Collecting Focus: Share Your Story

[robw1959]

For those among us whose collecting focus has shifted over the years, how and why has it shifted?

In my case, I recall glomming onto the Goudey Wide Pen and Fine Pen premiums that always came up in Frank Nagy's mail auctions. I told myself that those babies were sure to appreciate in value in the years to come because they were so cheap for being so old at the time. But I always found money to spend on one of Topps's first issues ever - the 1950 team cards. For some reason, I thought they were quite rare at the time, so I could justify spending $20 apiece on those, and wound up with a half-dozen or so at a time when I believe I could have had a Goudey Ruth or two for the same cost as all of those. I also had some "fun" cards that seemed to be priced just about right - regular Topps and Bowman issues of 1950s Hall of Famers. I had a bunch just because I liked them.

In time, it was those cards that I liked that grew in my collection, while those I owned strictly for their upside value dwindled away to nothing.

Aesthetics and value were and still are my two main reasons for collecting, but I have shifted my buying decisions toward buying only cards I personally enjoy having in my collection, reasoning that my own preferences are valid enough to solely drive my buying decisions. I think that formula has worked out pretty well for me.

How about yourself? Has your focus been similar, or have you taken a different route. I imagine some of us have been down a long and winding road on the way to where our collections stand today. Feel free to share your story and inspire us with your collecting passions.

[Leon]

My Focus has always been type cards. I tried a few sets but always come back to type collecting. Variety is the spice of life!
.

[BioCRN]

1800s-current graded Cubs. HOF, stars, notables. 1888 Allen and Ginter Cap Anson...check. 1991 Bowman Rick Wilkins...check. It's almost 250 cards and counting. The focus has expanded for the "notables" over the years and allowed me to make the collection more robust.

1950-2011 graded HOF, stars, notables. Everyone who's 1960+ is a RC. It used to be 2001 based on the Pujols/Ichiro hobby milestone. I expanded it to 2011 a few years ago because I wanted to bring things up to the Trout era.

Those are my main 2 collections. There are others, such as a Mark Grace ungraded collection in a binder and various oversized Cubs vintage/pre-war.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

1800s-current graded Cubs. HOF, stars, notables. 1888 Allen and Ginter Cap Anson...check. 1991 Bowman Rick Wilkins...check. It's almost 250 cards and counting. The focus has expanded for the "notables" over the years and allowed me to make the collection more robust.

1950-2011 graded HOF, stars, notables. Everyone who's 1960+ is a RC. It used to be 2001 based on the Pujols/Ichiro hobby milestone. I expanded it to 2011 a few years ago because I wanted to bring things up to the Trout era.

Those are my main 2 collections. There are others, such as a Mark Grace ungraded collection in a binder and various oversized Cubs vintage/pre-war.

Nice, my younger brother who got me into the hobby was a huge Mark Grace collector.

I started out collecting Wade Boggs cards and then quickly added error cards of any kind to my want list. Over the years I have collected pretty much everything card related. I still collect cards but it is pretty rare I find something I want. A hobby friend and fellow member got me into bats. I have a cool Eddie Mathews Spline bat and then I have around 40 different Wade Boggs bats. I have pretty much everything from a little kids T-Ball model to one of his 1/1 All-Star bats. They have become kinda like cards. Because I have so many different models it is very rare I run across one I don't already have.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by robw1959

For those among us whose collecting focus has shifted over the years, how and why has it shifted?

My collecting focus hasn't so much shifted over the years as expanded. Back in 1979 I set out to reacquire the cards and premium coins (Hockey, Baseball, CFL, Warship) I had during my childhood collecting years of 1959 to 1965. When I started to get close to completing those goals, I expanded my focus to those cards of which I was aware but didn't actively collect as a kid for financial or other reasons. For example, I collected the 1962 Shirriff Baseball coins as a kid:



But after after acquiring a set, I branched out into collecting all the metal Baseball coins including these 1963 Salada ones:



And now that I've acquired all the Canadian 1962 Post Baseball cards but the super tough short prints:



I've started to peck away at the American 1962 Post Baseball cards as well:



And of course I've stretched out in both directions beyond my collecting years as a kid (though more back in time) to basically any cards from about 1950 to 1972 that I think look neat, e.g. 1954 and 1955 Topps Baseball.

