What Is Your Favorite Card In Your Collection?

[Leon]

Not because it's my most valuable, as it probably is, but because when I first saw it in auction it mesmerized me. I kept looking for a problem with it and couldn't find one. It's almost perfect (to me). So this is probably my fave, but it's also like asking which is your favorite dog . (I currently have 8 and they are all my favorite). One is at my feet, under my desk right now, chewing a full elk antler bone. Yummy.

My first card in my current collection and one of very few higher grade ones I have. Now it's broken the "500x shown" barrier too!! But, I like the subject of the thread so full speed ahead.

[Casey2296]

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That's like asking who your favorite kid is, I probably have 6-10 that are interchangeable as my favorite at anytime. Here's one of them.
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[mrreality68]

Not many for me to chose from as I have 1 of the smaller collections.
This is my favorite

[Exhibitman]

Cousin Ray:



Eliminating his cards from consideration, I got this card when I was a boy at a show in Anaheim. Slabbed it many years later. My first T206 and will stay with me until they pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

[x2drich2000]

Like others, mine can change pretty often, but everytime I look at this one I'm just in awe by the clarity and detail.

[molenick]

Like most of us, this can change on any given day, but I feel like if I had to sell my collection and keep one card, this would be the one (without regard to cost).

[brianp-beme]

One of my first five prewar cards that I purchased, and of the 5 it is the one that really captured my attention (wow...a great looking old card of an all-time great hall of famer...how is that even possible for a kid like me!). Always at the top of my list, and this would be the one card I would cling onto if I had to part ways with all my other cards.

Unlike Adam though, I would make sure that I would not be clutching onto it during those final moments, as it will remain unslabbed, and rigor mortis might do a number on it.

Brian

[commishbob]

I sold my Matty Black Cap after holding and cherishing it for maybe 30 years. That card was always my unquestioned favorite since it was my first prewar card (and a beauty as well).

Now I look at my Bender collection when this type of question comes up. I could pick any of my Charles Bender cards but I think this T205 Gold Border one has always been my favorite.

[CardPadre]

I really like well-worn Ruths perfectly fine, but this would have to be my favorite/keeper as I never expected to be able to grab one that presented this nicely.

[Kidnapped18]

Hall of Famer (‘39) played my favorite position for one of my favorite franchises!

[raulus]

Today I’m going with the dice game. At a minimum, I feel pretty confident that it hasn’t been sullied by a card doctor’s filthy hands. That and there are so few of them that it grants me entrance into a rather small club.

[milkit1]

With the raising value of the m116 Brown my fave is my blank backed mint condition proof
brown fronts.jpg

brown backs.jpg

[3-2-count]

Great cards everyone! All fantastic examples!

Mine would probably be this guy -

[jingram058]

I only collect cards that I love and truly want to have and keep. If I had to pick just one, right now it would be Lou Gehrig, 1933 Goudey, card #160. This has to be one of the most beautiful cards ever. Tomorrow it might be Billy Sunday, n172 OJ. Or perhaps Ty Cobb or Christy Mathewson, t205. Or perhaps Mickey Mantle, 1960 Topps card #350. That, my friends, is the best looking card of all the Mickey Mantle cards. The more I look the more I love them all.

[Al C.risafulli]

In my neighborhood when I was a kid, we were all crazy about the 1981 Fleer set, because of all the errors. Before the internet, we would have to discover errors and variations ourselves, or wait for the card magazines to come out each month.

Graig Nettles was my favorite player when I was a kid, and when I read about the error card, I was dying to get one. But they were selling for all kinds of money, and I certainly couldn't afford it.

My father left when I was 9, and my mother worked three jobs to take care of my sister and I. For my birthday that year, she bought me the 1981 Fleer "C" Nettles error. She got it at the local card shop, and paid $17 for it. In 1981 in my house, $17 might as well have been $17,000.

I still have it, it's my favorite card. They say you can't take it with you, but I'm taking that one with me.

-Al

[MVSNYC]

Great thread.

Hard to pick just one...I have many T206 rare backs that I love...If I had to pick one, today, would probably be this ultra rare Brown Old Mill that I recently acquired from Ryan H...

[Fred]

I have two favorite cards. My brother knew I was collecting and picked up a T206 Matty and N162 Dunlap as a Christmas present for me. I wish I could remember the year, probably 1983 or 1984.

I wish they were raw, but I had them graded a while back. In any case, I have them in the collection and they are my favorite cards.

Lot's of distant seconds and thirds.

[Howe’s Hunter]

... although not the most rare or valuable. Thanks to a good friend who saw to it that it made it in to my collection.

[Cmvorce]

I wrote a lengthy post on this page earlier about why this card is so important to me, so I won’t bore you all with that backstory again, but this will always be my favorite, even if I land a Cracker Jack Joe Jackson or 52 Mantle some day.

