Tales from the Dime Box

Not long ago, the sagely Dayf over at Cardboard Junkie likened dime boxes to eating ice cream, saying, "At first, you gorge on it in delirium and joy. After a while though you are completely sick of ice cream and don't even want to look at it anymore." I guess I have a high tolerance for ice cream or a void that desparetly needs to be filled with the delirium and joy that only low-low-priced, ridiculously plentiful cardboard can fill. I'm a huge fan of the dime box. You never know what you'll find, but there's often gems for those who are willing to surge onward into the depths of the dark jungle.

Perhaps it's a Michigan thing. Here, a soda can is worth ten cents. We never throw them away. And I never pass up a good dime box. I'm thinking this will be a regular feature on my blog, since I'm such a budget collector and nothing fits this theme more than the dime box. Anyway, let's get to those dime box gems.

I found this one at my local card shop, which is actually less of a card shop and more of a palace of broken dreams. This shop buys and sells coins, silver, and gold. You know, one of those we-buy-gold places that are popping up all over. I frequently overhear customers bringing in Grandpa's coin collection or Aunt Trudy's sterling cutlery or an ex-wife hawking her wedding band. It's really quite sad, and the words "that's all you can give me" become a mantra.
Okay, okay, this is a card blog. And this card is a Nolan Ryan card from 1995 Upper Deck SP Championship. I really know nothing about this set, but I thought this was a cool card of a very young Nolan. You can't pass up a Nolan Ryan insert. And this one books at $20. So maybe it should've been in the dollar box, but this shop doesn't have one, so yay for me.

Yup, from the dime box. A 1997 Bowmany Halladay rookie. I found this one early on last season, before Halladay really got into his amazing season. I guess the shop thought he was all washed up and moved his cards over to the dime box.

I found this at a card show a while ago, from my favorite dealer who always has a ton of Bowman rookies in his dime boxes. It's usually a bunch of no-names who never made it to the majors--such is the Bowman product. I actually found another one of these in another dime box shortly after. Not a bad card to have doubles of.

Nice and chromey. A shiny Werth rookie from 1997 Bowman. It just makes me laugh. He looks like such a nerd in those glasses. Hey, I wear glasses! No offense, me, but you're a nerd too.

I have many more surprises to reveal from the dime box--my favorite place to find gems, to find great cards for trades, to listen to the hawking of broken dreams. But remember that while I have found a good share of gems, I had to eat 13,498 gallons of ice cream to get there.