SportSecurities Lands a White Whale

About five years back I was looking at a collection, and I came across a 05 06 Sweet Shots Steve Nash auto jersey card that was really cool. What caught my eye, was the interesting signature window. Normally a signature window isn’t cool. Like most collectors I prefer on card autographs, but this one was different. Most signature windows are internal/depressed, but this was an external window. It was very unique. The only way I could describe it was it kind of looked like a plain cigar band that was autographed and then built onto the card. I remembered that I immediately wanted it, and sadly the collector declined my offers.

Fast-forward half a decade… A few days ago I received a call from the same collector asking me if I wanted to buy some of his cards. As always, my answer was yes, so he and I met up. Hoping to find the Steve Nash card, I began sifting through piles of stuff. I was a bit discouraged, because most of what I was looking at was box after box of star base cards, but as I got to the end of his boxes I found one small shoebox of cased cards. Quickly I rummaged through the box, and low and behold, there it was. I quickly set it aside.

I did find a few more cards to add to the stack, but what I was truly worried about was the negotiation for the Nash. I did not want to leave without it, and I was worried that the seller was going to drag me through the fire to get it. Especially, since the last time I wanted it he dismissed all of my offers so cavalierly. When the time finally came, I handed him the stack and expected the worse. The seller flipped through the stack, and to my surprise said, “I’m not attached to anything here, you tell me what you’re willing to pay.” In the 25 years I have been collecting, the one thing I have truly learned about the art of price negotiation is you always start low. So, in this situation I did just that. I threw out a lowball offer fully expecting a counter offer, but it never came. The seller accepted, and the deal was made.

Now to the card. The Steve Nash card is out of 05 06 Sweet Shots Basketball. It is part of the 32 card “Three Point Shots” auto memorabilia subset. Anyone who knows this set can appreciate what a find this card is. All though not serial numbered, all cards in this set are rare, and are limited to the player’s jersey number. Most have print runs under 25, with more than half having print runs at 15 or less. The Nash is limited to just 13 copies. Looking at the card, it has two memorabilia swatches placed on the left and right side. This card in particular has a swatch of game used jersey (left swatch) and a swatch of game warm-ups (right swatch). The auto is on a piece of vellum (thanks Beckett) that is placed into two cut slots on the front face of the card. The layout of the card is simple, making it a very sweet acquisition.