CamaroDMD
Insert Cool Title
It has been a long road back to sports cards...but I think I have reached the point where I have decided that cards will be my primary collecting interest.
I first started collecting cards in the early to mid 1990s. I remember in the early 1990s, as a young kid, I started to get interested in football and as my interest grew...I discovered sports cards. I fondly remember opening one of my first packs of cards...it was a 1992 Skybox Impact football pack. I was probably 7 or 8 at the time. I doubt it was the first pack I ever opened...but I remember pulling a Chicago Bears QB and that was something special...as I had a relative who played for the Bears years earlier. I actually still have that Bears card in my collection...it's a classic, the 1992 Skybox Impact Peter Tom Willis.
I was hooked...I would buy every product I could get my hands on through elementary and into middle school. I remember being particularly fond of 1994 UD Collector's Choice...it was just a product I seemed to find in large quality as a kid and I liked it.
As I got a little older, my friends slowed down on cards and I did too. I discovered coin collecting and really fell in love with that hobby. After a brief (yet passionate) 4-5 years of card collecting, I moved onto coins and left cards in the past. I discovered a small local coin shop where I spent too much time in late middle school and well into high school. Well, the coin shop owner retired...I got more and more into high school sports, girls, and trying to get into college. By the time college rolled around, I didn't have enough money to buy coins...but I still did my research and learned about them. I became a very knowledgeable individual when it came to US coins...especially certain types.
About half way through college...I think in 2006, I discovered Coin Talk. I pretty much spent my hobby life for the rest of college and then dental school on Coin Talk. I didn't have any money, and coins tend to be quite expensive. So, I decided I would just learn...I would read, learn and discuss with other collectors and I came to really have a nice knowledge base. However, during dental school...cards started to creep back in to my thoughts.
I was starting to get overwhelmed with coins. They are SO expensive...and there are SO many problem examples and corruption...I think I was looking for something a little more fun. So, I started to look back into cards...and was amazed to see how much it had changed since I left in 1998 (it was now 2010 or 2011). Plus, what I was interested in was far more affordable. So, I started to pick up a card here and there.
Over the next few years...I picked up a few more. I actually made it a goal to complete a 1967 Topps football set...as a kid I always loved the design but was only ever able to find one card (Len Dawson) at a local shop...with the internet now booming, I was able to complete the set and found a ton of joy in it. I next moved onto my childhood beloved 1994 UD Collector's Choice set...I thought it would be a fun project (and a huge challenge) to put together the gold parallel set. It took several years (not surprising, they were inserted about 1 per box and are 20 years old)...but I did it too. What a thrill it was more me to complete these childhood dream projects.
During this same time, I continued at a very reduced level to collect coins. I picked up one here and there...but really lacked the financial backing to collect at a level that appeals to me. I was able to acquire one of my dream coins (1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent) at a cost of well over $1000...but the cost of that hobby was/is very limiting for me. The strongest attachment to coin collecting was my friends over at CT and simply the desire to learn about coins and their history...the hobby itself was more of a second thought.
Then, something happened. After having been an active member at CT for about 8 years...I had a falling out with one of the more prominent members. We never really got along anyway...but a few things happened and after that, CT just wasn't the same place to me anymore. Combine that with the fact (as all forums do) people had come and gone and many of the members I had known for years were no longer regulars. My ties to CT seemed to be weakening. That was my only social attachment to coin collecting...and with that fading, my ties to the whole hobby began to reduce even further.
Around that time, Peter reminded me about SCC. I think he knew that I was struggling over at CT and felt this might be a good place for me to visit. It was no secret that my coin collecting had decreased and that I was spending a lot more of my collecting time doing sports related stuff.
After spending some time here, I knew that sports memorabilia was my greater interest. I still collect coins, but I feel that I can pick up a coin here and there and satisfy that interest without breaking the bank. I also still post at CT...just not nearly as much as I once did. For now, I am going to focus on collecting cards that interested me as a kid...but probably focus on those "dream" parallel sets I couldn't afford in my youth. As a kid, I would collect the base...but today I go back and find the parallel version I could have only dreamed about back then.
