A Happy Home for the Junk Wax Lot

In last week's post, which revealed my findings from the junk wax lot shown above, I briefly mentioned that some of the cards were potentially slotted for a good home. 

Well, it's a week later, and I'm happy to report that a great portion of the lot is officially in that good home. And there's a feel-good story behind it. If you're interested, read on.

 

After I finished going through all the cards and keeping what I wanted to keep, I reorganized them a bit, took some photos, and posted them on facebook marketplace. . . 

 

. . . for free.

 

It might seem like an odd choice, but here's what I did: 

I added a message to the listing that stated the cards really were free, but if buyers wanted to offer me a price they thought was fair, then they were welcome to do that.

 

And hoo boy, did it generate a response. Within 15 minutes, more than a dozen marketplace members contacted me with interest. Some didn't offer a price, and based on their profiles, I think quite a few of them wanted to pick up the cards for free and try to flip them for a profit. Can't blame them for that.

 

However, a few other members seemed to have a more thoughtful reason for wanting the cards, and I ended up agreeing to a deal with one of them. It was a woman who wanted to purchase the cards as a gift for her husband, and she seemed to be genuine about it. So we planned a time to meet.

 

Sweet story, right? But that's not all. 

 

The night we met up, she brought her husband along. (The cards were meant to be a surprise for him and she was going to come by herself, but she couldn't hide her excitement, and spilled the beans.) When they walked over to my car and the husband saw the cards, his eyes lit up and he was simply overjoyed. 

Soon after, though, he became a bit more subdued. 

 

He proceeded to tell me that his childhood home was lost in a fire a number of years ago, and as a result, all his cards were lost, too. What I'd done by listing the cards, and what his wife had done by offering to purchase them, did a tremendous amount of good for his card-collecting soul. It was plain to see, and it was great.

 

He was so pleased that about 10 minutes after I left the parking lot to go home, his wife messaged me again. It turns out that they were still in the lot, because her husband started looking at the cards right then and there!

 

Yeah. Trading cards can do that to you. I absolutely love the image of a dude sitting in his pickup truck at 8:00pm on a chilly weeknight, rooting through boxes of trading cards he remembers from his childhood because he can't wait until he gets home. 

I think stories like this remind us all of why we still love this hobby. I couldn't help but share.