My Raw Card Collection
jfkheat
Posts: 2,745 ✭✭✭✭✭
Here are a few pictures of what is left of my vintage card collection. I won't bore you with my collecting history. I haven't bought any vintage cards since around 2000. In 2001 I started selling off my collection. This is some of the cards that I never got around to selling. I also kept the only two vintage sets i ever put together, 1969-70 Topps basketball and 1970 Topps baseball. In the thread about trimmed cards I posted about the 53 Bowman Mantle. I'm pretty sure there are other cards here that have been trimmed.
James
James
0
Comments
IMF
yes some trimmed..but as long as you are just admiring and not grading that's ok.
Get a new modern chrome card and keep it for a template for 1957 and later topps.
Put side to side to match up
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
How did you get interested in cards? Were you influenced by parents, or friends and / or rivals at school? Who was your favorite player to collect, and why? What is your favorite card you own, and why? Of all the cards you never got, which 3 would you still love to have, and again, why? What are your personal feelings, and fears, of third party grading? Do you regret selling your collection? In a nutshell, what was it about the remnant (the cards you kindly displayed for us) that moved you to hang on to them?
If you don't want to deal with the questions, fine; but please know that I care as a fellow collector. You have some wonderful old baseball cards there. Have a swell day, fellow collector. ---Indiana Jones (Brian Powell)
To answer some of Brian's questions. My brother says we bought cards as kids but I don't remember it. In 1987, I was 30, I started buying packs for my 4 year old godson. Buying for him got me interested in collecting. I collected mostly current cards for a year or two. Around 1990 is when I became really interedted in vintage cards. I still bought a lot of current cards throughout the 90's. I picked up quite a few Mickey Mantle cards. If I remember correctly I had 38 or 39 when I stopped buying. I never had the 51 or 52 Mantles or the 53 Topps. My favorite card that I had was a 54 Red Heart Dog Food that ended up in a PSA 6 holder. When I decided to sell off my cards I wanted to have them graded before selling. I use the Beckett grading service because I didn't have to pay to join to be able to get cards graded. My first shipment to Beckett was 11 cards, mostly Mantles. I had the 58 AS and the regular 61, 63 and 68 all come back BVG 8. I think there were 8 Mantles in this group that graded BVG 7 or better. I sent one more shipment to Beckett and got nailed pretty hard on a few cards because of centering. I finally signed up with PSA and cracked some of the BVG cards out and sent to PSA. I had a 54 Bowman go from BVG 4.5 to PSA 6 and a 56 Topps go from BVG 4.5 to PSA 7. Of the group of cards I posted, the 55 Bowman Mantle, 48 Bowman Musial and the 51 Bowman Ted Williams were all returned as trimmed. None of the others have ever been sent for grading.
The reason I sold off the cards is because I got married in 2011 and needed the money to buy a house for my new family. I went from being single to a family of 4. With the vintage cards and newer cards I sold I raised what I needed so I kept what was left.
I never really quit collecting completely. I would still buy boxes and packs from Walmart, Target or a local card shop. I almost always collected something. I did pocket watches, pottery and classic cars. Around August or September of last year is when I got back into collecting cards. Unopened 1980's boxes is pretty much all I buy now. I have been following this forum since 2006 and have been in quite a few of the group rips on here over the years. I would always buy packs to open and maybe a full box to hang on to. I was one of the guys that got caught up in the mess with the member here that was doing group rips with resealed packs.
Sorry for the long post,
James
Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to tell us about your collecting life. Again, you needn't be sorry. I loved reading every word. Sounds as if you've had ups and downs, like the rest of us. Hope married life is treating you especially well. My wife has been very supportive of my collecting, though I have a tender conscience and must be careful. Besides, somebody gave my darlin' and I a marble rolling pin for a wedding gift. The family joke is that if I get out of line, she'll use it on my noggin. She hasn't as yet, though there have been times when I frankly deserved it! I read with great interest your once having collected Mickey Mantle. He has been the primary focus of my adult collecting life. I've also had to part with a major bunch of cards, as well as many precious Micks, some of which I truly regret now, though it was for a good cause----down payment on a house.
Wasn't that 1954 Red Heart Mickey Mantle a beautiful card? A real honey---great design, terrific photo of Mickey, and part of a send away promotion. You probably already know this, but those Red Hearts could be obtained from John Morrell, the company that produced the dog food, as late as the early 70s, for just a few dollars. Though they were plentiful during the 60s--80s, over time the massive demand for Mickey vacuumed up every one! I sure miss mine, which was probably Ex-Mt as yours. Oh well, we make our choices in life, for reasons good and not so good.
Take care, and Merry Christmas, my collector friend. ----Indiana Jones (Brian Powell)