I have, in my 27 years collecting cards, added over 1800 different sets covering many, many different topics to my collection. You will see of course Non-sports, basketball, auto racing, but also baseball, hockey, football, and pretty much everything else- eventually!
I'm going to go through each and every one in a series of blog posts over the next several years. I have not yet decided if I want to go in chronological order, or if I want to pull some favorites and post them, or group them topically- but I know I wanted to start with non-sports as that is how I started collecting back in 1988.
So, I begin with the oldest set currently in my collection, 1909 Philadelphia Caramel Zoo.
It is a 50 card set, and I have only 1, or 2%. I am planning on giving the percentages of how close I am to completing it based on the stats provided by the Trading Card Database.
I love squirrels, and when I saw that the set included one, I had to have it. Even though it was already over 100 years old when I got it, it cost me less than $10 with shipping, Can't beat that!
Hopefully this project will allow me to post more often, as it doesn't really require a lot of thinking or motivation on my part (lol). I could post one a day every day and have about 4 years of posts, so expect this series to be a mainstay on Cardboard History. I have created a tag called "Sets" that each post in the series will be tagged with.
Thanks for reading!
That's a pretty neat card. I think last year's Allen & Ginter set had an insert set with a squirrel card, but it was one of the short-printed mini inserts so they are hard to find. I like the old tobacco cards. Some are cheap and plentiful, but others can be hard to track down. I am working on an original Allen & Ginter set from 1891(ish) that features 50 different chicken breeds.
ReplyDeletehttp://razcardblog.blogspot.com/search/label/N20%20Allen%20%26%20Ginter%20Prize%20%26%20Game%20Chickens
I am looking forward to seeing what other sets you've gathered examples from, as I am always looking for new collection ideas.
I Love those chicken cards! I just went in and read each of your posts on them. Not sure how I missed them because you have posted a couple after I started reading your blog- I guess I need to keep up more on the Blogroll. Getting back into the 1800s is a goal of mine. I've tried but gotten outbid multiple times.
DeleteBilly, You know you read a couple of card blogs and get thinking about what you "need it" "want it" "got it" and you start thinking SQUIRREL!
ReplyDeleteNice card. I love the old tobacco non-sport and even the baseball. It still amazes me when I think of cards 100 years old still being around and better yet some of them being completely affordable. But I still have problems with anything later than 1900 being over 100 years old. EEK! I know it is 2015 and we are well into the second decade of the 21st century but in many ways I am still stuck in the 20th. I'm still trying to wrap the idea that the Titanic sinking in April of 1912 is OVER 100 YEARS.
Oh I know what you mean. I recently gave some cards to a cousin, and he was happy to get old school stuff...being 1996-97, that I remember new, but are older than him, LOL. It sure made me feel old, but time marches on and rests for no one.
DeleteI still consider cards from 2000 "new" too!