primetimepawich
Verified Trader ,
Hey all;
When I last left you in 2013, I had recently finished off the 13/14 Artifacts Larry Murphy run. Based on most of the other stuff I needed out there being obscure, limited or both, I expected that accomplishment to be my last for a little stretch and wasn't sure what the immediate future would hold for my PC. With January come and gone though, it wasn't exactly as quiet as I thought it would be. Let me illustrate why:
12/13 ITG Ultimate 12th Edition Fan Expo Superbox The First Six Triple Memorabilia Doug Gilmour/Mike Gartner/Larry Murphy 1/1
From Ebay. I tried shoehorning this late onto my December thread, but I feel it deserves recognition in a first-run thread. One of 4 cards Murphy apparently has in this Superbox product, and the first (and currently only) one I've seen. I'd love to know of any others in circulation out there, especially his solo auto/GU, which would be the only 1/1 Murphy auto/GU card I know of and a nice accomplishment addition to my PC.
95/96 Upper Deck #86 Larry Murphy Autograph
From HI's buyerbrad, who had posted mentioning having a large assortment of IP autos he was trying to decide what to do with. Since those are a big niche part of my PC, I had to ask what he had for Murphy. I originally bought 2 from him, but this is the only unique one I ended up actually needing. Ones I need aren't easy to find anymore, so I always enjoy finding ones I do and grabbing them when I can.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC Autograph 14
From Ebay; always a vice of mine, as an IP signed Murphy OPC RC bought from the Bay during university really started my PC. I'll buy up any unauthenticated copies (both OPC and Topps) within a certain price range. I only found this listing through Ebay.ca, not Ebay.com, so I was lucky - I would've otherwise missed it.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC PSA/DNA Certified Autograph 3
Also from Ebay; see above. I pay more for authenticated copies, usually because I have to. The autograph on this copy isn't that great or clean compared to my others, but still, it is what it is. Fortunately, this copy had a pretty reasonable BIN. Funny how these can come and go in bunches - go months without seeing any, then a few pop up around the same time.
13/14 ITG Ultimate Tough Decade UnFOURgettable Silver #U-15 Paul Coffey/Raymond Bourque/Brian Leetch/Larry Murphy /9
From HI's warsawknuckles Dave. Another that I tried to shoehorn late into my last thread. First copy I'd seen. The 2-color Murphy meets my usual standards, and Dave gave a great price on it. Thanks Dave; glad to bring it in.
Murphy only had 2 cards in this product - this one, and its big brother gold version. What are the odds I could get, let alone find, that one? Well...
13/14 ITG Ultimate Tough Decade UnFOURgettable Gold #U-15 Paul Coffey/Raymond Bourque/Brian Leetch/Larry Murphy 1/1
From Ebay's memoriesonice. If you know them and their usual prices, you'll probably cringe accordingly like I did. I paid a bit more than I would've liked to, but won it uncontested for the high opening bid. I know there's a market for these things. It's a great card featuring Murph with 3 great fellow d-men of his generation, so I decided to go big or go home. Besides, if I didn't get it, I think somebody would've eventually.
12/13 ITG Ultimate 12th Edition 34th National Superbox Redemption Enshrined Dual Memorabilia Larry Murphy/Raymond Bourque 1/1
A long time coming, from HI's S4kh4r0v John. John pulled this last year but apparently had it earmarked for some other collector who wanted it for God knows what reason. When that lead finally was ruled a dead end, John came back to me in December. Perfect complement to the Murphy/Coffey I acquired earlier. Now, I just need Murphy's solo GU card from this product.
To wrap this up, I give you the following:
Last year, I posted this thread on our Hobby Talk board:
http://www.hobbyinsider.net/forum/showthread.php?t=353291
To sum, I had made an off-Ebay deal in early April last year with an Ebay seller who had a couple graded Murphy autos I was interested in. I overpaid for them, but whatever; I was putting them where they belonged.
