After yesterday's surprise announcement that I have gotten into the NHL, I decided today to start actively adding to the collection. With a little help from my mom and brother, I visited my favorite shopping place here in the Hudson Valley, which is an antique mall with 4 different card dealers. One of those dealers is my favorite vintage dealer I've mentioned several times in the past.
I knew there were dealers with packs of cards there...
so packs I got. That's 9 packs of 2014-15 MVP, 4 of 1991-92 Stadium Club (I think- might be 1990-91? Not sure yet), 4 of 1990-91 Pro Set, 2 of 1993-94 Parkhurst, 2 of 1991-92 Upper Deck, 1 of 2001-02 Victory and 2 of 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee. The MVP cost me a dollar each, the rest cost me 50 cents each. I've never opened anything from O-Pee-Chee ever, that will be my first. I really wish they didn't include gum, I know the top card is going to be pretty much ruined because of it. I've never opened any of these sets and I will be digging into some after I hit post. 1990-91 Pro Set is in the early lead as my favorite NHL set, I have a bunch of them I got in January 2015 (The Epic Mailday where my hockey collection went from 28 cards to 2800 in one day)
Then, I hit my vintage dealer. My vintage dealer has had some incredible stuff here, and you've been seeing cards that came from him since I started the blog...I discovered him less than 2 month before I started Cardboard History.
All he had, for the most part, were Rangers and Islanders.
Sorry for the blurriness, these are taken with my cell phone and I guess I'm still learning how to take good pictures of cards with it. (the same phone that is allowing me to watch hockey, in fact! Watching Islanders/Hurricanes as I type!) I went through the binders and tried to pick out each set that he had. I don't even know what year these are all from yet, and not all of the sets are actually new to my collection, but for a dollar or less each, I'm not going to complain!
Then I decided to hit the showcase...
I paid half of what is marked...the hologram is Wayne Gretzky. You all know my love of holograms, lol. So, my hockey collection now goes back into the 1950s! Previous oldest card was 1969-70. That I also got from the same dealer over a year ago, in fact.
But that wasn't all. I decided to finally get the rest of the 1954 Topps Scoop cards, which I have loved since I discovered the set. I didn't want to spend that much money but I really wanted to put a finish to these, so I can work on getting some of the other stuff he's got and not feel guilty for leaving these behind. Every single one of these I've shown on the blog has come from this dealer.
And then I saw he had a case in the showcase he didn't have before...
1938's Horrors of War! One of the most storied, more legendary, most important non-sports sets ever made. This is my 2nd and 3rd cards from the set.
Then, having already spent way more than I expected, I visited the final dealer, who I have actually known for more than 20 years now. Back int he 1990s he used to run the card shows we had in the mall most weekends, but has now moved to the current location and the card shows went away around the year 2000. He's the hardest to shop from- everything is in large boxes in random order, sometimes in runs from sets, but sometimes truly haphazard. It's not uncommon to find 3 sports in a row. I liken going through the boxes to prospecting, if you are willing to do the work you can find some real gems. I was only able to go through one full box and portions of two others before my back gave out, but I still ended up getting exactly 100 cards.
Here's just some highlights. From the bottom left to right and up: my first card from this year's Absolute Basketball, which I didn't even know was out yet, two cards SN to 25, the TJ McConnell is only my third card of him. A new Elton! I pulled and got every hockey card I found, including one from that famous 1970s set. (my first) The Brodeur is a SN card, I think a parallel, but I'm not 100% sure yet. I still have so much to learn. The top card is beat to heck but it's an Essential Credentials card, not something that you come across very often, and it's SN 25/53. I like my current cards to be in a little better shape, but with any Essential Credentials card, I will make an exception. I may have added hockey to the fold, but I am still an NBA, Non-Sport and NASCAR collector as well.
Oh by the way, not all the cards I got today were for my own collection. I've mentioned several times that various bloggers have sent me stuff without asking anything in return...well...I might be changing that soon...but I'm not going to tell you if you are going to be getting some cards, it'll be a surprise.
