Night Owl Cards

  I like to assess my collection periodically via numbers. It's the best way I know to document progress and, for me, accumulating cards is progress (I don't understand collectors who get excited by selling off their cards -- the hobby is called "collecting," not "divesting"). Without totaling my cards periodically, this process would be mindless accumulation. What do I have? I don't know! How about this card in front of me! That's all I can tell you! At least with numbers, I feel like I'm making good time, even if it's still really mindless accumulation but with numbers. So every year at this time, for the last couple of years, I've gone through quickly and added the number of Dodgers I've accumulated each year. It's not super-accurate but It gives me an understanding of how "well" I've done and also I can assess how enthusiastic I was that year. It also is a good window on what was going on in the hobby that year....

This forever stamp of former civil rights activist and literary champion Anne Spencer graced a PWE that I received last week from Nick of Dime Boxes . The average number of cards that fall out of a PWE at my place is nine. Sometimes it's 7 or 8, sometimes it's 10 or 12. The cards that came out of this envelope totaled 22. Yup, 22 cards, halfway across the country, for the price of a 55-cent stamp. I know you don't believe me, and there's nothing I can say or show here that will convince the strongest of doubters. All I can do is provide the cards that came out of the envelope here and let them do the talking: Card 1: A 1975 Hostess of mid-1970s Royals hero Steve Busby. I jumped on this card in one of Nick's Friday giveaways. I am so glad so many collectors are not interested in '70s Hostess cards. Because I can't think of anything much better. Card 2: A 1970 O-Pee-Chee Art Shamsky. I jumped on this, too. I don't think I knew it w...