I wanted to share with you a situation that I used to talk about with a former Upper Deck colleague. I also would like to encourage responses, as this is a situation that many of us may struggle with, and honest answers may be very interesting.

We all have been to rummage sales in our day, and are always looking for a good deal. What if that “good deal” was too good of a deal? Hypothetically speaking, if you went to a rummage sale and there was a real Honus Wagner T206 card with a $5 price tag on it, what would you do?

Did I mention this hypothetical situation fielded a nice old lady as the seller? I am going to be straight-up honest. I probably would buy the card and never look back. My defense is that she probably paid nothing for the card and was happy with the $5. I know that is not the politically-correct response that some people may expect, but hey… At least I am being honest.

My former coworker’s answer, even though I am not sure I believe him, was that he would tell her the value of the card and facilitate a sale through a big-time dealer, collector or auction house. He then would probably be entitled to some sort of a finder’s fee.
Another response would be to tell the lady that she has a real treasure and she should get thousands of dollars for the card. This would leave you with no money, but feeling really good about yourself… Not!

I am sure some of my blog readers have even been involved with this sort of situation, probably with a piece a lot less significant than a Wagner, but a similar situation nonetheless.

Let’s see some responses! Does anyone want to share a story? Maybe we should ask these guys.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out T.S. O’Connell’s story on Lionel Carter, and Mastro’s latest acquisition of his card collection, I recommend you do so. Carter was the gentleman who had the majority of his famed collection stolen from his home last year.
The authorities ended up getting his goods back, and as a result, trading card enthusiasts will have a chance to own a piece of the Lionel Carter Collection via Mastro’s Premier April sale.

Speaking of impressive auction offerings coming up this spring, Heritage continues to get bigger and bigger, and probably has its strongest sale to date slated for May 5. Cinco de Mayo won’t only be a celebration with food and drink this year. Heritage’s customers can party it up with its strong selection from all areas of the hobby.

Items to keep an eye on are Heritage’s Lou Gehrig hand-written letter, a compilation of match-used golf bags, a great run of Notre Dame helmets, Packer and Cowboys game-used equipment from solid sources and more.
Previews for Mastro and Heritage are up now.



Now for some entertainment. Remember Don West? God Bless the Internet! Check out these Donnie West diddies I found on Youtube. Gotta love this guy.

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For those of you who don’t know me personally, I am going to periodically tell you my thoughts on the current state of the hobby.

I am a fairly large buyer and seller of vintage Green Bay Packers memorabilia (how could I not be? I only live one hour from Lambeau and am a huge fan of the team’s history). I don’t think I am alone when I say that I have been burned many times during my early days of collecting. I once thought “impeccable source” and “light use” meant everything was A-ok. What I didn’t realize was “light use” meant “no use” and the source probably isn’t all that “impeccable” if the seller doesn’t tell us what exactly it is.

Thank God I am a lot smarter than I once was, but I am still a bit vulnerable considering all of the items I buy over the Internet.

That said, the point of this blog entry isn’t to talk negatively about the hobby. I am going to praise it and talk about something that I really enjoy reading – online forums. The two forums I read most frequently are the Game Used Forums on gameuseduniverse.com and the Vintage Baseball Card Forum.

Now there is definitely some drama that exists in each of these chat boards (lets face it, that’s one of the reasons we read these things). Nevertheless, the groups of people who make up these online communities are some of the most knowledgeable hobbyists out there. I can’t count how many times I have seen board members catch wind of a fraudulent item on eBay or a questionable item in an auction and pitch in their efforts to shut down the sale.
It’s really good stuff.

At each year’s National Card Convention the boys at the Vintage Baseball Card Forum even have an annual dinner, which seems to be very well attended (I only say “seems” because I have never attended). With all the negativity that sometimes surrounds the hobby, it is really great to see fellow collectors getting together and developing new friendships.

When I was in high school, I used to hang out at my local card shop for many hours a week. Seriously, my parents were never worried about where I was because they always knew that I was at Timeout (that’s what the shop was called). Sure, we would do things that were not hobby related, like play cards, play catch in the street, but when it all comes down to it we were there because of our common interests in sports cards. More than ten years have past since my days at the card shop and I am in contact with almost everyone I used to hang out with there.

I currently view message boards the same way I view the bonds and great times I had at Timeout. A place to make long-time friends. All because of the hobby we are passionate about.