2013, Year in Review

2013 was a very interesting year. Research occupied a substantial amount of time, for an exhibit on the history of black baseball in Washington state to be presented at the Northwest African American Museum beginning February 1 - September 2014: "Pitch Black". I provided info for the Jimmy Claxton, Roslyn and Franklin town teams (1890-1931) portions of the exhibit, with substantial assistance from board members (hello Marc & Dave). Here's the exhibit info:

http://015ada3.netsolhost.com/FutureExhibits.html

Hopefully 2014 will be more of the same. Need to frame most of the collection I have accumulated over the past few years for proper display. Probably will have very few pick-ups outside local history next year. Thanks to all, and Happy New Year!

[Paul S]

Near the end of 2013 I finally convinced myself that I could sell any part, or all of, my collection. It was really tough to come to that conclusion. Some circumstances, like money for instance, helped push me over. It's a double-edged sword. Sometimes I do miss certain items and other times it is really quite liberating!

[baker85]

i started to collect vintage cards in January 2013. one year later, I managed to collect 26 cards for the monster including 3 hof'ers.

Not sure where 2014 will take me but I am still searching for that red portrait cobb.

[skelly]

I think one thing that I will take away from 2013 is the dying show scene. Even just three - four years ago I would be excited to go to White Plains, the Philly Show, etc... Just don't have it anymore. I used to find stuff, maybe an off center Gordie Howe with a tack hole for 20 bucks, a stack of sharp 65's for $100 whatever. Now I just feel like the shows are the same people with the same stuff, etc... On a positive note, I feel that the Stratford Ct. Show is an excellent one day show that is well promoted. So hopefully I'm wrong, but It just seems that the larger show scene just gets more and more depressing. Maybe the solution is to try to make these bigger shows one day extravaganza's with cheaper tables for the dealers... who knows.

[baker85]

Originally Posted by skelly

I think one thing that I will take away from 2013 is the dying show scene. Even just three - four years ago I would be excited to go to White Plains, the Philly Show, etc... Just don't have it anymore. I used to find stuff, maybe an off center Gordie Howe with a tack hole for 20 bucks, a stack of sharp 65's for $100 whatever. Now I just feel like the shows are the same people with the same stuff, etc... On a positive note, I feel that the Stratford Ct. Show is an excellent one day show that is well promoted. So hopefully I'm wrong, but It just seems that the larger show scene just gets more and more depressing. Maybe the solution is to try to make these bigger shows one day extravaganza's with cheaper tables for the dealers... who knows.

I noticed that the prices at these shows were really at a premium.

[bcbgcbrcb]

At the start of 2013, if someone would have told me that more than 75% of my BB HOF RC collection would be sold before the end of the year, I would have told them that they were absolutely crazy. That is what has happened though as I have decided to shift gears and focus primarily on Negro League material. Much of this decision has to do with the amount of research that I did for my Negro League Baseball Collectibles Guide published in July of this year. I have held on to and also picked up a few other select items that relate more to my old HOF Rookies collection. Going forward, I plan on sticking with this idea for a while and see how it goes.

[tbob]

2013 was the year I jumped with both feet in to the T210 red border set, having just completed several sets in 2012. The T210 will likely be a life long project so I have something to do while I wait for the last handful of E94 color variation cards to appear, the last 4 D311s I need and the last group of Home Run Kisses to make an appearance, all seemingly in hiding...