[kkkkandp]

I love these two cards. Less about the value; more about the fact that I got to know their nephew and had him for a friend for 20 years before he passed away.

Leon - that card of yours is special!

[sb1]

One of several favorites that change daily...

[JeremyW]

This is the card that got me back to collecting. I've had it since the mid-eighties & submitted it to PSA many years ago. Without it, I might not have started my obsession. Thus, my favorite.

[Luke]

My mom bought these for me at our local card shop in 1994 when I was 12. They are the reason I eventually started collecting the set 16 years later. Have to post them both.

[todeen]

My favorite cards are childhood desires and not prewar. The 91 DS Griffey card I found in the wild and I was in a state of awe. I have been told that it is authentic by other collectors; I just need to get around to sending it to PSA. The card on the left is Tiffany, and the middle card is the one I pulled at 5 years old.

For Prewar, it would easily be my Gehrig Wheaties. That was the first card I ever won from an auction house. I couldn't believe I owned one when it arrived! It has turned me into a Wheaties fanatic. I have thought about becoming a die hard Wheaties buyer for a year: between 1930s box cutouts, 1950s cards, advertisements, newer boxes, I could go on quite a run.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by Luke

My mom bought these for me at our local card shop in 1994 when I was 12. They are the reason I eventually started collecting the set 16 years later. Have to post them both.

Those are great! Love the Tris Speaker! I have a couple mom purchases that are in my stack of never sell cards. She bought me a Duke Snider and Sandy Koufax 1961 Topps. That's when I discovered she was a Dodgers fan!

[Shankweather]

[drumback]

Tough call. Today I like this one.

[Swadewade51]

If I could show childhood me this card, it'd blow his mind. That's how I want to collect and this was one of the first cards that made me proud of my collection. DSC03408.jpg

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[atx840]

Tough one, today its this one

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

In my neighborhood when I was a kid, we were all crazy about the 1981 Fleer set, because of all the errors. Before the internet, we would have to discover errors and variations ourselves, or wait for the card magazines to come out each month.

Graig Nettles was my favorite player when I was a kid, and when I read about the error card, I was dying to get one. But they were selling for all kinds of money, and I certainly couldn't afford it.

My father left when I was 9, and my mother worked three jobs to take care of my sister and I. For my birthday that year, she bought me the 1981 Fleer "C" Nettles error. She got it at the local card shop, and paid $17 for it. In 1981 in my house, $17 might as well have been $17,000.

I still have it, it's my favorite card. They say you can't take it with you, but I'm taking that one with me.

-Al

Al, my heart sure goes out to you and your family. What a wretched family tragedy. It's something that must have affected you deeply. I am so sorry. You had a wonderful Mom, as I. Sacrificing to care for the family, and getting her son a badly wanted card for a birthday present----priceless. I am so glad you're part of the Net54baseball.com family. Thanks for sharing your personal story. --- Brian Powell

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by sb1

One of several favorites that change daily...

sb1----I well remember reading the wonderful story of when Frank Nagy happened upon the opportunity to get the full sheet of T204 Ramly's. That story was one of the best hobby finds. I feel rather certain one of Frank's favorites out of that sheet would have been this Walter Johnson. What a magnificent gem, sir. I am so happy for you.

[DHogan]

I like this one because it just makes me smile.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Al, my heart sure goes out to you and your family. What a wretched family tragedy. It's something that must have affected you deeply. I am so sorry. You had a wonderful Mom, as I. Sacrificing to care for the family, and getting her son a badly wanted card for a birthday present----priceless. I am so glad you're part of the Net54baseball.com family. Thanks for sharing your personal story. --- Brian Powell

+1

My favorite card in my collection is my t206 Wagner. But it goes without saying that would be anyone’s favorite. So instead, I post my t206 Plank. This card is gorgeous - one of the nicer Planks out there and the first really major card I bought. I got it from Brian Drent and Mile High. I saw it in a preview and started working on my wife for weeks ahead of time. I would text her daily pictures of Eddie Plank and wish her good morning or happy Thursday, love Eddie Plank. I printed pictures and left them around the house. I had my kids make a home-made version (pictures below). I was thrilled to win it auction night (my wife not so much), and remains one my favorite cards.

[BabyRuth]

I just love the rarity of the Lajoie

[Texxxx]

I do love my Red Crosses.

[calvindog]

Changes by the day:

[brunswickreeves]

Originally Posted by Swadewade51

If I could show childhood me this card, it'd blow his mind. That's how I want to collect and this was one of the first cards that made me proud of my collection. Attachment 594710

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

I was going to post my 53 Topps Jackie for exact same reason. This card was a dream as a kid and I finally purchased one at the urging of my wife to commemorate completing my grad program.

