Cards we choose to collect

[Sailingmachine]

Seems I am a month late to the party. I wanted to chime in. Up until a few years ago I purchased pretty much anything that caught my eye. There was little to no rhyme or reason to my collection. I had a very large collection but at the end of the day it lacked something....Passion. I was buying but was not on a mission and after a few days of a purchased it was filed with the rest and that was it. I wanted to do something different than what I was doing. So....I'm related to a ball player, Danny Murphy. I had already had a high grade t206 batting and throwing but had never really gone much further with it. It occurred to me that if I were to lose my entire collection, what would I miss the most. Well It was the Murphy's that I had. Easily replaceable but it answered my question to where my passion was. I was on a mission. I was gonna collect Murphy and mainly murphy. I bought a few different backs for the 206s as I was gonna work on a back run for batting pose. As things slowed down between purchases, I reached out to the throwing pose. I completed throwing and was at a standstill with batting so I purchased a few E cards. Then slowly started an E run. Now my attention was only on Murphy. However, I did not want doubles since that was not a challenge (unless it was a nice upgrade.) As I continued I knocked out the easy finds and started focusing on the more challenging and tougher examples. Cards were nolonger in the $20-$40 range but getting closer to the $200-$300 range. Every week I needed to add something so I then reached into A's team postcards if Murph was pictures on it. It was to the point I would lose sleep if I went a week with out adding a Murphy, it now became an obsession. For the 206 batting pose I am down to BL, DRUM, HINDU and Lenox. I was amped when the BL showed up at auction a few months back to only be disappointed when I bid $2400 to be outbid. About a month later the Murphy e107 showed up, It was my chance to bounce back from the BL loss. Wasn't a 206 but probably my only chance to add a 107. Dropped the $3600 to bring it home. My Murphy set is taking shape. My "master set" is covering everything for the 206s, E cards, D cards, Pinkerton, SC Domino discs, helmar stamps, 1900 cabinet card from Connecticut State League, custom signature cut card I had made, to the Awesome e107 and everything in between. The beauty of this project is not only have I turned my pc into a player pc but I have learned more in three years about pre-war types than I did all of my time previously. That is thanks to collecting a gent that passed 63 years ago. My apologies for the rambling. However, this is what got we started and the continued path to the cards I choose to collect. Murphy is that choice I have made and above is the reason why.

[Throttlesteer]

Whew, it's been almost 15 years since I've been on this board and I found my way back. In my previous collecting life, I was chasing specific caramel issues, including some of the HOFs mentioned. But, times change and so have my collecting desires. I'm now going after T206s (which I never did before) and am having fun getting reacquainted. The best part about the hobby is, you can pick one direction now and change it later if something else tickles your fancy.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Throttlesteer

Whew, it's been almost 15 years since I've been on this board and I found my way back. In my previous collecting life, I was chasing specific caramel issues, including some of the HOFs mentioned. But, times change and so have my collecting desires. I'm now going after T206s (which I never did before) and am having fun getting reacquainted. The best part about the hobby is, you can pick one direction now and change it later if something else tickles your fancy.

15 yrs is a while.....that might be the longest someone has been absent and come back? Like you say, you can change directions, or add things you like, or take as long of a break as you want to and come back and enjoy it again. There are no rules to collecting that I am aware of. A new, 1909 poster pick up with dogs.

[whitehse]

A few months ago I posed a question to the boards about spending some extra money I had coming to me and was looking for the best bang for my buck. Several posters offered great suggestions and I weighed each of them carefully and decided to buy some lower grade hall of fame T206 cards as well as some mid grade stars of the '50's. When those cards came in I marveled at my new Sam Crawford and I wondered just how many people have owned this card since it was "born" and was curious about it's origins. I bought a Carl Lundgren because he is a local legend where my in laws grew up in Marengo, Illinois which was also near where I grew up and it was cool to have a card of the hometown boy in my collection. But it was the cards of the players from the 50's that have swayed me to focus on this era of baseball. I grew up seeing many of these greats play at the end of their careers and heard my father talk about them as he grew up so it was a natural for me to gravitate to the players of this era.

While I still desire to own a card of the BigTrain, of Cobb and Plank, I have found my allegiance lays with those cards of players I saw play, in many cases met personally and give me the greatest ability to remember a time that was awesome in my life. I do intend to add many of these pre-war greats to my collection as I LOVE baseball history and they will, no doubt have a treasured place in my heart and mind but the 50's and even the '60's currently do it for me.

In short, collect what you like and what gives you the most meaning.