Man I couldn't wait to get these back in the day...

brian1961 · #1 10-15-2016, 06:44 PM

So true about Sports Collectors Digest back in the day. You would get your issue, go to a place in your home without any distractions, then go through it---page by page. I would have scrap paper handy to use as bookmarks. After a fun, concentrated hour of studying the magazine, I would go back to the bookmarked pages, weighing which cards I wanted the most, then pick up the phone and call. You had to be QUICK about it, though, because hot vintage cards in prime condition sold FAST. Many was the time I would hear, "sorry, that's already sold".

By the late 80s, SCD hit on the idea of offering subscribers the option of having their issues delivered via first class mail. Whoa--was that ever expensive, several hundred bucks! I just could not pull the trigger on that enticing way to get the latest issue a day or two before anybody else, to get first dibs on a card I might want.

However, for the good stuff I began to want, it did not matter when I got my SCD. More and more, the best stuff had to be fought out over a phone auction. The best card in my collection was from an SCD phone auction---Mr. Mint in 1988----Chapter 13 in my book, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN!

The previous comment is a non--shameless plug for my own book. Look for chapter 8 RIGHT NOW on SPORTS COLLECTORS DAILY, concerning one of the toughest post-war regional sets of them all!

Thank you for a good thread topic. Anxiously waiting each week for SCD brings back a lot of fond memories.

---Brian Powell

Leon · #2 10-17-2016, 10:46 AM

I also remember getting super rare stuff at great prices, on ebay, when I first joined in 1999. I remember quite a few D359s, D304s and lots of scarce T series too. The difference today is that people know what they are

and prices aren't what they used to be on there. You can still find some nice surprises and that is probably what keeps a lot of people coming back.

runbrett · #3 10-19-2016, 10:25 PM

I used to take two buses for about 10 miles from the southwest side to get to the store. We went there a lot in the winter in the mid 1970s since we tended to have nothing to do on weekends.

They had so many cards along every inch of the wall. I remember that we asked for a 1963 Fleer Clemente and they pulled out a box that must have had at least 400 of them.

I spent lots of time buying damaged cards that were 25 cents. 1950s stars were always in there. If I went alone I usually spent my bus money so I'd walk/run home.

Gary Dunaier · #4 10-21-2016, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian1961

By the late 80s, SCD hit on the idea of offering subscribers the option of having their issues delivered via first class mail. Whoa--was that ever expensive, several hundred bucks!

If memory serves me right, they also offered the option of delivery via Federal Express for an even significantly higher price - but I think delivery the day after the copies came off the presses was guaranteed.

brian1961 · #5 10-22-2016, 01:36 PM

Gary--- I had forgotten SCD further offered the FED EX "fastest option". I'm sure there were several very high power dealers and deep pocket collectors who gladly chose this most expensive of options. Thanks for mentioning this. ---Brian Powell

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