Why do you collect what you collect?

[BCauley]

There are so many roads that can be traveled in the pre-war card world. After belonging to this forum and seeing so many great examples of cards from your collections, I'm curious to know what got you started on your collection's focus? If you have one that is.

[chlankf]

Growing up I tried getting as many different sets as possible. With age came responsibility and kids. I could no longer afford to keep that pace up. Growing up in the Des Moines area I gravitated towards the minor league teams near me. I enjoy vintage and pre-war. Fortunately, there is some material out there, not much, but just as few collectors.

[Vintagecatcher]

i started with picking up "type cards" of these 7 MLB catchers: Roger Bresnahan, George Gibson, Red Kleinow, Johnny Kling, Chief Meyers, Gabby Street, and Ira Thomas.

Once I had a nice selection of "type" cards of these players, my interests expanded to include catchers from many minor league sets such as C46s, Pacific Coast Biscuits, Obaks, Zeenuts and lastly, the T210 Old Mill cards.

When things got slow, I worked on some side projects with catcher runs: Catcher rppcs, pins, domino discs, S74 etc.

My primary focus now is adding T210 catchers. I have catchers from all the 8 Series except for Series 4. Not quite half way there with the cards of catchers that I'm interested in adding to my collection. Currently have 27 different T210s.

The end result is my catcher collection now reflects a vast range of types from the deadball era 1900-1920.

Patrick

[mrreality68]

I have always had a fascination for Baseball History and that turned into an interest for Cards. Always interested in Pre WW2 Cards and mostly pre-1925.

The history first led me to Cap Anson and collected some of his items as I learned about some of the early Superstars.

Then led into the story behind the other Stars and that led to my addiction of cards with emphasis on Jackson, Then Ruth.

Now I have expanded to others but my focus and passion is always Jackson and Early Ruth Cards

[kmac32]

Started collecting Topps Cubs card as a kid so wanted all topps Cubs in main set and updated set. Also as to prewar, my great great uncle played center field for the 1921-1922 Yankees so collected his cards. That expanded to a 1921 E121-80 and 1922 E121-120 World Series set. Then went for T207 front/reverse cards and then T205 Cubs front/ reverse set. Then S74 Cubs. Final subset is a T210 Jacksonville Jays set as I live near Jax

[90feetaway]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

I have always had a fascination for Baseball History and that turned into an interest for Cards. Always interested in Pre WW2 Cards and mostly pre-1925.

The history first led me to Cap Anson and collected some of his items as I learned about some of the early Superstars.

Then led into the story behind the other Stars and that led to my addiction of cards with emphasis on Jackson, Then Ruth.

Now I have expanded to others but my focus and passion is always Jackson and Early Ruth Cards

+1 My appreciation of baseball history had lead me to focus on baseball related items. I've tried to get into other sports but they just don't have the same appeal for me.

[todeen]

My grandma told me my maternal grandfather was related to Tris Speaker, distantly. That got me interested in pre-war, Ken Burns, hall of fame biographies, etc. I bought the 1921 Exhibit when I was 17 or 18 at my LCS. I added an auto from a Lelands auction in 2013. The other cards have been added more recently. A couple others I can't get in the small display. Speaker and Cobb were friendly, and so I branched out and picked up the exhibit and T206 red Cobb to pair with a photo my wife got me for Xmas of the two together.

I am an eclectic collector, so I pick up whatever else I want, like the Walter Johnson photo from fellow member Hankphenom.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[abothebear]

12 years ago it would never have crossed my mind to collect pre-war cards. In fact, I thought card collecting in general had long passed me by. Then I happened to see a card store near my house and went in to check it out. I started a $5 budget to see what stuff I could get from my days as a kid. Then I found eBay, and I found I could get pre-war cards, even star players, and still stay within my $5 a week budget. I could only get a card every month or three, but It was amazing to me that it was even possible. At the same time I found this site which introduced me to a whole new world.

So for pre-war I collect stars that I can afford - because of the relative unpopularity of a set, because the player isn’t named on the card (Churchman Ruth, National Game runner sliding Cobb, etc.) or because of condition.

Post-war I collect nostalgically.


.

[mouschi]

I wanted to assemble my own little museum of pre war super key cards in low to mid grade with super eye appeal. Something that isn't "complete" by any means, but something that tells the story of our beloved hobby with "wow" factor.

[MuncieNolePAZ]

I collected modern baseball and basketball cards as a kid in the late 80s and early 90s. I stopped in mid 90s. I started back up again probably 15 years ago focusing on collecting one card of MLB HOF's during their playing days because of my love of history. While writing a capstone paper for my history degree, and spent a decent amount of time with my capstone advisor/mentor. He was a big Tigers fan and had multiple books on Ty Cobb. I really enjoyed reading A Terrible Beauty. Cobb became my favorite player from the pre-war era. Walter Johnson and I share the same birthday and he was an amazing pitcher, natural connection. Two years ago I stopped collecting one card for each MLB HOFs and decided to focus just on Cobb and WaJo. I traded almost all of my cards of the HOF collection besides just a few for Cobbs and WaJos.

Chad

[Casey2296]

When I got back into collecting I built a list of 300 cards that I wanted, started filling it and found this place. I've always been an image collector with centering OCD so eye appeal has always been my guiding light.
Leon an his pre-war henchmen slipped a Mickey in my drink and I went down the set collecting rabbit hole so I'm currently trying to complete 2 Ecard monsters.
Shame on all of you...

[Exhibitman]

I started collecting when I was a tyke, with Topps baseball and football cards. My first big year for those sports was 1971. In 1972 I started ripping packs of basketball cards. 1975 is the year I started buying hockey cards in earnest. I quickly moved on to the chase for older cards. My uncle gave me The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973; Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris) and I read it until it fell apart. It was my first real exposure to the art of golden age Topps and Bowman and those cards were now on my radar. I found The Complete Book of Baseball Cards: For the Collector, Flipper and Fan [1975; Steve Clark] and was hooked on T cards.

My first card show was Thanksgiving 1976 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, sponsored by the ASCCA. I’d become a Willie Mays fan when he returned to New York in 1973, so my first great project was to collect an example of every Mays card. I finished the Topps run at that show with the 1952 and 1953 cards. My mother nearly ripped my father’s head off when she found out that he loaned me $45 to buy them.

We moved to L.A. in 1977. I quickly became involved with the West Coast Card Club, which held monthly meetings in a church basement and later a social hall in Northridge. I also lucked into several collections that were given to me by family and friends.

My collection at that point was pretty much about the four sports, Topps, Bowman and a smattering of T cards. It was during that time that I focused on a few Western regional issues that have ever since fascinated me: Zeenuts, Bell Brand, 1968 Atlantic Oil.

I put away the cards after the 1980 baseball season and really did not return to them for nearly a decade, when I decided to attend a massive show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as a welcome diversion from law school. When I returned to L.A. after graduating and got a job and started having disposable income, I really got back into collecting, aided by the abundance of shows. It was a rare weekend that I did not have at least a show a day to attend.

My collecting changed immeasurably around that time owing to two meetings at shows. At one, a fellow had 1948 Leaf cards of Barney Ross and Benny Leonard. I sort of knew that boxing cards existed but seeing these, I was instantly smitten. I bought the pair for a few bucks and took them home to show my father. He looked at the Ross card and said the words that changed my collection forever: “I think my cousin Ray fought him.”

You could have knocked me over with a puff of air. “Dad,” I said, “if you have a cousin who was a boxer that means I have cousin who was a boxer.” He then told me about Ray Miller for the first time and I realized that I was related to a world-class athlete. That started the boxing card thing.

The other collection-changer for me was meeting an old-time collector named John Spalding. Some of you might have known John. He was a collector from the Bay area with a strong background in PCL history and sports. But that isn’t what got me interested. It was his album of prewar Exhibit cards. I knew of and had collected the postwar cards from time to time, but I’d never seen anything like these. Over the course of several shows I purchased stacks of them from John, while making a general pest of myself picking his brain about the issue and others as well.

So what do I really collect? Well:

--A world boxing type card collection and postcard type collection, represented whenever possible by favorite fighters Benny Leonard, Joe Louis and Jim Jeffries

--Some boxing memorabilia, mostly premiums.

--A boxing HOF collection represented by career-contemporary cards whenever possible, which I use as the backbone of the type card collection (e.g., I have a type card from the 1931 Bigott set from Venezuela that happens to be HOFer Pedro Montanez).

--Some prewar baseball cards and ephemera,

--Exhibit cards from all sports and some entertainment sets too.

--Postwar mainstream collections of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, especially the 1970s

--Autographs and cards of musicians and comedians i admire.

I really don't 'do' sets except for a few quixotic pet issues: H815 Adam Hats, 1950s Rodine baseball PCs and premiums, 1904 anon. boxing cabinets, 1910 Rob Roy Jeffries-Johnson, pre-1907 D & K boxing PC, 1968 Atlantic Oil baseball (down to the prize-winner SSPs). And I am three portraits from my T206 HOF portraits set (not counting Plank and Wagner, of course). Added Joss and McGraw in the recent LOTG.

