HOLY GRAIL in hand! The CRUSADES are ended!

First, a haiku...

Holy Grail, White Whale
Ninty Eight Donruss Crusade
Red Is Now In Hand!

Well, after 12 years of hardcore searching, my quest ended at 7am this morning at a McDonalds in McHenry, IL. Everyone loves 1998 Donruss Crusades, and appreciates how hard it is to put together a rainbow of the Green #/250, Purple #/100 and Red #/25 for their player collections. It's been a goal of mine for many years. I just needed the Red for the past 5 years. Last year, I got so desperate that I even wrote in to Beckett...



On Friday, fellow FCB board member nevermore (HUGE THANKS!) emailed me about an eBay auction that left me speechless. Here is the link, check out how poorly it was listed. Lot of 5 Serial Numbered Cards Major League Baseball

I contacted the seller. He wrote me back that he does not end auctions early. I was disheartend because I thought I'd end up in a bidding war. I then wrote an impassioned letter back, showed him my website, let him know that I only live 30 minutes away and would drive to his house and pay cash. I guess he was impressed, so he ended the auction for me. We made arrangements to meet. He then told me that after he ended the auction, he got 3 offers higher than mine, but wanted me to have the card. We met this morning, I got the 5 cards in the auction, plus he gave me a ton of Cubs stuff (10 magazines, a signed Grace photo, some promo photos from the 1970's, a painted Wrigley Field baseball) to go with it. You'll probably gag when you hear what I paid. $150 total!

Here's the Red in all its glory. It's absolutely flawless as far as I can tell, like 9.5 or 10. The gentleman I bought it from was the original owner.




Now, for the first time, the complete rainbow. I also own the set of 3 prototype Crusades that were never released due to the Pinnacle/Donruss bankruptcy. I have never seen another player collection that includes all 3 issued Crusades and all 3 prototype Crusades.




It's such a beautiful rainbow. And not one of them has a refractor line! Think I'll get them all slabbed now. I'm just so stoked after this fantastic week. In case you missed it, here's my other great find from this past week. My how the baseball card gods have smiled on me recently!!!

Very nice, congrats!!!!!

Wow! I can't believe that auction, i'm sure you would have won it way cheaper than $150, but I understand locking it down for sure. Congrats!

wow dude! thats one heck of a week for the PC! Awesome pickups, congrats on the awesome rainbow!!

-J

I am so pleased for you. Those cards are beautiful together.

Maybe one day my Biggio collection will be half as good as your Grace collection :lol: :lol:

Phil

Great story!!! I am glad it worked out for you. You have an amazing collection!!! Congrats!!!

flightposite said:

Wow! I can't believe that auction, i'm sure you would have won it way cheaper than $150, but I understand locking it down for sure. Congrats!

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I can absolutely guarantee it would have ended above $150, even with the poor listing. It had multiple watchers, and like I said, he had 3 offers to sell it above my offer. It would have been a sniping battle at the end. I lost out on one 3 years ago that ended at $225. The Crusades have done nothing but gain in popularity since that point. $150 is about the least you can pay for a scrub player. I honestly would have paid double this price myself.

gracecollector said:

flightposite said:

Wow! I can't believe that auction, i'm sure you would have won it way cheaper than $150, but I understand locking it down for sure. Congrats!

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I can absolutely guarantee it would have ended above $150, even with the poor listing. It had multiple watchers, and like I said, he had 3 offers to sell it above my offer. It would have been a sniping battle at the end. I lost out on one 3 years ago that ended at $225. The Crusades have done nothing but gain in popularity since that point. $150 is about the least you can pay for a scrub player. I honestly would have paid double this price myself.

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I have no doubt if the crusade were noted that it would have gone for that much. How the heck do people even find that auction, let alone have multiple watchers? I guess with description searches.

12 years? Great, I have another 9 to go! Congrats!

Sick man!!
Congrats. :shock:
I'm SUPER JEALOUS!!

CONGRATS gracecollector!!!!

you best be sending that seller XMAS cards for years to come

Awesome story and great pick up! The seller only lives 15-20 mins away from me. Small world

wow, congrats on finally being able to land the crusade red, bud!

that person seems like a very fine gentleman!

dave

Great story and even better card! CONGRATS on finally harpooning that White Whale! With a Grace collection like yours, I'm glad it's HOME!

A very nice seller indeed! It must nice to have the card in hand less than 48 hours after seeing it listed.

I was glad to help out. Congrats again on the deal Brad!

Great stuff, Gracecollector. If I were you, I'd email Beckett with an update on your story and how it had a happy ending. I bet they'd print it in the magazine.

I guess I dont know much about the Crusades. I know the reds are #d to 25 but is there another reason these are hard to find or is it just because of the small print run? Were they inserted into packs or were they redemption?

383astro said:

I guess I dont know much about the Crusades. I know the reds are #d to 25 but is there another reason these are hard to find or is it just because of the small print run? Were they inserted into packs or were they redemption?

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They are hard to find because of the print run as well as collectors hoarding them and not selling them. They were inserted in packs, but remember, in 1998 even, cards were still over produced so finding a red Crusade was about as easy as finding a good girl in college.

Very nice ending to the quest...I'm afraid I will never own my player.

Glad to hear it. Your collection is unreal! :shock: Your website is truly a gift for player collectors and I'm happy you'll be adding a couple new additions.