Just this summer I found a local brick and mortar shop in Roseville, Ca. Not really a shop, but more of a warehouse that sold all different types of cards savers on eBay. I needed those small t206 card savers to fit into one of those wood boxes that are being sold here on Net54. So I stopped by to check them out. They are mostly selling new packs, boxes, materials and other junk the sports card companies are pushing on them.
I took my teenage son and chatted with the owner for awhile about cards, the industry and how he was the only place in town. As we were leaving he gave my son an upper deck promotional hockey jersey to wear. Made my sons day. About a week later I dropped off 80,000 cards to this shop for $500. This was my collection that started in 1978 as a 9 year old. My wife was pleasantly surprised as she inherited lots of closet space and I really have not had any remorse. I thought about selling the cards and sets on eBay but with all the time, trips to the post office, cost of eBay/paypal, etc. I just decided to give this shop a huge inventory boost at a really low price. Within those cards were a run of topps complete sets from 1978-2010, near complete from 74, 76, and so many cards from fleer, upper deck and donruss, that I sorted for hours as a kid and as an adult.
My collection now consists of only three things and I am deciding if I should narrow it down to only one or two of them. I have a 1976 topps complete set that has over 300 of the cards signed, a low grade t206 partial set of about 150 cards, and finally a topps 40 years of baseball coffee table book that has over 650 autographs in it.
My 3 teenage boys have no interest in cards or autographs so I don't see handing it down to them. Also, to keep all 3 of the collections moving gets expensive. None of the autographed cards will hold their value, and the book will never return the amount I have paid in tickets to autograph shows, but the old t206's, that I believe is another story.
As soon as t206's take a major price drop, I will be there to gobble them up. I just don't see it. It is getting harder and harder to find low grade cards, such as Cobb, Young, and Mathewson at a reasonable price. Since I have started this set a year and a half ago, it seems like more people have joined this board with the same intentions.
Anyways, thanks for letting me ramble.
Stew
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