[OhioLawyerF5]

My collecting focus is most generally summed up as Cincinnati Reds. That said, I don't just collect everything Reds. I mostly have 4 parts to my collection: Modern, Vintage, Pre-War, and Larkin. I collect rookies and first bowman autos of present-day Reds players that I like. I try to limit it to one or two cards per player. I also collect full Topps player runs of all Reds HOFers (and a few non-HOF stars) from the golden era, through today. Which basically includes names like Rose, Robinson, Bench, Morgan, etc... I also got at least one autographed card featuring those players in a Reds uniform. My Barry Larkin PC mostly focuses on rare 90s inserts/parallels. That hunt keeps me busy pretty much indefinitely as some of those cards are not only very expensive, but only come up for sale once a decade or so. Then my pre-war Reds collection is focused on all HOFers who ever played for or managed the Reds in their career, no matter how short the duration. My goal is to get every card of those players in a Reds uniform. The fun in that is finding some obscure sets for players who only spent a few years (or even a few games) with the Reds. Most of my collecting time is spent chasing Larkin cards. I pick up the modern stuff whenever I decide I want something of that player, as it's generally easy to find whenever I look. So it takes mere minutes. The pre-war search I try to use my time at card shows for. I rarely search online for those cards.

[here2havefun]

Collected all throughout childhood, then got back into the hobby in late 2018.

Early 2019 I got hooked on Venezuelan Topps issues, that's been a core of my PC since then.

I have other PC segments, but the Venezuelan Topps have been the cards that have brought me the most joy.

Biggest pickup of this year:

[bcbgcbrcb]

The first things that I remember collecting were Disney ceramic miniature statues when I was about 5 years old. We lived in Miami at the time and made an annual drive to the Magic Kingdom. When I was about 7, I started to visit the newsstands every month buying the latest Marvel & DC comic books. By 9, I became hooked on sports cards, beginning in 1977 and within a year, I was collecting not only baseball but football, basketball and hockey, buying packs at the local candy store. During the late 70’s and early 80’s, I put the complete sets together each year. By the mid 80’s, I was big into the rookie card craze, which is something that would stick with me as my collection began to grow, eventually morphing into collecting autographs during the 90’s, primarily obtained at minor league games and spring training each year. By the early 2000’s, grading was becoming a big thing and I got into BGS 10 Pristine rookie cards of guys like Bonds, Griffey, Sosa, Kobe, etc. Prices for these were starting to reach 4 figures and one day, while scouring eBay, I noticed a 59 Topps Bob Gibson rookie card for $40. I thought, why spend thousands on these modern cards when the player could have a career ending injury at any time when I can buy a HOF legend for pennys on the dollar. Thus, my transformation to vintage card collector began in 2004.

For the next 10 years, I set out to collect a rookie card of every member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, or as close to a rookie card as I could afford. By 2014, I had something for every one of the 310 individuals and decided to move on to a new challenge so I sold everything I had at auction and put all of those funds into Negro League baseball memorabilia. I did that until 2021 when, once again, I pivoted and started primarily collecting iconic cards from all 4 sports, which is pretty much what I am still doing today, with an increased emphasis on obscure stuff.

[BuzzD]

For the past 40 yrs or so I have tried to collect everyone who has played for the Yankees, and particularly in a Yankee uniform. If no BB card exists, I search for original photos in a Yankee uni, and in absence of either a card or photo, I collect autographs, non-NYY cards and non-NYY original photos. I will use original pages from guides, original team photos, etc as well. A particular subset is players with only a single game as a Yankee. My latest purchase is a 1926 photo of George Kiddo Davis, who after graduating from NYU had one game. It is a wide-ranging collection including many really scarce images, type cards, an even 1 lantern slide of Boardwalk Brown, a 1915 Yankee who only appeared in a 1915 team photo otherwise. The hunt is not confined to vintage items. For example, I cannot find an original image of Rick Honeycutt in a Yankee uni. There are other post WW2 recent examples as well. Send PM if anyone wants a link to my Flickr page to get a better feel for this effort.

[Zach Wheat]

Started out collecting the early '52 Topps set and then branched into early T cards (T200, 201, 205 & 206). Probably should have listened when someone warned me about my goals.....along the way learned a lot from some great guys

[Rhotchkiss]

Since getting back into cards in about 2015, my focus has been on investment and I have generally targeted blue chip players and sets from 1903-1927, but mostly 1903-1911.

