Saturday, June 7, 2008

Selling 7,000+ Indians Cards


Allow me to say, before anyone panics, I am NOT selling off my collection of Indians cards! Having said that, I AM selling off most of my duplicates in an eBay auction (here).


It amazes me that I have almost as many duplicate Indians cards as I have in my singles collection. Seriously, we're talking about having more than 7,000 cards of a single team in DUPLICATE. That either makes me a pack-rat or a very reckless bulk buyer, or both. I vote for both.


See, I love to buy Indians card in bulk. By bulk, I mean in lots of 1,000 or 2,500 or even as much as 5,000 cards. Why? Because I can usually buy that many cards cheaper than buying the few cards I ultimately need for my collection by themselves.


Don't get me wrong, I buy plenty of singles that I need (and some I buy more than once because I buy without consulting my folders and/or database - foolish I know). But, I love getting a box (or boxes) of cards that I know are all Indians cards. I mean, really, no matter how you cut it, how can I go wrong!?


Sometimes I end up putting the cards into some kind of order, usually by year, but sometimes by manufacturer, and sometimes by player. But, more often than not, I don't put them in any kind of order. I simply star pulling them out of the box(es) and look through them like a kid on Christmas morning. Many times I come across players I haven't seen in years.


A smile crosses my lips as I recall watching folks like "Super Joe" or Len Barker, "Kuipe" or Andre (Thornton). I still look on in awe when I pull Joe Carter, Bob Feller, Jim Thome, or Kenny Lofton (or quite a few other Tribe stars).


Alas, out of all the cards, I usually only need 10-20% and the rest go into storage. So, I decided to pull out at least one card type of every duplicate player I have (I have quite a few Sandy Alomar cards from varying years and brands, etc) and I put the rest into two flat-rate large boxes for sale on theBay.


I've been collecting off and on since about 1974 or so. With all these duplicates, you'd think I was happy to get rid of them. I am to an extent. After all, by selling them, I have money to buy more Tribe cards, plus they will go to someone else who is a Tribe fan (or is looking to sell a bunch of cards anyway). But, I rifled through every card while randomly picking out cards to display in the auction, and I *STILL* smiled in awe at some of the cards I came across.


Remember, these are the DUPLICATES, so I already have these cards! Maybe I'm getting old and sentimental (maybe just mental). Maybe I'm a long-time Tribe fan. Maybe I'm a die-hard Indians card collector. And, maybe, I'm all of those things, which could be why I feel like I'm sending 7,000 of my kids off into the world...

2 comments:

  1. WOW! I'm not even a Tribe fan, and this is mighty tempting! This is my Achilles' Heel as a card collector. I could just focus on Orioles, but I love cards of all kinds. I may have to go make a bid, David...

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  2. I've been looking to buy a huge lot of Tribe cards for some time now. Thanks for posting this, and I hope you enjoy my money.

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