I had a great day, and I have not even begun to research the cards I got yet, nor break into the packs. It won't be the first hockey packs I open- I've dabbled a little in the past- but they will be the first where I now consider myself a true hockey collector.
2016 was a great year for me cardwise. The rest of the year? Well, it wasn't as bad as 2013 or 2014, there's that.
But cardwise? One of the best, even though I spent less money on the hobby this year, the cards kept rolling in anyway thanks to the kindness of fellow collectors. Two of my top 5 most new cards in a day both came in 2016, and both were gifts from fellow collectors. A non-blogger hit me with 1192 new cards, 1127 of them NASCAR, on July 16th, and then just in November Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown dumped a bunch of his unwanted cards on me, and I ended up getting 2827 new cards that day, the second most I've ever gotten in one day! (Thanks to the box being mostly baseball, football and naked ladies, none of which I had much of, so not a lot of duplicates). I'm writing this before Christmas, and I've already gotten 9,777 new cards in 2016. More than half of them came to me as gifts, with more than a third just from those two gift packages alone!
I decided I would go through my Excel charts, and pick out my favorite card from each month, and showcase them here in one end-of-year post.
Some months were easy, but some of them were tough. Not for lack of choice, but because I got so many great cards! Two months actually had cards that I truly feel bad to leave off, but I went both times with cards I had been chasing for 15 or more years, and that carried a lot of weight with my selections.
Here now is a look at my favorite new card from each month...some of which I've never shown on the blog before!
January...this was the first card I got from this set, and it's Elton...with all three of the Clippers colors including a patch, plus it's SN25/25. Has a lot going for it. This won't be the last time you will see Elton in this countdown.
February. 1997-98 Ultra is a favorite set of mine (remember it was in my Top 20 countdown of my favorite sets, which I did in January and February). I had never gotten a Platinum Medallion from the set, so I went looking for one and found Kevin Willis. Each of the Platinums are SN to 100. Later in the year I would add the Serge Zwikker from the same set. I also added the 1999-00 and 2000-01 Platinum Medallions to my collection in 2016.
March. This is my first patch from the Brooklyn era of the Nets, and when I bought it, I didn't know it was SN1 of 25, so not only is it a bonus in that I love SN1 cards, 1 is also his jersey number!
April is the one month I really didn't have a strong standout, usually there were one or two that stood out, a couple of months I didn't even have to really think about. This one completes the Foil set of 1996 Pinnacle. Back in the 1990s I bought a set of these at a card show, but the seller didn't know what they were doing and had included a Winston Cup Collection parallel in place of the actual #13. The Winston Cup Collection cards were one per box or less, I believe, so it worked out OK, but the set was one card short for several years.
May. I pulled this one! It's the first time I've pulled a One of One since Christmas 2006. I never showed it on the blog because I was trying to complete the Rainbow first, but I came up short on that so it makes it's blog debut today.
June's is a simple base card, but it's been one I've been chasing for years. I did a box of 1994-95 Topps Embossed around the year 2000, but I came up one card short...#57, this one. I've been chasing it ever since. I even had someone on the Beckett message board years ago tell me they had the card but wouldn't send to me because "it wasn't worth the effort"...even though I offered to pay for it. I finally got it on COMC this year.
July is when I got the huge box of mostly NASCAR cards, and this was my favorite in it, that hat relic for Martin Truex Jr. is the kicker. Part of the NASCAR logo!
August is when Panini debuted their NASCAR sets, and for the most part I'm really happy with them. I got a box of Prizm (the first set) and I knew one of the cards from that box would be the card for August. Even though I got an autograph SN10, I couldn't remember which one without looking it up...(I have several autographs from the set now) I remembered this card without any trouble and so it got the nod.
September and November were the two toughest months for me to choose. September came down to three cards- this one, my first card from 1938 Horrors of War, my first card from any version of the 1966 Batman sets, and the Bill Walton autograph that Angus sent me for winning his contest. I ended up choosing this one because Horrors of War is such an iconic set- considered to be the most historically important non-sports set ever- and I'd been hunting for an example for so long. I thought that I had found it one other time in the past but it turned out to be a different military set from the same producer (Gum, Inc, which I believe became Bowman).
