What REALLY makes this hobby enjoyable ?

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Posted By: mr. moses

for an all about me moment. Upon introspection, I think that there are often times I am too passionate, too involved in what are merely things to other people. But these things are in fact a bridge that connects me to history. Within these pre-1920 artifacts I can explore science and literature, trace troubled and rightious lives, and revel in great achievements. Sometimes I can just lose myself in the simplicity of an earlier time. Photographs are like windows you can look thru. Trade cards, like the pages of the scrap books they were found in, are filled with insights reflected in what is written and what is implied. Early base ball, boxing, and sports embody an irrepressible spirit that was often beautifully captured by the renderings of an un-named artist's vision and the lithographer's handiwork on a tin or tobacco insert card. Laughter, sexuality, fraternity, and wonderment were all addressed within the confines of a small rectangular piece of cardboard and a wash of ink. The civil war, tobacco companies, monopolies and conglomerates, the railroad, chromolithography, mechanization, prosperity, education, photography and scientific advances are all factors that helped define the middle to late 19th century, and they are all inextricably entwined. One needs simply to grasp a single thread to explore them all (at least that's what happened to me). This period I collect (1860-1916) was marked by some of the most dramatic changes in the history of man - from the deaths of nearly a third of our citizens, to the technological renaissance born of its horrors by way of mechanization, industrialization and transportation. There is the visceral as well that perpetuates and drives my hobbying; the thrill of the chase-the hunt- the triumphant return from a paper show with an Allen & Ginter banner hoisted in the air like a prize buck splayed over the hood of a car (I told you I'm a little strange). I also enjoy the banter with those of similar interests and the excitement generated by an unexpected discovery that mitigates something thought to be FACT and casts new light on it. SO I GUESS MAYBE IT'S ALL ABOUT "US" rather than just me "-)