They were sent out to me via USPS International Letter from Traverse City, Michigan on April 2. Track & Confirm stated that they were accepted and dispatched to a Sort Facility that same day, and...that's where they ended. No other info was available on them, and after a while, it started to seem like an awfully long time to be in limbo.
Eventually, the USPS site wouldn't show ANY info on the tracking number, and I feared I would never see them. Popular opinion on HI seemed to share that fear. The seller wasn't returning my e-mails anymore, nor did I think they could do anything about it anyway. I expected I was going to have to eat the loss, and was none too happy about it.
Then, last month in my daily Murphy Ebay searches, I see these:
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC PSA/DNA Certified Autograph NM-MT 8
87/88 Panini Stickers #176 Larry Murphy PSA/DNA Certified Autograph MINT 9
The EXACT SAME ITEMS.
Even if I didn't have saved scans with the PSA numbers, they're so unique, I could've recognized them anywhere.
This time, the Ebay seller was Ontario-based, and while I didn't suspect foul play, naturally I had to message them to find out where they got them. Turns out he got them from a local auction house, 403auction.com, that deals solely with lost luggage and freight. I didn't know something like that existed it, but with shows like "Storage Wars" out there, I should've suspected it.
I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of paying twice for items that, by all rights, I already owned. But that was my problem, not the seller's. He listed them with BINs/starting bids that were certainly better prices than the first time around, but still, rather than hit the BINs, I decided to take my chances in bidding and try to save myself some $ instead of just competing with myself.
End result? The Panini sticker went for the opening bid, and the RC bidding ended up between the initial bid and the BIN. So I paid twice for them, but which is better? A massive overpayment for items I have in hand, or a large overpayment for items I don't?
To his credit, the seller charged only standard letter delivery but sent them registered with a tracking number at no additional cost to me to make sure I got them. And I did. The items I never thought I'd see are finally here, all these months later. If only cards could talk...
Thanks for the look; comments not necessary but are always welcome.
Joe Pawich
When I last left you in 2013, I had recently finished off the 13/14 Artifacts Larry Murphy run. Based on most of the other stuff I needed out there being obscure, limited or both, I expected that accomplishment to be my last for a little stretch and wasn't sure what the immediate future would hold for my PC. With January come and gone though, it wasn't exactly as quiet as I thought it would be. Let me illustrate why:
12/13 ITG Ultimate 12th Edition Fan Expo Superbox The First Six Triple Memorabilia Doug Gilmour/Mike Gartner/Larry Murphy 1/1
From Ebay. I tried shoehorning this late onto my December thread, but I feel it deserves recognition in a first-run thread. One of 4 cards Murphy apparently has in this Superbox product, and the first (and currently only) one I've seen. I'd love to know of any others in circulation out there, especially his solo auto/GU, which would be the only 1/1 Murphy auto/GU card I know of and a nice accomplishment addition to my PC.
95/96 Upper Deck #86 Larry Murphy Autograph
From HI's buyerbrad, who had posted mentioning having a large assortment of IP autos he was trying to decide what to do with. Since those are a big niche part of my PC, I had to ask what he had for Murphy. I originally bought 2 from him, but this is the only unique one I ended up actually needing. Ones I need aren't easy to find anymore, so I always enjoy finding ones I do and grabbing them when I can.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC Autograph 14
From Ebay; always a vice of mine, as an IP signed Murphy OPC RC bought from the Bay during university really started my PC. I'll buy up any unauthenticated copies (both OPC and Topps) within a certain price range. I only found this listing through Ebay.ca, not Ebay.com, so I was lucky - I would've otherwise missed it.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC PSA/DNA Certified Autograph 3
Also from Ebay; see above. I pay more for authenticated copies, usually because I have to. The autograph on this copy isn't that great or clean compared to my others, but still, it is what it is. Fortunately, this copy had a pretty reasonable BIN. Funny how these can come and go in bunches - go months without seeing any, then a few pop up around the same time.
