Collecting Focus: Share Your Story

[OhioLawyerF5]

My collecting focus is most generally summed up as Cincinnati Reds. That said, I don't just collect everything Reds. I mostly have 4 parts to my collection: Modern, Vintage, Pre-War, and Larkin. I collect rookies and first bowman autos of present-day Reds players that I like. I try to limit it to one or two cards per player. I also collect full Topps player runs of all Reds HOFers (and a few non-HOF stars) from the golden era, through today. Which basically includes names like Rose, Robinson, Bench, Morgan, etc... I also got at least one autographed card featuring those players in a Reds uniform. My Barry Larkin PC mostly focuses on rare 90s inserts/parallels. That hunt keeps me busy pretty much indefinitely as some of those cards are not only very expensive, but only come up for sale once a decade or so. Then my pre-war Reds collection is focused on all HOFers who ever played for or managed the Reds in their career, no matter how short the duration. My goal is to get every card of those players in a Reds uniform. The fun in that is finding some obscure sets for players who only spent a few years (or even a few games) with the Reds. Most of my collecting time is spent chasing Larkin cards. I pick up the modern stuff whenever I decide I want something of that player, as it's generally easy to find whenever I look. So it takes mere minutes. The pre-war search I try to use my time at card shows for. I rarely search online for those cards.

[here2havefun]

Collected all throughout childhood, then got back into the hobby in late 2018.

Early 2019 I got hooked on Venezuelan Topps issues, that's been a core of my PC since then.

I have other PC segments, but the Venezuelan Topps have been the cards that have brought me the most joy.

Biggest pickup of this year:

[bcbgcbrcb]

The first things that I remember collecting were Disney ceramic miniature statues when I was about 5 years old. We lived in Miami at the time and made an annual drive to the Magic Kingdom. When I was about 7, I started to visit the newsstands every month buying the latest Marvel & DC comic books. By 9, I became hooked on sports cards, beginning in 1977 and within a year, I was collecting not only baseball but football, basketball and hockey, buying packs at the local candy store. During the late 70’s and early 80’s, I put the complete sets together each year. By the mid 80’s, I was big into the rookie card craze, which is something that would stick with me as my collection began to grow, eventually morphing into collecting autographs during the 90’s, primarily obtained at minor league games and spring training each year. By the early 2000’s, grading was becoming a big thing and I got into BGS 10 Pristine rookie cards of guys like Bonds, Griffey, Sosa, Kobe, etc. Prices for these were starting to reach 4 figures and one day, while scouring eBay, I noticed a 59 Topps Bob Gibson rookie card for $40. I thought, why spend thousands on these modern cards when the player could have a career ending injury at any time when I can buy a HOF legend for pennys on the dollar. Thus, my transformation to vintage card collector began in 2004.

For the next 10 years, I set out to collect a rookie card of every member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, or as close to a rookie card as I could afford. By 2014, I had something for every one of the 310 individuals and decided to move on to a new challenge so I sold everything I had at auction and put all of those funds into Negro League baseball memorabilia. I did that until 2021 when, once again, I pivoted and started primarily collecting iconic cards from all 4 sports, which is pretty much what I am still doing today, with an increased emphasis on obscure stuff.

[BuzzD]

For the past 40 yrs or so I have tried to collect everyone who has played for the Yankees, and particularly in a Yankee uniform. If no BB card exists, I search for original photos in a Yankee uni, and in absence of either a card or photo, I collect autographs, non-NYY cards and non-NYY original photos. I will use original pages from guides, original team photos, etc as well. A particular subset is players with only a single game as a Yankee. My latest purchase is a 1926 photo of George Kiddo Davis, who after graduating from NYU had one game. It is a wide-ranging collection including many really scarce images, type cards, an even 1 lantern slide of Boardwalk Brown, a 1915 Yankee who only appeared in a 1915 team photo otherwise. The hunt is not confined to vintage items. For example, I cannot find an original image of Rick Honeycutt in a Yankee uni. There are other post WW2 recent examples as well. Send PM if anyone wants a link to my Flickr page to get a better feel for this effort.

[Zach Wheat]

Started out collecting the early '52 Topps set and then branched into early T cards (T200, 201, 205 & 206). Probably should have listened when someone warned me about my goals.....along the way learned a lot from some great guys

[Rhotchkiss]

Since getting back into cards in about 2015, my focus has been on investment and I have generally targeted blue chip players and sets from 1903-1927, but mostly 1903-1911.

