Even numbers

It's funny what you notice when starting to write a post.  I had made a purchase early this past week from The Battersbox on eBay, one of my favorite sellers.   I took advantage of the free shipping when you buy over $10 worth of cards, which usually isn't a problem for me.

When going through the cards and scanning them this morning, I noticed that I bought from 3 sets, 1972, 1974 and 1976.  No 1971, 1969 or any odd numbered year sets.  I did buy an odd number of cards, but I was shipped an even number of cards.   Let's take a look and I'll explain why.

A pair of star cards from the slowly dwindling 1976 Topps want list to start.  Combined I spent $5.50 on these two, but they are in pretty good shape and finishing this set up is on the radar.  Love the palm trees in the background on the Don Sutton card.

This pair cost me slightly more, $5.75 of which $4 was for the Lou Brock.  The Tom Shopay was $1.75, but I'm starting to get into the higher numbered common cards for '72, so here and there I'll have to pay a bit more, and the card is in nice shape, so I didn't mind so much.

This pair also cost me $5.75, which is pretty good considering one of the cards is part of the Hank Aaron special subset at the beginning of the '74 set.  I also wanted to finish off the World Series sub set so I grabbed game 4 which is the only one I had left on the want list.

Now, the last card is the most interesting story of the purchase.  Consider this Rod Carew/Joe Morgan card.  $2.25, not a bad price.

This wasn't the copy that I ordered.  Anyone who has dealt with the Battersbox knows that they have a numbering system for their auctions, and you see it on the back of the card saver when the card arrives.

Apparently, they were unable to locate the copy that I purchased, so they sent the one above, and ….

this copy as well.  Along with it was a note stating that they apologized, couldn't find the card I bought, but hoped that one of these two copies would make up for it.

For me, I thought this was outstanding.  They didn't have to do that at all.  So I wound up with 8 cards instead of 7.  Would love to hear from anyone out there what their thoughts are on this replacement method.

I'll likely head back to the Battersbox auctions again this week to buy up some more of my want list.  Maybe try and finish off the '76 set this week, who knows.

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert