How did you get into pre-war card collecting?

[cannonballsun]

Originally Posted by Mark17

I read "The Glory of Their Times." A half dozen times (so far.)

I also read "The Glory of Their Times". It's a great book, but I only read it once. Maybe it's time to pick it up again.

[ullmandds]

I grew up a big yankees fan...had a neighbor who was a sportswriter for the herald trib. He told me stories of the past...I was really interested in baseball history...I read a lot. I sold my childhood collection to buy a car in the late 80's which consisted mostly of 50's-present. I kept my prewar which was maybe 2-3 cards.

When I got back into collecting a few years later I didn't want to re-collect the cards I used to have so I decided to focus on prewar...they were much more interesting to me.

I've since re-accumulated many of the more modern cards from my original childhood collection...but to me these cards belong in binders...not slabs!!!

[Rhotchkiss]

I have collected on and off for 40+ years (since I was 7). In my first collection, I had a t206 Bresnahan batting, and I thought it was so cool. Before my brother and I sold the collection (in 1992), my best and favorite vintage card was a real beat up t206 Cy young with glove. For some reason (maybe I am an old soul), I have always been attracted to the old stuff.

I got back into the hobby in 2014-15 with an eye toward investing, but investing in things I love and would like to collect. So, I jumped head first into t206 HOFers, and fell in love with rare backs. Then I expanded into Cobb, Wagner, Jackson, Plank, Ruth, and then have just stayed with rare version of key early HOFers. I love the players, the stories, but especially the Americana and add-backs. Below is my favorite add back - given out only at one store, in Philadelphia in 1909.

From an investing standpoint, I believe there is no better risk-adjusted-return in cards than rare pre-war and HOF pre-war.

[Exhibitman]

This:



I saw it in a bookstore on 86th Street in NYC. I was ten and there with my parents. A suitable amount of begging, whining and pleading and it was mine. Read and re-read it incessantly and I was hooked.

[Casey2296]

I was "shanghaied" by Leon and his Pre-war henchmen, brought to this sub and haven't been able to escape.

[jingram058]

I was given some tobacco cards with some other cards along with Boy Scout stuff and comic books in a big box when I was 11 years old (1969).

[Dandor]

I bought a lot of 1950 Bowman football cards with a Marion Motley rookie. I know it isn't the time period, but these beautiful cards got me hooked on the non-Topps era for vintage. This made me dive into the history of cards and soon I was buying T206 and 1933 Goudey cards. I have always loved history of sports and the cards are not just a piece of art, but the stories of the players are amazing. The rarity of the cards and the emphasis not put on grading is also the big thing that stopped me from junk wax to modern. Pre 1952 cards raw and graded don't have the insane multipliers that current cards have. Sometimes grading them makes the card lose value because the raw collectors don't want to deal with slabs.

[joshleon]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

This:



I saw it in a bookstore on 86th Street in NYC. I was ten and there with my parents. A suitable amount of begging, whining and pleading and it was mine. Read and re-read it incessantly and I was hooked.

I had this...this is the one with pic of the 33' Delong Traynor.

Yep, having that book for me too. That did it.

[darwinbulldog]

When I was a kid in the junk wax era I was always proud of whatever my oldest card was, but in those days I never really ran across anything pre-war or considered that I might be able to afford such a thing. In 2002 I finally got on eBay and, for old times' sake, started looking through the baseball card listings. When I realized I could not only afford a real 1933 Goudey or a real T206, but I could easily find hundreds of them all of a sudden, that was it.

I didn't really know anything about rare pre-war cards then, but I think I came to the original Net54 page by way of Google in trying to figure out what the deal was with PRO compared to PSA/SGC/GAI, and that's how I learned about trimming. Then I stuck around and read through old posts and realized how little I knew about old baseball cards compared to some of these people. Twenty years later, and maybe now I am one of those people.

[19cbb]

Opening wax packs in 1983 as a 9-year old.
Thanks to Donruss, Dick Perez and Ty Cobb.
Got in love with that puzzle portraying an ancient baseball icon I knew little about at the time.
Took a bus every week to pick up the SCD periodical at the only news shop in town that carried it and started annoying old dealers the age of my grandfather with phone calls and buying tobacco cards through the mail.
Never looked back.