Night Owl Cards

No card era baffles me more than the late 1990s. Brian from Play at the Plate knows this. He knows I collected fewer cards during that time than any other collecting period in my life. And being the supertrader that he is, he recently sent a PWE that contained nothing but cards from between 1996-2000. In other words, he stuffed the envelope with homework. There is no way I will be able to figure out which late 1990s cards I need and which I don't unless I have a few quiet minutes to myself, alone, with a lamp lit above, equipped with my research materials and binders, with a pencil and paper by my side. Now does that sound like homework or what? It's the only way I can do it. Put a card in my hand from the 1980s and I know instantly what it is and whether I own it. Card from the late '90s? I have maybe a 50 percent chance. Can you hand me that giant research volume on the shelf so I can figure it out? I'll get back to you in a few minutes. So, I had a fe...

Christmas greetings, all. I grabbed this card just for you. Pretty early into the Christmas season, I knew this would be a fairly special one. No, people aren't reading the blogs that much lately, nor commenting on them, who has the time, I guess? But it's obvious they're doing something else: they are sending cards at a terrific rate and they are sending them while at least halfway drunk in the Christmas spirit. I already dedicated a post to fellow bloggers/readers' Christmas greetings. And since that time all I've been doing is posting more and more cards that people have sent and pulling more and more cards out of the mail, with lots of Christmas wishes attached. What follows is an incredible selection of items sent my way, all dressed in tinsel and flashing lights. So pour something festive -- no, not that disgusting egg nog -- and enjoy some awfully nice cards from some awfully nice people. OK, I don't know how nice Will -- excuse me, Sant...

I've collected quite a few sets since starting in this hobby, and I've completed dozens and dozens of them. Completing a large trading card set provides a joy that can't be matched by anything else, I've found, at least not in the card-collecting realm. There is a certain amount of suspense in set-collecting. It is such a long haul that sometimes you think you may not be able to finish the job. There are so many cards, and it seems like you've done so much work already, and yet, you have so far to go. Sometimes, when I'm at that point in my set-collecting process, I make it a point to acquire one or a few key cards from that set that will let that doubting collector inside me know that, yes, I can in fact complete this set. Look what I just bought! Look how serious I am about this! This often works, and I end up finishing the set without any more doubts. It's a moment of realization for me, spurred on by one simple act of acquisition. This happene...