[Alcazar84]

I apologize if this question has been asked before, but I'm new to the forum and really enjoying reading about what everyone else collects. I've been a fan of boxing for most of my life, but I only started collecting about 2 years ago. It's great being a boxing fan because you can get some amazing pieces of history at really affordable prices compared to what lengths a baseball fan would have to go through to get the same kind of item. Not to mention you can still find some great treasures out there that are of little to no value to the general public, so you can get them for a steal.

Here are some of my favorite items. Not necessarily the rarest or most valuable, but favorites none the less.

1888 Jack Havlin Tobacco card - I sold a gentleman a baseball card over Ebay, and he sent me this card for free! What luck!

"Slender Billy's Studio" - This is an aquatint from ca. 1841 depicting two men sparring in a British Prison. It's a great image and a nice piece of history to pick up that put me back about $8.

1909 RPPC of Johnson vs. Jeffries - I picked up a set of two of these for about $80. I immediately turned around and sold one for $100 and kept the other, so it was like I got it for free. I see a lot of these that depict relatively mediocre images floating around listed at high prices, but mine is of a particularly good close up image of Johnson and Jeffries clenched in battle.

Last but not least, my collection of engraved plates from the Boxiana plate volume ca. 1839. What a great collection of images of the earliest of champions and contenders. I love reading their biographies in the volumes of Boxiana that are free to read online. My favorite of the bunch is the Jack Slack in full fighting pose, a rarity as most of the other images feature the fighters in portrait form.

What about you? What are the most prized pieces in your collection? What great steals have you found?