11 August 2017

Famous Last Words: "There's no way I'll win it for this price!"

I think this is something anyone who's been on eBay for a while has done at least once. You see a cool item and place a bid on it for more than you really want to spend at the time because, "There's no way I'll win it for this price! Someone will surely outbid me!" Then you get the notification that you've won and you have to jump through hoops to cover the unexpected expense. On a smaller item it may not be that bad, but this time I really did a number on myself.


I was feeling out the price level on this card from 2016 Panini National Treasures Racing, featuring signatures from six NASCAR drivers, including two favorites of mine, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick. I went one bid too far and stopped, thinking that surely one more bid would come in and save me. No other bids came in, and I found that I was the new owner of this six-signature booklet. It was a good price for the card, but not a price I needed to be dropping on cardboard and ink at the time. Still, it's a sweet card and I like it quite a bit in spite of the sticker signatures all around. The autographs are Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick, and Casey Mears.


The booklet is numbered # 07 / 25, and the card number is CHEVY, which is interesting since half of these drivers are now in Fords (Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick drive Fords for Stewart-Haas in the Monster Energy Cup Series, while Casey Mears drives a Ford in the Xfinity Series).

This is a pretty cool card and now acts as one of the showpieces of my NASCAR collection, but it also acts as a reminder to only bid if you're willing to pay up.

10 comments:

  1. I have been on eBay for a long time, thankfully though, I have never had this happen. But, I wouldn't be too surprised if it did. Other than a few names, I don't know anything about racing (and don't care to), but even I have to admit that that is one attractive card. It's one of the few sticker auto cards/booklets that I have seen, that actually looks good. With that kind of presentation, you almost don't even notice the stickers.

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    1. The stickers aren't too intrusive on the card, although this would be an absolutely killer booklet if they were all on-card.

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  2. That is a gorgeous card! Someday I'll be the proud owner of a book card.
    From your title I thought this post was going to go a completely different direction. I often bid on cards for the minimum, thinking I'll never get the card for that price, and occasionally I'll luck out and get a great deal.

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    1. I have won a great many auctions for low prices, but this is a case where I pushed one bid too far and thought I was safe, because, "Surely someone will outbid me at this price!" Panini's deluge of NASCAR releases has really wreaked havoc on autograph prices.

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  3. Great card! I imagine that cost quite a lot. I have all of their autographs already but not on the same card!

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    1. It cost a fair bit, but not as much as I expected it to go for. Panini's recent releases have really pushed NASCAR autograph prices down.

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  4. Oh dang....on a positive note it is a sweet card and you could probably recoup some of your money in the future off of it. Great pickup!

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    1. This is one that I could probably sell for a decent price in the future. I am happy to have it in the collection for now, though. It just wasn't a planned purchase.

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  5. Congratulations on the sweet addition to your collection! I've definitely have been in your shoes. Back in 2013, I won an autographed A's jersey off of MLB auctions. I figured I'd raise the bar because the proceeds were going to a good cause (Sandy Hook School Support Fund). I ended up walking away the winner, but was totally okay with my purchase. I think this was my most expensive sports memorabilia purchase off all-time... although the 1972 Topps set came pretty close.

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    1. I can't be too mad, since this is a pretty sweet card. I thought for sure that someone would outbid me at the last second, though. Maybe it's karma's way of paying me back for winning a Bryce Harper Stadium Club Members Only parallel for less than a dollar.

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