Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda...

Triple B

Triple B

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Stealing this idea from somewhere else...

Whether you've been in the hobby for 32 years like I have or whether you've been in it longer or even for just a few weeks, you likely have had a "woulda, coulda, shoulda" moment...or 50.

I'll start with mine...

I COULDA bought a LeBron James Exquisite RC a the 2003 National for $750 and thought "how much higher can that go...seriously" and passed. Yeah, good call...

https://www.beckett.com/news/2003-0...bron-james-rookie-card-sells-for-over-190000/

In terms of hockey, I SHOULDA bought the two boxes of 2005 The Cup at my local LCS but didn't. Out of the first one came a Sidney Crosby ARP /99 and out of the second was a Crosby Auto Rookie Patch insert (can't remember which one through my tears watching the ARP /99 get pulled).
 
Funny you should mention that.Myself and a friend opened a pack(box) of that Exquisite in my living room.Got nothing from the pack.But I still have that very nice wooden box the pack came in.
But on the Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda... thing.Back in about 1999 or so.Not sure of the year now.But The Sporting News released at top 50 NHL payers of all times.So I decided to work away at those top 50 players.I was down to just 5 players.But one was Howie Morenz and I figured I would never find a copy so I abandoned ship and unloaded the rest.I wish I had saved all those nice vintage cards,And after seeing your link about recent sales in auctions.I should have kept my one colour Crosby cup rookie.
 
My most notable one in the realm of box breaks happened at National Hockey Card Day 2019. My local card shop had two boxes of the UD Edmonton Oilers Collection for sale. I picked up both in my hands saying that I should buy the two of them. I decided to set one back and take the other instead.

Later that day, the person who bought the other box pulled a quad auto with Gretzky, Messier, Simpson, and Fuhr. I just about hurled when I realized that that box was in my hands and I put it back like a rube.

That is why, you will notice that in many instances, I will break boxes in pairs and never alone again.
 
1982, I was still a young guy and my parents decided to move from Quebec city to Vancouver. I was not able to bring all my cards with me on the move but they did say I could bring a handful!(I had many shoe boxes full at that time from 1977, my first year collecting, to 1981-82 season).
I had accumulated a good handful of Gretzky rookies but instead of bring those as my handful I chose to bring 5 1981-82 Peter Stastny rookies.
Being a huge Nordiques fan and at that time Peter was to save the Nordiques, I thought at that young age that he would end up being a bigger star than Gretzky!
Wish i could go back to that day, that's for sure.
 
Nothing on this magnitude.

I should have understood the hobby better when I got back into collecting. I traded countless Stamkos and other bigger name YGs for Patrick Roy game used cards. At the time I thought I was making out like a bandit.

Also wish I had kept my Ovechkin 9.5 YG. :(
 
When I was a kid, shoulda not traded 10 plus UD Ken Griffey JR rookies for an equal amount of Hensley Muelens...lol
Hockey related...not pulling the trigger a few years back and buying a nice lot of Crosby YG RCs when they were under/ around $200 a piece.
 
dismonkey1 said:
When I was a kid, shoulda not traded 10 plus UD Ken Griffey JR rookies for an equal amount of Hensley Muelens...lol
Hockey related...not pulling the trigger a few years back and buying a nice lot of Crosby YG RCs when they were under/ around $200 a piece.
Click to expand...

If you lived in NYC, then you could've come out WAY ahead at the time. :laugh:
 
This one is always fun, we touched on it the other night on the SCL show.

I missed out on so many cards I’ve lost count. I guess I’d say just buying up more rookies on many guys at a half or a third of what I could have had them for in relatively short periods of time. (Weeks/months later)
 
my regret was not pulling the trigger when I had the chance to buy an Ovechkin cup rc, I could've made it work but it would have just stretched me a little too thin financial for my liking and the other one was never submitting an offer on the Nathan Horton UD premier shield when it was listed on ebay. I wasn't sure at that point I was going to super collect him but of course I did. The good news is I know the member who has that card and he has a fantastic collection.
 
