What’s Your Collector Origin Story?

[TheFrenzy]

It’s been forever since I’ve seen one of these threads and we’ve had a ton of new members join over the years.

So what drew you to the hobby and how did you get your start?

[Jaysabz]

Born in 1979, suburbs of Philadelphia.

I can remember back to being 6-7 years old, every Sunday we would watch the Eagles or listen to the Eagles. Back in the day, if all of the tickets for the game at Veterans Stadium were not sold, the local TV stations would black out the game, so we would have to listen by radio.

Come late October / early November, we would always have a fire in the fireplace whether we were watching on TV or just listening on the radio.

Being from outside of Philadelphia, the logical vacation point would be the Jersey Shore, but our family went up into the mountains each year, staying at one or more of the residences at the Split Rock resort.

The Gallaria had a gift shop, and in that gift shop they sold the
Action Packed cards, which were textured, and the Wild Card football cards, where a card could have a banner across it saying it was worth X of that same card. They could now be both one in the same, my memory evades me.

Collected Eagles a lot in the late 80s, got out of the hobby in the 90s and 00s, got back into the hobby about 2015 and left after the COVID bubble from 2020 onwards. Buy some singles here and there but no wax since the bubble, it's too overpriced.

[ninjacookies]

Waterboarded and forced to rip 3 searched boxes of '91 Pacific at a Cambodian internment camp on my 19th birthday.

Stockholm ain't a city. It's a way of life.

[TheFrenzy]

Started collecting as a kid in the early 90s. The local Video Station as well as the skating rink both had quarter-operated little vending machines that dispensed random assortments of cards. Sometimes you'd get lucky and hit something shiny like a Skybox Impact "Power" card. That was how I accumulated my first 100 cards, five at time on the weekends while renting a video game.

Then we made a trip to Ohio to visit relatives and I got to see the Hall of Fame. Right next to it was a small mom-and-pop antique shop that sold bundles of 100 cards (wrapped in saran wrap) for $5. I think I bought five of them.

For the next few years I picked up cards wherever I could and in the largest quantities I could. Why pay $10 at Wal-Mart for a pack of 5 "premium" cards when I could get 50 cards in a random value box of repackaged cards??? So pretty soon I somewhere between 3,000-5,000 cards and a stack of Beckett magazines. (My grandmother would renew my subscription every year for Christmas.)

But by the time I turned 15 my grandmother had passed, I had a girlfriend and a driver's license, and I was more interested in touching boobs than organizing binders. I actually forgot I even had a collection by the time I got to college.

Then in 2011, after I'd gotten married and moved back to my hometown, my mom called and said she found something while cleaning out my old closet. The next day I bought my first ever hobby box (2011 Prestige), pulled my first jersey (Palmer/Manning/Rodgers/Brady quad) and my auto (AJ Green passport), and was hooked again.

Now I can touch boobs while organizing my cards and I live a fairly content life.

[49erRCCollector]

Born in 1974, moved to the Bay Area just as a certain Joseph Montana and his 49ers were taking over the league. My father worked at a decent-sized (now defunct) grocery chain and would get samples of stuff from vendors which included boxes of early 80s Fleer baseball stickers, Topps and Fleer Baseball cards and factory sets. Oh, and Garbage Pail Kids, which I heavily collected at one point. But I didn't care for baseball, and the Phoenix Suns (I lived in Phoenix for a while) weren't igniting my collecting gene. My dad took me to to some Suns games early, but only to see his Lakers when they were in town... a team that which I later adopted.

Later, I bought a ton of early 90s basketball but started Super Collecting Steve Young and had almost everything of his until about 1995. I went to almost every 49ers home game in the 90s. I switched to comics from 1995-early 2000s but the siren call of football came back and armed with my then considerable disposable income re-entered the hobby with the goal of having a raw rookie card for every player to ever suit as a 49ers from 1981 to present.

Got bored by that and switched to PSA graded rookies of players who's first card is as a 49er. I've kind of locked in on that now, and have been pursuing it ever since. Its more of a slow crawl to add new stuff now, as I have so much, but I pick also up what strikes my fancy. But Only Niners, or Niners-related.

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

Now I can touch boobs while organizing my cards and I live a fairly content life.

I hope you don't mean your own. You might want to clarify.

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

I hope you don't mean your own. You might want to clarify.

