I've been collecting cards off and on for 30 years now... and during that time my interests and goals have changed more times than Brett Favre's decision to retire.
Once upon a time... I collected sports cards as an investment. Sadly... when I sold off the majority of my collection ten years ago... I took a huge loss... but at least I was able to buy a place. That experience has definitely made an impact on the way I collect today. Sure there is a part of me that looks for a good deal that I can one day flip and make a profit. But these days... I mostly collect cards that interest me... and don't put too much emphasis on investment.
Rookies, inserts, parallels, autographs, memorabilia cards, and vintage cards have all at one time or another been an interest of mine. These days, when it comes to my player & team PC's, I mainly trade for autographs and memorabilia cards.
But... I actually collect all of the above. I just don't bother to really trade for the other stuff, because these days I can pick up rookies, inserts, parallels, and vintage cards at unbelievable prices online. As we all know... most autographs and memorabilia cards values have softened as well... but from my experience, not quite as much as the others.
I was actually quite shocked to see how affordable vintage cards of star players have become. I actually stopped collecting vintage years ago, because I just couldn't afford the cards I wanted.
Then... I started searching for certain cards on COMC and boy was I surprised with what I found. I was able to find a bunch of cards at really affordable prices. Now before I show off My Vintage Pick-ups (MVP)... let me just say one thing: I know the condition of these cards are not the greatest... but for the price I paid... I could care less.
1960 Topps #335 Red Schoendienst
1956 Topps #228 Mickey Vernon
1961 Topps #297 Kansas City Athletics
1965 Topps #383 Felipe Alou
1977 Topps #70 Johnny Bench
1976 Topps #600 Tom Seaver
1974 Topps #55 Frank Robinson
1969 Topps #385 Orlando Cepeda
1976 Topps #355 Steve Carlton
1977 Topps #650 Nolan Ryan
1978 Topps #20 Pete Rose
1965 Topps Embossed #58 Ernie Banks
1975 Topps #260 Johnny Bench
1970 Topps #10 Bob Griese
1971 Topps #3 Marty Schottenheimer RC
1971 Topps #100 John Brodie
1971 Topps #10 Lance Alworth
It's nice to know that you can pick up some vintage cards of some HOFers, a few fan favorites, and a team card of your favorite team... for a little over $1 a card.
I won't be putting any of these into my parent's safe, because none of these carry any true monetary value. But the history and memories behind these cards are truly priceless.
There's one more thing that makes cheap, vintage cards sweet. These are going to look much better in a binder on my office bookshelf... which I'm able to pull down whenever I want and enjoy... rather than sitting in a dark box that is over 350 miles away.
Okay... now onto today's contest entry...
Describe one of your PC's.
Why is it special to you?
How long have you been building it?
If your new to my blog... here are a couple of my unusual PC's that I've been putting together:
I've been slowly building my damaged card PC for almost 15 years. Whenever I obtain a damaged card, I add it to the collection. I figure... I can't trade them to other collectors... so I might as well make the most of it. My favorite card is easily the Stan Musial autograph that I pulled from a pack of Donruss Signature years ago.
The sports bust PC is a little newer. This collection was started after I realized nobody wanted to trade for my Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, or Michael Olowokandi autographs. I'd estimate that about 30% of the cards were in my tradebait... and the rest I've picked up at bargain prices. It's a cheap way to collect and have a quick laugh at my cardboard investment failures.
Well... that's it for tonight. Have a good weekend everyone... and thanks again for everyone's participation in this year's contest.
Did I show you the randallcardssite scrub collection? It's pretty excellent and reminded me of you: http://www.freewebs.com/randallcardssite/scrubpc.htm
ReplyDeleteAs for my pc's, I just added a pc of one card of every player from the 1997-98 Worcester Ice Cats. They were easily the team I saw the most games of as a kid and I was a huge fan, plus I have that shirt autographed by most of them. Wanted to get a card of each guy to commemorate the memory and play some memory lane as I find out what each guy did after his Cats days.
Don't have any PCs, just my Twins' jones.
ReplyDeleteMy autograph and memorabilia collection is most important to me, and it's not because they're autographs and memorabilia. The players and people who are in the collection are there for a reason. They're the baseball players I followed and looked up to as hometown heroes or favorite players, and movie stars who I adore or whose careers I follow or were in a film that stood out to me. Of all my collections, it's the one that most defines the people who inspire me most.
ReplyDeleteOne of my PCs, the one that I enjoy the most, is collecting a card of every player on my fantasy football team. I've had my league/team going for 31 years now, since 1980.
ReplyDeleteI began chasing the cards in the mid 90s and it took me a couple of years to complete up to that point. Since then I update with my newly acquired players every year.
There are a handful of players with only a regional, team or college issue card, those were fun to dig up. I've managed to track down a card for every player who has one with the exception of a WR Randy Burke team issued Baltimore Colts card from 1980. It's my 'white whale', a card I've never seen from a set I have only seen one reference to, ever.
About five or six guys have no cards whatsoever, or at least not in any guide. For those I made a card and tried to grab something like a signed index card or the like.
It's been a fun collection to maintain.
I have a 5th of September PC my birthday, a Blackburn PC my hometown players with a last name Blackburn, but my Chris Getz, as a beginner his cards are cheap & he's a good player, I do like my birthdate PC, as a few interesting people stand out, Bill Mazeroski, Nap Lajoie & Colt McCoy!
ReplyDeleteI usually buy a card of a player from each of these two PC's every time I'm ready to order a shipment!
In regards to Vintage, I just got a nice Hal Brown 1955 for cheap! And a few months ago a greatly prices 1958 Ron Blackburn!
Collecting a card of every player I've ever interviewed.
ReplyDeleteI have everyone for baseball. Need work on the non-baseball ones.
My James Shields is my most important pc,started about 3 years ago with a 1c rookie card it's grown to nearly 200 cards, including autos,patches and 1/1's.As for vintage i have a few 1950's Brooklyn Dodgers cards and in the next few days I hope to get a 1911 Brooklyn card.
ReplyDeleteBlame the Sharks for the quick closure to contest points being awarded for this post.
ReplyDeleteMy next post will be up shortly, which means you can still leave comments... but it won't be counted towards the contest.
SpastikMooss - thanks for sharing that link. that guy has one seriously cool collection.
Commishbob - wow... i didn't know they even had fantasy football in the early 80's. cool idea for a PC.
Hairylemon - looking forward to checking out that 1911 card.
I guess I would pick one of my Anthology sets- Arizona Cardinals or Atlanta Braves. Its a lot of fun finding new player I don't have in my Anthology PC.
ReplyDeleteObviously, I have a Diamond Kings PC. That will never be finished! I am also working on a Dennis Rodman PC, concentrating on his most eye-blinding cards. 90's inserts are a big help here since they are pretty eye-blinding all on their own!
ReplyDelete