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Author	Topic: American Pickers MTG Edition
anklbreka20 Member	posted January 03, 2012 05:42 PM So I don't know if this kind of topic has been posted before, but this just happened to me today and I would love to hear people's stories about finding really rare/expensive/playable cards when you weren't expecting it. This not meant to be a bragging post, but more of your adventure and surprise of finding cards. Here is mine: I'm a youth program director at a non-profit, so sometimes I go and support the community where the youth I work with go to school. Before winter break, the a local middle school held an indoor "yard sale", where parents of students or local businesses can sell stuff, and a percentage of the money went to the school for after school programs. Just walking around and saw a guy selling some of his personal things including sports memorabilia. I started to browse and told him I was interested in magic cards. He said he use to play the game in the early 90's and had some cards at home. I told him I might be interested in taking a look so he gave me his email. Today I stopped by his place and him and I went through the attic and found a box of cards and inside were about 1000 Beta/Unlimited cards. I quickly went through them and found a few Beta duals, Unlimited Duals, a Beta Pearl and an Unlimited Sapphire. Cards were in unbelievable shape. So then my thoughts went to whether I should just buy them or tell him what they were worth and seeing where it goes from there. I ended up doing the latter and it was totally worth seeing his face when I told him. He was so happy that we are currently working on a deal where I can acquire these items at a very good price. That's my story! What's yours?????
choco man Member	posted January 03, 2012 07:44 PM wait...are you telling me you didn't savagely rip him off?
AlmostGrown Member	posted January 03, 2012 08:43 PM quote: Originally posted by choco man: wait...are you telling me you didn't savagely rip him off? He lost SO much value there. He went from trading up at no premium to trading up with some premium!
Jazaray Moderator	posted January 03, 2012 09:05 PM When I worked at The Salvation Army, we got in a binder of MTG cards. Included were like 8 duals, a nether void, a shivan dragon.... some fetches. Some really good cards, tbh. I went to my manager and showed it to him. There's a card shop in the same plaza, so he asked me to go over there and inquire what they would pay for it. I did. The guy told me he'd pay $30. For the ENTIRE binder. I guess he thought I was an idiot or something. I mean, really. At the time, I think void just by itself was an $80 card.. Let alone the duals! I told him I just came to see what he'd pay, and I had to go back and clear it with my boss. Yeah, I went back and told my boss the dude was CLEARLY trying to rip us off (nice thing to do to a charity..) I told him what the cards were really worth and that I would be more than happy to buy the binder. He sold it to me for $50. We were both happy . And I will NEVER sell cards to that shop, ever. Thanks, Jazaray __________________ A Plastered Dragon Original Limerick: There was a nice lassie named Jaz Many wished to have what she has, A delicate face, A soft warm embrace, And a whole lot of bedroom pizzazz. WeedIan: Jazaray is like MOTL's Mom. Jaz is now selling Tupperware! Help her out! ;)
Nyarlathotep333 Member	posted January 04, 2012 12:19 AM Probably the most impressive I've had were picking up art proofs from the artists in 1998-1999. I managed a 'Beta' Lich, Craw Wurm and Hypnotic Specter as well as complete Legends and Antiquities sets from both Phil and Kaja Foglio. I think I paid $30 for the set of Phil's Legends and about $25 for the Antiquities. Kaja's sets were both in the $20-$25 range as well if I'm remembering right. The Beta Proofs I picked up for around $5 each I think. I also got Phil to sketch a What's New with Phil & Dixie card on a blank gold border card which I'm pretty proud of as well. It may not be worth much, but it's pretty fun to have in my collection. I've picked up collections at yard sales, but nothing really huge..found a preconstructed deck box filled with around $20 worth of semi-playable rares a while back for $5.
