Does Everyone Understand Pre-War?

[Cozumeleno]

Originally Posted by ashes13

I never quite understood how long time and real"baseball card" collectors collect ONLY pre-war or ONLY post war cards. .

I think it's quite easy to do that, actually, and still be a 'real' collector. When I was a kid, I collected only cards from my time period. Nothing before 1986 really mattered much to me because 1. I couldn't afford it and 2. Couldn't identify with many of the players. Plus, none of my friends collected older stuff, either.

When I got a little older, I still collected newer stuff, but started collecting vintage, too. I started with 1948 Bowman and sort of worked my way backwards. A few years ago, I started collecting vintage exclusively. Now, I'm only collecting pre-war. Outside of doing some flipping, I have zero interest in collecting newer stuff at all - that includes even vintage post-war stuff like 1950s stuff. It's all fine, but I just don't have any personal interest in it anymore.

Tastes change - particularly as we get older. To me, you can be a very real card collector and only collect a certain niche while ignoring everything else.

I should add, too, that I think you were correct in your assessment of the pre-war/post-war sections - I think to some people, it's a matter of just wanting to keep those areas separate.