Featured pick-ups
1.) I think the card companies left on the block gouge the consumer - you have these boxes for $75 or more and you know the only thing in them are token hits i.e. maybe common GU cards and common AU cards [featuring no-name rookies]. I'm not going to say what anyone wants to bust, but busting boxes to pull single-swatch jersey cards, maybe a couple of autographs and a patch card of a lousy player isn't my centerpiece 'activity' in my collecting life.

2.) At a card show I was at over the weekend, I dug through some commons bins in order to look for unique cards - it dawned on me that a lot of brands of really nice looking cards were conceived and printed through the late 1990s. I was enamored by the featured premium quality technology [glossy, foil stamping], graphics, full-bleed images that told the story.

3.) You probably would have never seen these cards if you weren't standing there at that moment, flipping through them - you end up realizing however, since these cards are so 'old' [i.e. from years like 1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1997 Topps Stadium Club, 1998 Fleer Tradition, 1998 Fleer Ultra, 1998 Upper Deck, 1999 Fleer Tradition, 1999 Fleer Ultra, 2000 Fleer Ultra and 2001 Fleer Ultra] and years have gone by so fast already.

I'm sure someone busted them for something back in the day - but I got the sense these cards are about as worthless to collectors as those printed during what seemed to be the the golden years[1986-1991] of overproduction.


4.) I ended up picking up an initial 75 cards for $3 - was bored and eventually got around to picking up another 75 cards [maybe two extra] for $2 [looks like the guy at the table shaved off a buck from the total].


5.) For some collecting topics, the cards and/or players fitting the criteria don't always appear to be obvious - you have to scrutinize every card, because you don't want to miss one you can add. You have fun, you scan them, you put them in a database and there is your hobby. These days, we all want hits, but sometimes it is nice to be a little low-end, a little retro, get something good and plenty.