[MattyC]

Great cards, and I often agree with Jeff so it's no surprise I do again on this topic: I invariably find myself staring at one of these four.

[BioCRN]

Charlie Root is my favorite "historic" Cub and this is my favorite card of his (and my favorite card).

16 seasons with the Cubs...starting at age 27. He had a few nice seasons, a few bad seasons, and a whole bunch of average seasons finishing with a 3.55 era - 1.29 whip.

Through sheer brute force he managed his way into the team HOF and a number of team records without actually being great.

Games Played #1 - the only Cubs pitcher with more than 500 games played, and the only one with more than 600 (605)

Wins #1 - the only Cub with 200+ wins (201)

Innings Pitched #1 - one of two Cubs with more than 3000ip (3137.1 ip). Bill Hutchison has 3022.1 ip and 1786 of those innings came over a 3-season strech because baseball was crazy in the 1800s

Strikeouts #4, Games Started #3, Complete Games #7, Shutouts #10, Games Finished #7

He was an absolutely ordinary legend.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Great cards, and I often agree with Jeff so it's no surprise I do again on this topic: I invariably find myself staring at one of these four.

It's rare that I get horribly jealous when looking at other collectors' cards but these four are nuts. All four.

[bmattioli]

While stationed in Spain at Torrejon AB in 1986 while servicing in the USAF my father sent me this as a gift.

[Marckus99]

For today…

‘11 D311 Baum - scrapp, missing ink pass.

[mikecala98]

Not pre war but my absolute favorite.

[G1911]

My favorite pre-war baseball card and my favorite card(s). Livingston here was my first T card of any kind, bought my Dad for my 10th Christmas after a three years of collecting post-war vintage together. At the time a $10 card was a huge pickup for us. I couldn't put it down, I remember keeping it in its top-loader in my pocket for like an entire week. Almost a century old! Total common, but he and the other ones I first got with my dad will always be my favorites. I should build a back run of this card.

When I was 12, my Dad bought for another Christmas a lot of non-sports T cards that were like .20 a pop or something and he gambled I might like it. In them was 7 T220 Silver Border boxers. Dangerous, that quickly became my favorite set once I realized that unlike the gold border baseballs we could possibly afford to collect them on my tiny kid budget. What I didn't know at the time was that the checklists were wrong, and there were 2 cards that are still all but impossible to find. James J. Corbett has only 4-5 known copies today. Mike Donovan has 5 known copies in total today; but when I was 12 he was not even confirmed. I eventually marked him as the probable 25th card instead of Jack Goodman, which still has never provably surfaced, based on the artwork design that strongly suggests he belongs in the half of the set that comes in silver border flavor. Shockingly, it did appear in a random eBay listing. Unfortunately I was like 15 then and my budget was still basically nonexistent. I scrounged and bid every penny I could come up with at that time, but failed. It sold for somewhere between $100 and $200 off memory (an absolute steal, even then) but I had a $50 budget or so as a broke ass kid.

Years later, a WTB post shot in the dark here secured that same exact copy, the original discovery I had been sad about losing as a kid. That's the left Donovan in the photo. Then I discovered a proof panel of 8 (there are more proofs than there are production cards with this sheet discover) and bought that too, putting me in boxing card heaven and giving me my favorite piece. Then I was lucky enough to secure the Corbett sheet through the generosity of another collector who snagged it first, but then chose to let it go into my rebuild of the sheet when they didn't need to do that. And then I bought the PSA 1 Donovan, which I had tried to buy over a decade before when it was listed for a silly low BIN on eBay but someone else must have clicked it seconds first because I couldn't check out. It came with the 2.5 Donovan, 2 in a day! Also got the PSA 5 Corbett. Then the PSA 6 Corbett appeared and I won that too, in the same week I happened to land the first Corbett.

Anyways, I love these old cards and Donovan will always be my favorite, with Corbett in the #2 slot, just because they are the tough cards kid me salivated over in the set I latched onto as my favorite for some reason. Probably the shiny border. Nothing can beat a proof sheet of the Boxing T card version of Wagners and Planks for me, though there are many more valuable items out there.

[robw1959]

Probably this guy . . .

[Schwertfeger1007]

Best pitcher of the 19th Century, Love the Pin-Stripes, Very difficult N173.

@Ryan- Speaking of "Kid" I love the Plank phots of your kids. Too funny.

[Swadewade51]

Originally Posted by brunswickreeves

I was going to post my 53 Topps Jackie for exact same reason. This card was a dream as a kid and I finally purchased one at the urging of my wife to commemorate completing my grad program.

Congratulations on your 53 Jackie and your grad program as well!

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Brownie33]

Tough question! My favorites change from time to time, but as it stands today, this has to be my top.

[TheBig6]

This one right now.

[tedzan]

19th Century......




20th Century......


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TED Z

T206 Reference
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