When I was smitten with baseball card fever, trading was the only method available to obtain highly, sought-after gems other than buying new packs, which was problematic due to meagre allowances. There were no card stores, Ebay, AH's, card shows, internet or, God forbid, TPGers. We knew how to grade our own cards.
I still remember one boyhood trade: I held a real nice '52 Bowman Stan Musial, deemed by my neighborhood gang special as he was not included in the '51 Bowman set nor those beautiful new '52 Topps. Well, I was a die-hard Brooklyn Dodgers fan and was offered a handful of '52 Bowman Dodgers for my Musial, Including a gorgeous Campy. Well, our trade talks were similar to the S.A.L.T talks many decades later. We were deadlocked until he threw in a Billy Cox and Preacher Roe and the deal was done. It was painful and exciting at the same time.
Maybe what goes 'round does come around, especially given the cost of desirable cards. nowadays.
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