13/14 ITG Ultimate Tough Decade UnFOURgettable Silver #U-15 Paul Coffey/Raymond Bourque/Brian Leetch/Larry Murphy /9
From HI's warsawknuckles Dave. Another that I tried to shoehorn late into my last thread. First copy I'd seen. The 2-color Murphy meets my usual standards, and Dave gave a great price on it. Thanks Dave; glad to bring it in.
Murphy only had 2 cards in this product - this one, and its big brother gold version. What are the odds I could get, let alone find, that one? Well...
13/14 ITG Ultimate Tough Decade UnFOURgettable Gold #U-15 Paul Coffey/Raymond Bourque/Brian Leetch/Larry Murphy 1/1
From Ebay's memoriesonice. If you know them and their usual prices, you'll probably cringe accordingly like I did. I paid a bit more than I would've liked to, but won it uncontested for the high opening bid. I know there's a market for these things. It's a great card featuring Murph with 3 great fellow d-men of his generation, so I decided to go big or go home. Besides, if I didn't get it, I think somebody would've eventually.
12/13 ITG Ultimate 12th Edition 34th National Superbox Redemption Enshrined Dual Memorabilia Larry Murphy/Raymond Bourque 1/1
A long time coming, from HI's S4kh4r0v John. John pulled this last year but apparently had it earmarked for some other collector who wanted it for God knows what reason. When that lead finally was ruled a dead end, John came back to me in December. Perfect complement to the Murphy/Coffey I acquired earlier. Now, I just need Murphy's solo GU card from this product.
To wrap this up, I give you the following:
Last year, I posted this thread on our Hobby Talk board:
http://www.hobbyinsider.net/forum/showthread.php?t=353291
To sum, I had made an off-Ebay deal in early April last year with an Ebay seller who had a couple graded Murphy autos I was interested in. I overpaid for them, but whatever; I was putting them where they belonged.
They were sent out to me via USPS International Letter from Traverse City, Michigan on April 2. Track & Confirm stated that they were accepted and dispatched to a Sort Facility that same day, and...that's where they ended. No other info was available on them, and after a while, it started to seem like an awfully long time to be in limbo.
Eventually, the USPS site wouldn't show ANY info on the tracking number, and I feared I would never see them. Popular opinion on HI seemed to share that fear. The seller wasn't returning my e-mails anymore, nor did I think they could do anything about it anyway. I expected I was going to have to eat the loss, and was none too happy about it.
Then, last month in my daily Murphy Ebay searches, I see these:
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC PSA/DNA Certified Autograph NM-MT 8
87/88 Panini Stickers #176 Larry Murphy PSA/DNA Certified Autograph MINT 9
The EXACT SAME ITEMS.
Even if I didn't have saved scans with the PSA numbers, they're so unique, I could've recognized them anywhere.
This time, the Ebay seller was Ontario-based, and while I didn't suspect foul play, naturally I had to message them to find out where they got them. Turns out he got them from a local auction house, 403auction.com, that deals solely with lost luggage and freight. I didn't know something like that existed it, but with shows like "Storage Wars" out there, I should've suspected it.
I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of paying twice for items that, by all rights, I already owned. But that was my problem, not the seller's. He listed them with BINs/starting bids that were certainly better prices than the first time around, but still, rather than hit the BINs, I decided to take my chances in bidding and try to save myself some $ instead of just competing with myself.
End result? The Panini sticker went for the opening bid, and the RC bidding ended up between the initial bid and the BIN. So I paid twice for them, but which is better? A massive overpayment for items I have in hand, or a large overpayment for items I don't?
To his credit, the seller charged only standard letter delivery but sent them registered with a tracking number at no additional cost to me to make sure I got them. And I did. The items I never thought I'd see are finally here, all these months later. If only cards could talk...
Thanks for the look; comments not necessary but are always welcome.
Joe Pawich
