A Vintage Yard Sale Haul!

One of my favorite things about spring is that it marks the official beginning of yard sale and flea market season. I don't have a lot of time on weekends to hit a lot of yard sales but a long standing tradition in the town I live in is what everyone refers to as "yard sale weekend". The third weekend in May every year is when people come from far and wide and descend upon the town like locusts seeking deals on rusty tools, clothes that are 20 years out of style, and hoards of other things. Much like last year, I went in search of cards, with my wife and son in tow.

Saturday was cool and damp as it had rained hard overnight and into the morning and didn't let up until about 10:30. After the rain finished, out we went.

Cars lined up on Clara Drive

Downtown traffic

More craziness in a newer part of town

Corner of Miami Street and Roger Drive

Unfortunately, after walking about nine miles around different subdivisions and neighborhoods, my search for cards came up empty. However, I did pick up Oz the Great and Powerful and Ides of March on Blu-Ray so it wasn't a complete bust. When I got home, I turned to the community Facebook page and asked if anyone would have cards on Sunday and got three leads.

Sunday was bright and sunny and near 80 degrees. So after a breakfast with friends at a nearby Cracker Barrel, we headed out in the car to track down the three leads from Facebook. The first stop had a decent amount of cards but they wanted 25 cents per card for early 90s junk, or five dollars for a 100-count box of the same. No thanks. Stop #2 on the other end of town was a dud, there was nothing resembling cards but there was plenty of general crap to be had. It was all down to the third and final stop.

Pulling up to a run down, brick house in a shady part of town, I had little hope and pretty much resigned myself that my search would be in vain. Oh well, at least the prospect of an M&M Master Blast from Sonic after this stop kept me motivated.

As I approached the sale, I saw nothing but odds and ends strewn about on tables but towards the back, there was a lady sitting behind a table that had cards on it! And vintage cards at that! Woo hoo! She called her husband/boyfriend/whoever over as she didn't have the slightest clue about any of the cards. I asked the fellow where he came up with the prices for the singles. He said "the vintage Beckett" and "online" to which I shuddered. He mentioned he had boxes he was wanting to get rid of too and pulled out a shoebox, a cigar box, and a random cardboard box filled with cards from the 70s and early 80s.

I asked how much for all three boxes, thinking he would come up with some ridiculously high number to which I would scoff and walk away. However he said "make me an offer", as he spit out tobacco juice into his flower bed. So, after some though I said "how about $25?" to which he accepted, much to my surprise. I asked about the random singles, he said it'd be an additional thirty for those, which I passed on. So, I forked over the $25 and proudly became the new owner of the boxes full of cards below.

What was in the boxes you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait to find out as there were more cards in there than I imagined and its going to take some time to do some sorting. Stay tuned.