Life is more fun with a bit of mystery.

[ReggieBush22]

Voted, "I randomly wandered into an LCS".

Not quite the case but closest. It was 1986, i was 10, and i saw a 1986 Topps baseball wax box with the Pete Rose displayed at my local liquor store in Los Angeles. Was attracted, bought a pack and i was hooked.

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by ReggieBush22

i was 10...at my local liquor store in Los Angeles

God bless America.

[oplum29]

friend of mine from school game me this 1990 Pro Set Joe Montana card.

from that moment on, i was a Joe Montana fan, a 49ers fan, a football fan, and football card fan.

to me, it is still the prettiest card i have ever owned.

[ssbledsoe]

You might say "Drew" drew me into the hobby

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by oplum29

friend of mine from school game me this 1990 Pro Set Joe Montana card.

from that moment on, i was a Joe Montana fan, a 49ers fan, a football fan, and football card fan.

to me, it is still the prettiest card i have ever owned.

I just realized that the NJ scammer creep posted his "Montana Pro Set error" phishing thread just a few hours after you posted this.

How lazy can some of these degenerates be?

[oldgoldy97]

Originally Posted by ssbledsoe

You might say "Drew" drew me into the hobby

Surprised you weren’t MOtioned out.

[splitrockgamer]

The bottom two people need to be more honest about. Maybe not the origin, but it is what keeps me around.

[ssbledsoe]

Originally Posted by oldgoldy97

Surprised you weren’t MOtioned out.

I was MOtioned out once, but it wasn't enough to keep a good man down

[Grid]

It started off as a way to bond with my Dad. Like many of his generation, he collected cards as a kid, and his Mom threw them out. He bought me a complete set of 1985 Topps Football from a local hobby shop here in Chicago.

The next year, he would take me there to buy a few cellos of 1986 Topps football, and we started putting sets together by hand. I would then trade my dupes with kids at school, as most every boy in my class collected cards as well.

Like others, boobs over cards by the time I was in 7th grade. And I sold/gave away everything I had for pocket money in the mid 90s.

Started up again in 2000, because for no particular reason I wanted a Brian Urlacher rookie card. The cards in 2000 were NOT the card I collected in the 80s. They were valuable, short printed, numbered, signed or even had a slice of jersey/pants/ball/shoe/helmet in them. They were cool!

That lead to me buying/busting to sell, which lead to me moving into memorabilia as well, which lead to me doing private signings, which lead to me bringing in players to do private signings for others.

Then I had my first kid 10 years ago, and just didn't have the time to do the hustle. Sold all my cards for about $75K, and put a bigger focus on game used and rare memorabilia pieces.

I still have connections, and will still bring players to do signings every now and then. I just had Dan Hampton and Mark Bortz at my office for a holiday party. Just nothing on the scale of what I had going in the 2000's.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by Grid

It started off as a way to bond with my Dad. Like many of his generation, he collected cards as a kid, and his Mom threw them out. He bought me a complete set of 1985 Topps Football from a local hobby shop here in Chicago.

What a great year for you to get a set from as a kid, being a Bears fan!

[Skipscards]

[Grid]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

What a great year for you to get a set from as a kid, being a Bears fan!

For sure! Looking back, I bet it was all the buzz of that team that even got my Dad thinking about collecting cards together. The city went bonkers for all things Bears in 85.

[PrimeTimeScott]

These are always so much fun to read. I was born in 1973 and I started collecting in middle school when a couple other kids started trading cards in front of me. One kid had his mom laminate his cards to "protect them" (I think I have a couple that I traded from him in a box somewhere). I super collected Jose Canseco and my mom bought old Denver Broncos cards when we went to card shows before I could drive. She had a great collection until we stopped going to card shows in about 1995. I switched to collecting memorabilia since it displays better (I have about 200 signed mini helmets and ton of autographed 8x10s). In 2009, I started collecting football cards again focusing on Eddie Royal who was my favorite Bronco WR for a couple of years, and in 2011 I asked my mom if I could look at her old Broncos cards. I found the Beckett online checklist and I have been focused on expanding the Broncos collection ever since. I guess I have OCD, as I always tend to super collect certain players and now have added Shannon Sharpe, Steve Atwater and former players who are on local radio. It is hard to collect a team these days, so I just focus on the base and insert cards collecting about 250 each year as binders can pretty easily hold 1,000 cards. Every four years I start a new binder. I think that provides a pretty good view of the hobby and the team if they were in a museum (but there are so many other interesting ways that people collect)!!

