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Posted By: Dave

I think it is well known that Waynesville and the surrounding area are known as the antique capital of the Midwest. there are between 75-100 antique stores within walking distance of my house. Getting hooked up with the shop owners was fairly easy. My girlfriend and I took a few examples of cards to each shop that had sports or tobacco related items in them. She already knows many of the shop owners because she owns a store herself( The Trinket Maiden), and her family owns the town restaurant, and a lot of other small businesses around here. Anyway, I told these store owners what I would pay for any example in similar condition if it was real, and I also told them that I had just recently moved to town. that was back in October, and now I have two women that call me or my brother whenever they come across old baseball cards or memorabilia. I think we pretty much pay their rent every month...LOL. I save them the trouble of having to list the stuff on Ebay even though they might be able to make more money...they like cash in hand right now as opposed to a PAYPAL payment from an auction. It's nice to have other people doing the leg work for me to be honest...I don't have a lot of free weekends to hit estate sales and such like I used to. Just because I have bought a few dozen cards for under the going rate that everyone else pays doesn't make me that special.I hear about better finds than any of mine all the time from guys who have been collecting since the 60's around here. I am not a dealer or re-seller of cards either, so I tend to buy things and hold on to them for awhile.When I decide not to complete a set I'll sell all the cards I have accumulated then move on. I don't have a recent price guide to base value off of either ( last one I have is from 2002) so I go with what the grading companies say in their reports, what sells on Ebay, and private sales or info that I read on this board. I didn't know I was getting a good deal on Old Judge cards when I bought my first ones for under $100 each. Some people might call me a hoarder when it comes to Old judges...I literally buy every card I see ( if I have the money ...LOL) unless it is severely damaged. I don't like buying cards with holes in them unless I need them or really want them. I've been such a baseball history nut since I was a young kid, when I started buying the Old Judge cards it really brought the history to life for me.