How much sharing is appropriate?

[mrmopar]

I won a card recently. It was a graded autographed card, but the holder didn't provide any pertinent information as to what the card actually was. It just says Trading Card. I am not going to divulge the details quite yet, but this is a fairly scarce item and the information about it has been fairly sparse. I know for certain one of my old rivals has this card on his radar, but he doesn't know what it actually looks like, thus the advantage goes to me when one is posted and not properly identified! It has not arrived yet, but when it does, I will probably share it. However, it got me thinking about a subject that can be both helpful and harmful at the same time. How much information about this hobby do you share online for unknown numbers of other collectors and opportunists to see?

Hobby periodicals & guides, online sites/card groups, shops/shows and especially realtime personal collecting experience all help people in their pursuit of collecting, but as time passes some of the basic information may start to get buried or lost. This is true for the really unique and oddball items especially. How was that particular item distributed? Where did it come from? Who made it? