About 15 years ago, Michael Chauby grew tired of collecting cards, jaded by the high populations, even for those that were supposed to be rare.
To fill the hole, he took to tickets, liking the idea of tying a ticket to a game and a true sense of scarcity.
He also loved what he could buy for the prices.
On March 13, 2015, he bought a Wayne Gretzky Indianapolis Racers Pro Debut ticket on eBay for a "Buy It Now" price of $31.99. With the the ticket market more mature today, that ticket is likely worth north of $35,000.
Long before the market caught fire, he bought a ticket for the Chicago Bulls' Nov. 17, 1984, home game against Philadelphia for a couple hundred dollars. That ticket, which came from the first game in which Michael Jordan wore Air Jordans, has sold for more than $60,000. PSA has graded just six tickets to that game.
Chauby said for years he kept his head down buying and, not having any immediate urge to sell them, didn't ever get them graded at PSA. But now being 58, with retirement inching closer, along with a market that has come around, Chauby is closer to cashing in.
Well, there could be another big win coming for him.
Chauby recently saw chatter on social media on the search for the game when the picture was taken for Gretzky's 1979-80 Topps/O-Pee-Chee rookie card.
A New York Times article had previously said the picture came from one of two back-to-back games in which Gretzky and Gordie Howe played against each other in Springfield, Massachusetts, (March 30 and April 1) in 1979. But Chauby learned the photographer, Steve Babineau, had a book.
In it, "Behind the Lens: The World Hockey Association, 50 Years Later," there was a chapter called "The Card."
Babineau, who was responsible for taking pictures of the Boston Bruins, said he was sent to the Springfield Civic Center on Feb. 16, 1979, to capture shots of Gretzky for The Hockey News and for Topps/O-Pee Chee.
The Oilers beat the Whalers 4-2 that night, and Gretzky scored his 29th NHL goal. Babineau sent in the photos from the game and was later paid for pictures that would wind up on 16 cards in the set, including Gretzky and Gordie Howe.
In May 2021, a Wayne Gretzky 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee rookie card, in a PSA 10, with Babineau's picture on it, was sold for $3.75 million at Heritage.
Babineau got paid $17 for the picture.
And Chauby, who has kept detailed records of all his ticket purchases, bought the ticket on Aug. 6, 2011 for $27.49.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.