[51CardDeck]

I was born in 1973, San Francisco and grew up in San Mateo. I was 4 at the time and we were at the grocery store and my mom asked me what I wanted from the candy display at the counter. I chose a pack of 1977 Topps baseball. I didn't even know what it was, but it had a picture of a baseball player on the pack and I wanted it. From that day on I was hooked. My mom would buy me a pack everytime we went shopping. Eventually she purchased boxes and gave me a pack a day after school until middle school.

I went to my first Nationals at the Moscone center in 1987 and purchased my first Mickey Mantle ($300 at the time).

I've always loved getting in-person autographs and have accumulated a decent collection.
I also have decent collection of various autographed memorabilia.

All the shiny cards are great, but my love is still vintage. Nowadays, graded vintage.

I'm in the process of teaching my 4 year old daughter about collecting. She likes the Pokemon, Marvel and shiny cards. She understands that the cards need to be protected in plastic so it doesn't get damaged. What really got her interested was when I started making custom cards of her via Topps.com.

[the mesiah]

It was love at first sight

[BLJ]

Cool thread. When I was a baby a family member gifted me a set of Marvel cards in a binder and my family kept it for me so when I was a kid and aware, I always would look at them and enjoy seeing my favorite characters. I think it grew from there. Growing up in the 90s/2000s I was also a kid when Pokémon cards were on fire so the whole card collecting thing has been something for me for awhile. It transitioned to sports cards when I started paying attention to sports and liking the idea of collecting my favorite teams. They used to have cards in vending machines at the supermarket and anytime mom got me some I always had a fuzzy feeling when I got a card from a team I liked. Guess I’m more a team collector than a player collector.

Fast forward to adult me and I have a job and a way to support myself it turned into the thrill of possibly getting something rare. Always been a collector at heart so the rare hard to find things appeal to me (I’m sure it appeals to most collectors). I collect mostly hockey and basketball but have a few nice football cards and lurk this forum so glad I stumbled upon this thread to reflect what exactly makes me tick when it comes to cards. No goldmines though. Too young for that

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by 51CardDeck

I was born in 1973, San Francisco and grew up in San Mateo. I was 4 at the time and we were at the grocery store and my mom asked me what I wanted from the candy display at the counter. I chose a pack of 1977 Topps baseball. I didn't even know what it was, but it had a picture of a baseball player on the pack and I wanted it. From that day on I was hooked. My mom would buy me a pack everytime we went shopping. Eventually she purchased boxes and gave me a pack a day after school until middle school.

I went to my first Nationals at the Moscone center in 1987 and purchased my first Mickey Mantle ($300 at the time).

I've always loved getting in-person autographs and have accumulated a decent collection.
I also have decent collection of various autographed memorabilia.

All the shiny cards are great, but my love is still vintage. Nowadays, graded vintage.

I'm in the process of teaching my 4 year old daughter about collecting. She likes the Pokemon, Marvel and shiny cards. She understands that the cards need to be protected in plastic so it doesn't get damaged. What really got her interested was when I started making custom cards of her via Topps.com.

That is seriously cool. I had no idea Topps did custom relic cards.

[NYJNYYFan]

I was born in 1987, and the first card I can really remember wanting was a Keith Van Horn RC after he was drafted by the Nets. I fondly remember searching for cards when I'd go with my mom to the local flea market and picking out a bunch of local stars, as well as getting packs of WWF cards. I stuck with the hobby through the first few years of high school, first going with my parents then with friends to card shows and our LCS.

From 2005-2020 I would still search Ebay on occasion and pick up the newest Jets and Yankees RC, but really got back into the hobby like a lot of people in 2020. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I like the gamble of ripping packs, and flipping some bigger hits, but I'm still a collector of my favorite teams first and foremost.

[IpcSteveYoung]

Originally Posted by oplum29

friend of mine from school game me this 1990 Pro Set Joe Montana card.

from that moment on, i was a Joe Montana fan, a 49ers fan, a football fan, and football card fan.

to me, it is still the prettiest card i have ever owned.

Similar story, but for me it was the 1991 Pro Set Montana that started it all.