evilempire22 Member	posted January 04, 2012 07:52 AM Here is my score from back in October, which I posted towards the end of a MPFS: quote: Originally posted by evilempire22: So....my father-in-law in San Diego called me a couple weeks ago from the swap meet and said he was standing in front of a large box of loose Magic cards and sealed packs. He wanted to know if I wanted them, which I said sure, just let me know how much I owe you for the cards and the shipping. Fast forward to today when my wife texts me at work with the picture of everything spread out on my desk. FIL paid $20 for the cards, and $25 shipping for the following (prepare to have your mind blown, I know I did): Sealed Packs: 02 Stronghold 03 Mercadian Masques 04 4th Edition 03 Mirage 04 Urza's Legacy 04 Urza's Saga 03 Urza's Destiny 04 6th Edition 03 Weatherlight 03 Homelands 03 Fallen Empires 03 Visions 02 Starter 02 Alliances 02 Ice Age 04 Portal 01 Exodus 01 Urza's Legacy pre-con 02 Urza's Sage pre-con 01 Prophecy pre-con Loose cards: The following are the noteworthy cards pulled out of first pass through ~4 booster boxes full of cards, 11 starter deck boxes full of cards, and 36 loose booster packs, cards still present: 01 Survival of the Fittest 01 Crystalline Sliver 01 Powder Keg 02 Vampiric Tutor 01 Rain of Daggers 01 Firestorm 01 Gemstone Mine 01 Wall of Blossoms 01 Rishadan Port 02 Grim Monolith 01 Quicksilver Amulet 01 Goblin Lackey 01 Shivan Hellkite 01 Palinchron 04 Tinker 01 Mystical Tutor 01 FOIL Promo Serra Angel (link) 01 Misdirection 01 Time Warp 01 Gilded Drake 01 Yawgmoth's Bargain 01 Grim Tutor 03 Armageddon 01 Enlightened Tutor 01 Radiant, Archangel 01 Karmic Guide 01 FOIL Rancor 01 Deranged Hermit 01 Birds of Paradise 01 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary Like I said, I almost soiled myself when I realized what exactly I was looking at. I haven't done another pass through all the loose stuff, but there are probably some other good stuff I missed in my haste to take it all in. I just talked to my FIL and thanked him many times over. He said he wasn't even going to pick them up if he didn't have my SIL there with her cellphone to give me a call and ask if I wanted them. He even talked the guy down from $25 to $20 for the whole mess of cards, unbelievable! This is one of those great scores that you only dream of. Anyone need any commons from Urza's block? I have a crap load of them. --Evil [Edited 1 times, lastly by evilempire22 on January 04, 2012]
GenghisTom Member	posted January 04, 2012 08:00 AM Perfect example of the difference between CEOs and cubicle workers.
anklbreka20 Member	posted January 04, 2012 08:21 AM quote: Originally posted by AlmostGrown: He lost SO much value there. He went from trading up at no premium to trading up with some premium! You guys are absolutely right. Honestly, I don't know what would have happened if I offered him like $200, $500, $600, etc. he might have just taken the money and I would have scored or he might have said, I want to look them up online, and if found out they were worth more he might not sell them to me. I ended up picking everything up later last night for just under $1000. Was it worth the risk? In my opinion no, but I do understand what you guys are saying.
Skwirlnutz Member	posted January 04, 2012 09:18 AM I went to a random comic book shop and was looking to see if they sold mtg singles; they had some singles but not worth the price but I was looking through his commons and uncommon box he was selling for .25 ea I found a swords to plowshares, sinkhole, and an illusionary mask! Best dollar I ever spent.
southparker2002 Member	posted January 04, 2012 11:06 AM I yet have to find a cheap box of gold
iccarus Member	posted January 04, 2012 12:30 PM I'm sure there are a few "finds" I've had over the years, but nothing that worked out to a totally insane deal for me. Most of the time when I find cards in random stores, it's pretty much a shoebox of bad Tempest-era C/UC cards that they want $1 each for. [Edited 2 times, lastly by iccarus on January 04, 2012]
potaguitar Member	posted January 04, 2012 01:35 PM No great success story here either. It's always in the back of my mind when I go to a garage sale or swap meet though haha. The best thing I've ever "found" was when my friend said he bought a couple of booster packs when he tried to get into MtG some years ago. Went through the rares, all jank, except a foil Tooth and Nail. Great success.
