The Pay It Forward Project

Earlier this week, I opened my mailbox and was surprised to see a package from Mr. Zakwin over at Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle.  As I prepared to reveal its contents, I was thinking... is this from a long, lost trade?  Did I buy anything from him?  What the heck is this?

But as soon as I pulled the card out... I knew exactly what it was.  Last week, Greg wrote a post about a few vintage card purchases he made off of eBay.  We sure live in a small blogging world, because he made the purchases off of Eric over at Manupatches & Mustaches.

Anyways... I saw this awesome century old tobacco card and immediately wanted to find one for my collection.  Well thanks to Greg, I no longer need to track one down.

1905 John Player & Sons "Countries Arms & Flags" #6

If you're not familiar with John Player & Sons, they're a English tobacco company who first issued cards in 1893.  They went on to produce over 200 different sets.

I was amazed at the condition of this card.  The colors are still bright and the card stock is sturdier than some of the products produced in the late 80's.  

But that wasn't the only card in the package.  There was also this:

Is this cool or what?  Like the movie, I will most definitely be paying it forward.  If you're unfamiliar with the concept... instead of paying back Greg with a cool Matt Kemp or Ryan Getzlaf card, I'll send something out to someone else... hence the term, "paying it forward".

It's actually the second time I've been involved with this type of project.  Last year jaybarkerfan introduced me to his "Pay It Forward Project":

Jaybarkerfan continues to give out cards on a regular basis over on his blog: Jaybarkerfan's Junk.

It's awesome to see so much generosity making its way around the blog world.  Speaking of generosity.  The gifts kept arriving this week.  Yesterday, I received these two cards from The Chop Keeper over at The Card Chop:

He posted the pair on his blog last Saturday.  They were a bonus from an eBay purchase and he graciously offered to send them my way.  Thanks Mr. Chop Keeper.  I hope you enjoy the Braves cards I sent you.

Okay... now that I've gotten the "Thank You's" taken care of.  It's time to figure out who I'm going to send my "Pay It Forward" package to.  I already have a few people in mind and I'm looking forward to being a part of this project.  So stay tuned fellow bloggers... this won't be in my possession very long.

Thanks again Greg & Mr. Chop Keeper for these very cool additions to my Japanese PC.  Happy Saturday & sayonara!