[djohn]

I love going through the bargain bin boxes at card shops. So I am very happy that the shop that recently opened near me actually has quite a few boxes of $0.25 cards, with a nice variety inside. I have gotten lots of cards that book from a few dollars up to $10, which I find pretty common for most shops.
Today I had just under an hour to kill in the shop, and of course spent most of it going through the bargain bins, in fact I was somewhat rushing through them as there are about a dozen monster boxes filled and I wanted to try and get through them all. I basically just pulled any card that looked like it might make good trade bait, but didn't really spend much time evaluating the value on the cards at the time. Normally I try to focus on the basketball boxes, but he said there was nothing new there so I started going through the baseball boxes instead.
I was definitely rushing as I went through because now that I am home and have had a chance to go back through the pile I found quite a few cards I might not normally have picked up for $0.25. However I found one card that shocked me when I started looking for a value. I still can't believe I only paid $0.25 for this card. What is this card, well it's a 2011 Bowman Sterling Black Refractor serial numbered 01/25 of Eric Hosmer. There is no book value for the card, but based off of the book value of his gold card and sales of his other refractors from that set I would say that I am a bit excited. I honestly didn't expect the value to be so high, especially since it was in a quarter bin just in a penny sleeve not even a top loader. There are some small scratches across the front, which will keep me from considering sending it in for grading, but everything else about the card is perfect.
Anyone else ever pull something this big out of a quarter bargain bin?

[DrMitchJ]

No LCS, no bargin bins
Great find, buddy! Congrats!

[scottbdoug]

it seems most times i buy someone's collection I hit something big. the cards are usually stored in monster boxes and theguy is too lazy to go through them and cant remember what he has exactly. He has a general idea of what he has but not specifics I offer on average about 50.00 per 5,000 cards or 60.00 to 75.00 for 10,000 cards and they usually bite. Most cards are sets from the 90s but lots from the 80s and some from the 50s 60s and 70s. They think they are getting rid of 90s junk wax, which they usually are, but always forget the small stack of cards from the 70s or 60s etc that they bought over time collecting. Some of the cards I have gotten that were memorable were, A mint Cal Ripken Jr. Topps RC, Andre Dawson Topps RC, Gary Carter Topps RC. I found about 50 1975 Topps cards among a bunch of 91 Upper Deck and in it was George Brett's RC. Those are the most memorable, but lots of near mint 60s and 70s commons as well. I even pulled out a 1952 Bowman Robin Roberts card and a second year Pete Rose card in nice shape, although I don't much like Rose so I gave that card to a friend.

It's fun to buy people's collections, pay a small amount and then see what you find. It's like the collection is a huge unopened box of cards. I find it more fun than opening new boxes sometimes.

[mouschi3]

holy cow, congrats! that's awesome

[franciscomarina]

That is one great bargain. Congratulations.

[scottbdoug]

yeah u get excited when it happens. but nothing like some with stories of getting ssome 1000.00 card from a person getting rid of a parent's collection who passed away etc. the best for me was the brett rookie and it was in perhaps in excellent condition. what wouldve been awesome if the yount rookie was there as well but it wasnt lol.

[djohn]

yeah u get excited when it happens. but nothing like some with stories of getting ssome 1000.00 card from a person getting rid of a parent's collection who passed away etc. the best for me was the brett rookie and it was in perhaps in excellent condition. what wouldve been awesome if the yount rookie was there as well but it wasnt lol.

Except that I feel morally obligated to let someone know the value in that case. I try to think about the perspective of the person whose collection is being sold, and I would be rolling over in my grave if I knew my high-end cards were selling for super cheap.
In my case, I didn't realize the value at the time and even if I did I know the owner and he would've said it was mine at a quarter since I found it in the quarter bins (as he did that in the past when I found a different card worth around $50 in the bins). I know he just buys bulk lots and puts everything but autos and game used in the quarter bins.

[yul717]

I got a couple stacks with 50s and 60s cards in them for a couple bucks once. Good stuff.

[newtmcknz]

I think my best pull out of a buck box was a 1995 UD Nolan Ryan Gold parallel. Would also grab any of the old Pinnacle Press Proofs I could find in those boxes. Will Clark, Mark Grace, Hideo Nomo, etc could be huge sellers back in the day.

With Coins, I've probably fared even better. So many dealers won't even bother checking the backs of their old coins for those S mint marks and just toss them aside into their junk boxes. Filled many holes in my collection with those finds.

[petronm20]

Well... talk about spooky, as i am reading your post taking a break from going through a couple boxes I bought for 10 bucks I reach over and pull out another stack from the box and find a freakin' 01/01 1999 Flair Showcase Legacy Masterpiece Row 3 #1 Mark McGwire AND a Jordan Scoring Kings!!! Thanks for the good JUJU!!! How do you value a 01/01?