Taking the plunge on a 1971 Yaz

I hate buying things sight unseen.  While some people are bang on in their grading, others are a good grade – if not two – high in their assessments.  If a card has four bashed corners and a crease, it isn’t EXMT, no matter how favourably you interpret the standards.  It’s for this reason that I tend to stick to a handful of known dealers whose standards I’ve learned and whose stuff I trust.  To buy from anyone else, well, they’d better have a really good picture up.

That said, the 1971 OPC high numbers are a total pain.  In top grade or even slightly under, they invoke an eBay feeding frenzy that it’s rarely worth it to win.  While the commons are bad for this, the stars are worse.  The best success I’ve had in finding these things is at shops.

A few weeks back, I saw an online listing for a 1971 OPC Yaz in EXMT at a price that actually wasn’t out of line.  Fantastic!

But no picture.

I hemmed and hawed for a couple of days and finally pulled the trigger.  I figured that in the worst case scenario, I could probably put it on eBay and come within a few dollars of breaking even.

Finally, it got here:

This rocks.

The scan doesn’t show it, but there are a couple of edge bings that are probably factory.  EXMT is a more than decent call.  I’ll happily take it and cross Yaz off the list.  Now if only the same guy had the Clemente….

Bright yellow - that's OPC, all right.