Watch and buy

I'm a big fan of the saying "watch and learn".  It's a mantra that I have lived by a lot during my life.  I've kind of adapted the saying a bit when it comes to my card collecting habits, especially when I hit the eBay site.

"Watch and buy" is what I have used quite a bit when it comes to buying cards on the giant online marketplace.  

What I like to do is search for lots of cards.  Big starter sets, sometimes duplicates of sets that I already own just to add to the trade fodder pile if needed.  Here's the latest watch and buy post which may change my collecting habits for the near future.

I came across on 80 card auction for a 1970 Topps football starter lot.  I was quite interested as the lot included a few names I knew such as Bob Griese, Alan Page and Bubba Smith.

Now, I know very little about football sets pre 1979.  But this lot was intriguing as I do want to learn about the older sets and reading the description of the auction had me very hopeful about this seller.   Here's the description...

"Up for sale is a 1970 Topps Football 80 card lot. Cards have wear to them and most would be low grades in the good to excellent range. Nice lot for a set builder that is not too concerned with only collecting top condition cards. Please use the pictures to help judge the condition of the card. The cards pictured are the cards you get. Shipping out by 1st class mail with tracking. I ship within one business day." 

It was almost as if he was saying "this lot is for you Robert"  The 80 card lot was priced at $39.99 plus shipping/tax.   I wasn't completely sure if I wanted the lot but my curiosity was piqued.   So I put the auction on the watch list.

2 days later I woke up to an email.   The seller had offered me 20% off the price, knocking it down to $32 plus shipping/tax.   It didn't take me long to hit the accept offer button.

I now know I love this set, just seeing all these old cards arrive.  The seller did not lie, the cards are in the G-EX range, he did ship the cards the next day and the cards showed up 3 business days later.

The backs of the cards are just as attractive to me as the front.

Orange/pink backs, similar to a pair of '60s baseball sets (64 & 69 Topps) which I really like.  Most of the cards that I got in the lot are similar to the Woody Peoples as they have a bio and no stats (Woody was an Offensive Guard, so that makes sense).  Many of you older collectors like me will remember Bob Trumpy as a broadcaster for NBC for many years.  This is actually his rookie card, even though 1970 would be his 3rd season in the league.

Just 2 of the cards from the lot had the rub a coin over the blank space on the back and I'm quite curious as to how many there are that have this feature.  

The seller, separately from the well secured 1970 lot, included a 5 card "thank you" inside the box, which was very surprising.

The top 4 blue/red cards are from the '71 Topps set, while the bottom card is from the '75 Topps set (which I'm sure everyone already figured out from the banner).  What a great add to what I thought was already a great deal.  

Lots more for me to talk about regarding the early 70's Topps sets, but I'll save that for another post.

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert