Anonymous Collectibles NJ said...

“Let me see if I got this right. You buy low grade

beat up cards and feature them on your blog.

That’s awesome. Totally different than all the

other blogs I have seen featuring the nicest cards.”


10.24.2013

1943 R302-1 M.P. & Co.
Joe DiMaggio

About a week ago, while searching eBay for Poor Old Baseball Cards, I saw a 1940 Playball Joe DiMaggio that was in horrible shape. It had a low starting bid and a few days before the auction ended.

So I waited. And waited. And waited. On the final day, the price was still low. Somewhere around $10 if I recall.

I knew there was no way it would go for anywhere close to $10 and I had to get to work so I can earn money to buy all these POBCs.  I put in my best bid. It was more than I wanted to bid, but I typed it in ... $110.

I was not a winner. The card ended up selling for $132. More than I was willing to spend.

I never thought "Joltin Joe" would ever be a part of my collection. He didn't appear in very many issues after all.

A new search revealed this card. Produced by Michael Pressner Company of New York in 1943, it was a card of DiMaggio during his playing days. It was also produced during World War II.

I wanted it. It was old. It had rounded corners and deep creases. It had writing. It was perfect.

By the way, that's a "CF" written in blue ink: Center field. That's the position Dimaggio played. But you woldn't know it by looking at the card's reverse. It lists him as a rightfielder.

One more thing, I got this card at a steal.

A real Joe DiMaggio, are you kidding me? $40.

2 comments:

Dave Bancroft said...

I was curious as to how you store your pobc. As they are already in beat up condition, do you worry about card holders or binders to "protect" them?

pobc said...

I usually put each card in a sleeve/holder. Not really worried about condition but more so they will stack neatly. Sometimes I will include a "stickey note" reminding me of what set they're from (especially if they're from an odd or hard-to-find issue) and what I paid for them. Sometimes I may even need to include the player's name since the card can be so worn, it may be illegible. I haven't had binders since I was a kid. I really do enjoy taking the cards out of their sleeves every now-and-then.