Thanks Jim

Mantlefan

Thank you for inviting me to your party today. Good food, good talk and THAT ROOM. Seeing 20,000+ cards so beautifully displayed was awesome. As people entered THAT ROOM the OMG's were coming from everyone's lips. Thank you for sharing!

GOODLIEU

Hi Frank it was great meeting you today. I posted this message on the original open house thread but just repasted it to insure that whatever thread Jim looks at will truly show are heartfelt thanks for opening up his home to us today.
Take care
Art
Where do I begin? I along with Mike Rakosi,The Rabbi and Jeff Mullins attended Jim Crandell's open house in New Jersey to take a look at his collection. I did not quite know what to expect but I figured it would be a blast to see his collection and exchange ideas and stories with the other collectors who were attending. It took us about an hour to arrive due to the traffic and my navigational skills in directing Rakosi onto the correct roads. I think I am permanently banned from touching any maps in his car . Upon arrival at Jim's beautiful home we were greeted by him at the front door and after some introductions he directed us downstairs to see what we had come for. This is the part which regardless of how I try I cannot accurately convey or put into words the magnitude of what my eyes were seeing. A pretty decent size room with the tables,walls (Racks) and pillars filled with row after row of graded cards. Tables beautifully stacked with Baseball,Football,Basketball Hockey,non sports and ungraded oddball sets wax packs and all kinds of interesting and coveted items in immaculate condition. For the first few minutes you are there you are actually stunned and everyone is muttering (Oh my God!/I don't believe this/Unreal etc etc) You are like a kid in a candy store and as a collector of any items you are literally humbled. After awhile when your through just staggering around the room trying to absorb what you are seeing you start to zone in on looking at what ever your particular collection is comprised of and admiring and understanding what devotion, Love and dedication go into such a undertaking. The fellow collectors their were great people and we all as a group could not thank Jim enough for allowing us to enter his home to see this truly remarkable collection. Thank you again Jim

Davalillo

Frank and Art,

It was great having the two of you and the other 10 collectors. I think only Jeff and Bernie and of course Brian had seen the room before.

You two and any other collectors are of course welcome to see it anytime.

We will do it again soon.

Jim

PlayBall

I'll echo the sentiments of the others. Wonderful time meeting everyone, and listening to the great stories of some of the real hobby heavyweights. And of course, thanks to Jim for the invitation. It is always very appreciated. After today, I'm all fired up to start collecting basketball. That's if Mike Rakosi will let me.

Davalillo

Collectors may think Bernie is kidding but he is not.

The only way to complete 48 Bowman, 57 Topps in 8 or better and perhaps 61 Fleer as well and Topps Test in high grade is if he lets you.

He seems to know where every card is and bids on every card to insure nothing goes cheap.

And Jefff Mullen is a fountain of knowledge about basketball cards--certainly the most knowledgeable person in the hobby I would venture.

Jim

uniship

I MUST MAKE IT NEXT YEAR. It sounds absolutely INSPIRING!

Jim - what you do in letting others see and enjoy your collecting is nothing short of AWESOME, and I think this is what collecting cards is all about. Congrats on the HOF - please keep doing your annual party - I think in years to come literally hundreds will want to attend. I know I will - all the way from FL.

EP

DaBigHurt

Sounds like you guys had a great time. Did anyone take pictures? and if not, would it be asking too much for Davalillo to post some pictures of his room?

Classiccarl

Hi Jim:

I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to be able to attend the card party at you home. Your collection of cards is just magnificent, and was well worth the trip from Allentown. I had a great time meeting everyone, and listening to their stories. Thank you for the opportunity.

Again, congratulations on you induction into the PSA Collectors Hall of Fame.

Carl Riegger
( Classiccarl@hotmail.com )

mikeschmidt

Jim-

Sorry that I was not able to attend. Sounds like I missed a wonderful day!

NeilDowney

Here is a repost of what I said on the house party thread. I didn't want anyone or Jim to miss my comments

Hi Guys, I must second the thought of "OH MY GOD". It was the most incredible collection that I have ever seen. All of the high grade prewar sets that I had only seen in books were right in front of me. Every stack of PSA holders were 25 cards deep and there were hundreds of piles. I had a hard time breathing at first while taking it all in. Jim is now a PSA Hall of Famer who truly has a "Hall of Fame" collection in his house that nobody could ever imagine. Thank you Jim for your kindness to my son Eric and I. I could never dream of having such a massive set but I can hope to be invited to your beautiful home again next year. Neil

Buckwheat

Jim,


Some day I hope to be able to get up there and have the oppportunity to enjoy your awesome collection. I can only imagine it. I know how much work I have put into my one puny 61 set. I can't even fathom achieving even a portion of what you have done.
Rob

FB

Hey Buck,

I was figuring on opening up my house and showing off my 72 set. I figured if I had a bag of Doritos and a 6 pack of Iron City that the comparisons between my collection (and party) to Jim's would pretty much be to scale!

Frank

Davalillo

Thanks guys but I am in awe of your individual sets. Here are guys that own individual sets that are number one in their year that are simply amazing.

Maybe the next party each guy could bring his own favorite set.

I for one would love to see these #1 sets for 57 Topps, 55 Bowman, 72 Topps, 61 Topps, 62 Civil War News among others that these guys own.

Jim

Fuzz

Jim,
One lump message. Congratulations on the HOF. Well deserved and I can't think of anyone who deserves it more. More congrats on a now ridiculous number of "all 8" sets. We have many of the same sets but few of mine are all 8. It is always those last few and I admire your tenacity at getting through those. It is simply amazing.
Now on to real business. I am gald you had a great party and your generosity of sharing your collection is second to none. But you only had sane guys there as I see that none of your FB buddies made it there here. It's not that we didn't want to be there but here is what I pieced together.

Wolfbear did indeed gas the vehicle and hit the road. It appears that he found a "hot nudie bar" in Elko Nevada and blew his gas money as well as several days. Maybe we can get him a different route next year.

Shouldabeen didn't make it either. He was planning on getting there but didn't want to get caught in all the World Cup traffic on the freeway that day.

Skinsfan also a no show. It appears that he couldn't get the Visa for his passport to travel out of country from Maryland to New York. Next year he will apply earlier.

And for me. The parole officier still says I can't leave the state. So maybe sometime down the road. Besides we should do this in beautiful 115 degree Phoenix in June and find out who the real card lovers are.

Fuzz
PS. This just makes a few of your sets targets because we all want to say we are ahead of the HOF'er. Even if it is on only one out of 125 sets.

Davalillo

Fuzz,

For all the grief I took from Shouldabeen you think he would have made it--he said something about a long weekend with some babe on the French Riviera and that he was going to sell me the last two Mayrose Franks to fund it.

Funny post and thanks for the congrats--to a guy who is killing me in the 60s Olympics.

Dav