What is your most cherished piece, and why?

[kmac32]

My most cherished piece is a framed photo of my Great Great Uncle Elmer Miller which is matted and framed with his E120, V100. And E121 cards and also in the frame are cards showing the backs of the E120 and E121 cards. Would take a pick to display it but it is back in Illinois at my brother"s home. Very cool and very sharp.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by 67_Palmer

The most important thing in my collection would have to be this group of autographed index cards my father collected while selling hot dogs at Griffith Stadium when he was a teen.

He gave them to me when I was a young teen in the 80's and I unfortunately cut some of the better names to fit in holders. What can I say, I was a dumb kid. He also gave me a Senators team signed ball witch I promptly played with.

To this day I haven't been able to identify all the signatures. To me the highlights of the collection is the very early Mantle and the Hank Greenberg.

'67 Palmer, that's a great collection, and that your dad got them, and gave them to you, makes them all the better (and personal). I'm curious, have you thought about posting pictures of the signatures you have not identified here on the forum?

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Nice write-ups guys.

I find it interesting--and very heartening--that the stories here are all about emotional connections we've made through our collections to our families or our childhoods or to the game, and not about the value of the cards themselves. I have cards worth thousands of times what my beater 1952 Dropo is worth but that card means something to me. You can always tell a collector, too. The first thing I am asked by a collector is "What's your favorite card?" while the first thing a non-collector asks me is "what's your most valuable card?" Non-collectors don't understand that this thing of ours isn't about value, it is about emotions. That's why I shlep to places like Cleveland in August to hang out with a bunch of fellow idiots in an old tank factory. In cards, as long as it means something to you, no one can be a "better" collector; the blue collar guy with the well-loved collection of beaters is just as respected as a collector as the titan of industry with the well-loved minty fresh collection of 19th century HOFers.

Adam, what a great post!

Originally Posted by auggiedoggy

My most prized/cherished item is not a baseball item and is therefore outside the scope of this forum so I'll keep it brief. Its a PSA 5 1911 C55 Georges Vezina rookie card.

UPDATE: Scans added

Rob, thanks for adding the scan. I have to agree with John. I never thought to read about the story behind the Vezina Trophy. After seeing that beauty, I'm going to do some reading after I'm done responding to the other posts on this thread. I didn't even know there were hockey cards that old.

Originally Posted by midwaylandscaping

Mine isn't a baseball item either. It's an 83-84 Star Co. Clyde Drexler BGS 7.5. Way, way back in the day I once had an ungraded Star Drexler RC. For some ridiculous reason I don't even remember, I sold it. When I got back into card collecting again I made it a point to go after one of those cards first. But I wanted one in as close to the condition that my ungraded Drexler was. 7.5 is about as close as I could get

I did the same thing with two baseball cards my dad got for me as a kid (well, I traded them). An autographed 1972 Topps Hank Aaron "In Action", and a 1972 Topps "In Action" Roberto Clemente. I'd give anything to get them back. I'll replace them, but it just won't be the same.

Originally Posted by packs

My father bought me this card for my 14th birthday. It was raw when he got it and is the first 19th century card I ever owned. I would never part with it.

Packs, that's a beautiful card. I love the old Allen & Ginters.

Originally Posted by cwazzy

So many great stories!

This is by far my favorite card. I will NEVER sell it (not that it's worth that much anyway). Back in the early '90s my dad set up a card show in a small town near my home town. We had always dealt in modern cards so I had no experience whatsoever with vintage. One of the other dealers there had a table full of '50s and '60s cards. One card in particular was a 1953 Topps Roy Campanella. I couldn't stop staring at it. The thought that the card was older than my dad and the great, smiling portrait held me captive. At the time I had no idea who Roy Campanella was or even that he was a HOFer. That Christmas the card was in my stocking. Fast forward to the around 2008. I had continued collecting off and on but started to do more research on Campy and fell in love with his story. That started my vintage collection and obsession with all things Campy. I eventually graded the '53 Topps and it is my favorite piece in my collection.

I had the same kind of reaction the first time I saw the 1953 Bowman Color set, Chris. And the Roy Campanella is one of my favorite cards from it. There's something so magical about the cards from that era, wouldn't you agree?

That's a great Campy you have there!

Originally Posted by kmac32

My most cherished piece is a framed photo of my Great Great Uncle Elmer Miller which is matted and framed with his E120, V100. And E121 cards and also in the frame are cards showing the backs of the E120 and E121 cards. Would take a pick to display it but it is back in Illinois at my brother"s home. Very cool and very sharp.

