First, let's start with the good news. My quest for a 1952 Topps #1 Andy Pafko card...a.k.a. my White Whale...has reached a happy conclusion. I won an eBay auction for a very rough copy and I think I am going to have it authenticated and slabbed for posterity.
I'm certain that a lot of you would pass up this card particular card if you were on the market for a '52 Topps #1...possibly at any price. The front has tap on it and turning the card over...
When I first started collecting cards in 1986 and 1987 my prized card was Roger Clemens' 1985 Topps rookie card. I remember getting it a little after Roger famously struck out 20 batters in a game. This was, of course, before the days of penny sleeves and top loaders that were available at nearly any large chain store so, obviously, the only option was to store your cards another way.
Now that my great news is out of the way here's the less great news: I'm about to be giving up cardboard in my life for a year. In about 10 days I'll be moving to...wait for it...Ukraine! Bet you didn't see that one coming.
Long story short, my wife is a political scientist that studies human trafficking. She is working on her PhD dissertation which requires some in-person research in Ukraine as well as a few other Eastern European countries. We will be living in the city of Kharkiv and no, it isn't anywhere near Chernobyl.
So we are packing our bags and hitting the road for a year, meaning my days of easily accessible cardboard are almost over...The collection is boxed up in a closet currently and so the blog will be slow, slow, slow in terms of new card posts for the next year or so.... I'm not quitting the site altogether, I just don't think I'll have too much to write about card wise.
On the other hand, I went on hiatus before in 2009 and I turned out posting pretty regularly and finally just gave up on the whole charade so to be honest who really knows how active the blog will be in the near future? To "celebrate" in the next few days I'll be posting a contest for a 1-of-1 Mars Attacks Heritage sketch card so keep an eye out for that.
I'm certain that a lot of you would pass up this card particular card if you were on the market for a '52 Topps #1...possibly at any price. The front has tap on it and turning the card over...
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| 1952 Topps #1 Andy Pafko |
...you can see that the tape got a used a little too much on the back as well. This particular card was $39 on eBay and I bought it on a buy it now listing. I saw this card listed and bought it immediately as if this particular card was screaming in my brain "BUY ME YOU IDIOT!" Let me explain...
When I first started collecting cards in 1986 and 1987 my prized card was Roger Clemens' 1985 Topps rookie card. I remember getting it a little after Roger famously struck out 20 batters in a game. This was, of course, before the days of penny sleeves and top loaders that were available at nearly any large chain store so, obviously, the only option was to store your cards another way.
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| 1985 Topps #181 Roger Clemens [Rookie Card] |
My method of choice was to grab the tape and tape the cards into a notebook. And so more than 20 years later, the Andy Pafko card I have been searching for reminded me of one of my personal all-time favorites. It was fate!
Now that my great news is out of the way here's the less great news: I'm about to be giving up cardboard in my life for a year. In about 10 days I'll be moving to...wait for it...Ukraine! Bet you didn't see that one coming.
Long story short, my wife is a political scientist that studies human trafficking. She is working on her PhD dissertation which requires some in-person research in Ukraine as well as a few other Eastern European countries. We will be living in the city of Kharkiv and no, it isn't anywhere near Chernobyl.
So we are packing our bags and hitting the road for a year, meaning my days of easily accessible cardboard are almost over...The collection is boxed up in a closet currently and so the blog will be slow, slow, slow in terms of new card posts for the next year or so.... I'm not quitting the site altogether, I just don't think I'll have too much to write about card wise.
On the other hand, I went on hiatus before in 2009 and I turned out posting pretty regularly and finally just gave up on the whole charade so to be honest who really knows how active the blog will be in the near future? To "celebrate" in the next few days I'll be posting a contest for a 1-of-1 Mars Attacks Heritage sketch card so keep an eye out for that.
Comments
Post an address when you can.
The bad news is having to pack up everything.
btw...congrats on the Pafko. If I was looking for it like you were I'd grab that one in a heartbeat. Nothing wrong with a well loved card.
remember, when your old lady's working on her paper and needs absolute seclusion...that's the time to blog us all a post. ;)
FWIW not sure about Ukraine but they had Panini in Moscow: http://apacktobenamedlater.blogspot.com/2011/10/2010-cport-stickers.html