Night Owl Cards

This image is a pretty accurate depiction of the warped view I used to have of the hobby. I grew up in collecting during the hobby boom. Rookie card mania, the eruption in card manufacturers, "how much is your collection worth?" Well, how much is it worth? This was the mantra of any and every collector during the 1980s. I would read price guides before I'd drift off to sleep (really). I'd regularly make lists of my most valuable cards. A card was worth whatever the price tag said. But the actual affixing of price tags to my collection didn't come until later. I left collecting around 1994, too overwhelmed by the number of sets and just life in general. When I came back to the hobby about a decade later, one of the first things I did was start reorganizing my collection. But my view of collecting hadn't changed during the hiatus. I basically picked up where I left off. I still thought it was highly lucrative. Maybe not the huge money maker I th...