in my mind there is really only one law of trading (as long as you assume that trading means both parties actually send cards to each other), and it is similar to the golden rule: swap cards that are commensurate with your trading partner's expectations. want to trade by book value? that's fine, although i can't recall the last time i entered a trade like that. blind trade? that's great, but first time blind traders should have an idea of expectations. more often than not, the trades i am involved in are of the ongoing back and forth variety in which we figure things will work out in the end. those are the best kind of trades, and they speak to the quality of trading partners we typically deal with.
back in april of 2020, i commented on a post at my sports obsession in which jeff asked for trading partners for his cousin who collects braves inserts and parallels. by then, (like most) i was working from home and paying more attention to my collection than i had been during the previous year, so i figured why not swap some cards. indeed.
since then, kevin and i have sent cards back and forth 3 or 4 times - braves for dodgers. the haul has been amazing. hundreds of cards including short prints, inserts, variations, parallels, game used, and autographs. here are shots of a couple of the boxes i've received:
i took the time to scan some cards from the third box i received, so hold on
one card that arrived in the first box that really had me scratching my head was this one:
i had never seen one of these before, despite thinking i had all of the dodger cards from 1993 stadium club. i had no record of a "pacific terrific" insert being available, but then it all made sense when i found that this was actually the "superstar duos" insert - the same insert set that topps revisited in this year's stadium club release.
here's the back:
i am hoping to get another package from kevin at some point - i am glad i signed up to trade!
A few contenders: the bat relics of Beltre and Furillo, the Scouts' card of Buehler, the rookie Bellinger, the retro Kershaw.
ReplyDeleteThe limited print run Koufax wins it.
there were so many good cards - i wouldn't be able to choose just one
DeleteThat's a lot of excellent Dodger cards and makes me sad that I don't check out every blog every day because I miss offers like that!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, I've shown that very Pacific Terrific card on my blog.
same - i am glad that i happened to see this post in particular. i must have missed your post with that stadium club card - it would have saved me some confusion
DeleteLooks like you found the ultimate trader! I found a similar partner about 25 years ago and we have become not only TTM traders, but friends. We speak on the phone at least once a month, although in the past it had sometimes been every couple of days. I actuallu met up with him a few years back for the first time, when I was on a business trip. We ended up road tripping to Cooperstown together. It was amazing and could not have asked for a better trade partner. He takes anything Yankees and sends me anything Dodgers. No book value, no rules, but as you stated, we know it will work out in the end. In fact, I'd have no clue who has received more after all this time. I don't care either. We are just helping each others collections out by trading stuff we don't care about and getting stuff we do. Would have loved to have a trader like that for every team!
ReplyDeleteif i could find a rays trader like this, they would make out very well.
DeleteYou must've had a lot of really good Braves cards to trade!
ReplyDeletei would like to think so. for the last trade, i did supplement my stash with an online lot
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