And since every thread needs a card, here is the Rodine premium with Ruth, Grove, etc.:

[68Hawk]

I love paper and I love sport. An artistic representation of one onto the other is just perfect for me.
Can't really explain it any other way.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I started collecting when I was a tyke, with Topps baseball and football cards. My first big year for those sports was 1971. In 1972 I started ripping packs of basketball cards. 1975 is the year I started buying hockey cards in earnest. I quickly moved on to the chase for older cards. My uncle gave me The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973; Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris) and I read it until it fell apart. It was my first real exposure to the art of golden age Topps and Bowman and those cards were now on my radar. I found The Complete Book of Baseball Cards: For the Collector, Flipper and Fan [1975; Steve Clark] and was hooked on T cards.

My first card show was Thanksgiving 1976 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, sponsored by the ASCCA. I’d become a Willie Mays fan when he returned to New York in 1973, so my first great project was to collect an example of every Mays card. I finished the Topps run at that show with the 1952 and 1953 cards. My mother nearly ripped my father’s head off when she found out that he loaned me $45 to buy them.

We moved to L.A. in 1977. I quickly became involved with the West Coast Card Club, which held monthly meetings in a church basement and later a social hall in Northridge. I also lucked into several collections that were given to me by family and friends.

My collection at that point was pretty much about the four sports, Topps, Bowman and a smattering of T cards. It was during that time that I focused on a few Western regional issues that have ever since fascinated me: Zeenuts, Bell Brand, 1968 Atlantic Oil.

I put away the cards after the 1980 baseball season and really did not return to them for nearly a decade, when I decided to attend a massive show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as a welcome diversion from law school. When I returned to L.A. after graduating and got a job and started having disposable income, I really got back into collecting, aided by the abundance of shows. It was a rare weekend that I did not have at least a show a day to attend.

My collecting changed immeasurably around that time owing to two meetings at shows. At one, a fellow had 1948 Leaf cards of Barney Ross and Benny Leonard. I sort of knew that boxing cards existed but seeing these, I was instantly smitten. I bought the pair for a few bucks and took them home to show my father. He looked at the Ross card and said the words that changed my collection forever: “I think my cousin Ray fought him.”

You could have knocked me over with a puff of air. “Dad,” I said, “if you have a cousin who was a boxer that means I have cousin who was a boxer.” He then told me about Ray Miller for the first time and I realized that I was related to a world-class athlete. That started the boxing card thing.

The other collection-changer for me was meeting an old-time collector named John Spalding. Some of you might have known John. He was a collector from the Bay area with a strong background in PCL history and sports. But that isn’t what got me interested. It was his album of prewar Exhibit cards. I knew of and had collected the postwar cards from time to time, but I’d never seen anything like these. Over the course of several shows I purchased stacks of them from John, while making a general pest of myself picking his brain about the issue and others as well.

So what do I really collect? Well:

--A world boxing type card collection and postcard type collection, represented whenever possible by favorite fighters Benny Leonard, Joe Louis and Jim Jeffries

--Some boxing memorabilia, mostly premiums.

--A boxing HOF collection represented by career-contemporary cards whenever possible, which I use as the backbone of the type card collection (e.g., I have a type card from the 1931 Bigott set from Venezuela that happens to be HOFer Pedro Montanez).

--Some prewar baseball cards and ephemera,

--Exhibit cards from all sports and some entertainment sets too.

--Postwar mainstream collections of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, especially the 1970s

--Autographs and cards of musicians and comedians i admire.

I really don't 'do' sets except for a few quixotic pet issues: H815 Adam Hats, 1950s Rodine baseball PCs and premiums, 1904 anon. boxing cabinets, 1910 Rob Roy Jeffries-Johnson, pre-1907 D & K boxing PC, 1968 Atlantic Oil baseball (down to the prize-winner SSPs). And I am three portraits from my T206 HOF portraits set (not counting Plank and Wagner, of course). Added Joss and McGraw in the recent LOTG.

And since every thread needs a card, here is the Rodine premium with Ruth, Grove, etc.:

Great Story and Great Card

Looks Like the Love of the Game and The Love of the Stories behind the cards and those that we attach to them is what it is all about

[Leon]

I like variety so I like scarce type cards...and T206 HOF'ers with big borders....and a few other things....
I like the history of the hobby too...

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

Great Story and Great Card

Looks Like the Love of the Game and The Love of the Stories behind the cards and those that we attach to them is what it is all about

Shameless Plug: I consigned a Rodine to the current Sterling Auctions auction.

