A collecting memory just crossed my mind.
When I was in middle school, back around 1990, I remember coming up with a hypothetical question for my stepbrother. He was a few years younger than me, but we had some common interests for sure, like watching baseball, playing Wiffle ball in the backyard, and collecting cards.
Here's the question I asked him:
Imagine you had a tree in your backyard that produced packs of trading cards instead of fruit. As long as you only took one pack from the tree each day, it would produce more packs indefinitely. But if you took any additional packs that day, it would turn into a normal tree, never to produce cards again.
Would you be able to follow that one rule?
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| Waxpaxicus americanus (1978 variety) |
Unfortunately I don't remember my stepbrother's exact answer, but I think the gist of it was that he would take as many packs from the tree as he could in one day, even if it meant he wouldn't get any more after that. (He was only about 7 or 8 years old at the time. Can't blame him for that response. After all, if it was a big tree in full bloom, there would have probably been hundreds of wax packs ripe for plucking.)
In any case, the question provides a fun little exercise in willpower analysis. And I suppose it takes on different flavors if you get more specific with the packs.
For example, if all the packs were 1956 Topps baseball, I think some collectors would be pretty tempted to grab as many as they could on the first day.
1991 Fleer, on the other hand? That tree might be flourishing for a lonnnnng time.
What if the packs first blossomed as junk wax, but as they "ripened", they became more and more vintage? Would you have patience then? I bet you would. (And I bet you'd see at least a few other collectors down at the local garden supply store looking for saplings.)
I haven't gone so deeply into all this until now, but it's definitely fun to expand on the idea.
So let's go back to the time when I asked my stepbrother that question. Baseball cards were having quite a boom. The Score company joined the scene in 1988. A year later the Bowman brand returned. And of course Upper Deck made a big splash that same year with their iconic 1989 set and the Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card.
Oh, and don't forget some of the famous (or infamous) error cards that had us all talking.
I look back at that era with a tremendous amount of fondness.
So how about you readers and fellow collectors?
(1) Which wax pack sapling (year, brand, and sport) would you buy and plant first?
(2) Could you maintain the "one wax pack per day" rule once that tree started bearing fruit?
Share in the comment section. I'm interested to read your answers!