This one stands out for the month of October. I got some great cards during the month and even a bunch from this rare set, the sticker insert in 1971-72 Topps (the first standard card sized insert in NBA history) but I had to choose the ABA logos over the NBA logos. This is, I believe, the only card ever to show the majority of these logos in color. For the Condors, Pros, Rockets and Squires, I believe this is the only time these logos appear on a card...ever.
November was by far the hardest month to choose. I had been chasing this card for 15 years, and Racing Champions holds a very special place in my collection. I also got a great sketch card, made apparently just for me, by Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, of Elton Brand. It came up between those two and basically the fact that I had been chasing this one for 15 years- a card I never thought I would ever get-got it the nod.
I'm basically going to say it was a tie for the month of November.
December, however, was the easiest month. Yes, I wrote up this post before Christmas, which is always a big day for my collection as my family knows what I like and treats me very well- but my very first Elton Brand Printing Plate is going to be pretty much impossible to top! I saw this card on COMC, and I had to buy it, even though it's actually the most I've spend on a single card in about 12 years- it cost me $28. Luckily, I had the money available...sometimes during the year I wouldn't have, but I did, and all was well. Ironically the card it's a plate of is ALSO a 1/1 so finding it will probably not be possible.
And that's my top card from each month. I really enjoyed doing this and I have the record of each card from each month beginning in 2014...so expect to see rundowns of 2014 and 2015 coming shortly into the new year.
I didn't want to end the year on a sad note with my In Memorium post so this goes out as the final post of 2016- my second full year of blogging, most successful by far as well, as I topped 150 pots for the first time ever...and with this being my 25th post in the month of December, it's also my most successful month of posting as well. I consider finishing a post to my liking enough to actually post it a success, by the way.
Fair warning: there's not a lot of cards in this post. There are some, later on. It's also likely to run long. Text in blue (and all photo captions) written after the show.
As I've mentioned a few times, I'm not the healthiest of people. I never have been, having multiple ailments (None are communicable, keep trading with me!) but in 2013 I was hit pretty hard by diabetes, which I didn't know I had. I literally came 5 minutes short of dying. (and keep in mind, there is some health stuff I'm choosing not to post about)
While I've been physically limited in what I can do for a while, (some days are better than others, of course) this did a real number on me. One thing it did was take away things I WAS able to do previously. I still don't have the stamina fully back yet; I've been told I may NEVER have it back.
The heat takes more out of me that it did before. An example, last year I walked around for 45 minutes at a car show, in August. It was about 90 degrees...and afterwords, I couldn't really walk for 4 days. I only wish I was exaggerating. I was so bad after that that I couldn't even make my own lunch in the microwave.
It took more than that away from me. I had to stop collecting 1/64 NASCAR diecasts. That was #1 for me for many many years. But the money to pay for the medicine which keeps me alive, which costs at the very least $500 a month, sometimes more (it fluctuates constantly) had to come from somewhere, and it had to come from the diecast collection.
It cost me the ability to sit Indian style. I used to sit like that all the time- I used to prefer sitting on the floor to the couch or any chair. Now, trying to sit like that causes me intense pain that lasts for several days, and getting up off the floor is almost impossible due to the pain it puts me in.
I'm not sure if it's related or not, but since I got sick (when I say that, I refer to the diabetes) I've had to totally give up milk and it's looking like I may have to give up cheese soon. Cheese is my favorite food and has been for years, so this is a grievous diagnosis for me. There is a direct correlation between it and my being nauseous all the time. (I'm lactose intolerant, apparently)
I've found work-arounds for some/most of the above that I've lost. Even if I have not done that, I've made peace with it and accept that it's not possible to be part of my life going forward.