My piece of Burdickiana:




JB's E80 Jack Johnson

[bnorth]

Because it is what makes me happy. What that is has changed many many times over the last 30+ years. The last 2 years I have focused on Wade Boggs bats. A fellow member and great hobby friend got me into collecting bats. After a couple years of him showing me his awesome new bats I started buying them. I currently have around 30 different Wade Boggs bats.

[Troy Kirk]

Thanks for posting that photo of Burdick, Leon. I've seen that newspaper photo of Burdick before, but never saw the original photo, very cool to see.

[BuzzD]

For the past 35 yrs, have tried to collect a card, original photo and/or autograph of everyone who has ever played for the Yankees. If there is no known image in a NYAL uni, I will fill in with card or photo with another team. It is all organized in binders for each decade based on player's 1st yr with the Yankees. I also make my own postcards from Walmart with online images if I have an autograph but not an original photo.

There are 62 where I cannot find even a repro or online photo in a Yankee uni.

The want list includes on one end, several E107s and on the other end, how about 1994 Greg Harris as a Yankee? While waiting for something new, I pick up pre-war type cards I can afford.

[CobbSpikedMe]

This is a fun thread and I feel like it should continue.

I started in prewar 20 years ago with my first T206, a Jack Hannifan, Jersey City. I was totally hooked on the old stuff after that. I now collect most post war sets as I'm in OBC and we are set builders for the most part. But prewar, I collect Jersey City team cards. I haven't picked up a new one in while as they are somewhat tough to find. I do have the only graded T215 Red Cross Purtell, Jersey City. So I'm really excited about that one. But there are others I'll never get, like the Victory back Wiltse or the Pirate back.

Other than Jersey City, I'm working on E93, E98 and E90-1 sets. I pick them up when I can. In between those I pick up any card I think is a good deal or that I really like the look of. I have a very eclectic prewar collection now. I love caramel cards and always like picking up examples of those sets.

I also collect T206s with a certain back stamp. You can see an example of on these in my avatar. But any stamp is interesting to me. I've started The Great T206 Back Stamp Project (Link in my signature) that focuses on every type of back stamp out there.

I also collect several boxing sets and cards. I don't know how I got into all of those. Probably from Abe Attell.

I hope folks continue to post their stories in this thread as I really like reading them.



.

[tonyo]

I've thought back over my years of collecting to try and narrow down an answer to this question.

came up with a few answers

1. "I just like cards" when I was a kid I loved the stats on the back and was always sorting and resorting in various ways. number order, teams, positions, batting average, home runs , etc.... you get the picture. That's prolly why it still is very calming for me to just hold a stack of cards, especially older cards, and thumb thru them. Also back then in the 70's there were very few games on TV. I listened to Reds on Radio with Marty and Joe (the ole lefty) going to sleep at night, so it was great to see pictures of the players I'd hear them describe and see occasionally on TV. great segue to #2

2a. "I love the pictures" ...borrowed that one from the Burdick article Leon posted. ... There is a beauty in the game , in the flow, certain moments, the way certain players players swing, catch, throw, run, pass, tackle, dribble, catch, jump, the uniforms, the colors, the stadiums. I went to a college football game yesterday and while it was a blow out, and the outcome never really in question, I really enjoyed it mostly because there were 15 or 20 "good football plays" that made me smile, gave me chills, made me think "that was pretty", you know what I mean. A certain elegance unfolds and you feel it in your bones if you are a sports fan. Many cards (and pictures) capture those things or kick start your imagination to the highlight reel or photo album in your memory.

2b. "I like the designs" alot of the card designs look really cool IMO, or have an understated pleasingly simple design. You know it when you see it

3. "I like sets, subsets, or groups" I can be a bit OCD. When I was heavy into building a pre-war and vintage collection. my goal was to complete sets (t206, 33 G, t205) or I invented subsets (t207 bat, ball, belt; E90 and it's brethren sunset and sky) I also had a pre-war type collection with parameters (100 different types, at least one of each hall of famer and glory of their times subject, postcard size or smaller). got within a few cards of "all post war topps and bowman regular issue playing days hall of famers thru 1980"


The last few years, I've been downsizing. Collecting is in 1st gear (or lower) right now, all I'm really looking for is 20's type cards that fit my criteria and are affordable ( I have some space in the 20's drawer of my pre-war type card cabinet), and 90's cards from sets I like (I know them when I see them). Last weekend I stopped a an LCS, spent an hour looking through random loose card boxes, and bought 3 dollar cards. 94 leaf limited Ozzie, and 95 score hall of gold Gwynn and Ozzie.

I just liked the cards

[Leon]

Originally Posted by CobbSpikedMe

This is a fun thread and I feel like it should continue.

