Best Hobby Story of 2012
 

What was the best hobby story of 2012?

Nominees:

1) The Black Swamp Find
2) New alleged information/rumors on the origins of the PSA T206 Wagner

Please feel free to add your nominees and thoughts.

Well, I know it's a pretty debatable topic on the forum ..... but I live in the little city of Defiance, OH and not only was the Black Swamp Find HUGE news around here for weeks and months ...... it's what got me back into the hobby after a 15-20 year hiatus ..... so my vote goes to the BSF.

Black Swamp over the Wagner. The Wagner is what most people already supposed.
The Brooklyn Atlantics CDV is a good nominee, although the story has begun in 2012 and won't be decided until 2013.

Black Swamp Find

Agreed!! Without a doubt!!

Agreed!

I concur.

T206 Blue Old Mill back

Black Swamp Find. So much good karma came out of it that it has to be number one!

Love the family story of the black swamp find

Icky swamp gets swamped
 

The Black Swamp = nothing but positive for hobby.
T206 Gretsky Wagner = a slimy reminder of what lurks in our hobby.

I vote for the Black Swamp instead of the Swamp Thing (aka the Creature from the hobby's Black Lagoon).

Brian

Black Swamp
 

was any of these Wagner "revelations" really new news to anyone?

Agree.

2012: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....
 

The Black Swamp Find was indeed the find of a lifetime. It was overall a very positive story (except for those who were heavily invested in high-end E98's prior to that). In my opinion the way the public sale of the find was handled left a lot to be desired. For example, half of the cards of a given player should have been sent to SGC and the remaining half to PSA. This would have better suited the collecting base and arguably increased the value of the cards.

The Wagner story is one of many deplorably bad things that came out of the MastroNet scandal which ran the full gamut of everything that's wrong with the hobby: shill bidding, card doctoring, the lack of credibility of the third party grading, phony memorabilia and people brazenly lying to the public until they get caught red handed.

Obviously, PSA's reputation continues to plummet and they continue to alienate collectors who are leaving the hobby in droves due to the way they handle such nonsense and intensify the scorn of the remaining collectors with a series of highly suspicious bump-ups such as what came out of this 2012 thread:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=155402

BSF without question was the biggest hobby story in quite some time.

For me personally, though, the biggest story was the announcement that the Drier Collection was to be sold. I can't wait to see what's offered next! I've heard about their collection, but never really knew what they had.

Definitely BSF...great story/outcome for the family...great exposure for the hobby...game changer for how this set will/can be collected forever and ever!

My vote is for the black mud puddle find. Got much less publicity than Black Swamp. 22 pristine cases of 1987 Topps Baseball:)

Gee and I was gonna vote for "Bocabirdman joins Net 54":D

Phil Garry changes collecting focus to the T206 set. Only 523 more to go, Zach Wheat was my first pick-up.

I'll put in a plug for the Michigan Farmhouse find of a rare N302 Mayo Football John Dunlop card.

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...-be-auctioned/

jeff

+1. Everyone in the "know" already "knew" about the Wagner.

Best,

Larry

Worth mention would be the HOF induction of Deacon White, Hank O'Day, and Jacob Ruppert. The induction of Deacon White was long overdue and drastically impacts the way some of us will be able to collect.

http://baseballhall.org/news/press-r...-hall-fame-pre

Here's a "Top 11 List" of some of the best vintage card and memorabilia finds of the year:
http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...finds-of-2012/

1. BSF
2. Discovery of Shaded Back versions of certain E90-1 cards

Strictly because of my collecting interests I have to say the Southen Fairway Find with the 2 T210 JJs and all the other Tobacco cards found.

Black Swamp Find- I think it was responsible for quite a few more cards coming out of closets and attics too.

Black Swamp Find and the printer.

I'd have to agree Leon, it led to the Southern Fairway find that Jason mentioned coming to auction which included my top pickup for the year. Makes you really wonder what's still out there.

Black Swamp. Besides the amazing cards found, the story of so many relatives working together, despite the money involved - amazing. Families normally fight over such stuff.

Thanks again Leon for booking Peter Calderon to speak about the find at the Net54 dinner this year. I still can't believe that the Wagner 10 and 8.5 got mixed up. That's when you know you have a find that's too big to comprehend.