When did you start collecting pre-war/vintage?

[scooter729]

For me it began when I was probably about 10 years old (1983-ish) - for some reason, when I would go into the Halls Nostalgia store in Arlington, MA, I liked being able to buy a little card that was like 75 years old - how cool was that??

I had a newspaper route around the neighborhood starting at 11 years old, and remember using that money to buy cards and nothing else. Sure, I bought packs of the current stuff, but I always liked to try and buy something from the 1950s as well, so I could bring it home and show my dad. My goal was to see if he'd remember the picture of the card from when he collected while growing up (thrown out when he went into the service, of course).

But even when I would buy cards from the '50s, I always liked to try and pick up one of those really old small cards as well. The Halls often saved some of the real beaters for me, knowing I didn't have much of a budget.

Even though I probably have 150-200 T206's now, many of HOFers or nice-condition commons, I always have to smile when I see some of those common beaters of mine, knowing they were some of the first vintage cards I ever bought.