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Billy Kingsley
Posts: 7,512
Joined: Aug 2011
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Monday, March 31, 2014 7:46 AM | |
Yesterday was my
worst day in the
hobby ever. (Been
in it since 1988).
As I've mentioned a
few times, I am
OCD. I keep several
records about my
collection. After I
scan my cards, I
type them by player
into an Excel
chart, so I can
pull up my file and
see not only how
many I have of each
person- but exactly
which cards. I sort
them on a tray I
keep next to my
table, which is
fairly high off the
floor. Yesterday, I
accidentally kicked
the tray sending
about 500 cards to
the floor. The fact
that it was
carpeted didn't
mean anything. More
than 50 cards took
damage, and some of
them really hurt. 1
of my 1957-58 Topps
cards, a jersey
patch serially
numbered to 20, an
autographed rookie
card, four cards
from 1975-76 Topps
and one from 1971-
72. One of the
incredibly rare
TCMA cards from
1981. Some cards
I've had since I
began collecting
NBA in 1996-some of
my best memories of
my life- all took
severe corner
damage. Some took
dents from other
cards landing on
them, one of them
somehow got the
front half
separated from the
back. 52 cards took
damage, luckily one
of them- from 2013-
14 season- I had 5
copies of so I was
already able to
replace it. Another
one I'm almost sure
I have a
replacement for
because I have a
substantial stash
of unopened packs.
Even though I love
sorting my cards
that way- and have
done it that way to
sort over 10,000
cards- I'm not
going to do it that
way any more.
My point is- I'm
not sure. I just
needed to vent.
Some of these cards
are irreplaceable,
and the memories I
have of getting
them, and enjoying
them, some of my
best memories, will
always be tainted
now with the memory
of my clumsiness
damaging them. Some
more severely than
others but it
doesn't matter. I
can't see one of my
cards without
thinking of the
time I dropped my
telephone on it
when I was 11 years
old, damaging it,
or the time I bent
one by trying to
stuff it into a
plastic page when I
was 12- these
memories haunt me.
Yesterday will now,
as well. Every
single time I see
one of these cards.
I am not happy,
moreso than normal.
Thanks for letting
me vent.
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VERY slow trading due to health problems. Not transferrable so safe to trade with, just moving is painful and can't always access the cards. Cardboard History My COMC New Collection Website: Cardboard History Gallery (Still under construction) Tips on how to make your scans look like the card does in hand (No more washed out, fuzzy scans!):
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vrooomed
Posts: 14,983
Joined: Dec 2012
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Monday, March 31, 2014 9:31 AM | |
Billy, I feel for you.
Several years ago, the pipe leading out of the hot water heater in the apartment my parents and I lived in burst, flooding our ground-floor apartment. They estimated the amount of water that spewed out in the thousands of gallons.
Water was throughout the entire place. We opened the sliding door to the porch to let the water out that way.
Approxiamtely 12,000 cards (in 3 5,000-count monster boxes) were water-logged that day/night. One box was all my cards from mostly the 1970s.
I feel for you.
Dan
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-- Dan -- Note: Please see my profile for more info regarding trading (section updated 3/4/2024). I have added a large portion of my inventory to the site, and currently have trading turned on (details are in my profile).
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lyfestory
Posts: 115
Joined: Jun 2013
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Monday, March 31, 2014 9:50 AM | |
sorry for the damnage you took.. at least you still have the cards, thats something.. damage de-values them, sure, but they are still a part of your collection.. I had most of my card collection stolen from me out of a storage unit many years ago and all but 2 albums were gone.. I had many thousands of cards gone.. I hate anytime i drop a card, so i know how you feel.. that loss of my collection put me out of the hobby for many years...
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NJDevils
Posts: 6,344
Joined: Sep 2010
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Monday, March 31, 2014 9:59 AM | |
That sucks but hopefully you are in good health. Material things can be replaced.
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Dixxy
Posts: 349
Joined: Mar 2013
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Monday, March 31, 2014 4:41 PM | |
lyfestory, I can relate, but not to the cards aspect...
around october of 2005 I was in the process of moving back to my Grandparents place. when I unpacked all my things and started to place them where I felt they belonged, I found that my entire coin collection had gone missing. Every Canadian coin from 1935 to the current year plus some from the late 1800's. also a fairly extensive American collection too,. I hadn't gotten to the point where I had them protected in sleeves and put in books, so I could guarantee it had all gone to the pocket change. Set me back bad enough I stopped collecting for a while till someone pointed out that "Material things can be replaced." I now have 3660 coins from 152 countries, (all organized and in their binders! ahh OCD is glorious!) ranging from the 1600 to the present!
