Night Owl Cards

  I started collecting cards 46 years ago, and as a veteran collector I find myself spinning my wheels a lot. I think other veteran collectors can relate. Usually the new cards aren't interesting enough, but the old cards are too expensive. If I am to obtain cards I truly want, I have to wait -- until the money is around. But I don't like waiting. Often while I'm waiting, I browse and, "well, that looks interesting" and "hmm, maybe I'll try that" and suddenly my horizons have broadened and I like a whole lot more than just the old cards.   Or, I'm collecting some sort of spin-off on the old cards, like so:   These are the latest two cards for my 1975 Topps buyback pursuit. They are cards number 446 and 447, which means I have 68 percent of the 660 cards in buyback form. These were part of my COMC Black Friday order and I am especially amused by the Mets team buyback. That buyback, which is beat to snot -- I don't know why Topps thought somebo...

I may not be able to collect cards like I used to, but I still have my ways of repeatedly reminding people of how things once were. Like the time I jumped on my tricycle to buy milk for my folks' goats on the farm. Tricycles were the main means of transportation at the time. Five o'clock rush was a pickle with tricycles lining both lanes of traffic. But during the day, we used to dig up potato bugs in the yard and ride our tricycle to Ed's Mercantile to trade bugs for tassles for our trikes. Another name for bugs in those days were ticks. "Give me two tassles for five ticks," we'd tell Ed. Now, one day I drove my tricycle to Paul's Market and bought a bright, red, shiny wax package of Fleer trading cards. The wrappers were made from real wax from a beehive in the back of the store. Sometimes Paul would invite me into the back to watch as he stood under the humming hive next to a bubbling pot of wax, creating the wrappers right there in the mercantile. ...

As you know, I live in a city that is considered by many of its inhabitants as an outpost bereft of the diversions that many city dwellers take for granted. It's kind of ironic because the county in which I live is the fastest growing county in the state and has been for several years. While every other county in New York state is dying, mine just keeps on expanding. Yet, everyone complains that you can't find anything here. Although I'm quite satisfied with where I live, I do agree with my neighbors in one area and that is when it comes to buying cards. I've said it over and over, but there is no acceptable card shop, new product is often delayed at least a week in comparison to other areas, and card shows require clearing of the calendar and a full tank of gas. I definitely do not live in a mystical magical card land. But from my point of view, mystical magical card lands DO exist. I can pinpoint four areas in particular: 1. The Southeast, North Carolin...