House on fire
 

You wake up in the middle of the night to a fire. The kids and pets are all heading out the door safely. You have time to grab one and only one piece from your collection. What do you grab?

Answer
 

The safe

I’d like to think I could pick my safe up and carry it down a flight of stairs but that ain’t happening. Maybe 20 years ago.

yes!!!!

Fire
 

This is a question I’ve had to deal with twice. The California wildfires have forced my family to evacuate with one fire coming within 1/2 a mile from the house. I took no cards with me. I looked at the piles of cards on my desk and realized that a lifetime of collecting would be lost. One card really wouldn’t make much difference as the collection would never be the same. The card to take would be my T 206 Mathewson.
Brett

Card = 1921 Exhibit Ty Cobb.

Or

Any item = Tris Speaker autographed photo

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Easy

This

That's why I keep the really good stuff in a safe deposit box...

One card to keep, regardless of location:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ler%20auto.jpg

Only signed card of my cousin I've ever seen.

Honorable Mention:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...utographed.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...20cabinet.jpeg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ng%20Fists.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...Sample%201.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...Sample%202.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...y%20boxers.jpg

Does filling a pillow case count? :)

My wife??

Tough call.

Cool stuff Adam. Love the Groucho auto card. Sweet.

What single card would you take was the posed question. This eliminates safes, fireproof boxes, card storage cases, etc. This is actually a difficult question. The knee jerk answer is my most valuable card - a T206 red portrait Cobb.

However, my father and I accumulated many vintage cards during the early 1990s at shows. These cards include complete Mantle, Mays, and Aaron runs from 1954 (excluding Aaron’s rookie) through 1960. Most are mid-grades.

Despite all these valuable cards, I probably would grab my 1964 Topps #9. The is a 4-player card depicting the 1963 NL home run leaders. It has Mays, Aaron, McCovey, and Cepeda on it. It is probably a $40.00 card. However, it’s sentimental value is worth more than my T206 Cobb.

It was the first vintage card that my dad gave me after our first show. While I was off chasing junk wax, he was making a deal for a 1954 Bowman Mantle and the dealer threw the card in as a bonus. My first vintage card.

My safe is on the main level and I would roll it out of the house.

Wrong - "one and only one piece" was the OP's posed question. With my best cards being in a safe deposit box, I would take this large, framed photo of the 1924 Washington Senators team, taken after they won the A.L. pennant and before they won the W.S., that came from the estate of Bennie Tate, one of Senators backup catchers.

This. Not only because of value, but also because I believe it to be a one-of-a-kind, important baseball artifact. Ain't getting lost on MY watch!

I live in a 4th floor walk up and have thought about how I'd have to throw my safe out the window and hope it didn't crack open when it hits the ground. Or at least hope I got to it first.

I have one of these as well which I originally bought just for a place to easily store my better cards but the thought was always in the back of my mind that this would also be my "go bag" if I had to leave the house quickly.

My logical inference was the one collection piece referred to a card. The reason is this thread appears on the main page. The main page is titled,“Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older)Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions.”

Nonetheless, even if I’m wrong, you still missed my point. The point was on one - not a safe, fireproof box, etc.

Decision
 

Open the window and yell "HEY KIDS GET BACK IN HERE AND HELP YOUR DAD CARRY OUT SOME BASEBALL CARDS" LOL

Cool box, Dan. Mind sharing where you found that? I could use something similar for my Jackie’s.

To answer the question directly it would be my 52 Mantle. But as others have mentioned I would grab as many as I could and hope for the best.

A couple years back my bank was actually in a fire evacuation zone so I brought my entire collection home just in case. The fire never really got close though and I returned them a couple days later.

If a box counts, I’d grab the case with my T206 cards.

If a single item, I’d grab my Mike Trout rookie just because it’d probably bring me the most cash if needed. Sorry, I know it’s not pre-war. :)

My 'Murder She Wrote: The Full Collection' DVD set.

