Collecting "old school"

[trdcrdkid]

Most of my pre-WWII tobacco and caramel cards are in Card Saver II holders in three big boxes, with each box having room for two rows of those holders. This includes my non-sport N, T, E, and R cards, which used to significantly outnumber the sports cards, though now the numbers are much closer. The handful of graded cards that I've picked up since joining this forum are in a couple of stacks on the bookshelf where I keep the boxes. Some of my pre-war cards are in an album in 18-pocket pages, of which I've posted some pictures in this forum, and the same album contains most of my Goudey, Play Ball, and miscellaneous cards from that era in regular 9-pocket pages, followed by early Topps and Bowman cards in appropriately sized pages. The first album goes up through about half of my 1956 Topps, and the second album starts with the rest of the the 1956 Topps and goes from there chronologically up through 1972. The first page of this second album includes the biggest stars I had from 1956 Topps in 1982, when I put the album together, and these have not been touched since then:



I still remember where I got some of these: the Williams cost me $20 at the Will County Fair in about 1982; the Koufax came from a Saran-wrapped lot of 1956 Topps cards that I bought at one of my first card shows in Chicago in 1980; this Koufax was visible on the top of the pile, and there was another Koufax (which I later traded away) inside! I think it was a lot of 25 cards, and I can't have paid more than $20 or $30 for it.

Anyway, my 1967, 1969, 1970, and 1971 Topps near-sets are in plastic pages in binders. My 1968 Topps set is raw and naked in an 800-count box, except the stars are in Card Saver IIs, and the Seaver, Bench, and Ryan are in those thick clear screw-down holders. My 1974 and 1975 sets are similarly raw in 800-count boxes except for the stars, which are in holders, including some PSA holders. Miscellaneous other cards from the 1950s through 1970s are in penny sleeves in 800-count boxes, and pretty much anything from the 1980s on is raw in boxes.