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Posted By: jay behrens

Daniel, if you really think this board is a small fish in the big ocean of collecting, then you are deluding yourself. There is no single place that provides more knowledge about vintage cards than this site. Many of the top dealers and collectors frequent this board and provide their knowledge and insight. Many of these dealers and collectors have been around since the 70s adn early 80s.

No one is deriding your choice to own nothing but slabbed cards. Go ahead and collect that way, if that's what makes you happy. Just know that when you finally find that once in a lifetime collection of cards at an estate sale or garage sale, you will lack the requisite knowledge and experience in handling real cards to know the difference between a real and fake card when you hold a raw card in your hand. Nothing can substitute for holding a card in your hand. You get to learn what the paper stock should look like, how it should flex, how the light should reflect of it, what the card should like on the edges, whether it is one piece of cardboard, or several layers glued together. You cannot see the edges of a slabbed card to learn this information.

We may come across as holier than thou when it comes to card knwoledge because the knowledge we have obtained was hard fought for and tooks years and the handling of thousands of cards to gain this knowledge. Now with the internet, what took us old schoolers 10 years or more to learn can be learned ina matter of months, less the card handling. Nothing can substitute for that. You'll have to pardon our holier than thou attitute you seem to think we have, as we have earned this right.

And you are right, you don't need to know how to set the timing on a 59 Vette to own one, but you if plan on buying one, you better know what came ona stock one and the other details you needed to know in order to a good investment quality car.

Collect whatever you want, the way you want, but don't chastise us because we have knowledge that you will never have because of the way you collect.

Jay

A good friend will come bail you out of jail. A true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn, that was fun."