First Pre-War Card

One of the most precious cards of a collectors collection is their fist card. It created the first spark that ignited your love of pre-war collecting. It might be an average joe in the worlds most terrible condition.
I'm interested in what some of the members first cards were. If they still had them!!
Mine is a t206 mickey doolan. Scanner is cruddy so I have no pic. Got it for 25$ at a local card store.

-Randy

I planned my pre-war collecting before I dove in. My first cards were players who represented the best and worst hitting streaks. Bergen and Hornsby.
I was cost consious (cheap) right from the start. I selected a g Dockman Bergen - nobody wanted e-cards then, and they were way less costly than t-cards. And a w-501 Ex Hornsby. Nobody ever wanted w-cards, and I figured: get the better grade for the better player.

I bought a couple of Maines OJs at about the same time. All from Lew Lipset.

Cool topic.

My first pre-war card was actually a Cobby Green in PR condition. I bought it in '02 at a local show for $100, and sold it at the '04 National to buy the new stuff!

I wish I had that same card back.

asoriano wrote:Cool topic.

My first pre-war card was actually a Cobby Green in PR condition. I bought it in '02 at a local show for $100, and sold it at the '04 National to buy the new stuff!

I wish I had that same card back.

How much did it sell for?

My first pre-war card was a T206 Tris Speaker in Poor condition.

Arandy: I sold it for $225.

Nice profit asoriano!!!!

Wow, so far my doolan t206 looks a little wimpy compared to your cards.

This was my first prewar card purchased in January of 2007:



This was the card that started it all for me. I began by diving into the T206 set. I got about 75 cards into it before I got burned out, sold every one of them, and began type collecting. That's were I am today.

Mine was a GAI-2.5 T206 Red Cobby Portrait, about 7 years ago.
Man have I been hooked since...

Regarding Eric's comment, what is meant by type collecting?

JohnV wrote:Regarding Eric's comment, what is meant by type collecting?

Type collecting is collecting a wide variety of cards (T cards, E cards, D cards, etc.), rather then going after sets. Basically collecting across the spectrum, whatever you want. And one "type" from different sets.

The only T206 I currently own is a Walter Johson (pitching) with a Lenox back. This is my T206 type card



I do have to confess something. Even though I'm a type collector, I have begun to set collect a specific brand.

I got my first VINTAGE card when I was 10 years old - a totally beat up 1953 bowman color Marty Marion. I found it while sorting through a friend's dad's collection which was mostly 70's and early 80's stuff. I expressed interest in it and the dad was nice enough to let me have it. I had no idea what it was, and I didn't find out for a few years until I brought it into a card shop and was informed. At the time I thought I had something really special! Still have it too.

My first PREWAR card I purchased on ebay in 1999 - a vgex E93 Gibson for $7. Again, I didn't really know much about it, but I thought it looked cool and I was amazed that cards even existed from that long ago. This purchase led to some investigation and sparked my interest in cards from this era. Wish I still had it but I recall trading it a few years later for some T205's.

Personaly, I could never sell my first card (Not that anybody would want it). I feel like it is an important card for a collection. In a bunny scale a first card should be a out of ten. Any thoughts?
-Randy

My first prewar card was this gem...



I think it was in 1999 and I've been hooked since. I still have it and will not sell it.

AndyH

In 1976, when I was eight years old we visted some of my father's cousins in Arizona. One of them had a teenage son who was a big baseball card collector. I remember that he had a huge box of cards, mostly 50s - 70s. He did have some older ones as well. Anyway, knowing that I too was a baseball card collector he let me look through this incredible box of cards during my visit.

When we left he presented me with an envelope with two T206 cards: Harry Davis (Philadelphia) and Ted Easterly (Cleveland). It was a pretty big deal for an 8 year old in 1976. I think they were dupes, or at least that's what I remember him telling me. I still have those two cards.

Mine is a t205 chief bender in Good condition. I got it when I was 13 in 1982 and still have it to this day. That is what gave me the bug to put together the whole set

My first vintage (pre WWI) card was a T206 Bill Bradley w/ bat. It was 1998-ish at a Tri-Star show in Kansas City. I paid $18 for it and I'd be lucky to get much more than that for it today. Needless to say I've been making bad deals ever since.

Sometime in the early-mid 1980s my dad who was an avid auction goer won an old scrapbook in which he found three Old Judge baseball cards...he gave me the cards and some advice. He told me to stop hoarding the 1980s cards and to start collecting cards like the ones he gave me. The only problem for me was nobody locally had any cards like those....it did lead me to start picking up the 1950s cards. I traded off most of my "hot" 1980s cards to the local card dealer for his 1950s rookies.

I attribute these cards to the spark that led to my love for the history of baseball and I still have them today. Someday I will pass them on to my son.