Sunday, February 21, 2016

Better off for knowing the Dime Box Man

Not that he's dead or anything, it was sad to see that Nick from the Dime Box Heroes blog bid the blogosphere a fond farewell recently.  I still remember running into him on the Bench website, right as he decided to start blogging, and was asking opinions on how his fledgling blog looked.  

I loved that blog right from the start.

All the dime box digging he did amused not only himself, but the blogosphere as a whole.   While we all may not admit it, we're a bunch of cheap bastards when it comes to cards, and Nick just made it a little cooler to be that way.

I went to a card show in West Palm Beach today, and for the first time in who knows how long, I got to sit in front of a boat load of dime boxes.   Yes, you guessed it, I thought of Nick while doing it.   As the pile started to grow I thought to myself how many times Nick has done it over the years, and brought home piles of cardboard (some of it for me).  

He showed us pictures like this....


OK, maybe that's more my speed...

Maybe there were pics like this...


Now the 59's and the '71 checklist were a quarter apiece, but the 1980 Murphy and Trammell cards were both a dime, which I thought was outstanding.


I managed to add a dozen Thome's to my collection.  $1.20 was all they cost.  Doesn't get much better than that.

I did also pick up a big stack of Blue Jays cards, which I'm saving for my next post because there's so many to scan. 

But the final card I wanted to show off today is something that Nick would enjoy just a much, even though it cost me 100 dimes.


Same dealer, at the other end of his run of tables had a bunch of discount vintage, and seeing this was the cherry on this apple pie of a table.  I hadn't bought a '62 in quite a while, so this was a good way of putting that set back into my head, even if it was for a brief time.

For $18, I had a blast for over 2 hours, and finally learned first hand a bit of what Nick preached all along. 

You don't have to spend a fortune to have a good time at this...

Thank you Nick.  You taught this old dog a pretty good trick

- Robert

9 comments:

  1. I agree and Im jealous I never have those to peruse.

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  2. Brooks is a beauty - and it is true, a dime can still buy a little happiness.

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  3. Nice ode to a great blogger. I'm sure he'll be back, nice picking

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  4. You found a load of great stuff there! Those vintage hockey cards are just tremendous.

    Also "You don't have to spend a fortune to have a good time at this." ... Truer words have never been spoken!

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  5. Made up my mind, yep, done. From now on, I'm not calling it dime box digging, or picking. Nope, from now on, I'm calling Nicking my way through a box! BTW, I need your address
    to mail a card or two at ya. jfmjr1 at aol dot com johnnys trading spot

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  6. Great post. It's impossible for me to dig through a dime box without thinking about Nick's great purchases.

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  7. God, The Bench...I haven't thought about that place in a while. Makes me even more glad I stumbled upon the blogosphere.

    It's good to know that I helped make being thrifty (see: cheap) cool. I'm hoping to reassess things once school lets out for the summer and I don't have so many pressing non-baseball-card thoughts on my mind. I'll still pop in on my blog here and there in the meantime and I'll certainly be reading yours whenever you post, Robert.

    Also, keep an eye out for a package from me soon. Should arrive tomorrow or Tuesday if you haven't received it already, sorry it was so late. Got yours in the other day, so thanks again! I'll certainly have a lot of trade posts to catch up on when I return from this open-ended vacation.

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  8. Great stuff Robert! I've been searching for some cool Thome's to send your way.

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  9. Today's dime boxes can yield tons of value. I have a dealer that has boxes that range from $3, down to $0.07, and $0.05 and I find ton of nice cards that I use as trade and gifts. I tend to get my bigger buys done first so I can see how much I have for value purchases.

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