Ken, if your brother can take a few pictures with a phone, or a digital camera, I'd love to see them (and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that). The E121 American Caramel set is one of my favorites from that era. The black and white photography is striking. There's real elegance in the simplicity found in the set. I don't like a lot of typography on the front of baseball cards. That's one of the reasons I like the T206 cards, the American Caramels, and the '53 Bowman sets so much. Little to no writing that would distract from the beauty of the cards themselves.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

'67 Palmer, that's a great collection, and that your dad got them, and gave them to you, makes them all the better (and personal). I'm curious, have you thought about posting pictures of the signatures you have not identified here on the forum?



Adam, what a great post!



Rob, thanks for adding the scan. I have to agree with John. I never thought to read about the story behind the Vezina Trophy. After seeing that beauty, I'm going to do some reading after I'm done responding to the other posts on this thread. I didn't even know there were hockey cards that old.



I did the same thing with two baseball cards my dad got for me as a kid (well, I traded them). An autographed 1972 Topps Hank Aaron "In Action", and a 1972 Topps "In Action" Roberto Clemente. I'd give anything to get them back. I'll replace them, but it just won't be the same.



Packs, that's a beautiful card. I love the old Allen & Ginters.



I had the same kind of reaction the first time I saw the 1953 Bowman Color set, Chris. And the Roy Campanella is one of my favorite cards from it. There's something so magical about the cards from that era, wouldn't you agree?

That's a great Campy you have there!



Ken, if your brother can take a few pictures with a phone, or a digital camera, I'd love to see them (and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that). The E121 American Caramel set is one of my favorites from that era. The black and white photography is striking. There's real elegance in the simplicity found in the set. I don't like a lot of typography on the front of baseball cards. That's one of the reasons I like the T206 cards, the American Caramels, and the '53 Bowman sets so much. Little to no writing that would distract from the beauty of the cards themselves.

Bill,

I will see if I can get my brother to do that for me.

Ken

[the 'stache]

That would be great, Ken. Thank you. They'd make great additions to our discussion.

[ramram]

I've shown this before but it will still always "Topp" my list. It's the Topps team photo of the Kansas City Kings. Several of my family members are sitting in the stands in the background to the right. My basketball team had the opportunity to play a game at Kemper arena before the NBA game and, between our game and the big boys game, they took a team picture. They also used this same photo for the team program.

I guess it's irony that my goal as a kid was to make it on a Topps card, which I never did, but my parents, grandparents and sister did!

Rob M

KC Kings Topps.jpg

KC Kings Program 2.jpg

[67_Palmer]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

'67 Palmer, that's a great collection, and that your dad got them, and gave them to you, makes them all the better (and personal). I'm curious, have you thought about posting pictures of the signatures you have not identified here on the forum?

Bill,

Thanks! I probably should scan them all and post them in the autograph section to get some help figuring out the ones I don't know.

I'm thinking about starting a project of looking for a card for each auto and building a blog to display them.

[bnorth]

My most cherished is a 1990 Score wrong back pair of Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens. For those that do not know what wrong backs are. 1 card has Wade Boggs on the front and Roger Clemens on the back and the other card has Roger Clemens on the front and Wade Boggs on the back. I got these 2 cards directly from a Score employee back in 1990 along with several other wrong back cards. In the last 23 years I have seen less than 10 Score wrong backs that where not mine first.
They are my most cherished because they are probably a real 1/1 error pair and they both happen to be my all-time favorite players.

[Cardboard Junkie]

There is nothing in my collection that I could apply the word "cherish" to. Dave.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by 67_Palmer

Bill,

Thanks! I probably should scan them all and post them in the autograph section to get some help figuring out the ones I don't know.

I'm thinking about starting a project of looking for a card for each auto and building a blog to display them.

Let me know if you do that. I don't check that part of the forum all that often (as all the autos I buy are certified), but if you post here that you've got them up, I'll take a look to see if I can help you.

Originally Posted by bnorth

My most cherished is a 1990 Score wrong back pair of Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens. For those that do not know what wrong backs are. 1 card has Wade Boggs on the front and Roger Clemens on the back and the other card has Roger Clemens on the front and Wade Boggs on the back. I got these 2 cards directly from a Score employee back in 1990 along with several other wrong back cards. In the last 23 years I have seen less than 10 Score wrong backs that where not mine first.
They are my most cherished because they are probably a real 1/1 error pair and they both happen to be my all-time favorite players.

Ben, post some pics! I'd like to see them. I like Wade Boggs quite a lot. Roger was a great pitcher, but I always pulled for Dwight Gooden more back then.

Originally Posted by Cardboard Junkie

There is nothing in my collection that I could apply the word "cherish" to. Dave.

Dave, I'm probably in the same boat you are. I don't have anything so special I could never part with it.

I'd say the closest I come right now is my 1971 Roberto Clemente. Clemente was one of my favorite players growing up (Robin Yount being the other). I was only a year and three months old when his plane crashed, but I learned about about him as a little boy, and read everything I could find about him growing up. The '71 Topps was printed the year I was born, and it's the first card of his I bought. So it's special to me.