For a while, I got heavily into back runs and advertising backs in general, and I assembled as much as I could of T206 Chance Portrait, Evers Yellow Sky, Tinker Bat off, E92 Wagner Batting, Wagner Throwing, and Cobb on Bat, and M101-4/5 Thorpe. I put together a master T206 back set, including Cobb back/T213/T214/T215, and I started hoarding T206 Brown Old Mills and T206 Brown Lenox. I also wanted to own sets and I assembled a complete 524-card T206 set, a complete E107 set, a complete 1914 CJ set, a virtually complete T3 set, and then had some smaller team sets, like E104-2, 1906 Lincoln Publishing, etc. I am done with all that now.

Over the past year I have sold the vast majority of my cards, by bulk, but retained the majority of value. Now, I generally only want super-special museum cards. I feel like I have been to the mountain top and now just want a few, key souvenirs from that journey.

There are some things I do regret selling, such as my 1914 CJ Set, my T206 multistrike Cy Young Ghost (but that now lives in a great home), and my 1901 Pittsburgh cabinet with Wagner's first image in a Pitt uniform. But generally, I do not regret trimming down the fat.

I still look at all auctions and get excited about all the Cobbs, Wagners, Ruths, Jacksons, etc. but right now I am putting money into real estate and more usable assets instead of cardboard. That said, I am an addict who has collected on and off my entire life. I expect its only a matter of time before I jump back headfirst into T, E, and D cards, W600s, Rose Co PCs, etc etc etc.

Cool topic, thanks for starting the thread

[fkm_bky]

Always had a focus on collecting all the T206 HOF Portraits...then moved to Herzog Boston sub-set with all the backs. Finished the HOF Portraits (minus real Plank/Wags) in July 2023 and really haven't done any further investing (both due to financials and trying to come up with a new focus). Got to the point with Herzog where the only backs left to attain will take a lot of time and money.

In the interim, I still love following the industry and living vicariously through your investments

Maybe once the kids are out of college I'll get more into things...for now, I don't plan on parting with any of them and look forward to the next adventure.

Great thread!

Bill

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Since getting back into cards in about 2015, my focus has been on investment and I have generally targeted blue chip players and sets from 1903-1927, but mostly 1903-1911.

For a while, I got heavily into back runs and advertising backs in general, and I assembled as much as I could of T206 Chance Portrait, Evers Yellow Sky, Tinker Bat off, E92 Wagner Batting, Wagner Throwing, and Cobb on Bat, and M101-4/5 Thorpe. I put together a master T206 back set, including Cobb back/T213/T214/T215, and I started hoarding T206 Brown Old Mills and T206 Brown Lenox. I also wanted to own sets and I assembled a complete 524-card T206 set, a complete E107 set, a complete 1914 CJ set, a virtually complete T3 set, and then had some smaller team sets, like E104-2, 1906 Lincoln Publishing, etc. I am done with all that now.

Over the past year I have sold the vast majority of my cards, by bulk, but retained the majority of value. Now, I generally only want super-special museum cards. I feel like I have been to the mountain top and now just want a few, key souvenirs from that journey.

There are some things I do regret selling, such as my 1914 CJ Set, my T206 multistrike Cy Young Ghost (but that now lives in a great home), and my 1901 Pittsburgh cabinet with Wagner's first image in a Pitt uniform. But generally, I do not regret trimming down the fat.

I still look at all auctions and get excited about all the Cobbs, Wagners, Ruths, Jacksons, etc. but right now I am putting money into real estate and more usable assets instead of cardboard. That said, I am an addict who has collected on and off my entire life. I expect its only a matter of time before I jump back headfirst into T, E, and D cards, W600s, Rose Co PCs, etc etc etc.

Cool topic, thanks for starting the thread

We can all go home now.

[The Detroit Collector]

Anything Detroit Tigers 1880-1935.
Postcards, cards, photos, supplements etc.

