Check out this 3 page SCD ad from 1985

[brianp-beme]

Getting a Sports Collector's Digest every other week was such an incredible feeling for me, which I assume was the same for other collectors back in the day. First I would race through the issue checking out each and every ad to see what old cards popped up (and what I could possibly buy!), and then went back and read the articles that interested me. The whole process was not quick...during the mid-1980's each issue was about 300 pages, and about 2/3rds were ads (not all vintage...plenty/more of 1980's cards as well). Not quick, but incredibly exciting. Man, I miss that way of collecting. Being a lower condition collector, it didn't usually matter if the seller's grading was that accurate or not. It was still an old card!

I was checking out this issue today, and had to share this 3 page ad. Check out the selection and prices. Didn't get a single card. What was I thinking? It looks like a T206 Carolina Bright card(s) was available, but still haven't spotted it. And look how many of each HOF'er, and how in general 1930's cards were more expensive than their 1910 counterparts. I will provide closeups in the next couple of posts.

Enjoy!

Brian

[brianp-beme]

Close-ups of the top half of the pages.

Brian

[brianp-beme]

Final close-ups of bottom half of each page.

Brian

[Huysmans]

Very cool, thanks for posting Brian.
My memory could be wrong, but I had a subscription to SCD in the late-1980s/early-1990s and I seem to remember it arriving weekly as opposed to bi-weekly. Maybe it changed sometime in the mid-to-late-1980s?

[topcat61]

I can remember back in the late 1990's buying T206's for under $5.00 and before that a dealer was saying that he was selling them for a buck each in the early 1980's. This is really neat, thanks for posting it.

[cannonballsun]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

Very cool, thanks for posting Brian.
My memory could be wrong, but I had a subscription to SCD in the late-1980s/early-1990s and I seem to remember it arriving weekly as opposed to bi-weekly. Maybe it changed sometime in the mid-to-late-1980s?

My recollection is that it was weekly in the late 80's and early 90's. EBay hurt it a lot, as for as all the ads went, plus the new card market went to hell. Sometime around that time, it went to every 2 weeks. Maybe the mid- 2000's ?
I could be wrong on all of that. That's my foggy recollection.

[Stampsfan]

Of course I could buy a beer then for under two bucks too.

I recall SCD coming to me weekly also.

[brianp-beme]

In the mid-80's it was definitely twice a week (mentions this on cover of the issue this ad came from), then afterwords at some point like others mentioned it went weekly.

Brian

[Ronnie73]

Thanks for sharing those scans. Getting the publications in the mail was so much fun. Many new collectors will never understand the excitement because now you just go on the internet and find anything. I was getting SCD, Coin World, and Linn's Stamp News. I started getting them in 1982 when I was 9 years old. New subscriptions each year were given to me for my birthday from my mom. I wish I had the card vintage bug back then. I was more focused on coins back then.

[robw1959]

The resolution isn't too bad, really. I was able to read every price once I enlarged the screen font (ctrl +). The highest price I saw was a VG Cobb for $160.

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Final close-ups of bottom half of each page.

Brian

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by robw1959

The resolution isn't too bad, really. I was able to read every price once I enlarged the screen font (ctrl +). The highest price I saw was a VG Cobb for $160.

Man, thanks for teaching me something about my computer. Over the years I think I have learned more about how to work with my computer just by my desire to participate on this forum. Thanks hobby folk!

Brian