OPINION - Appreciation And Enjoyment

Before I get started on my blog post, I'd like to share a great post over at Baseball Card Breakdown.  It focuses on the concern of custom cards being sold on ebay.....and not by the custom's designer.

It's kind of scary to think how good some of these customs are and then to see them pop up on the open market completely unbeknownst to anyone except the guy doing swiping.

As a custom card guy myself (although things have been all but non-existent over the past year or so) I feel pretty ticked - and I'd be pretty ticked off - seeing someone's individual creation (not even intended for sale) being tossed out there under someone else's bad name.

A definite buyer beware.


But now on to a subject that arose over the past few days.

So I was surfing Twitter and noticed I received a message from a fellow Linden collector.  He mentioned to me that he had just realized that the photo used on the Linden UD 25th Anniversary Young Guns card and that of this year's Black Diamond are one in the same.

I proceeded to tell him that he's late to the dance (as I recognized it right away).  He also mentioned that at times he feels like he's just ticking off another mark on the checklist when he picks up a new Linden.

I feel the same way too sometimes.

But I recommended to him that he take a bit of time to sit back and enjoy his collection.  Flip through his binders or sift through the cards in toploaders.  Bottom line though....enjoy what you've spent countless hours building and collecting.

Which made me think.....how often do I look at my own collection?

I'll be honest, I store my cards in 3200 count boxes.  All crammed in my closet.  I've got my cards in penny sleeves/toploaders (except for the higher end items which sit in one touch holders).  I open the box when I have to add my most recent additions to it, but it's been a while since I've sat down, opened the box and spent time looking at my pc.

I mean REALLY look at my collection.

Enjoying it.  Remembering the stories that are connected to how I came across the card or who I traded with.  What store I got it from or how much of an absurd price I paid.

I threw the same question out to some others and got a varied response.  Some said they hardly ever look at it (the chase is more the focus) while others do see it more (because they display it a little more prominently).

Now, there's no right or wrong way to appreciate a collection and I feel quite content with the way I do things.  But I'd be lying if I said I didn't take my Linden pc out and flip through the cards a couple days ago.

A half hour very well spent.


How often do you look at your collection?