I started in prewar 20 years ago with my first T206, a Jack Hannifan, Jersey City. I was totally hooked on the old stuff after that. I now collect most post war sets as I'm in OBC and we are set builders for the most part. But prewar, I collect Jersey City team cards. I haven't picked up a new one in while as they are somewhat tough to find. I do have the only graded T215 Red Cross Purtell, Jersey City. So I'm really excited about that one. But there are others I'll never get, like the Victory back Wiltse or the Pirate back.

Other than Jersey City, I'm working on E93, E98 and E90-1 sets. I pick them up when I can. In between those I pick up any card I think is a good deal or that I really like the look of. I have a very eclectic prewar collection now. I love caramel cards and always like picking up examples of those sets.

I also collect T206s with a certain back stamp. You can see an example of on these in my avatar. But any stamp is interesting to me. I've started The Great T206 Back Stamp Project (Link in my signature) that focuses on every type of back stamp out there.

I also collect several boxing sets and cards. I don't know how I got into all of those. Probably from Abe Attell.

I hope folks continue to post their stories in this thread as I really like reading them.



.

Those boxing strips are kind of cool...

and back to the subject. Variety is the spice of life.

[53toppscollector]

In the 80s I collected the same stuff everyone did. I loved the '87 Topps cards and had multiple full sets. I still see the red '90 Donruss cards in my sleep. The last Topps set I remember collecting was 1997. When I went to college a few years later, my mom moved and I have no idea what happened to my collection. I had probably 10 binders of cards and a bunch of shoeboxes. I got back into the hobby in 2014 or 2015, but didn't really settle on any kind of strategy until I decided I just wanted to collect vintage.

I started with the 1953 Topps set because it was a set I always loved as a kid, but just didn't think I could afford. I slowly assembled a graded set over about 18 months, coming about 10 cards short of the full set between PSA 5-7. I got really hung up on the PSA registry game, but I realized how many more cards I could buy if I didn't need a PSA 7 copy, and that a good raw copy for 75% less would be fine. I sold off my entire graded set over about a year's time and ended up making a nice profit on the project. So now present day, my projects are:

T206 portrait master set - I love all of the portraits, I love the way the color pops, I love the gradient colors and the variations between the boldness of the colors. I find the portraits, on the whole, more visually appealing than the action shots. There are some good action poses, but I think some of them are pretty meh. I'm a big fan of the various backs, and I'm displaying everything in 2 binders.

1953 Topps - I still love the '53 set, but I'm now putting together a solid raw set. I just purchased a lot of 200+ cards in varying conditions, so I am really excited to sort through them and assess condition, and then upgrade. This will be a long term project that I'm in no rush to finish

1960 Topps - My second fav Topps issue behind 1953. I love the horizontal layout, I love the colors on the cards and pretty much everything about the set, including the high number all star inserts. Slowly putting this together in mid-high grade raw condition

non-sports T issues - I'm currently working on T29 (Animals), T30 (Arctic Scenes), T42/43 (Birds), T44 (Horoscopes), T48 (Turkey Red Butterflies), T77 (Lighthouses), and T118 (Explorers), and also the 1929 Churchman set of 25. I like these non-sports cards because they are different and they don't seem widely collected. They are also really cheap, given their age and moderate scarcity, and they look really cool displayed in binders.

Exhibits/Premiums - My newest project and one I am going to take slowly. I wanted to have something different to the regular prewar card issues, so this was where I landed. Likely going to focus on M101s, as well as W462s and then maybe some postcards of HoFs. This will be a very slow moving project.

Future Projects

T205 - Will slowly start working on the basic set, I don't really have an interest in collecting a master set with all the different backs, because the backs are much less interesting than the T206 backs, imo.

T213 - I want to eventually pick up the Type 1, 2 and 3 Coupons for all the portrait poses that exist in the T206 set, but I'm not prioritizing these right now.

T215 - Same as T213

T218 - I got a lot of like 20 of these a few months ago for a really cheap price, but I sort of shelved that project for now while I focus on other things. I will eventually circle back to it

1941 Play Ball - At one point when I was very unfocused in my collecting I had 30 or so raw 1941 Play Balls. I really like the set, but I sold what I had a few years ago. I want to pick them back up

1934-36 Diamond Stars - Have always loved this set, but too many other projects right now to really dig in

T202 Triple Folders - Love these too, again, too many other current projects to start, for now

[Fred]

Is the answer supposed to be mine or what my therapist thinks?

Craig L - NICE OJ. That's a reason to collect OJs. Try to find that image clarity.