By Samuel C. Evans M.S.Ed.,
Welcome back: if you are new to #thehobbyexperience, thank you for stopping by. I also want to encourage you to read my first article so you can get caught up and clearly understand what this column series is all about – click the link to learn more: Welcome To #thehobbyexperience. If you are a returning reader, you have become curious about trading cards and are possibly interested in collecting cards and building your collection. Well, if my previous statement is true, this article will be the perfect guide for you as you start your cardboard journey of becoming a member of one of the best communities on earth.
To understand this article, context is key. As you read this article, I will refer to trading cards as cardboard. I use this term because it puts a simplistic and nostalgic modern twist to describe sports cards. So now that we got that housekeeping item out of the way, the final thing that I want everyone to know is the collecting landscape is different today than in 1990 when I collected cardboard. I can unpack the pros and cons of what the hobby of collecting sports cards looks, feels, and sounds like today in 2024. However, I don’t want to frighten or overwhelm you before you follow through with your curiosity about cardboard and the nostalgia it could provide you. This cardboard roadmap I will share in this three-to-four-part article series will help you decide how to invest your time, money, and emotional energy into this incredible space we call the hobby. I hope you enjoy this cardboard journey we are about to go on as you begin to step into your collecting curiosity.
Cardboard Collecting 101 – The Cardboard Eras
The first essential component of collecting cardboard is knowing its history, more specifically, having an in-depth understanding of the four eras of cardboard—the Tobacco Era, the Vintage Era, the Junk Wax Era, and the Modern Era.
The first era of cardboard was called the Tobacco Cardboard Era. During this era of cardboard, from 1886 to 1945, collectors built their collections by finding their cards in tobacco products, bakery products, candy products, various foods/ice cream products, and various magazine publications. Despite the variety of ways collectors could build their collections through these products, the cards found in tobacco products such as Piedmont, Old Mills, Allen & Ginter, Sweet Corporal’s, American Tobacco Company, etc., were the most popular because during the late 19th and early 20th century. Why? First and foremost, American Baseball was the king of American sports. Second, all the classic and iconic cards were found in tobacco products. The iconic sets produced during this time were the most popular and sought-after because they had the best players, such as Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Bobby Wallace, Red Ames, and other baseball Hall of Famers. Today, over one hundred years later, the scarcity of these classic cards makes this era of cardboard the most valuable and historic cards on the card market.
The second era of collecting is probably the most lucrative, nostalgic, and favorite era within the cardboard timeline. Eighty percent of the hobby community would agree with this sentiment, and it would be hard to find a hobby purist who would say anything negative about the Vintage Cardboard Era. Most hobby historians would agree that the vintage cardboard era started in 1948 with Bowman’s release of its first basketball set that featured the first big man phenom rookie card of George Mikan. Given this universal agreement about the starting point of the vintage cardboard era, most hobby purists struggle with the cutoff point of vintage cards. Some hobby purists believe the vintage cardboard era ended in 1974, while others think it ended in 1981. Regardless of the end date, this era of cardboard is beyond special and the most unique era to build a collection if you are looking for a hobby entry point. This era of cardboard has some of the most prolific sets of cards ever produced. Also, during this era, one of the most significant sets of cards ever produced (e.g., the 1961-62 Fleer Basketball Set) would give birth to what we called the insert card in the late 80s and 90s.
Next is the junk wax cardboard era. Everyone, including hobby purists, believed the cardboard industry experienced a great depression during this collecting era. From 1981 to 2000, the major brands such as Topps, Fleer, Skybox, Upper Deck, Bowman, Donruss, and other small companies mass-produced so many sports cards that overnight (i.e., it didn’t happen overnight, but it sure felt like it did) sports cards across the big four American sports industries became worthless. Immediately after this shockwave of hearing that all your cards were deemed penniless, there was a mass exodus of collectors who left the hobby. However, forty years and a global pandemic later, the card market experienced a rebirth like a phoenix rising from its ashes and strong-armed everyone’s attention in the hobby. Even though cardboard was mass-produced throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, during this time, card designers’ innovative mindset to constantly reimage cards gave collectors like me a memorial gift that keeps on giving in 2024. Throughout the ’90s, cardboard designers produced what most hobby collectors call the greatest decade of insert cards. In this decade, you can find some of your favorite players, such as MJ, Kobe, Iverson, Shaq, and others, on some of the most visually pleasing and nostalgic insert cards. The junk wax era of cardboard isn’t an era of cards with a high return on investment, but the nostalgia of this era is priceless and beyond magical.
The final era of collecting is called the modern cardboard era. From 2009 to the present, hobby purists have called this era the variation and parallel cardboard era. For some cardboard collectors, this nickname makes the pursuit of cardboard more appealing and fun because collectors can build/complete rainbow sets of their favorite players. However, for other collectors, this nickname makes the modern cardboard era painstaking and confusing, especially for traditional set collectors. Also, in addition to the modern cardboard era being labeled as the variation and parallel era, this era was responsible for ushering in a new cardboard classification—high-end cards. High-end trading cards would change the card market and how collectors curated their collections overnight. These uber-expensive cards are scarce (i.e., serial numbered and limited to a specific number) and would feature a highly touted player’s autograph, game-used jersey, or both. The modern era is also deemed or seen as the one percent club of collecting because several high-end cards pulled from high-end boxes have a final purchase price in the five and six-figure range.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the four eras of cardboard. I also hope that after reading this article, you are more informed about which era of cardboard you want to start collecting. Each cardboard era has its pros and cons. However, don’t get into the weeds of dissecting or deciphering the pros and cons of these four eras of cardboard. The most crucial action you can take as you explore the hobby is… to love what you collect. So, as you begin to explore the hobby of collecting cardboard, stay on the lookout for part II of Cardboard Collecting 101. In part II of Cardboard Collecting 101, we will explore cardboard nomenclature, iconic cardboard sets, and specific cards you should aspire to add to your collection (i.e., PC).
Start Collecting,
Don’t hesitate to email me at thehobbyexperience12@gmail.com if you have questions about trading cards, this article or want to share your cardboard story.
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