The one thing that it took away, and that I miss the most...is Lake George. Lake George, NY, is my absolute favorite place in the world. I had been to it every year of my life, sometimes more than once a year. In fact, more than once I've spent an entire month there with my family, although it's been more than a decade now since we could afford to do that.
Lake George is on the very edge of where we could drive to and back home in one day, or at least, it used to be before my health and my mom's health had major issues in 2013 and 2014 respectively. We were both hit pretty hard in back to back years...and it cost us our ability to travel.
It doesn't help that our Jeep is pretty much officially dead. It last moved under it's own power in October 2015, and it's looking like it might never again. It's from 1994, and we've had it since 2003, but it's made it very hard on us not working constantly. (Even when we do get it "fixed", it usually lasts for only a few months before breaking down again). We can't really trust it to go father than we can walk home from. That's basically to the post office and McDonald's and back.
I have not felt comfortable with my ability to travel since I got sick in 2013. The farthest we've traveled is an hour and a half, to the NNL East in New Jersey. I was able to do that trip with no problem, but Lake George is double that.
I didn't feel safe being that far from home. It's probably more mentally based than reality based- but at home, if my number gets low, I've got plenty of things to choose from to fix it. When my number gets low, I can tell by shaking. My body will start to shake, starting with my left shoulder and moving to my other shoulder and both legs, usually. I'm afraid that if my number got low while riding in the car, I wouldn't feel it, and a low number is actually MORE dangerous than a high number.
But I think I'm in enough control now that I won't have to worry. In fact, no matter what I do, my number is usually too high anyway.
To be honest, I'm still a little worried, but...we have gone back to Lake George! I'm writing this up well in advance but I have felt ready to go back since roughly May of this year. My favorite day of the year is always the day of the Adirondack Nationals, the best car show I know of! It's held at the Fort William Henry grounds- an actual fort from the French and Indian War of the mid-1700s, at least the grounds. The Fort itself is a recreation of the original- with original artifacts on display- after it was burned during the war. (The area also played a major role in the American Revolution).
We found a place that is affordable, a little out of town. The place we had been staying since 1987 unfortunately went out of business in 2014. It was right on the lake.
Normally most places jack up the prices for the car show, but this place doesn't. I don't plan to post this until we get back home, but I've known we were going to go back since late July. I have to say, August has been dragging. The Olympics helped quite a bit, but since the Olympics ended, it's been about a week...but it's dragged on like it was an entire year.
I'm back home now, and this trip was everything I'd hoping it would be. Just about perfect. It was brutally hot on Thursday through Saturday, but I still went to the car show both Friday and Saturday, and I would say I saw about 80% of the show. Much more than I expected to do be able to do. I'm in a lot of pain, I knew that I would be. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY! It still feels "wrong" to drive past the street we used to stay on- every year from 1987-2012, it was really home away from home. The heat was tough and took a lot out of me. I am curious to see how long it will be before I'm not in constant pain from the show. (I'm in constant pain 24/7/365, but I'm referring specifically to pain caused by walking at the show). I really don't know. I am hoping to go to another car show this coming weekend, so it's possible I could be facing 4 weeks or more of pain caused by walking this show, if it works out where I can visit 3 car shows in three weeks.
I have Adirondack Nationals photos on my website HERE. I went in 1988 and 1989, then missed it until 2001, we then went to the car show every year from 2001-2012. (The pictures get better as you go along, generally)
I ended up taking 1379 photos and videos on the trip, including my favorite video I've ever taken.
I will post some of my favorite car show pictures below. Before that, though, are some of my favorite photos from the area taken on this trip. It's my favorite place in the world, and even though when I'm typing this up in August, still more than a week before we are even going to leave, I am already filled with more joy for the impending trip than I've felt in years. Literally! I'm not a happy person- it's hard to be happy when you feel terrible all the time. But Lake George...any trip to Lake George makes me happy. Getting there was just as incredible though as I thought it would be. I really can't put into words what it meant to me. As somebody who likes to write a LOT and has a fairly large lexicon, that is not something that happens all that often. Gotta say, the emotional impact almost overwhelmed me at times.
