Stamps and coins first, at maybe 5 years old? Cards sort of later, one pack in 69, one in 71.. not sure if that really counts. I also collected old bottles and insulators, and lots of other stuff over the years. Always sort of kept doing a bit in stamps and cards.
Didn't get really into any of them in a "serious" way until maybe the late 70's.

And it's so very weird that I had T206s before Ted.... Bought my first in late 77, maybe very early 78.

T206 REFERENCE.....Stamps, BB cards, old Cars, which of them did you collect 1st ?
 

Hi Steve

I also collected Coins along with Stamps, but when the neighborhood Diner installed a Baseball Pin-Ball machine, most of my coins were "dumped" into that machine.

I got back into the BB hobby in 1977. I recovered all of my Sportscard collection (1947 - 1952 Bond Bread, Bowman, Topps cards) from my parent's attic. I attended
small BB card shows in Malls in New Jersey....acquiring cards to complete my sets.

Then in March 1981, I went to the Willow Grove Show in Pennsylvania, and my fascination for T206 cards began.

Thanks for reminiscing, Steve.


TED Z

T206 REFERENCE....convenient access to T206 checklists
.

T206 REFERENCE.....Stamps, BB cards, old Cars, which of them did you collect 1st ?
 

And here are my "pride and joy"......my daughter, Zoe, and my classic 1957 T-Bird.

This is the 50th year since I acquired this classic in 1972. It's 312 cubic inch V8 (245 Horsepower) engine still "purrs like a kitten".
It has a 4-speed transmission (which includes Overdrive).

Zoe has a sentimental attachment to this car. She has fond memories from her youth, when we would remove the convertible hard
top and drove over to the Jersey shore during the Summers of the 1970's.
https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...mbattennis.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...nePowerAdv.jpg


TED Z

T206 REFERENCE....convenient access to T206 checklists
.

Baseball cards were my first hobby. I did collect stamps, but it was when I was a little older. Cars came along much later.

Collecting Areas of Interest
 

I started with stamps as well. Mostly US, and like Ted, stamps from Greece (my grandparents were immigrates from Samos).

I'm not sure I was a baseball card "collector". I bought cards with collected glass pop bottle deposit money. They were played with, traded, used and abused. I still have them, but they are very well loved :) So even the cards I buy now are used and well loved, since that's what I remember from my youth.

Having relatives that served during WW1 and WW2 sparked an interest in military history. I still collect and research items that vets brought back with them, along with divisional and unit histories. While serving in France during WWI, Harry Truman often wrote to his fiancé Bess Wallace. In one correspondence he wrote, “I heard a Frenchman remark that Germany was fighting for territory, England for the sea, France for patriotism, and Americans for souvenirs.” :)

Tim

T206 REFERENCE.....Stamps, BB cards, old Cars, which of them did you collect 1st ?
 

Kali Spera, Tim

My parents grew up in Smyrna, then lived in Thessaloniki, before arriving in New York from Greece.

Back in my very young days (in the 1940 - 1950's), I too, would collect empty soda bottles and redeem them.
Two cents for a Coke bottle and a nickel for the larger soda bottles. I purchased a lot of wax-packs with those pennies and nickels.


Thanx for the memories,

TED Z

T206 REFERENCE....convenient access to T206 checklists
.

T206 REFERENCE....Stamps, BB cards, old Cars, which of them did you collect 1st ?
 

I stopped collecting Sportscards in the Fall of 1952.

Moved on to Girls.....and got interested in Comic books, since my first girlfriend collected Comic books.

Thanks for posting.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

T206 REFERENCE....Stamps, BB cards, old Cars, which of them did you collect 1st ?
 

For those of you who haven't seen this, here is the very last 1952 wax-pack I opened in the Fall of 1952.....and the 5 cards that were in it.
I still have them....they are in my near-master 1952 TOPPS set (555 cards)

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...mmantle52t.jpg . . https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ermspenc_1.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...wrapper100.jpg



TED Z

T206 REFERENCE....convenient access to T206 checklists
.

T206 REFERENCE....Stamps, BB cards, old Cars, which of them did you collect 1st ?
 

Hey guys,
I'm sorry for sounding sort of "grumpy"...... but please cease emailing me about selling these cards. If I decided to sell them, I would advertise them
in the B/S/T. I have promised my entire collection to my Grandson Ron. Ron is now the proud owner of my 1952 TOPPS near-master set (555 cards).
Plus, several other TOPPS sets, and certain T206 stars. Eventually, he will have my N162 set (and its Album). And all my T206 sets (as I'm upgrading
certain cards in them).


https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...RonGrad50x.jpg
Me and Grandson Ron....Univ. of Maine graduate.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Hi Ted, I started with coins at 3 years old. I had a pink plastic piggy bank with the plastic cap on the bottom. I've always been into numbers and math my whole life. I'd empty my pennies out and look at them. I noticed that many had different numbers on them and some also had letters under the numbers. So I decided to see how many different ones I could find. I didn't know I was coin collecting until like a year later when I had my pennies all in order on the floor in my room and a friend of my mom's said, I didn't know you were a coin collector, so by 4 years old I had a name to what I was doing. Nobody in my family collected anything, except for my grandfather that lived a thousand miles away, and only saw him a week out of a year or two, for maybe ten times. He collected old steam engines that he'd restore and mount all the different types onto a custom trailer he built, and would travel around the country during the summer months, and display them at engine shows. So I probably got the collecting and mechanical gene from him.

Next came stamps when I was 6, then cards and comic books when I was 7.

In my teen years, I started collecting girlfriends named Jennifer. That went on for a while.

Then in my 20's and up, I was collecting Camaro Z28's and Rally Sports pre 1982. Also, everything that's needed for a custom performance shop, along with vinyl decals and ceramic & powder coatings. Currently everything has been sitting in storage because jobs were coming in slower, and most people were not spending like they used to. So I temporarily closed my 30k sqft business 9 months before covid hit.

I still collect everything, even though I've been trying to consolidate everything the past ten years. My biggest concern is I have no kids, and I'm basically the last person in my family legacy. Plus the big 50 hits this year. Ouch. Just like how many want to buy Ted's collection, many want me to adopt them.