I'm Not an Accumulator. Really.

From the time I rediscovered my childhood trading card collection in my mother's attic and returned to the hobby in 2014, I've thoroughly been a "quality over quantity" guy. In fact, one of the first things I did back then was to separate the cards that had a high nostalgia factor from the ones I wasn't really attached to. I brought the sentimental cards home with me, and the rest stayed up in the attic for quite a while, until I found some time to post them on sites like craigslist, or give them to my little nephew.

 

Over the past decade, I've certainly added cards to my collection—completing sets from my childhood, picking up some '80s rookies and oddballs I always wanted, and buying some fantastic cardboard from earlier decades. But still, I'm not an accumulator by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, according to TCDB, my entire collection only totals about 32,000 cards. And almost two thirds of that is my childhood collection.

That being said. . .

. . . Why have I just come home with all of this?!

Let me explain.

It's facebook marketplace. 

It tempted me. And even the staunchest of quality-over-quantity guys can stray from the narrow road on occasion.

 

Now, if you've taken a moment to look through that image, you've probably noticed a fair amount of junk wax. And you'd be correct. Most of this collection is made up of baseball and hockey from the early 1990s. Despite this, I went ahead and made the purchase, because the cards are right in my wheelhouse. What you see in that image hearkens back to a time in my adolescence when I was still playing baseball, but also really getting into the sport of ice hockey. And as a result, my trading card portfolio was diversifying. So this collection gave me some good vibes. And good vibes should always go along with what you collect.

Oh, and on top of all that, the seller lived about 10 minutes away. That made the decision even easier.

 

So, look at that picture again. If you're anything like me, you'll know the first question I asked the seller:

 

Are there any sealed packs in those boxes, or are they all loose cards?

 

His reply?

 

All loose cards.

 

And if you're anything like me again, this is how you felt.

I mean, the least he could have done was photograph all the boxes with open lids, or state clearly in the listing that the boxes only contained loose cards. 

But it's fine. That's why you ask questions, right? And regardless, there was still a lot to take in. At least one of those open boxes had a lot of baseball cards from the '70s inside, and there was also a stack of New York Mets photographs from the same era. So I was still intrigued.

 

And right at that moment of intrigue, the seller came back with another message:

 

I also have 2 card albums to throw in. Both hockey.

 

I've got a thing for fun, old-school trading card binders like the one on the right. And at the price he was asking, he was practically making me buy the whole lot.

 

So how much was all of this? you ask?

 

The answer is $25.

 

I know, I know. You don't have to remind me that despite the reasonable price, the lot probably contains about 90% junk wax. That means I've currently got thousands of junk wax cards sitting in boxes on my office floor. But it's fine. The cards that I'm not interested in will be donated somewhere, or offered back up on marketplace. And who knows? There might be one or two gems amongst all the boxes. After all, even the junkiest of junk wax sets usually had some kind of insert card to chase.

 

I haven't had time to look through most of the collection yet, but I'm going to do so over the next week and share my findings here on the blog.

 

How do you think I did? What looks the most intriguing to you? What do you think I might find?

Share in the comment section, and stay tuned for the results!