$30 was a lot of money for me in 1979, requiring months of saving. I had started babysitting my younger brothers and sisters for $1 an hour by then, which gave me some extra scratch, but some of that money went to buying packs of current Topps cards, since I collected the set every year. Once a year for my birthday we would go to Pat Quinn and Don Steinbach's Sports Collectors Store in Chicago, and I went to my first card show in 1980. I seem to recall bringing no more than $30 or $40 on such outings, maybe less sometimes. I would never have spent $30 on a single card, but in 1981 I did spend $10 for my first Old Judge at a card show.
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