Have we begun to lose our way a bit?

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Posted By: John

Is it just me or is it sad the hobby I loved as a child has come to this?

In a hobby driven by perfection, meaningless reports and the numbers and grades assigned to them, lets not try to lose our way too much.

What is an advanced collector, I think it’s a question that can’t be answered. Because I believe there is no such thing as an advanced collector. There are people with advanced collections sure, which have been assembled, by people with a love affair for collectibles. These same people driven by their passion and quest for these collections have educated them selves by sharing, learning and researching knowledge with an ultimate end result of growing their collections. These advanced collections are assembled and defined by a number of factors that range from wealth, timing, resourcefulness, and sheer drive to just plain dumb luck.

I certainly don’t believe money to be the root of all-evil, and I’m a big fan of capitalism. However with that said I believe money can taint or distort ones perception of true value. I often wonder how many of these so called “top collectors” or “advanced collectors” would still hold their cards and collections with such reverence if all collectibles were deemed to have no monetary value as of tomorrow. Would they still be driven to get those 8’s and 9’s knowing that they held the same value as my 3’s and 2’s?

I have met very few collectors in my 20 yrs collecting that truly would be comfortable with the above scenario, I myself am not 100% sure I would make the cut. I however have met one that stands out as a top contender, I’m sure you all have a few of your own.

Let me tell you about the closest I have ever met to what I would call an advanced collector. For a couple of years when I was young I was allowed a few hundred dollars worth of cards for my collection every holiday (Christmas, too bad I wasn’t raised Jewish I would have a lot more cards 8 days of Hanukkah). After inquiring about my special interest in older cards we were turned to a man named Dan McKee Sr. My folks called Dan to make an appointment, we arrived at a very normal house in a normal neighborhood outside of Baltimore MD. We were met by Dan at the door and moved to his kitchen table, he offered my folks and I something to drink. Then we explained what I was looking for (T206’s). At the time I was about 13 and had about half the set from a large (Dumb Luck/Timing) find I had a year earlier. He excused himself from the table went down a door into the basement and returned with 2 binders. As he opened the books my heart went into my throat, my eyes became saucers. I had never seen so many cards, he and I used my crude checklist (Beckett #3) and picked out 30 or so commons that I needed. My Dad wrote Mr. McKee a check for a few hundred and we left. I would return a few more times over the next few years each time adding more to my collection, the most valuable thing of all was the knowledge I received each time meeting with Mr. McKee.

On one special occasion after many return visits Mr. McKee asked me if I would like to see some stuff, we went downstairs together where he proceeded to show mountains of cards and sets (52-53-56 Topps Sets, 33-34-38 Goudey Sets, 38-39 Playball Sets, T205, T206, T3, T204 etc.). I was amazed and my parents were even more grateful that a man like Mr. McKee would take so many countless hours showing and talking to a kid about baseball cards, he always smiled and said, “I don’t mind really.” Truth be known I don’t think he did mind, in fact I think we both enjoyed it equally. Here was a man who loved this stuff as much a teenage boy, he wasn’t chatting up a kid to get at his rich parents to make a big sale, and in fact we were probably Mr. McKee’s smallest customers. Sure he was aware of the value and sold cards, but I always got the feeling that he would have had that basement full of wonderful cards if they weren’t worth the paper they were printed on.

Here it is 15yrs later and I’m still collecting and loving it, broke or not. I guess my point is that true collectors aren’t defined by their vast amounts of knowledge, their huge bank accounts, the size and grades, or the amount of items in their collections even. True “advanced” collectors are simply defined by their love and passion for the hobby, and that has no mental, physical, monetary or numerical divide.


Christmas 1991

T3 Hugh Jennings

Value Who Knows? Grade Who Cares?

Memories, Emotions on grading scale of 1-10…. well lets just say it’s the highest graded example in the world (or at least Wonkaticket’s world).