[WillowGrove]

Originally Posted by BuzzD

For the past 40 yrs or so I have tried to collect everyone who has played for the Yankees, and particularly in a Yankee uniform. If no BB card exists, I search for original photos in a Yankee uni, and in absence of either a card or photo, I collect autographs, non-NYY cards and non-NYY original photos. I will use original pages from guides, original team photos, etc as well. A particular subset is players with only a single game as a Yankee. My latest purchase is a 1926 photo of George Kiddo Davis, who after graduating from NYU had one game. It is a wide-ranging collection including many really scarce images, type cards, an even 1 lantern slide of Boardwalk Brown, a 1915 Yankee who only appeared in a 1915 team photo otherwise. The hunt is not confined to vintage items. For example, I cannot find an original image of Rick Honeycutt in a Yankee uni. There are other post WW2 recent examples as well. Send PM if anyone wants a link to my Flickr page to get a better feel for this effort.

Buzz I found this photo in a NYC Newspaper so one does exist!

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Leon

My Focus has always been type cards. I tried a few sets but always come back to type collecting. Variety is the spice of life!
.

I'm the polar opposite Tried type collecting, but the thrill of accomplishing a goal and completing a project always lures me back!

[Bpm0014]

I collect everything and anything T206 related. After I put together a 521 card complete set I didn’t know where to go from there. So I then started collecting everything and anything related to the T206 set (with a focus on their game used bats). I’m up to roughly 40 game used bats. I’ve also acquired a Hal Chase game used mitt, a Pat Moran game used mitt, a bunch of type 1 photographs, and a couple single signed baseballs. Side note: All funded 100% through poker and sports betting winnings.

[HercDriver]

I started collecting, buying my first packs as a seven year old, in 1974. It's still my favorite Topps set, like getting that first kiss from your girlfriend, I guess. As the years went on, I worked my way back, and completed most of the Topps sets, but just couldn't get myself to pull the trigger on the Mantle and Mays cards, because, as a Cubs guy, I just couldn't give two shits about either one of them. I went to my first big show in Chicago, around 1981 or so. I don't think it was the national, but maybe it was...maybe my year is wrong, whatever. Anyway, I was wandering the aisles, looking for Cubs, and a dealer had a T205 Chance, with mouse bites on a corner or two. I had never considered a card that old, but was immediately intrigued. He said he'd throw in a few more commons, so I went all in, with my limited budget. That started me on my T205 quest, which was completed about 15 years later. Along the way, I started looking for T202s, just as beautiful, and pretty cheap. I never finished those, but still have them, and might go back to them. The T205s have always been my love, so I decided to go for a complete back set. I chose Sovereign, so I could get all the Cubs, and there was no Cobb. I knocked that out a few years ago, and decided to go with the T206 Sovereign backs, just to complete my smoke 'em, if you got 'em set. I'm still working on those, and unfortunately, four Cobbs. So that's where I am now. I also collect a few hockey sets, being an aged skater myself. I'm not in a big enough social group to play softball anymore, like I was forever in the military, but I still have plenty of options to lace them up and play hockey, so I really like those old hockey sets. You've probably seen my auctions on the BST. I'm a long time member of OBC, so I'm always checking lists for those guys. When I pull the binders out, I put the extras on the BST. Anyway, that's my story, in a nutshell, I suppose. I really wish there were more traders here, but I guess PP back and forth is trading, in it's own way...

Cheers,
Geno

[Jstottlemire1]

I've collected Ruth and Cobb mainly with a sprinkle of iconic rookie cards over the years. When I got sick I sold alot of my collection to fund medical expenses and have since taken on the task, a tough one at that of building Jackie Robinson Bond Bread set in PSA. Also I've built his basic set in a high eye appeal mid grade run that I slowly work to upgrade. The Bond Cards are the highest of priority though and all in nice crease free condition so far. The population and availability on a few however may lead to adding a few examples of what comes to the market. This will take a lot of time and patience I expect 6-8 years perhaps.

[tonyo]

I wanted to keep this brief because I tend to feel the need to include all the details when writing, but in hindsight I wasn’t successful. When I realized this was going to be long, I told myself “I’ll just make this a chapter in my memoirs 😊” and kept going. Anyway, if you read all this, thanks and God Bless You!

My collecting focus has shifted two or three times in my life (maybe more depending on the definition).

