The Thrill Of The Chase

Over the last year, I have been wanting a certain Joe Mauer card that could not have been tougher to find. Since I had been looking for it, the card had only come up for auction twice. It didnt go for a whole lot of money last time, but this time I knew things had changed. Being in the midst of the best season of his career, Mauer's cards have gone fucking nuts. In the last auction, the card went for about 40 bucks, and I was quite anxious in waiting for this one to end.

The other issue that I have been contemplating is the locations of the auctions. Both times they have been in Taiwan, which prevented me from buying the first time around. In my mind, Taiwan is the land where crazy, crazy shit happens when it comes to cards. The comfort is that this time, the seller has 100% feedback, and I have some money from some stuff I returned at the mall today. Good for me to take a chance on it.

As the auction wound down earlier tonight, my hopes pf landing this whale started to slip away. Fifty dollars, sixty dollars, seventy dollars all came and went in the final hours. Since my budget was a c-note, I started sweating bullets about how much this could end for. When the final seconds ticked away, I entered my bid and won my prize by 1 cent. Yes, it came down to a penny, Im completely serious.

Despite the huge win, the water isnt calm quite yet.

First, I wont feel comfortable with someone shipping from Taiwan until I have the card in my hands. To help qualm any fear I have over the package, I will be videotaping the opening after I saw that one vid of the destroyed empty package on Youtube. I know I am generalizing about a seemingly harmless seller, but I cant be too careful with this much money on the line.

Secondly, the patch is pretty nice, which makes me question whether this card is truly "real." I do have comfort in some of the other cards that I have seen from this product, but these days you never know. Thank you to the douchebag patch fakers for that paranoia. With things the way they are, I could easily get the card and see it split down the side. That would make me more angry than you could imagine, though it is highly unlikely to happen.

Lastly, the sig is seemingly quite faded on this card, meaning it may be hazardous to display in a room that gets a little sunlight. Maybe its just the large scan, but I am very worried that I might be getting a poor example of this card. Worse come to worse, I could always re-sell. Yet, as a player collector with a chance to pick up a REALLY nice piece, I cant help the happiness over my find. I guess this is the plight of someone like me.

Now what am I going to chase?