airwalk Member	posted January 04, 2012 01:36 PM They had foil Shards block boosters on sale at Wal-Mart for 8 bucks so I picked up two and cracked Nicol Bolas and Sarkhan Vol! Sadly, that's probabably the best I've done not counting buying collections as I make money & cards everytime I do that so it's not very special =p My buddy traded an old Paintball gun for a guys collection of MTG cards, most of it was junk a few decent cards (Grindstone, Ichorid, etc) but randomly there was a FOIL Alt-Art Ertai, the Corrupted which was a really cool find. [Edited 1 times, lastly by airwalk on January 04, 2012]
Thanos Member	posted January 04, 2012 01:40 PM quote: Originally posted by Skwirlnutz: I went to a random comic book shop and was looking to see if they sold mtg singles; they had some singles but not worth the price but I was looking through his commons and uncommon box he was selling for .25 ea I found a swords to plowshares, sinkhole, and an illusionary mask! Best dollar I ever spent. Wouldn't that only be .75? Seems like he got over on you for a quarter
majicman Member	posted January 04, 2012 01:52 PM I have had a lot of finds over the years, but a memorable one was finding 18 German FBB packs for $2.50/each about 7 years ago. Sold a few on Ebay, gave a few to a friend for his birthday and I had a few to open at the end. In the very last pack was an FBB Tundra. [Edited 1 times, lastly by majicman on January 04, 2012]
Bagbokk Member	posted January 04, 2012 01:58 PM I've had a few unexpected 300-1000% profit collections but nothing insane like beta duals and power. Unfortunately I don't go out much to stuff like garage sales and swap meets. I have little interest in anything other than MTG cards, so I figure the chances of finding anything I want are so low that it's not really worth the gas and time to search around for these. Sadly, not going out to them means I have a 0% chance of finding anything, instead of the 0.01% I might otherwise have. quote: Honestly, I don't know what would have happened if I offered him like $200, $500, $600, etc. he might have just taken the money and I would have scored or he might have said, I want to look them up online, and if found out they were worth more he might not sell them to me. Well, if you offered him a set $ he may have accepted or wanted to look them up online; but when you told him the value, there was also the risk of him wanting to get close to full value from you because it sounds like that collection was worth probably at least 10k. So there's a risk either way and I'm glad it worked out. [Edited 1 times, lastly by Bagbokk on January 04, 2012]
TimeBeing Member	posted January 04, 2012 05:05 PM Went home to my parents and hit a random "pop culture" second hand store. They had all kinds of everything. Old comic book, toys, this and that and a few boxes and binders of magic cards shoved on the shelf. They had them all priced and there was really nothing of note, but they did have a Asian Smokestack at less then what an English one was going for so i grabbed that for 2-3$. Didn't think much of it till recently, I looked it up and found out it was Korean.
choco man Member	posted January 05, 2012 12:39 AM quote: Originally posted by choco man: wait...are you telling me you didn't savagely rip him off? quote: Originally posted by anklbreka20: You guys are absolutely right. Honestly, I don't know what would have happened if I offered him like $200, $500, $600, etc. he might have just taken the money and I would have scored or he might have said, I want to look them up online, and if found out they were worth more he might not sell them to me. I ended up picking everything up later last night for just under $1000. Was it worth the risk? In my opinion no, but I do understand what you guys are saying. I take back what I said earlier.
anklbreka20 Member	posted January 05, 2012 08:22 AM quote: Originally posted by choco man: I take back what I said earlier. No worries. I didn't know how it was going to turn out either. But it worked out, that's all that matters.
choco man Member	posted January 05, 2012 09:05 AM quote: Originally posted by anklbreka20: No worries. I didn't know how it was going to turn out either. But it worked out, that's all that matters. It didn't work out for that seller. I just hope that if my family had to get rid of my collection without me, they'll get a fair shake. ummm...gotta keep training my fiance just in case. wow, morbid...sadface
hilikuS Member	posted January 05, 2012 10:08 AM I once paid a quarter for an Intuition...
Bagbokk Member	posted January 05, 2012 12:17 PM quote: Originally posted by choco man: It didn't work out for that seller. Eh, I think it did. The way I read the post was that anklbreka told him what the collection was worth and the seller consciously decided to sell it for $1K, knowing full well that it was worth much more than that. I think anklbreka got really lucky because the kind of person that would give up at least a few thousand dollars in this situation is very very rare, but again, the seller sold it to him for that price with full knowledge.
anklbreka20 Member	posted January 05, 2012 02:19 PM quote: Originally posted by Bagbokk: Eh, I think it did. The way I read the post was that anklbreka told him what the collection was worth and the seller consciously decided to sell it for $1K, knowing full well that it was worth much more than that. I think anklbreka got really lucky because the kind of person that would give up at least a few thousand dollars in this situation is very very rare, but again, the seller sold it to him for that price with full knowledge. ^^This. I told him what cards were worth. We didn't go to a computer, we didn't look things up. I think he was pretty happy that I was straight up with him and we had built up a pretty good rapport at that point. My knowledge isn't great with Beta or Unlimited without a computer (most of my prices were just memorized from reading Matt's posts in the value forum) so I'm pretty sure I was in the ballpark. And by the looks of his house and car, didn't look like he needed the money either. I think he was happy about how excited I was and the fact I told him I was a collector and not going to resell. Enough about me.....I want to hear everyone's stories!! Especially, finding good cards at the most unexpected times/places.
Skwirlnutz Member	posted January 05, 2012 04:41 PM quote: Originally posted by Thanos: Wouldn't that only be .75? Seems like he got over on you for a quarter Well I had to tip the guy!
mgoodridge Member	posted January 06, 2012 06:46 PM I just picked up a Seachrome Coast for a dime. : )

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