The two large boats in the background seemed to have a drag race, going side by side up the Lake until they made the bend. There are 5 large boats on Lake George. the Mohican, launched in 1908, was the only one I did not see this trip. The Minne Ha-Ha (launched 1969) and the Lac Du Saint Sacremont (launched either 1990 or 1991- I saw her maiden sail but don't remember for sure) are run by the Lake George Steamboat Company. The Sacrament is the ship on the right here. The Horicon (foreground) has been on the Lake my whole life but I don't know when she was launched. The Adirondack (on the left) was launched circa 2007. The latter two are run by Shoreline Cruises, but I don't know about them as much. The Minne Ha-Ha is the star of the Lake and the video below features her prominently. She is not in this photo, but she had just come in for a landing after a cruise. I was able to capture 4 of her songs on the Calliope and all 4 of the big ships that I saw this trip.
On Sunday, the big shops weren't running but it allowed me to get photos of them. I suspect the Mohican may have gone to Dry Dock already.
This is English Brook, which ran behind the motel we stayed at this year. It drains into the Lake.
You can see the rest of the photos from this trip (non-car show) HERE on my website. It also covers the trip up, back, and excursions into Saratoga, Ballston Spa, Warrensburg, Queensbury, Glens Falls, and more. A lot of the pictures are of Fort William Henry which is a reconstruction (with some originality) of a fort from the French and Indian War, originally built in 1755.
Here are some car show photos. I took exactly 700 photos and videos at the car show, and I won't share them all here, but you can see them on my Website. I'm not going to post a whole lot because I am kicking around the idea of an automotive photography blog.
This year was unusual not in that there was a Superbird, it was unusual because there was only one wing car! There are usually at least three on the grounds.
This car was great looking in person, too. Note the Lake in the background.
Looking out on the car show from a cannon port on Fort William Henry
I actually took this GTO photo on my phone (so I could post it to Facebook- it turned out better than the one I took with my camera of the same car!). On Saturday morning, it rained pretty hard for several minutes, and that led to some great photos of the cars with water on them. For some reason I LOVE to see the old cars in the rain. In all the car shows I've gone to, this is only the 4th where it's rained, I think. (I've been going to car shows my whole life...I went to the Adirondack Nationals for the first time in 1988 when I was 4 years old...the same year I began collecting cards. Wouldn't it be something if I got them at the vendor area? My first were car cards, of a sort!)
I ask you to watch this video. It's the very best I've ever taken. I began shooting video in 2005; it is also the longest at 14 minutes long. This is, truly, a perfect representation of everything I love about Lake George. (You will see that the video jumps twice- there was an ant on me, but I thought it was a big black spider)
Now, I said there was not a lot of card content in this post, and that's true. But, we did find out that there was a new semi-card shop that opened in town in early 2016, and of course we made the effort to go to it. I did find some basketball cards in that local store in town, which are good. But I'm not going to show them now. I got some good stuff, of course, but...it pales in comparison to what I found at my favorite comic store, which I have not been to since roughly 2006.
Yes, my first cards from the legendary 1938 Horrors of War set, and my first card from any of the 1966 Batman sets! I have been chasing both of these sets since roughly 2010 when I found out they existed! I've mentioned I wanted both sets in the past on various blogs. (both my own and in comments on others). Now, I have them! Those are the two biggest sets (not in size, but importance) that were missing from my non-sports collection. I got a great batch of comics so I could only afford one of each set, but the store had more...and two of the other Batman sets of different Bat colors. Next time, hopefully, they will still be there. Now that I know that I can physically do the show, which I was not sure on, there WILL be a next time, and I don't think we will be waiting a whole year to go back. In fact, if all goes well, we will be back the end of this month! I am targeting the Concourse D'elegance at the Saratoga Automobile Museum on September 24th/25th as my return trip, although it's not known now if it will actually happen. That's what I HOPE will happen. But, knowing from past experience, it won't. But I'm not going to stop hoping.
