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Posted By: E, Daniel

Ok, so I understand completely the contempt most posters have shown for the practice of collecting/creating game used cards.........and I'm happy enough to out my enjoyment of them.
What's more, I ONLY like the rarer, older pieces for which there are likely many fewer survivors.
I won't try and justify it because honestly, if you don't get it the very first time you see one of these gorgeous pieces there is no convincing to be done. If it doesn't talk to you to have these 'slices' of history on your walls I can't conjur one for you.
I hear you all, and your explanations and distresses, but here's my take to explain my thinking:

There is a huge difference for me between articles of history that may be classified as art, or object d'art, including all and any such pieces that have been created to be enjoyed as such, or through their survival connected to history become art in themselves....... - AND, the tools used by the artisans to create these timeless images.
While historically interesting and visually arresting perhaps, for me the bat manufactured by H&B for the Babe to clobber one 400 ft was merely the instrument through which he painted that picture, and it was the image of the sailing spinning nature of the ball flying from home to the grandstands that was the art itself. The twisting of his hips, the arc his arms took, how far in front of the plate his bat was on contact, his timing, his ability to conquer to magnitude of the moment, all that and more is the art for me. The bat - its length, weight, pine tar coverage etc..., was a fairly small player in the overall snapshot for me
When it comes to then owning such an instrument, we are really talking THINGS here, often which held zero sentimentality to the artist themself as he/she saw himself as the true source and expression of the art. Not some stick replaced every 6 weeks or so to continue the 'painting'.
The only situation for me where this overall thinking fails is when only ONE example remains extant of said tool. At this point, an item like this can be truly considered art in the way an original painting is art and could be valued thus.

Me? If 100 paint brushes used by picasso are known to have survived, and a couple are broken up with a single horse hair used on a created card - I'd love to own one.
If one particular example of a Frank Lloyd designed home was demolished because the owner wanted to make that choice, and a small Lloyd patented/designed glass brick was available for sale and it pleased me - I'd buy one in a second.
Let me be truly heretical here. If Jesus really was a carpenter and his wood plane survived his parting, I would much rather a screw from it go to a diciple similarly interested in wood working than for the entire piece to be scooped up by some Pontius Pilate or King Herod and be the property of his amusement.

I know this thinking is odd, and to be truthful modern game used stuff like autos and jerseys worn once have absolutely no interest for me. They're common and to be honest quite cynically 'prepared' by a conspiracy between players and the card companies for the express purpose of squeezing money out of the pockets of collectors and into their grubby mitts. But where the surviving numbers of such memorabillia are sufficiently low as to make the item desirably scarce and historically significant, I can really fall for the right item.
And I refuse to feel ashamed of that enjoyment.