Just For Fun

Sometimes you just have to lean back, take a breath and remember that this is a hobby.  It's for fun!  At least it is for me.  I don't resell, do very little trading (although if convenient, I would engage more) and really don't gamble away anymore with unopened boxes and packs.  I buy what I like and that is it.  It might not always be popular or expensive, but I enjoy it.  I will admit that some items I have bought in the past have appreciated a good deal and with the utter craziness right now in the collectible market, my card net worth on paper is skyrocketing.

As the value of my cards rise, so does the purchase prices of those I had yet to secure.  New items that normally would go mostly unnoticed are selling for big money and generally speaking, as a collector, this can be a confusing, frustrating and difficult time.  The hobby rat race is hard enough when things are "normal", as we fight to locate and obtain new items for our collections,.  Meanwhile we compete with others in our same shoes looking to find those gems sooner or willing to pay a little more than you.  It can be exhausting at times.  Toss in a market trend like no other and you never know what to expect.

I have, in the past, purchased just about anything that featured Steve Garvey.  I have relaxed this a bit, especially since the boundaries have been stretching quite a bit in the last couple decades, where people are making their own cards.  Some can be quite popular (and expensive), while others really are just for the fun of it.  Some stuff really does not even warrant mention here and that is what I am avoiding all together.  

This is my latest "just for fun" purchase.  It's someone's artistic rendition of Steve Garvey's 1978 Topps card.  Now Jim at cards as i see them is probably already an owner of one of these if he has noticed.  Jim and I share a great deal in common when it comes to card collecting and I know he is a huge fan of the original card and the 1978 Topps set itself as am I (the set, not the card), so I suspect he might appreciate some tributes as well.  At only a few bucks, it is worth it and helps an artist out, even though some of these guys may be making more off custom cards than I make at my job these days.  However, I did just notice that the artist did not claim his/her work on this one, at least not directly.  Perhaps that is a deliberate safety net for when it comes to trademarks and copyrights infringements, as many custom card makers and sellers have certainly forgotten that these things exist.

Happy collecting out there and try to stay sane!  We "old-timers" all think it can't last...