue Jays slot. When we got down to the last pack, there were a couple of okay cards, and then the back card's serial number was revealed. It was a 1 / 1. Then we saw that the uniform was blue. Not only was it blue, it was a Blue Jay. Then we saw that it was a Blue Jay named R.A. Dickey, and it was an autograph. I WATCHED A CASE BEING BROKEN IN WHICH I MISSED OUT ON A 1/1 AUTOGRAPH OF MY FAVORITE PLAYER BY HALF A DOLLAR, EVEN THOUGH I WAS WINNING THE AUCTION WITH ONE SECOND TO GO! It was crushing. I don't even know what to say beyond that. But if that is not a sad baseball card story, I don't know what is. When the card pops up on eBay next week I will probably put in a token bid on it, although I can be sure it will go well above my price range in the end.