I "would" say I shoulda never started a Larry Murphy collection to begin with, but then I wouldn't have found my way here to this community and all you fine people. So instead, I'll simply say I shoulda never had a completionist attitude towards Murphy GU and auto cards. Yes, for a time it looked and was somewhat manageable, but as the hobby expanded and he appeared in more and more releases, it just spiraled out of control. Plus, that attitude led to me overpaying for countless cards because I just "had to have them". I've tempered that addiction now but have sold many of those cards at a loss to get to where I am.
 
I was buying Ovechkin YGs for $60-80 for a few years. I got up to ten of them. My magic number was once the card hits $100 I will sell them. Well I got a cool grand for the ten of them. All in gradable shape too. I guess I sold a little too soon.
 
I'd like to think that I haven't many tooooo many bad decisions in the hobby, aside from all the players that I decided to PC, but there is one regret that I could think of.

I sold a Crosby YG for $250 back when it booked (lol BV) for $350, I want to say around 2007-ish. I had pulled 2 within a few weeks of each other, and I sold one at my local card show. It's not even the value aspect, I know they've gone way up in price since then, I just rather have both cards in my PC to be honest.
 
I was buying Carey Price YG when they were going for anywhere between $25-40each (probably around the time he wasn't doing well and Halak was stealing his spot). Sold them off when they started selling for around $60 after he won gold in the 2014 Olympics.

I had about 30 copies, including a few BGS 9.5/PSA 10. Now they sell for a little over $100 each, and the BGS/PSA sell for over $200
 
I traded a Crosby Parkhurst rookie for a bunch of Parkhurst 01-02 and 02-03 reprints for my sets. At least, I pulled 2 of them and still have one.
I also remember trading a Stamkos YG before it got up in value.
 
Mine is easy. I broke 2 cases of 2015-16 The Cup at my LCS and didn't do very well. So I asked him if I could grab 2 more tins from a fresh case. I opened them and left. He then opened 2 for himself and hit a McDavid ARP /99
 
Everyone want a good laugh.....

I visted Toronto in 88 and stayed with my uncle. Found out there was a card shop in mississauga and it was almost like going into a big house. I saw a Gordie Howe Rookie,good shape for 80 bucks. I went back and forth if was going to buy or not and just as I was to say yes,I spotted a box of 88 Leaf Baseball. I bought boxes of Leaf baseball instead of the Howe.....Stupid move

Everything always levels out as I bought an Orr rookie as a kid for 30 bucks in 1988 or 89 and the dealer saw me a month later and said he would triple my money.....wasn't happening... We still chuckle to this day about that Orr..... That levels the howe.

Another deal I made saw a Bossy rc for as Gretzky rc and bought another Gretzky as a kid in 84 for a dollar but 5 years ago or so had my house broke into and they stole both Gretzkys along with 20 grand worth of cards........BUT LEFT THE ORR RC,lol.

So the way I see it I wasn't meant to have those Gretzkys or Howe but the Orr RC was. I also now store all all main PC in a different location under lock and key so that Orr will be kept for my son to do whatever with down the road
 
I had a buddy who jumped head first into the hobby about 12 years ago. Took him to his first expo, he walked down the first aisle dropped $500 in half an hour then went and sat in the car for the rest of the day. Disposable money is not an issue for him. He spent a good 3 months buying up cards and breaking boxes. About a year later, the inevitable happened and he decided he no longer wanted to collect hockey cards. He gave me his entire collection and told me to get what ever I could for it, he didnt care how much. I debated about making him an offer myself but the cards were either ones I already had, or ones I didnt collect. I posted the entire lot on facebook, and shortly there after received an offer of $200 for everything. My friend said sure why not. Included in the lot among other cards were: ovechkin bvg 9 young gun stamkos raw young gun tavares raw young gun stamkos future watch auto. To this day I still regret not picking this up.
 
I have nothing anywhere on the magnitude of some of these stories. My bad decisions are basically inconsequential. But I do regret not going harder to hockey before Beckett Hockey Monthly #1 came out. Because it wasn't priced, it basically wasn't worth anything. So I definitely recall deciding to buy packs of baseball cards over a Mario Lemieux RC. But I was a kid, so it was excusable. I don't have any sale horror stories because I rarely sell anything.

Mike
 


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