One of the coolest items I saw this week was an uncut sheet of 1948 Leaf Boxing cards. It sold Monday, May 24, 2021, for $3,383.33.
Abandoning Sets
I wrote an article in October 2020 about a few collecting projects I’ve tackled, and the W512 was one of the sets I mentioned. I also wrote that I tend to complete projects, enjoy them for a short period, and then sell them as my interests pivot.
This week I shared a few cards from my 1926 W512 set on Twitter, saying I was abandoning collecting the set and that the cards were going up on eBay. I mentioned that I kept just two items, the Babe Ruth and a 5-card uncut strip (featuring Babe Ruth) in my personal collection.
There are many reasons for abandoning sets, but here is mine when it comes to the W512s. I recently acquired the last card I needed to complete the baseball set (a Hornsby variant). After a few weeks of examining the cards, exploring their details, and reading other blogs and articles about them, I realized most of the cards didn’t appeal to me; they’re pretty ugly after all. The set (outside of the Ruth) didn’t call to me as something I would enjoy for years to come. So I decided to move on to something else. I realized it was just the key card that I coveted all along.
For me, the key to maintaining joy in the hobby is keeping it fresh with new interests. It’s not a business, so I’ll never regret selling anything. And I will always have digital scans to go back to.
Hobby Reads
- All Vintage Cards had a nice article about whether screw-down holders damage cards.
- Cards That Never Were covered the 1962 NL Battery All-Star Misses.
- A collector put a T205 Gold Border Christy Mathewson under a microscope.
- Sports Collectors Daily highlighted the 1961 Nu-Card Scoops set. It’s a set I’ve been on the cusp of starting at least 5 times.
- Since This Week in Sports Cards #7 came out, I have published 3 posts: 5 Tough Barry Sanders Football Cards; How to Check Wax Packs by the Baseball Card Kid Mark Murphy; and how The 1969 Topps Blue Wrapper Cello Pack Foreshadowed Changes.
1957 Topps Hockey Pack
There was an incredible 1957 Topps Hockey Pack that sold person-to-person via a Facebook forum last week. I missed the sales price, but it’s an incredible item.
The 1957 Topps Hockey set has 66 cards from the four American NHL teams at the time. Its key cards are Johnny Bucyk, Terry Sawchuk, and Gordie Howe.
PSA has only graded 10 of these packs, and there haven’t been many recent sales. But back in 2004, Lelands sold a 1957 Topps Hockey back for just under $2k, and Mile High Card Co sold a GAI 5 for just under $1200 in 2008 with a serial number just three higher (10142277 vs. this pack from Facebook as 10142277).
If you were the buyer, would you try to cross the pack to PSA, try to get Steve Hart to give this pack a review, or just hold it? Let me know down in the comments.
In the News
- SGC has lowered their base rate from $75 to $35 a card.
- eBay is adding some new categories and making minor adjustments to required item specifics for sports card listings.
- Target halted sale of sports cards in retail stores
- Shows are starting to come back.
- CSG is holding a free sports card grading seminar.
Tipps from Topps
A few weeks ago, I picked up a copy of Tipps from Topps on How to Play Baseball.
I’ll write a lot more about this item in a future blog post, but it’s a booklet version of the 15 Bazooka Gum Box Panels printed in 1968 and was meant to be a promotional item.
This is an example of what I mean when I say that “I collect the hobby.”
Hot Tweets
Contact me at john@postwarcards.com if you have any updates, news items, comments, corrections, suggestions, or questions. All are appreciated.