[sirraffles]

Thank you for all the input and thanks, Leon, for starting the thread. A few of the things I've read have really astonished me!

As I'm prone to tell anyone that talks to me for more than five minutes, I think that I have the best job in the world. Every day feels like I am eleven years old again, waking up on a late June morning, grabbing my mitt and badgering the first kid walking by my door to play a little catch. I'm pretty sure that even if 0% of the people liked the cards I make, I would still make them. It is very addictive and satisfying to be building a body of modest work. I've made many great friends through this experience and hope, over time, to make more.

I would find it hard to believe that what I do detracts from the hobby in any way. If anything, I believe that it brings a little vibrancy, a little fresh air to our collecting. Just because I make an art card of Eddie Grant, for example, the value or importance of other collections are not threatened or degraded. This is not a zero sum game; when I make a new card it does not mean that other cards are somehow less desirable. That is my opinion, at least.

A question has occurred to me a few times over the past couple of years: if there was some fellow, like me, who had been making cards like this back in the 1940's, for example, what would modern collectors think of them? I tend to think that they would be valued, perhaps quite highly. Well, the only difference between me and that hypothetical 1940's creator is a few decades. While I may be able to artificially age my creations, I can't make them genuinely old. Nature, however, will eventually take care of even that.

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that I was genuinely astonished at some of the comments. What surprised me was the idea that some of my cards should be more mass produced! My impression for the last twenty-five years is that they make too much of everything! Indeed, my idea of making just four cards a year and very publicly auctioning them (while spacing them out, at that) was my attempt at finding a reliable antidote to the problem that people could count on. In any event, I can't imagine doing much in the way of increased production. Certainly, in fact, for any series that I've made thus far. I think that it would disappoint the winning bidders of the "originals".

Thanks again for all your considered opinions, Charles from Helmar Brewing