General Forum

I super PC the HHOF Hobey Baker. The first time I saw this card,1995-96 AHCA American Hockey Coaches Association, was in my favorite book about him, as the author had the card and kept it in his wallet I believe. It finally came across ebay one day, but at a price that seemed way too high. So I made an offer and was accepted, only to recieve the wrong card in return. Told the seller I would buy the wrong card too, as it was also Hobey Baker. 

He doesn't have many cards, and most are SN'd. My secret santa on here this past Christmas was also super generous and purchsed me a printing plate.

One of mine is the 2019 Donruss #251 Domingo Ayala. I mostly cannot locate one and the few times I have, there are crazy price. It's the only card I need to complete the master set. Not sure why it's difficult to find

Apparently it was short-printed; don't know the specific number.

I have been searching for years for a 1968 Champion Cornflakes Billy Kilmer.  I had to settle for a graded 1.5 for the Jim Taylor in my Saints collection because that's all I've ever seen.

There are probably a few. Because my focus is on vintage and I know I can't afford the hall of famers, I'm always looking for cards of players with unusual histories, but who might be a bit obscure. Ironically, those are harder to come by than the stars. So the card I'm putting on display even as we speak -- a 1943 MP & Co. Lou Novikoff, took me quite a while to track down. I also hunted a 1938 Goudey Heads Up Frank Demaree (WITH the cartoons on the front) for ages. I'm still looking for ANY 1941 Goudey Cub. 

A big part of it is the pricing. I can find these cards more easily if I want a PSA 7. But I ain't paying $300. So finding a 1.5 or a seller I can trust makes the quest all that more difficult. 

v3

29 years later, finally got the 1992 Upper Deck Marlins gold hologram. Just need the Rockies one now...

The hardest card to find would be all the ones still not in my collection!  As for cards actually in my collection, it took me 30 years to finally get an Ozzie Smith 1979 Topps RC after I started trying to find one. It's not like they are hard to find, but my criteria made it tough. I didn't want to pay a bunch of money (and couldn't afford to as a kid and teenager), but I also wanted one in high condition. Finally in 2009, I made a trade to get one that I'm sure would grade as an 8 or better. So I ended up not having to buy one anyway.

I've had several common cards that were hard to find just to complete sets in baseball, basketball and NASCAR over the years. Oh, here's a good one that I finally got, although it does have value and rarity to it. The 2009 Wheels Autographs Jimmie Johnson AU, SN25 card took me about 10 years to find. What made that chase so crazy is that I had all 4 AU'd printing plates in my hands for several years before I finally found the "regular" AU card! The only way that rainbow could be better now is if I could find the "regular" AU card with the SN of 01/25 to go with the 1/1 plates. My card is SN 20/25, but at least I have one now.

The 1st card that popped in my head was 2002 Topps Chrome Summer School Turn Two jersey card of Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker.  I managed that one as a best offer on Ebay.  The other card that was tough to find was a 1978 Topps Molitor/Trammell RC without the smudge.  For the longest time, every smudge free copy that I came across had a dinged corner.  I found mine at a show a few years ago, paid up for it, but now it's a highlight of my collection.

I've loved the Bowman Heritage series since its inception in 2001; and 1 card frustrated me more than most in my collection; an SP from the 2002 series (1954 lookalikes, #86 Mike Rosamond).  Took over 10 yrs to find it, the only ones available on Ebay were buried in team sets; went through multiple boxes at card shops and shows and it was always missing.   I think I even resorted to emailing Astros super-collectors to see if they had an extra that they hadn't advertised!  The SPs aren't overly tough from this set, just uncommon.  Guessing it was gobbled up by members of his family before it got on my radar!

I ran into this for the 10 years I was building the 1995 Superior Pix Football autograph set.