For a while, I got heavily into back runs and advertising backs in general, and I assembled as much as I could of T206 Chance Portrait, Evers Yellow Sky, Tinker Bat off, E92 Wagner Batting, Wagner Throwing, and Cobb on Bat, and M101-4/5 Thorpe. I put together a master T206 back set, including Cobb back/T213/T214/T215, and I started hoarding T206 Brown Old Mills and T206 Brown Lenox. I also wanted to own sets and I assembled a complete 524-card T206 set, a complete E107 set, a complete 1914 CJ set, a virtually complete T3 set, and then had some smaller team sets, like E104-2, 1906 Lincoln Publishing, etc. I am done with all that now.

Over the past year I have sold the vast majority of my cards, by bulk, but retained the majority of value. Now, I generally only want super-special museum cards. I feel like I have been to the mountain top and now just want a few, key souvenirs from that journey.

There are some things I do regret selling, such as my 1914 CJ Set, my T206 multistrike Cy Young Ghost (but that now lives in a great home), and my 1901 Pittsburgh cabinet with Wagner's first image in a Pitt uniform. But generally, I do not regret trimming down the fat.

I still look at all auctions and get excited about all the Cobbs, Wagners, Ruths, Jacksons, etc. but right now I am putting money into real estate and more usable assets instead of cardboard. That said, I am an addict who has collected on and off my entire life. I expect its only a matter of time before I jump back headfirst into T, E, and D cards, W600s, Rose Co PCs, etc etc etc.

Cool topic, thanks for starting the thread

[fkm_bky]

Always had a focus on collecting all the T206 HOF Portraits...then moved to Herzog Boston sub-set with all the backs. Finished the HOF Portraits (minus real Plank/Wags) in July 2023 and really haven't done any further investing (both due to financials and trying to come up with a new focus). Got to the point with Herzog where the only backs left to attain will take a lot of time and money.

In the interim, I still love following the industry and living vicariously through your investments

Maybe once the kids are out of college I'll get more into things...for now, I don't plan on parting with any of them and look forward to the next adventure.

Great thread!

Bill

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Since getting back into cards in about 2015, my focus has been on investment and I have generally targeted blue chip players and sets from 1903-1927, but mostly 1903-1911.

For a while, I got heavily into back runs and advertising backs in general, and I assembled as much as I could of T206 Chance Portrait, Evers Yellow Sky, Tinker Bat off, E92 Wagner Batting, Wagner Throwing, and Cobb on Bat, and M101-4/5 Thorpe. I put together a master T206 back set, including Cobb back/T213/T214/T215, and I started hoarding T206 Brown Old Mills and T206 Brown Lenox. I also wanted to own sets and I assembled a complete 524-card T206 set, a complete E107 set, a complete 1914 CJ set, a virtually complete T3 set, and then had some smaller team sets, like E104-2, 1906 Lincoln Publishing, etc. I am done with all that now.

Over the past year I have sold the vast majority of my cards, by bulk, but retained the majority of value. Now, I generally only want super-special museum cards. I feel like I have been to the mountain top and now just want a few, key souvenirs from that journey.

There are some things I do regret selling, such as my 1914 CJ Set, my T206 multistrike Cy Young Ghost (but that now lives in a great home), and my 1901 Pittsburgh cabinet with Wagner's first image in a Pitt uniform. But generally, I do not regret trimming down the fat.

I still look at all auctions and get excited about all the Cobbs, Wagners, Ruths, Jacksons, etc. but right now I am putting money into real estate and more usable assets instead of cardboard. That said, I am an addict who has collected on and off my entire life. I expect its only a matter of time before I jump back headfirst into T, E, and D cards, W600s, Rose Co PCs, etc etc etc.

Cool topic, thanks for starting the thread

We can all go home now.

[The Detroit Collector]

Anything Detroit Tigers 1880-1935.
Postcards, cards, photos, supplements etc.

[WillowGrove]

Originally Posted by BuzzD

For the past 40 yrs or so I have tried to collect everyone who has played for the Yankees, and particularly in a Yankee uniform. If no BB card exists, I search for original photos in a Yankee uni, and in absence of either a card or photo, I collect autographs, non-NYY cards and non-NYY original photos. I will use original pages from guides, original team photos, etc as well. A particular subset is players with only a single game as a Yankee. My latest purchase is a 1926 photo of George Kiddo Davis, who after graduating from NYU had one game. It is a wide-ranging collection including many really scarce images, type cards, an even 1 lantern slide of Boardwalk Brown, a 1915 Yankee who only appeared in a 1915 team photo otherwise. The hunt is not confined to vintage items. For example, I cannot find an original image of Rick Honeycutt in a Yankee uni. There are other post WW2 recent examples as well. Send PM if anyone wants a link to my Flickr page to get a better feel for this effort.

Buzz I found this photo in a NYC Newspaper so one does exist!