when did you acquire the bulk of your collection?

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Posted By: rob

...My dad kept many of the Goudeys and PLayballs he collected as a young man;passed them on to my brother and me in the early 70s. I was always a big baseball fan (and played through college),and always bought Topps sets through BB Digest as a youngster in the 60s/early 70s(I believe from larry fritsch's store)with allowance and lawn-cutting/newspaper/housepainting money. Basically kept a lot of cards and sets but took a hiatus from collecting/buying from mid-70s (college) until mid 80s,when my dad informed me that one of his former students was now the proprietor of a card shop in my hometown.....which promptly started me back up again. Upgraded my 50s and 60s sets (through this guy's store and others in NY,east coast nationals and SCD ads,etc).
After spending close to 60-70 grand overall (over the years)upgrading and collecting,marriage put a stop to that when I realized this was house and retirement money,so I swallowed my pride and sold most of my collection...many Tobacco cards,an actual Piedmont unopened pack,Goudeys,various 50s through 70s Topps and OPC sets & singles (I'm foolishly proud to say I never owned but ONE graded card),as well as many unopened 50s/60s/70s packs,racks and boxes...baseball and non-sport...
Sold mostly over several years...mid-to-late 90s through 2002,mostly...almost all was cherrypicked. Still have thousands of 50s through 70s singles and some sets left,but nothing compared to what i used to have.
I miss the "hunt" but it got crazy when I had situations like 15 52 T Stuffy Stirnwiese (sp?) doubles and 23 Topps Drysdale AS cards hanging around from obsessive upgrading.Still,it was great fun from the mid-80s through mid to late-90s,constantly upgrading and finding new stuff. I wish I had known of this site before 2005!
Also had a grand-uncle (Nap Rucker),a long-ago pitcher,and we had his Brooklyn uniform shirt downstairs in mothballs (given to my mom in Georgia from a trip we made to see him in late 60s).When my folks died early -mid 90s,my brother supposedly managed to sell this uniform shirt for drug money,along with my dad's WW2 army coat and german Luger pistol. All I know is they're all gone except for his cap,which my sister still has.Which I still had all these items,but I dont miss the cards too much.
Sorry for rambling.
Rob Brooklyn, NY