I differ to beg
I agree that information about vintage cards, and tracking down specific cards was quite a bit more difficult back before the internet and ebay, but there were plenty of opportunities to purchase cards...Sports Collectors Digest was a once week treasure hunt I enjoyed much more than I do the daily ebay grind, and card shows could be extremely fruitful, as long as you had a wide range of collecting interest within vintage bb. I have a listing of 19th century cards for sale that Lew Lipset mailed out in the early 80's that would rival any top notch auction house offering today. And although I didn't subscribe (because I didn't know about it!) the Trader Speaks provided valuable input about vintage cards. But all these options just didn't come streaming into your house like they do now...you had to seek them out.
By the way my first Old Judge came from a SCD ad by Wayne Miller (if I remember correctly). It is a Good condition card with a nice bold photo of Ezra Sutton, and it cost me $12.00...so that Lew Lipset price guide was on target. It was the only 19th century card I owned until a couple of years ago.
Brian
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