My interest started in 2nd grade with the 1972 topps baseball set. Loved 'em apparently because I wanted cards from baseball, basketball and football as often as someone would buy them for me at that age. Birthday, Christmas, Easter Basket, trips to the store with mom or grand dad. Always wanted cards, not candy or toys. I played with them, sorted them in any way imaginable, read the backs, devoured the stats, traded with my friends, everything short of sticking them in my spokes. All my cards in those years came from "the dime store" (as my grand dad used to call those Woolworth type stores). I morphed into spending my allowance and chore money on cards as I got a little older. Rode my bike to the corner stores for cards, traded more to pick up a few "old cards" from my friends older brothers, you know the drill. I bought a couple of complete football sets from Renata Galasso in the late 70's but that just wasn't as fun for me.

Those trends continued thru college and early adult hood till my family started to grow in the mid 90's. One of the last card obsessions I had during that phase that lasted from 72 thru mid-90's was driving from store to store for packs of 94 pinnacle because I was hooked on those museum cards that came one per pack 😊

It tapered off after that, my oldest daughter was born in '96 and my attention was officially diverted..........

....till around 2009 or so. My kids were both in their 10's by then and I decided to pick up a couple of random packs at Target. The hamster wheel landed one day on a pack of upper deck goudey (like a heritage set mimicking 1933 goudey). I was fond of the style and was soon working on completing the set. Well, by that time the internet was in full swing so while searching for ways to fill the holes in my '09 ud goudey set I discovered that I could purchase real 33 goudeys and started with a 33 goudey Travis Jackson on eBay. Shortly after, I discovered net54 and caught the pre-war bug.

In the few years that followed, catching the bug and some disposable income had me sliding down the slippery slope. Collected a bunch of cards in fair/good/vg condition. t206 set of 520 (focus on backstamps and less common backs - no scarce backs), t205 set (no variations), 1933 goudey set (of course) (no Lajoie), t207 subset (gloves or bats), e-90 and brethren subset (clouds and sunset), an extensive hof pre-war type set.

When pre-war ideas slowed down I drifted into post war vintage and completed 1952 bowman and 1952 bowman football, 1973 topps, and finished 1972 topps (completing the cards I didn't have from those first days in real time 1972). Then a "completionist" thread on net 54 prompted me to try to complete an "all hofers playing days regular issue from topps and bowman post war thru 1980" subset. I got within a 52t Mathews, 63 Rose and 67 Seaver of finishing.

When post-war slowed down, I decided to round out my modern collection. Finished that 94 pinnacle museum collection, started a Barry Larkin type collection which grew to about 1400 different, started a couple of TTM auto sets, extended my "hofer playing days regular issue" set thru 89 and added donruss, fleer, upper deck, score, then thru '99 topps base and a select few of my favorite 90's sets.

Around 2016 or so, I had just about run out of ideas for affordable baseball sets and subsets while still keeping some resemblance of focus, so I did a small 70's and 80's topps NFL Hall of fame Rookie Card subset and was struggling to identify my next project.

Well in 2017 I had some life changes occur that caused me to consider selling my collection. I catalogued and scanned everything then solicited "buy everything offers" from 4 or 5 dealers. I still remember one dealer telling me "I think this is the most complete lower grade collection I have ever seen" That made me proud and a little verklempt as well!

Anyway, I couldn't bear to sell in one fell swoop, but I had really run out of reasonable card collecting ideas. I practically came to a collecting stop, let things simmer for about a year then in July 2018 decided to start selling my collection slowly piece by piece on my own. The first thing to go ironically was that 2009 UD Goudey set!

I've been selling consistently since then on net54 BST, eBay, and now Facebook groups. My goal is to eventually whittle everything down to a collection that is manageable enough to pass on to my kids or future grandkids and definable enough for them to know with reasonable certainty the value of the collection.

My model has been to start from the bottom, identifying those cards that spoke to me the least and would get me closer to the goal by selling them. It's been painstaking and mind numbing at times (I’ve been selling all the pre 1980 sets card by card and even sold the Barry Larkin set mostly card by card). It sometimes tries my patience to maintain a steady speed, but It’s been a good hobby for me. I do like the thought that by selling individual cards and very small lots they are mostly going to people who really want to add them to their collections. There have been plenty of times when a card sells and it's hard for me to "say goodbye" before sending it thru the mail

It’s been a lot more difficult every stage when the time comes to decide “Ok which cards are going next”. I still have a way to go before I come to a stopping point, and I’ve begun to wonder if I will ultimately just keep going and sell everything. That decision is still at least a couple of years away. 😊

I do believe that the process of thoroughly re-visiting all my cards to determine which cards to sell next and studying them briefly one last time before dropping them in the mail has been just as enjoyable as the process of collecting all those sets and subsets over the years!

