Wagner T206 Auctioned in 1981

[Exhibitman]

Many of the pioneering dealers were surly, grumpy or just rude to collectors. These men just were not meant for a face to face business model. Mail order was more their speed. Goodwin Goldfadden, another famed early dealer, was horrible to kids and novices especially. Not really surprising since what they were doing was considered weird and perhaps a bit skeevy by the 99.9995% of Americans who had no idea there were card collectors. Same was true of a lot of other collectibles pioneering professionals: the people who gravitated towards those activities were not doing so because of their great social skills. Comic book shop operators, for example. This comic book dealer wasn't a card dealer but could've been and eventually was:



Or try an early Star Trek convention if you want to see some socially deficient people. I know because I was one of them...



As for when it became about the money, thank this guy:



His move from coins to cards was the best and worst thing that ever happened.