Not bad for four bits

There was a time when I lived within thirty minutes of half a dozen (or more) antique malls, and with me being a fan of antique malls, this was a good thing. Nowadays I live within thirty minutes of just one, which has been a bit of an adjustment, but thankfully for me, and everyone else in the general vicinity, this particular antique mall just so happens to be really, really good. It also doesn't hurt that the fellow who owns it is a stand-up guy as well.

Despite it's goodness, I usually only go in there about once every three months or so, if only because it's a little out of the way. Because of this, and because I know that I'll want to have a sufficient amount of time blocked out to look through everything, I will normally go on a morning where I don't have anything else that needs to be done. I switched things up though a couple of Saturdays ago, when I realized that one of the errands I was running had put me within a mile or so of the mall, and decided to stop in for a quick impromptu visit.

It's not uncommon for me to spend two hours at this place on those days when I have nowhere else to be, but on this day, when I had more stops to make, and wanted to be home by lunch, I figured that at best I'd have 20 minutes to hit a couple of the better booths. In other words, it was gonna be like a real-life version of Supermarket Sweep, minus the screaming banshees.

Having now been going to this place for almost six years, I'm very familiar with which booths switch out their wares on a regular basis, and which ones don't. So my goal was to hit at least four of the better ones, aka the ones with ever changing inventory. This goal was not achieved, for on my way to my favorite booth, I was distracted by some shiny objects in a plastic tray that was sitting on top of the glass case...

As it turned out, those shiny objects were 1964 Topps Coins, with a few 71's mixed in as well. This was quite the surprise, for this booth has never had anything of interest to me before. I'm terrible about trying to estimate things, but I'd say that there were around 40 coins total, most of which unfortunately were in abysmal condition. That isn't that uncommon though, as folks didn't have fancy ways to store these back when they came out, so they were often just stored in a bag, or a sack some sort. After sometimes spending decades rubbing against each other, and more normal than not to find them with their finish worn off in places, or even altogether. Rust seems to be fairly common too, most likely from moisture in the air (humidity). 

Pete Ward is a Portland guy, well sort of, he moved there during childhood and went to high school there. He even came back to coach after his playing days had ended. This makes him collectible to me. I have most of his Topps run, but didn't have this coin. It's missing a bit of the finish around the rim, as well as a little on the back, but overall was one of the better conditioned coins.

Aside from home runs and on base percentage, Pete set career highs across the board in 1963. Had a pretty good year in '64 as well, then came the car accident and subsequently mistreated neck injury, followed by a back injury, both occurring in '65. He'd play for five more seasons, but never got back to his pre-injury level.

Saint Ron's finish is completely gone, but the coin doesn't look overly bad because of it.

Unlike Pete, Ron would top all but two of the career numbers that he had set in 1963, the 187 hits, and .313 batting average, would remain career highs for him. '63 also him selected to the first of what would become 9 All-Star appearances.

The prices on the coins were all over the place, most seemed a bit high to me, especially given their conditions. These two however, set me back a whopping 50¢ apiece. That I could dig!

The coin booth also had some cards for the first time as well (they're hot don't cha know), which I wasted too much time going through, and then only made it to two other booths before my self-allotted time ran out. I had a good time though, got a couple of neat things, and didn't have to break the bank to get them. This also marked the first time that I've seen any Topps Coins in the wild, other than at card shows, since I moved to TN... hopefully it won't be the last!

And finally, on a completely unrelated note: Ryan has started up a rather unique Blog Bat-Around, and is looking for participants. Given how many creative people populate the blogs, this could potentially turn into quite the thing, so if you haven't done so already, you might want to go see what's what while there's still time.