[ErikV]

All,

I wanted to share a story that took place last night. While being part
of this board and card collecting community, it's easy to forget there
are casual collectors who don't know about all the nuances about our
hobby, but nonetheless still enjoy card collecting. Hopefully this story
will be refreshing to all and remind us that there are others out there
who appreciate card collecting much like us.

Back in July, our neighborhood had a Fourth of July block party. By
coincidence, the topic of baseball card collecting was brought up in a
conversation. My neighbor whose in his 70's told me he and his son
collected cards. We agreed to show each other's collection the next
time his son was in town. Last night my neighbor and his son came
over and I pulled out my collection to show them.

Being card collectors as well as baseball fans, they were familiar with names
Such as Ed Cicotte, Fred Merkle, Cheif Bender, and other dead all era players
as well as vintage sets such as T206 and American Caramels. For about an
hour we talked about cards, the players, grading and collecting in general.
After showing them my vintage cards, they were quite impressed with my
collection - even commenting that it was the best collection they ever saw.

Afterwards, the three of us went to my neighbors house and they pulled out
their cards. They has an assortment of football, basketball, hockey and
baseball card ranging from the '50s through the '70s. Their cards were neat
to look at also.

Personally I was pleased to show my cards to someone who appreciated my
collection as much as I do. While it's nice to show my cards to relatives or
friends, it's rare indeed to be able to show them to someone who has a deeper
appreciation of them as my neighbor and his son did.

Just kinda curious, has anyone ever had the chance to show your collection
to other collectors who may not be a vintage collector, but still appreciated
viewing older collections?

ErikV