19th Century Card Prices in 1981

[tbob]

Brian, perhaps you lived within driving distance of card shows featuring pre-war cards and possibly had card shops nearby which had tobacco and caramel cards for sale, but for those of us living in the hinterlands, pre-war cards were few and far between. As much as I hate the "new" ebay, the "old" ebay was directly responsible for many sets of pre-war cards I accumulated.
tbob

[brianp-beme]

Hi Bob...I took exception to the previous statement that vintage cards were nearly impossible to find. Yes, I did live in a big city close to multiple card shops, but only a few handful of my cards came from shops. I relied on SCD ads, the occasional show and a few dealers such as Lipset, Fritsch, and later Mark MaCrae and auctions for my cards. All of these were available to collectors throughout the US...you just had to somehow find out about them. The internet has been great in connecting cards to collectors. My collection has benefited greatly as well from ebay and even contacts made on the internet and here on Net54. I was just pointing out that it wasn't impossible to locate cards back then. I fully acknowledge the incredible spending bucks for cards ease that exists today...my bank account reflects this.

Brian

[barrysloate]

Lew ran lists back in the 1980's he called "The Fortunate 500" that offered simply amazing material. I bet I still have it in one of my folders.