Biggest changes in the past 5 years?

[coaster]

I've lurked on this site for a little while now, but never really had reason to post. However, this seems like an appropriate place to chime in. I've collected trading cards since I was a little kid, bits of everything from both the baseball and non-sports piles. By the late '90's though, I had gotten away from baseball cards just because there were so many sets, so many chase cards, and frankly, so much crap, it had lost its appeal to me (non-sports cards have done the same thing lately, but that's another story). It was sad really, because it was something my dad and I used to do together, and I feel like the industry sort of left us all behind.

A couple years ago though, I decided to get back into it, but had no idea where to start. I think what helped me is that my wife liked going through my old cards, and she has that same collector/hoarder mentality we all do (she collects old books). So after doing some research, I bought her an E91A Joe Tinker for her birthday, and she loved it. She's a diehard Cubs fan, so I figured a card that saw them last win the World Series (1908) seemed appropriate. Plus, as a White Sox fan myself, it was a fun way to twist the "lovable losers" knife. She's decided she now needs to have the other 10 Cubs players in the series, and it's been a fun little project picking them up. She's since started getting interested in some of the other old sets too, so if nothing else it's easier for me to justify buying them.

With regards to what some people have mentioned here, it's important to keep in mind why you like collecting. If you're scared of your collection losing value, then, sure, it's a scary time right now. While no one wants to see their cards lose value, I like to appreciate them for what they are, so if they all became worthless tomorrow, depressing as that would be, I don't think I'd appreciate them any less. And when you consider all the other expensive hobbies out there, having one where you can get back most of what you put into it is pretty unusual.

[usernamealreadytaken]

Did anybody mention that T206 Old Mills come in Blue now?

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by coaster

A couple years ago though, I decided to get back into it, but had no idea where to start. I think what helped me is that my wife liked going through my old cards, and she has that same collector/hoarder mentality we all do (she collects old books). So after doing some research, I bought her an E91A Joe Tinker for her birthday, and she loved it. She's a diehard Cubs fan, so I figured a card that saw them last win the World Series (1908) seemed appropriate. Plus, as a White Sox fan myself, it was a fun way to twist the "lovable losers" knife. She's decided she now needs to have the other 10 Cubs players in the series, and it's been a fun little project picking them up. She's since started getting interested in some of the other old sets too, so if nothing else it's easier for me to justify buying them.

NIce story - As I was reading it my wife chimed in that I need to share more for some odd reason?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by coaster

I've lurked on this site for a little while now, but never really had reason to post. However, this seems like an appropriate place to chime in. I've collected trading cards since I was a little kid, bits of everything from both the baseball and non-sports piles. By the late '90's though, I had gotten away from baseball cards just because there were so many sets, so many chase cards, and frankly, so much crap, it had lost its appeal to me (non-sports cards have done the same thing lately, but that's another story). It was sad really, because it was something my dad and I used to do together, and I feel like the industry sort of left us all behind.

A couple years ago though, I decided to get back into it, but had no idea where to start. I think what helped me is that my wife liked going through my old cards, and she has that same collector/hoarder mentality we all do (she collects old books). So after doing some research, I bought her an E91A Joe Tinker for her birthday, and she loved it. She's a diehard Cubs fan, so I figured a card that saw them last win the World Series (1908) seemed appropriate. Plus, as a White Sox fan myself, it was a fun way to twist the "lovable losers" knife. She's decided she now needs to have the other 10 Cubs players in the series, and it's been a fun little project picking them up. She's since started getting interested in some of the other old sets too, so if nothing else it's easier for me to justify buying them.

With regards to what some people have mentioned here, it's important to keep in mind why you like collecting. If you're scared of your collection losing value, then, sure, it's a scary time right now. While no one wants to see their cards lose value, I like to appreciate them for what they are, so if they all became worthless tomorrow, depressing as that would be, I don't think I'd appreciate them any less. And when you consider all the other expensive hobbies out there, having one where you can get back most of what you put into it is pretty unusual.

