Profile of a card dealer in 1960

[trdcrdkid]

In 1960, there were four main hobby publications for collectors of baseball cards and other types of cards: Card Collectors Bulletin, edited by Charles Bray; Sport Hobbyist, then edited by Laverne Isenberg, which was about all kinds of sports collecting but had a lot of stuff about cards; Card Comments; and The Card Collector. The latter two were monthlies published by two of the biggest card dealers in the country (Gordon Taylor, and Woody Gelman's The Card Collector's Company, respectively), and were mainly aimed at kids and teenagers, to judge by the letters and reader profiles they published. (CCB and Sport Hobbyist were bimonthly and aimed at older collectors.)

Card Comments, edited by Taylor, started out in July 1958 as a small 5.75" x 8.5" pamphlet, but it grew pretty quickly, and with the January 1960 issue it expanded to 8.5" x 11" pages. To celebrate the new size, Taylor wrote a front-page editorial about his business as a card dealer, and on the second page printed pictures of some of his staff (including the chief card sorter) and the office. It's pretty interesting (to me, at least) as a snapshot of one of the major card dealers at a time when the hobby was growing, but mainly through kids; it was still seen as an odd thing for an adult to collect cards, though a few hardy souls were advancing knowledge, and Jefferson Burdick was working full-time to paste his collection in albums at the Met.

[brianp-beme]

I wonder how many people have cards that at one point were handled by Hernan, chief card sorter, or Girl Friday Mary?

The photo interrupting the text on page one sure makes it a challenging read.
Thanks for the past blast.

Brian

[Leon]

They had over 2 million cards in stock. That is a lot of cards. And I wonder what the qualifications were to be a "Chief" card sorter? Did you have to be an "associate or junior" card sorter first?

[drmondobueno]

Originally Posted by Leon

They had over 2 million cards in stock. That is a lot of cards. And I wonder what the qualifications were to be a "Chief" card sorter? Did you have to be an "associate or junior" card sorter first?

He wears a tie. No t-shirts for the chief sorter!😉

[Leon]

Originally Posted by drmondobueno

He wears a tie. No t-shirts for the chief sorter!😉

I would be an associate forever.

[rjackson44]

leon where do you find these things great article