It's an Apache 3800. I got mine from Harbor Freight, but you can order them on Amazon. They also have larger ones (4800) and smaller ones (2800?)

That's a cool choice. I didn't pick my two most sentimental cards, but that's because they are hard to get to, and I don't think I could grab them in a fire. My mother, a Dodgers fan, bought my first two vintage cards for me - 1961 Topps Koufax and Snider. I gave her my 8 year old puppy dog eyes, and she said yes. Koufax was at the Billings Fair, and the Snider was in West Yellowstone.

Same here. The best part is that they are relatively inexpensive and one can easily find a coupon for Harbor Freight to save even more money. I think mine cost just under 30 bucks with the coupon.

Hey Dan,

Did you have to modify the foam insert at all?

The 1955T Williams my dad bought me when I got out of the Marines. Just back from my last your in Afghanistan and hadn't once thought about cards in the prior 12 years. We went to a local card shop during his lunch and he just bought it. He never collected but it called out to him and he new Ted served in the Corps. The only card in my "keep" collection still slabbed.

"Inferences wasn't the question." Val is correct. It's baseball cards, who cares? :)

Since it's the only nice thing I kept from my first collection, I would maybe take this and run? Not sure...

https://luckeycards.com/horner1.jpg

Yeah. They come with insert and you customize it in whatever arrangement you want it. The insert is made up of foam squares that you break apart and remove

My Mike Trout 1/1 card. What are you guys thinking? Leave all the T206's, 33 Gowdy's, and my completed set of W514's that I spent 20 years completing with the help of Net54 members!:)

My wife had been pestering me for years to get a gun safe for my toys. Then one day my house caught on fire. I remember standing there with a garden hose trying to douse the flames thinking I was in for the mother of all "I told you sos". Thankfully the fire department saved my collection and my wife got a new kitchen. I got a new safe. If I had to grab one thing I suppose it would be this ring as it is pretty much representative of the genesis of my life long love of baseball .

I'd probably grab my HOF book. It's signed by every HOF'er I've met since 1988. Many of them have since passed, so it would be impossible to replace.

Thanks, Dan. Just ordered one off Harbor Freight.

Great story...wish the old man wasn't chasing junk wax. I was the one with the eye on vintage, he had the funds. I was lucky to pick up what I could in the 80s.

Question: who wants all these 1980s complete sets?


One card? Jeez, Cobb Red? Big Train ? Davy Jones near mint?

Cool pic...my uncle covered those Pirate teams from 66-86 for the Post Gazette...

Two in One
 

My two most recent returns from PSA which I soaked out of an album from the 1930s...

The WoJo T206 my two year old daughter spilled grape juice on in 1987.

Everything is locked up in a bank vault
But if I had to make a Very tough call. But I would go with my Rookie Joe Jackson waited for couple of years to get this from a net54 member. Love the eye appeal

1954 Topps #1 Ted Williams that I got autographed in person. Most everything else can be replaced.

Those of you with cards stored off site, do you ever fear the bank shutting down and you not being able to get to the cards?

He must have some amazing stories

I asked this same question a few years back to a long time sports card hoarder. His collection being in a older three story home, literally with only little paths through out the house to navigate. Cards being stacked up on the stair cases, etc. Even stacks of cards on the kitchen table one can see a Bill Russell RC.

I asked " What would you do in the event of a fire--His Reply " Jump in "

Now that's a serious collector!

He and Elroy Face were BFF's. Lots of stories that I am trying to verify. The ones my uncle told were mostly about covering both baseball and football NY Giants. Elroy had some scandalous stories that I think might have been "axe to grind" stories and not really worth repeating.

Obviously, it's a hard decision, but I'd have to rely on the 'fire-proof' description on my two safes and grab this (on the left) off the wall:

Attachment 426289

Good decision!

Without question, I'd grab my Kreindler painting of Fred Clarke.

Tough Call but prolly this '41 Joltin' Joe