THanks everyone.
Blitzus story is a really great one.
John touched on some of what makes things a bit less special, And he's got a good point.
The Wagner I saw was I think before internet. At least before internet for me. I'll have to figure out exactly which one it was one of these days.
I suppose I might as well hijack my own thread and put out a handful of the stuff that's left a lasting impression, in no particular order, and a few from the same time/place that I'm sure aren't there in that form anymore.
A few Old Judges at the HOF in 75. Just maybe 10-20 of them in a couple frames hung in of all places the stairwellleading to the modern baseball displays in the basement.
The whole set of uncut sheets of 75 topps in that modern section of the HOF.
And upstairs, the old display of balls from no hitters. Just in shallow homemade looking cases with pegboard backs. Each ball was on a dual pegboard hook like you'd hang a hammer on with a typed 3x5 taped underneath giving details. Seeing every no-hit game represented in maybe 12 feet of framing somehow massively outshone the oddly unimpressive display.
The 74 Hank Aaron specials showing all his Topps cards. They're probably responsible for me continuing to collect after The then usual 3 years or so.
The first Prewar cards I really recognized, mostly T206s. At the first card shop I ever saw. (Halls Nostalgia, if you're reading, Hi Guys!)
Many of the stamp collections displayed at both the Olympic stamp show in 1996 and the huge international show in 2006 in DC. The olympic one had some collections that had stuff like the envelopes and leters inviting a particular country to send athletes to the first modern Olympics.
The one in 2006, nearly every collection had multiple things that were just incredibly rare. Not necessarily expensive, but the sort of stuff that there's only one or two of. And that somehow survived despite being exactly the sort of stuff that gets thrown out, recycled or just lost because nobody realizes just what it is.
Steamtown when it was in Vermont. I mean till then, who knew something as big as a train could be collected?
Certain pieces of art seen in person. I'm not big on modern stuff or impressionists, but the first time seeing a Van Gogh for real was amazing. The same for Norman Rockwell, and realizing he got that sort of detail in a very short time.
Standing next to a real drag racing car from the 60's. I think a 65 Hemi car. Being able to feel it running throught he ground from 30+feet away
And knowing that it was actually only a couple parts away from being street legal
(The owner had taken it a couple miles from the dealership to get ice cream the year before but not the years I saw it.)
Steve B