Welcome to the forum and glad to see you "coming out" Scott. Happy collecting..

[martindl]

Welcome back David. Did you collect other things while you were away?

I've been away a while myself. Got heavily into T3's and Supplements in the early-mid nineties and then drifted off to other endeavors. I check in here about once a week and spend an hour or two catching up versus the 10+ times a day I used to do.

I was always a cheap buyer so have no concerns finacially and I always collected to have an item and complete a set - a huge desire to satiate some thing I haven't yet quite figured out.

My T3's are still beautiful and the supplements outstanding. I still love my beat up T210's and my fantasic T227 set. Each card still gives me a buzz when I look at it.

[Touch'EmAll]

It seems that the 1920's Exhibit cards of major HOF'ers in decent shape are a good value right now, lots of upward headroom.

I recently sold a 1970 Nolan Ryan PSA 9 and a 1969 Hank Aaron SGC 96 - turned the proceeds into a 1926-29 Exhibit Lou Gehrig PSA 5 and a 1921 Walter Johnson PSA 5. Woo Hoo - make these kinda of swaps any day of the week.

[sesop]

Good for you for dumping that newfangled new stuff for some vintage cards. Of course, this raises another question, which is- what's the state of modern cards (by "modern," I'm referring to anything post WW2. From what I gather, the 50s are still popular although prices seem to have fallen a bit since I've been away. I know this isn't the right forum for this in particular, but figured it couldn't hurt to see if any of you vintage guys have insight on the modern and present-day issues. Does anyone collect baseball cards in 2012 from 2012? Is it fair to assume that if the average Joe who wants to get into vintage, tends to get into early T and E cards first and foremost, or does anyone make a bee line to, say, a 1957 Topps set or 1948 Bowman? Finally, what does all of this mean for the 100 Pete Incaviglia 1987 Topps rookie cards I have somewhere at my mother's house?

[coaster]

Originally Posted by sesop

Good for you for dumping that newfangled new stuff for some vintage cards. Of course, this raises another question, which is- what's the state of modern cards (by "modern," I'm referring to anything post WW2. From what I gather, the 50s are still popular although prices seem to have fallen a bit since I've been away. I know this isn't the right forum for this in particular, but figured it couldn't hurt to see if any of you vintage guys have insight on the modern and present-day issues. Does anyone collect baseball cards in 2012 from 2012? Is it fair to assume that if the average Joe who wants to get into vintage, tends to get into early T and E cards first and foremost, or does anyone make a bee line to, say, a 1957 Topps set or 1948 Bowman? Finally, what does all of this mean for the 100 Pete Incaviglia 1987 Topps rookie cards I have somewhere at my mother's house?

Thanks for the welcome, guys!

From what I've seen at shows, the '40s-'60s stuff seems to be doing quite well. I've seen more vendors of these the past couple years than I recall seeing 10 or 20 years ago, and they almost always have a lot of activity at their booths and a lot of money changing hands. What was nice was that there were a good number of younger (<25) collectors picking up these things.

My boss is a big collector of Tops, and always buys a number of new boxes upon release with his son. There's the usual assortment of artifact cards (bits of jerseys or slivers of bats) that are worth some money, and some of those can be kind of neat, especially if you get part of the name or number on the jersey. Other than that though, the only thing of interest I've seen lately is the Skip Shumaker rally squirrel card:


This was only in one series; the rest were normal Shumaker cards.

[Big Ben]

Originally Posted by 100backstroke

It seems that the 1920's Exhibit cards of major HOF'ers in decent shape are a good value right now, lots of upward headroom.

I recently sold a 1970 Nolan Ryan PSA 9 and a 1969 Hank Aaron SGC 96 - turned the proceeds into a 1926-29 Exhibit Lou Gehrig PSA 5 and a 1921 Walter Johnson PSA 5. Woo Hoo - make these kinda of swaps any day of the week.

I always love these type of swaps! I have been doing them for years. Although I have to admit that these type of swaps are fewer for me these days.