Getting Out of the Gum Card Business

I first started heavily collecting vintage cards about 20 years ago. The more I collected, the more I realized I wanted to begin building sets. I started with 1948 Bowman and 1951 Bowman. While I had no qualms with parting with both (I eventually sold them to get into building a T206 set), in hindsight, I do wish I had kept the fairly clean Mickey Mantle BVG 2 1951 Bowman rookie card I had. At the time, it was about a $2,000 card and today, it’s closer to about $10,000.

After those two sets, I decided to go back even earlier and began building a 1933 Goudey set. But once I found T206 cards, that near set (minus Nap Lajoie, and the Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig cards), too, became a casualty. I wanted to, and did, pour everything into building T206.

Three or four years back, with T206 (and T205 and T207) complete, I started getting back into the pre-war gum sets. I completed a 1941 Play Ball set, along with 1935 Goudey, and 1936 Goudey. I was amazed at how quickly and easily the 25-card 1936 Goudey set could be. And to this day, I still recommend it for set builders wanting to dip their feet into pre-war baseball issues.

I got nearly complete on 1939 Play Ball, missing only the Ted Williams rookie card. And I got respectably far with 1940 Play Ball, 1933 Goudey, 1934 Goudey, and 1938 Goudey, reaching about the halfway point or further on all of those. I had a goal to try to collect all of the Goudey and Play Ball baseball sets.

But I’m calling it quits.

The progress I’d been making on them was mostly at a snail’s pace. I’d pick up a card here or there and frankly, I just wasn’t looking much for them, anymore. This year, I went to the National without even taking my checklists for them because I was more focused on making progress on my older sets.

I probably would have kept going if not for the amount of major cards I still needed. The four Goudey Ruths, two Lou Gehrigs, the two 1934 Gehrigs, and the 1938 Joe DiMaggios and Bob Fellers — not to mention, the Williams 1939 Play Ball and 1940 Play Ball Joe Jackson would have roughly been $20,000-$25,000 minimum for very low-grade examples. And frankly, there’s just older stuff I’d much rather collect for that kind of money.

At the end of the day, the cards of Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Cap Anson simply mean more to me than those of DiMaggio, Gehrig, and Williams. Not that the first batch included superior players. I just prefer the older cardboard of those greats than the less old stuff of the others. The reality is that I didn’t see any of those players play. Or even Mantle and Mays. So while many older collectors gravitate to the cards of the 1950s when they remember seeing some of their heroes play, that doesn’t apply to me. When it comes to my collection, it’s all about the sets.

You’ll find several of my gum card sets and partial sets up for grabs in The Collector Connection’s current Pre-War auction. As I said to Scott when I consigned them, “I’m getting out of the gum card business.”

Jack Glasscock 1888 Allen & Ginter (N28)

Those are fine sets, mind you. Hey, go bid on my stuff! This isn’t an indictment on the great 1930s stuff that’s out there. But my focus is really on earlier tobacco and caramel cards. I’d rather put money into completing the 19th century N28 Allen & Ginter set (only Anson, King Kelly, and Annie Oakley await) or the 1895 Mayo set that I just started — cards I just more heavily value.

Does this mean I won’t ever collect any 1930s stuff? Nah. There’s lots of other 1930s cards I love. Tackling a multi-sport Goudey Sport Kings set, for one thing, might be on my distant radar again someday. I’m also not opposed to picking up singles from that era. But in terms of most baseball setbuilding from the 1930s, I’m probably going to pass on that in lieu of seeking out the older sets.

And that’s the great thing about collecting. Interests can shift and at the end of the day, we’re left with a choice — collect things we truly want or keep pushing towards collecting goals that don’t matter as much.

I’ve made my choice.