General Forum

Individual cards - I can totally understand, especially with the massive collections most of us have. But this was an entire set, that I've believed I had for more than 25 years!

Well, I guess this is also a testament to how unorganized my collection was (still is?) that complete sets are unaccounted for (present or not).

Back to the first point - individual cards. There are some that I was tracking so long on the various online sites, that I grew so accustomed to their appearance, that I began to believe that I had it (because I saw it so much). That used to be my method of buying new items. "It doesn't look familiar, buy it." That method worked surprisingly well for me for a long time.

One of the reasons I started my paper listing in 1998 is because that "looks familiar or not" method was starting to fail me. I remember once at a card show in the Danbury Mall, trying to decide between two cards. (I could only afford one) and thinking I was sure I needed the one I bought. Got home, pulled out the cards...and not only did I already have the one I bought, I didn't have the one I left behind. At this point in time I don't remember which cards were involved, but the lesson I learned from it has been the guiding force in my collection ever since. Based on the fact that 1998 Maxx 10th Anniversary was the first paper listing I made, it may have been from that set.  I thought i was finally caught up with the paper listings and then I had to go and take on hockey, which required a whole lot more paper. Not done yet, my hand couldn't take writing them all out...now I'm creating the lists I need when I add a card to the set. 

Depending on when that show was, we were probably both there then as well!

I've been keeping track of stuff on paper for a LONG time. There was a time when the collection was small enough I could rely on memory. As collections grew, and I took on more things to collect, the need for keeping track came into play. Back in the 1990s, when we decided to really collect Yzerman stuff (going for it all, got pretty close before 2002), we had to use paper. (Well, it was printouts from a database I had designed for player collections using an off-the-shelf database product, not Access.) It was that desire to have yearly checklists for my Phillies collection that led me here (and I got them, and they're printed and in a binder). Although, I admit, the binder is now out of date. I wanted to print out the checklists based on my Phillies collection, but the printouts show all collections, so I'm seeing duplicates on my checklists (whih will take up way too much paper). I have a request in to Admin for help with that. But, paper is still needed by me today.

Database was Q&A by Symantec. They stopped making new versions of it in 1998. The printouts were designed in another tool, and I can't remember the name of it. It may have been a precursor to Crystal Reports, but I seem to remember it being called simply "Report Writer". It was tediuos and clunky. I did convert the olddatabases over to Access at the turn of the century, and I still make reference to them when questions come up about hockey products from the late 1990s! :)

The most memorable one would have to be going back to my 1962 Topps Baseball collection as a kid. Of course everyone knows that you are not supposed to mark your checklists but just try and tell an 8 year old kid that. Anyway I still have the checklist (card#22) and the mark is still beside (you guessed it) Roger Maris! and I'm still looking to see where he went though after a half dozen moves anything is possible but I still hold out hope he could be where I grew up (Manitoba)

I had my main collection and vintage cards listed on paper until the late 90s when a neighbor gave me software to track my collection, I did that for about 2 years and then stopped. I was unorganized until a couple of years ago. Now everything is kept in an Excel spreadsheet, which is backed up to an external hard drive, and wants are listed in a Word document, also backed up.

Two single cards I swore I had:  

1. When it peaked, the 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly.  I only ever found the Fleer and Topps.  I've always suspected I traded it to my uncle for five Cardinals.  When you're a kid, and unaware that some cards are "worth" more than others, a one-for-five trade was always an offer I couldn't refuse.  I even wrote a school report in 7th grade (1987) about my hunt for that card.  By then I was aware of card values.  And I'm not saying my uncle ripped me off.  The trade would have happened before the card got up around three figures.  My dad was always present when we traded.

2. One of the Ric Flair cards in the 1991 Impel Stomp Collection.  When I put my cards in the database here, I couldn't believe I was short this one specific card.  It looked so familiar.  Then I discovered it was the card pictured on the box.  That explained the familiarity, so I bought one.

That show was probably 1998, but may have been 1997.

I'm curious to know how you got something bolded in the subject line, too.

If it was 1997 or 1998, we were probably there - we lived in Rockland County at the time, but came up this way for shows. Also went all over NJ and along the coast in CT.

As far a s the bold in the title - LOL - I could make so much fake stuff up. :)

I tried a little HTML trick. If you know HTML tagging, you put <.b.> and then the test to bold and then <./.b.> at the end. No dots. I did that so it wouldn't pick it up in the message text (which it would also work on). So if you know HTML, you can do that stuff in the forums. Just - please be sure to close the tag! (the one with the /, else it could (and most likely would) mess up the whole remainder of the page.

I even wrote a school report in 7th grade (1987)  First,second or third time around? (I had to ask before Ranforfan woke up and thought the same thing.)