When trade cards became popular in the 1800s, few could have imagined their future importance. But those issues coupled with the emergence of American sports came together to provide the earliest sports cards and give the card collecting hobby its origins. What are Trade Cards? Trade cards, quite simply, were a mode of advertising for businesses, products, events, and all
A Few Tips to Collecting Sets in the Pre-War Era There are all sorts of collectors out there. Some focus on individual players or teams. Some have a regional focus. Others are into type collecting, the art of trying to find a card from as many different types as possible (or some variation of that). But since I got into
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I have to preface this by saying, I’m not a huge graded card guy. As a set collector, my cards are often of the lower-grade variety. And I’ve generally handled enough cards in my time to be able to see/feel when something isn’t right with a card in one of my sets. That’s nothing against graded cards and, as I’ve
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Finding the first cards of early athletes can prove challenging Lots of collectors consider themselves to be rookie card enthusiasts. The idea of finding a player’s first card is often a lot of fun. Collecting rookie cards of modern players isn’t too hard. The biggest ‘problem’ is that rookie cards of baseball players these days usually come out long before
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Commence Shenanigans Against my better judgment I’m doing this for another day. Beyond that? Ehhh, I don’t know. I can only sing and dance for so long. If you missed yesterday’s post, you better start here. We’re onto Day 2 if you’re confused already. The National was open yesterday but it was more like a cold open. Dudes were riding
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What is this? Living in nearby Pittsburgh, I had every intention on going to the National this year. I’d never been to one and, as I’m only about two hours away, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Things, though, were just too hectic and getting away for even a day wasn’t too reasonable. I could have done it but I’d
Read moreREA offers free appraisals of your prewar cards and collectibles. To learn more about the value of your items and the options you have if you’re interested in selling, contact them today! I’ll admit to mostly being a fan of raw cards. Most readers here know what I’m talking about when I use that term but, if you are not, these are
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The R873 trade card set features the rough and tumble game of early football. While I had only previously ever seen two cards, a third added to the checklist not only expands the set but provides some clarification. New trade cards continue to be discovered I found the third card to this set like I have for many other early,
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Many affordable pre-war cards are from across the pond I’m often asked about the best, most affordable ways to jump into pre-war card collecting. On the site, I’ve covered numerous topics, including some of the cheapest sets or how to spend your first $100 on pre-war cards. I’ve also covered some of the cheaper individual issues, which you can find
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While there are certainly some, football cards from the 1920s and 1930s aren’t exactly plentiful. The game was really in its early stages on a professional level and football cards didn’t really start to going until the late 1940s. However, this early game card not only represents the sport early on but the argument can be made that it features
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A Look into the Challenges of Pre-War Type Collecting For the most part, I am a set collector. I like the idea of having complete sets rather than a few scattered cards here and there. I tried to focus on one set at a time but after a while, I began adding more issues and currently, I’m either passively (picking
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The American Card Catalog is likely the most important resource in the history of card collecting. Authored by Jefferson Burdick, the book gives us the classifications for most of our vintage cards today, such as T206, E90, and a host of others. If you’re unfamiliar with the book, here’s a quick breakdown. Essentially, the book categorizes cards in different classifications
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