Best hobby advice you've received.

[Stampsfan]

Best advice I received has been mentioned earlier:
If you see something you want for sale, buy it as it will disappear. I've picked up some really nice pieces, and have missed on things I will never see again by not following through with the purchase.

Best advice I have given:
If a seller makes an offer and the buyer doesn't take it, it's OK. If a seller makes an offer and the buyer doesn't take it, it's OK.
Both have the right to do so, without the other taking offense. At the end, both of you walk away happy. A deal not made is not personal.
We are not selling a kidney here.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Stampsfan

We are not selling a kidney here.

Graded or raw?

[perezfan]

Get to the mailbox before the wife.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Get to the mailbox before the wife.

Better yet, have your purchases sent to your office.

[clydepepper]

A little voice in my head (which is much louder now): Now is NOT the time to buy!


.

[jchcollins]

"Collect what you love" - I was once basically made fun of for being into "custom" cards, i.e. cards that never were, Topps Archives / Fan Favorites, etc. '63 Fleer Mantle. '34 Goudey Ruth. '76 Carlton Fisk with a different (and much better...) picture. Well you know what? I like these creations, and they usually cost a fraction of a fraction of what similar, playing days real issues of a lot of stars and HOF'ers cost. I like them because they are not reprints, just fakes of something that really was - but a different take on something that was - that never was.

One of my latest pickups like this is a '68 Topps 3D Mickey Mantle that they did in an Archives set a few years back. This is an incredible card - of course there was no real 3D Mantle that was issued in that test set. Topps picked a great photo of the Mick watching a ball that he had just parked go out. I can't imagine that a kid in 1968 wouldn't think that was just fabulous had it actually existed then. This may not be a real vintage card, but it's that same type of inspired joy I get out of it that I do many of my real ones. To me that's what the hobby is all about.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

"Collect what you love" - I was once basically made fun of for being into "custom" cards, i.e. cards that never were. '63 Fleer Mantle. '34 Goudey Ruth. Well you know what? I like these creations, and they cost a fraction of a fraction of what similar, playing days real issues of a lot of stars and HOF'ers cost. I like them because they are not reprints, just fakes of something that really was - but a different take on something that was - that never was.

One of my latest pickups like this is a '68 Topps 3D Mickey Mantle that they did in an Archives set a few years back. This is an incredible card - of course there was no real 3D Mantle that was issued in that test set. Topps picked a great photo of the Mick watching a ball that he had just parked go out. I can't imagine that a kid in 1968 wouldn't think that was just fabulous had it actually existed then. This may not be a real vintage card, but it's that same type of inspired joy I get out of it that I do many of my real ones. To me that's what the hobby is all about.

^Great post^

I have got some of that grief for collecting reprint sets. Personally I like custom cards and reprints. I have a lot of vintage reprint sets and custom cards. They both make me very happy to own them.

[skelly423]

Buy cards of players my wife (a complete non-fan) knows. If they’re famous enough to enter her zeitgeist, they’re the best of the best.

For the interested, my wife knows Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Mike Trout and “that guy who married Marilyn Monroe”.

[JollyElm]

For anyone in the 'cards that never were' crowd who missed it way back when, definitely check out my long slog through the missing players of the 1972 'In Action' subset. Cool stuff.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=219771

I was actually maybe thinking of creating customized versions of these cards for net54 members, or perhaps featuring their wives/husbands/kids/friends/whatever to be printed on a t-shirt? I dunno. Don't want to say too much and be charged with an ad placement fee.