How we react to collectibles

[atx840]

Great post Steve.

I have yet to see a Wagner, Plank, Joe Jackson, Baltimore Ruth or really any other card that is not in my collection. This is a big part of why I am trekking down to the Nationals....just to see all that cardboard.

I am sure the moments leading up to seeing my first Wagner, as I walk towards the booth...will be somewhat exciting.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Leon's Young ghost and my first brown OM & Lenox. Cards just beyond my reach.

Oh and Large Ass.

[ctownboy]

It very well could be that the build up of anticipation to seeing the card overshadows the actual event. Or, in my case, I am not a HUGE T206 fan or collector like many on this board are.

I once knew an old time collector and rumor had it that he owned a T206 Wagner. Once I got to really know him (and he could trust me) he admitted that he owned one. In fact, he said his Father once owned two. They were from Pennsylvania and his Father was a huge baseball fan and a player (he told me his Dad once had a try out with the Yankees in the 1920's). Anyway, he said his Dad had somehow, along the way, picked up two T206 Wagner's.

After a couple of more years of going around looking for cards together, he took me inside his house one day, opened up his safe and pulled out the Wagner. It didn't seem trimmed but it did show wear and some creases.

His advice to me from the very beginning was to buy T206's. That was because many people collected them and if I ever had to sell my cards they would be the easiest to get rid of. I heard what he said but the commoness (if that is a word) really didn't do much for me.

I saw the Wagner and thought it looked like every other T206 I had ever seen. Translation, it didn't do much for me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn it down if he (or anybody else) were going to give me one but I don't know if I would go after one even if I had the money to buy it. The prestige of actually owning one would be cool but there are other cards that I would rather own.

David

[Blitzu]

Ok ok, I'm about to share a story that I haven't ever before. It was appx 1992, and I was reading a book that showed the T206 Wagner as the the holy grail of cards. Ill admit, I was a young lad then but very experienced in cards 1950 to the time. I had no clue about the cards prior to that but I knew honus was the big dawg.

So we stopped by an antique store not too far from a country club we use to sell cards at a weekly show. As we walked in there was a glass booth filled to the brim with various junk. Being young and eagle eyed I centered in on the most marvelous site I could of imagined. A mere corner of a t206 Wagner in it's glorious orange colored card that was staring right back at me under a barrage of rummage. I began to jump and proceeded to yank my fathers shirt sleeve with extreme angst. He caught on quite quickly, a foreign born man but quicker and smarter than most, he rarely lost an important moment. He calmly asked the elderly female behind the counter to pull out a few items out of the case but none if them were the Wagner.

I stood there in shock and horror and wondered how stupid he could be as I pulled harder and harder on his sleeves. He continued to point out other items I the case to view that were not the Wagner. I stood there in shock still not understanding what his malfunction was and felt like screaming out, "that one Dad, that one!!!" But it seemed he cared about everything except that. He then after what seemed like a hundred hours pointed out the "baseball card" for " my Kidd" so could look at it. So the old lady behind the counter grabbed it, and my heart began to beat a thousand times faster than before and I picked up the card and looked at the front and it looked good.

Now, keep in mind I've been collecting cards since could walk and my father and I had done 4 dozen shows so I was no amateur at that point and he trusted me. So I turned the card around and at my horror I caught the worst thing right away... The "reprint 1986" on the bottom border. I quickly told my dad false alarm, it's just a reprint, and he shrugged it off. I then, finally got what he was doing. As I was looking over that card he was schmoozing the lady behind the counter. He even anticipated the time it took me to analze the card he still left me enough time and trust to anaye it accurately. That right there says trust, if you know you're possibly looking at a million dollar card and you let your 15 y/o son judge the authenticity.

All that time I was wondering where my father was, yet, there he was was, right there infront of me, in his greatest glory, and I couldn't see it. Only till after it was done and did I get it and he still bought that reprint. The man was brilliant and he was 10 steps ahead of me the entire time. That beautiful Wagner still sits in my collection today and you know what... It is priceless. No amount of money will ever pry that reprint from my hands. It made my dad a hero that day and it will keep him that for eternity.

That's my story, I've never made it public before. I hoped you liked it.

[Ease]

Wonderful story Blitzu!

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by Blitzu

Ok ok, I'm about to share a story that I haven't ever before. It was appx 1992, and I was reading a book that showed the T206 Wagner as the the holy grail of cards. Ill admit, I was a young lad then but very experienced in cards 1950 to the time. I had no clue about the cards prior to that but I knew honus was the big dawg.

So we stopped by an antique store not too far from a country club we use to sell cards at a weekly show. As we walked in there was a glass booth filled to the brim with various junk. Being young and eagle eyed I centered in on the most marvelous site I could of imagined. A mere corner of a t206 Wagner in it's glorious orange colored card that was staring right back at me under a barrage of rummage. I began to jump and proceeded to yank my fathers shirt sleeve with extreme angst. He caught on quite quickly, a foreign born man but quicker and smarter than most, he rarely lost an important moment. He calmly asked the elderly female behind the counter to pull out a few items out of the case but none if them were the Wagner.

I stood there in shock and horror and wondered how stupid he could be as I pulled harder and harder on his sleeves. He continued to point out other items I the case to view that were not the Wagner. I stood there in shock still not understanding what his malfunction was and felt like screaming out, "that one Dad, that one!!!" But it seemed he cared about everything except that. He then after what seemed like a hundred hours pointed out the "baseball card" for " my Kidd" so could look at it. So the old lady behind the counter grabbed it, and my heart began to beat a thousand times faster than before and I picked up the card and looked at the front and it looked good.

Now, keep in mind I've been collecting cards since could walk and my father and I had done 4 dozen shows so I was no amateur at that point and he trusted me. So I turned the card around and at my horror I caught the worst thing right away... The "reprint 1986" on the bottom border. I quickly told my dad false alarm, it's just a reprint, and he shrugged it off. I then, finally got what he was doing. As I was looking over that card he was schmoozing the lady behind the counter. He even anticipated the time it took me to analze the card he still left me enough time and trust to anaye it accurately. That right there says trust, if you know you're possibly looking at a million dollar card and you let your 15 y/o son judge the authenticity.

All that time I was wondering where my father was, yet, there he was was, right there infront of me, in his greatest glory, and I couldn't see it. Only till after it was done and did I get it and he still bought that reprint. The man was brilliant and he was 10 steps ahead of me the entire time. That beautiful Wagner still sits in my collection today and you know what... It is priceless. No amount of money will ever pry that reprint from my hands. It made my dad a hero that day and it will keep him that for eternity.

That's my story, I've never made it public before. I hoped you liked it.

awesome story

[Orioles1954]

I've seen probably 5-6 Wagners over the decades and, while I think its neat, have never been shaken up over it.

[T206Collector]

My T206 Plank (Lionel Carter) was surprisingly easy to part with. Lost a huge amount of shine for me after I acquired it.

Some cards speak to you before you get them; sometimes after; and sometimes both. But it is always strange when a card that hypnotized you at one time becomes a glitterless relic in a drawer somewhere.

I just got a signed T206 Bridwell that he dated as well. Amazing card. Mystified by it when I look at it. Frankly, my signed pre-WWI card collection is intoxicating to me. Very hard for me to get that rush with the unsigned stuff anymore, but I keep hunting nonetheless.

Great thread!