This hobby is bringing me more joy than I ever expected.
I first started collecting cards in the early to mid 1990s. I remember in the early 1990s, as a young kid, I started to get interested in football and as my interest grew...I discovered sports cards. I fondly remember opening one of my first packs of cards...it was a 1992 Skybox Impact football pack. I was probably 7 or 8 at the time. I doubt it was the first pack I ever opened...but I remember pulling a Chicago Bears QB and that was something special...as I had a relative who played for the Bears years earlier. I actually still have that Bears card in my collection...it's a classic, the 1992 Skybox Impact Peter Tom Willis.
I was hooked...I would buy every product I could get my hands on through elementary and into middle school. I remember being particularly fond of 1994 UD Collector's Choice...it was just a product I seemed to find in large quality as a kid and I liked it.
As I got a little older, my friends slowed down on cards and I did too. I discovered coin collecting and really fell in love with that hobby. After a brief (yet passionate) 4-5 years of card collecting, I moved onto coins and left cards in the past. I discovered a small local coin shop where I spent too much time in late middle school and well into high school. Well, the coin shop owner retired...I got more and more into high school sports, girls, and trying to get into college. By the time college rolled around, I didn't have enough money to buy coins...but I still did my research and learned about them. I became a very knowledgeable individual when it came to US coins...especially certain types.
About half way through college...I think in 2006, I discovered Coin Talk. I pretty much spent my hobby life for the rest of college and then dental school on Coin Talk. I didn't have any money, and coins tend to be quite expensive. So, I decided I would just learn...I would read, learn and discuss with other collectors and I came to really have a nice knowledge base. However, during dental school...cards started to creep back in to my thoughts.
I was starting to get overwhelmed with coins. They are SO expensive...and there are SO many problem examples and corruption...I think I was looking for something a little more fun. So, I started to look back into cards...and was amazed to see how much it had changed since I left in 1998 (it was now 2010 or 2011). Plus, what I was interested in was far more affordable. So, I started to pick up a card here and there.
Over the next few years...I picked up a few more. I actually made it a goal to complete a 1967 Topps football set...as a kid I always loved the design but was only ever able to find one card (Len Dawson) at a local shop...with the internet now booming, I was able to complete the set and found a ton of joy in it. I next moved onto my childhood beloved 1994 UD Collector's Choice set...I thought it would be a fun project (and a huge challenge) to put together the gold parallel set. It took several years (not surprising, they were inserted about 1 per box and are 20 years old)...but I did it too. What a thrill it was more me to complete these childhood dream projects.
During this same time, I continued at a very reduced level to collect coins. I picked up one here and there...but really lacked the financial backing to collect at a level that appeals to me. I was able to acquire one of my dream coins (1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent) at a cost of well over $1000...but the cost of that hobby was/is very limiting for me. The strongest attachment to coin collecting was my friends over at CT and simply the desire to learn about coins and their history...the hobby itself was more of a second thought.
Then, something happened. After having been an active member at CT for about 8 years...I had a falling out with one of the more prominent members. We never really got along anyway...but a few things happened and after that, CT just wasn't the same place to me anymore. Combine that with the fact (as all forums do) people had come and gone and many of the members I had known for years were no longer regulars. My ties to CT seemed to be weakening. That was my only social attachment to coin collecting...and with that fading, my ties to the whole hobby began to reduce even further.
Around that time, Peter reminded me about SCC. I think he knew that I was struggling over at CT and felt this might be a good place for me to visit. It was no secret that my coin collecting had decreased and that I was spending a lot more of my collecting time doing sports related stuff.
After spending some time here, I knew that sports memorabilia was my greater interest. I still collect coins, but I feel that I can pick up a coin here and there and satisfy that interest without breaking the bank. I also still post at CT...just not nearly as much as I once did. For now, I am going to focus on collecting cards that interested me as a kid...but probably focus on those "dream" parallel sets I couldn't afford in my youth. As a kid, I would collect the base...but today I go back and find the parallel version I could have only dreamed about back then.
This hobby is bringing me more joy than I ever expected.
