I’m putting this in side-collections because I collect baseball cards and sent some free cards to my favorite sports box break openers, Matt and his 9yr old son Lucas. Along with some baseball cards I also found out Lucas collects Pokemon and sent him some Venusaur cards, including a Venusaur EX from the Tin.
What goes beyond collecting for me is this kids reaction, he absolutely loved this EX, I am guessing it was his first. It reminded me of when I pulled my very first holo. I’ve watched many of their videos and this was the first I have seen his full attention just on one card, and it was an EX Pokemon card. Lucas may not end up keeping the card in best condition, but it doesn’t matter - he’ll enjoy that card for a while and it looks like it could make his interest grow in the hobby. The reaction, his interest in cards, and most importantly how his dad collects with him, both sports and pokemon is what goes above and beyond the hobby. This is what collecting is all about. I know cards can be worth monetary value, but like just about all of us here it’s the sentimental value that counts the most. This was an awesome compliment
Here is the video, he sees the EX I sent him at 4:08 and immediately goes back to it at 13:48
Yes mate, this is awesome. I gave some of the grade one kids here a couple of PSA 6/7/8 Chinese Machamps from the base set - they went nuts over them! Shame they can’t get Chinese cards anymore, as they don’t want the Japanese cards.
Back when I had the toy store in Tokyo, we would get a lot of overseas visitors who knew of us from the pocketmonsters.com website, and wanted to see the “real” place. Some of them would write to us a few weeks ahead of time to ask us how to get to the store and make sure we’d be open the day they intended to visit.
One such visitor exchanged a few emails with me beforehand, and got to know my interests a bit. (I had mentioned to him that I collected baseball stuff, particularly Oakland A’s memorabilia.)
Well, this guy arrived in Tokyo a few weeks later, and came to the shop. He bought a bunch of Pokemon stuff (and I gave him a few freebies, too) and then, after paying, said, “I have something here for you.”
He pulled out of his backpack a small box of several 1970s-era Oakland A’s baseball cards, including one autographed by Vida Blue. He’d brought those all the way from the States to give to somebody he’d never met before.
I was blown away.
As you say, this really is what collecting is all about.
My girlfriends, roomates, friends, son is 10 years old. Just gained an interest in Pokemon cards and even has a club at his school with his friends surrounded around TCG now. The mother has no idea about Pokemon and is looking for birthday present ideas for her son. So my girlfriends roommate entered me into a group conversation on Facebook so I could help.
It’s really awesome to see a parent actually care about her kids hobbies, and actually want to learn about the hobby herself so she can know what to buy and how to help her son collect. One of the first questions she asked me was how to protect his cards so they stay undamaged. So for the last hour or so I have been teaching her how to identify rare cards and what certain words mean, like ‘sets’ and whatnot.
It’s very rewarding to pass the knowledge I have onto someone like her because her son will appreciate it and potentially be a life longer collector.
I’m glad I don’t have to collect baseball cards. The new topps series are ridiculous. They are really cool but there are just so many varieties and so few released it would drive me nuts. My dad collects them. They did a good job rejuvenating the fan base this way which is the main purpose I imagine. Hopefully something similar isn’t in Pokemon’s future.
Milhouse, your story reminds me of my gf’s, cousin’s, dad. He was a coin collector before we all started collecting the cards in the late 90’s and then he was just as/if not more involved then we were. He was how I learned everything from what you mentioned fakes to best card protection. Eventually as we all got older we had amazing relationships and great memories. Who knows, you could end up being a good role-model
As far as the Topps baseball cards go, I think it depends what sets. A lot of people are upset that Topps has the exclusive license to the team logos, names, uniforms, etc. I personally love the Topps Allen & Ginter set. And Toppps finest 1993. I am not really into the regular topps series sets though, but if the kids and fan base are I am all for it!
If we are talking baseball cards I really like the Allen and Ginter cards also – have been getting quite a bit of them for my stepdad (he is the baseball fan). Apparently, they even made an uber rare card (like 1 or 3 printed!) in 1 set that you could redeem for an actual preserved tarantula (a relic)!
We have not gotten any rip cards…but he did pull a jersey from a blaster (mini) box! And I bought some of the interesting cards - autograph, bat, etc of yankees. Want that tarantula…but it seems nobody has pulled it yet. Someday may have to get him a whole box.