Happy Collecting Everyone!

[LEHR]

I'm a 70's kid who got my first wax packs (1977/78 Star Wars 4th & 5th series) in 1979 from Woolco, and I've been a collector ever since. Over the decades my collecting focus has changed many times.

Below is a timeline (as I remember it):

• 1980's - Ripping all the packs I could get my hands on and also collecting 1940's-60's baseball HOF'ers anytime I could get someone to take me to the card shop about 15 miles away.

• 1990's - The first half of the decade I was ripping all the newest shiny cards and chasing refractors, etc.. In 1997 I discovered eBay/PSA and I was off to the races buying slabbed vintage; especially T-cards and 1950's baseball. I also started collecting unopened packs and boxes.

• 2000-2010 - I chased a lot of high grade PSA sets and at one time had over 1,000 PSA graded cards. I collected exclusively vintage football for a few years and then exclusively vintage hockey for a few years, and continued collecting vintage unopened material. I was also ripping a lot of vintage packs around 2000-2005 and submitting the best cards to PSA.

• 2011-15 - I was collecting pretty much anything pre-1970 that was PSA 8-10 grade and unopened material.

• 2016-2024 - Starting in early 2016 the need to own everything started to dwindle and I started to sell/downsize while upgrading my collection. I'd often sell 10-40 cards and roll that money into one higher-dollar/rare card. Since 2021 I don't think my collection has been more than 100 pieces at any time, and I like that.

• The future - Not sure where I'm going to go from here. I find myself selling more than I'm buying this year and have contemplated selling it all and moving those funds to an entirely new hobby. I'll always be a collector of something, just not sure it will be sports cards going forward. That seems strange to think about considering I've collected cardboard for 40+ years, but at the end of the day it's all just "stuff" and I feel like I've kinda lost the passion for sports collecting.

[yanks87]

I have always collected what I like, from the early days of buying older cards because they were just "better" to my grown up years, trying to chase specific cards that I longed for as a kid, no matter what the condition was. I would chase the players I liked, and go off on weird tangents. When my kids grew up and left, I found that I started collecting sets, but not the big ones, again the some what fringe sets. Then I met LEAF.

I initially tried to put the set together to pass down to my kids, as it was from the years that my parents and my wife's parents were born. As I started to dig into the set, I was drawn to the bright colors, and somewhat simple techniques used to print them. I came to this board and got a schooling from, TedZ, Steve Birmingham and others, and then I went full crazy and wrote a book on them. As I did the research, I tried to establish the concept of a late printing, bouncing ideas off the board in order to fill in the corners of the map. The whole time I found myself picking up more and more of the cards, not just the baseball, but the boxing, football, and pirates. Don't get me started on the premiums!

Serendipitously, Nathaniel Grow made a post that would validate my theories and prove without a doubt that the baseball set was launched in 1949. As the book hit the amazon (re:LEAF is the book title), I continued to buy Leaf cards, completing the boxing set, almost finishing the pirate set and now turning eyes onto the football set.

As I have gone through buying and selling LEAF cards, I have found myself grabbing other cards that are rooted in the LEAF set, so it has really become the North Star of my collection, and the tangents coming off of it, all have connections back to the cards, the research and the lore around this set of cards.

[brewing]

I've been all over the place in my collecting.
Collect every Topps set from 1969 to present,
acquire every post war HoF rookie card,
then every Topps card of all HoFers,
Accomplished all of these pursuits.
Complete the major release Tiger team sets up to 1980.

Then at some point about 10 years ago, I started to abandon all but my Tiger team set pursuit. Mostly because those other cards did not bring me joy.
Flipped that money into T-206's and completed 520 this year.

Now my only focus is collecting pre-war Tiger team sets and type cards of Tigers.

Since we are here for the cards. Here is a picture of a team set I'm working on. I acquired this card here and I'm down to 1 to complete the E121 Series of 80 Tiger team set. Veach arms folded.