And Billy? I just recieved Empire Strikes back series 2 from ebay today. opened the box, the guy used packing tape and a clear plastic bag to wrap it. as careful as I was, my knife blade slipped and now card #133 has a small surface gash through the topps logo. I'll forget what happened eventually. My memory is the pitts.
(There's a Saku Koivu card in my collection numbered 11/25. I know I put the kink in the edge, I can't remember how. I just remember the heart sink feeling I got when I did it. We've all been there.)
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The difference between Hoarding and Collecting is Structure. ~Kris~
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Billy Kingsley
Posts: 7,512
Joined: Aug 2011
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Monday, March 31, 2014 6:16 PM | |
Thanks for the
support. I suppose
if you are in the
hobby long enough
you're
statistically
likely to have
something bad
happen eventually,
and like was noted,
I do still have
them...I lost a few
college basketball
cards to a basement
flood myself. I
only actually lost
one, where it stuck
to the box, but I
have more than a
few in extremely
poor condition now-
I didn't realize I
had put the box
there for months
after it happened.
Oops. (never been a
fan of college
cards though so I
wasn't really hurt
over the loss of
them. A friend of
mine lost some of
his model kits to a
burst pipe, nasty
stuff. (on the plus
side of that one,
he gave some of
what was left to
me, one of which I
actually
built...but that's
a whole other
topic/message board)
I don't know if I
could go on if they
were all lost
either to natural
causes or stolen.
One of the reasons
I'm going to crazy
to scan them is in
case anything
horrible happens-
not that I expect
it to, but I don't
want to take any
chances either.
Just a few days ago
I got a package of
2 1948 Bowman cards
off Ebay, the
clueless seller put
them in penny
sleeves, wrapped
them in bubble wrap
and masking tape
and put them in a
regular envelope.
Getting them open
without bending
them was a chore.
One of them is one
of the cards that
fell, but luckily
was not damaged. I
would have been
really mad if that
card miraculously
survived that lousy
shipping job and
then gets damaged
in a fall.
-------------------------------
VERY slow trading due to health problems. Not transferrable so safe to trade with, just moving is painful and can't always access the cards. Cardboard History My COMC New Collection Website: Cardboard History Gallery (Still under construction) Tips on how to make your scans look like the card does in hand (No more washed out, fuzzy scans!):
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yokonashiwa
Posts: 262
Joined: Jan 2012
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Monday, March 31, 2014 6:46 PM | |
I feel for you. I have had some cards damaged beyond salvaging by water damage due to a leak in the storage area I had them in. When I moved from Japan to Utah, I had several of my binders stolen from me which included my 1986-87 Michael Jordan Fleer rookie Card, a 1986 Jerry Rice rookie card and several Roger Staubach cards. Also a complete factory set of 1989 Topps Baseball unopened was taken. So I have lost cards by the two worst ways possible. Chin up and keep collecting who knows someday you maybe able to replace them.
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What?? No American Ninja Warrior cards or Ninja Warrior cards yet?? Someone is really slacking!!
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vrooomed
Posts: 14,983
Joined: Dec 2012
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Monday, March 31, 2014 11:30 PM | |
@yokonashiwa - At least the 1989 Topps baseball factory set can be replaced at a very low cost. The others, not so much. That's how my 12,000 were - damaged beyond salvaging. Killed me to throw them in the dumpster.
And to pile on it, my parents had let their renter's insurance lapse about 2 months before this happened. I got ZERO for the cards.
-------------------------------
-- Dan -- Note: Please see my profile for more info regarding trading (section updated 3/4/2024). I have added a large portion of my inventory to the site, and currently have trading turned on (details are in my profile).
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Dixxy
Posts: 349
Joined: Mar 2013
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Tuesday, April 1, 2014 12:21 AM | |
OHhh!! SOO ouch, Vrooomed, so ouch!
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The difference between Hoarding and Collecting is Structure. ~Kris~
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Tuesday, April 22, 2014 12:46 AM | |
This message has been removed.
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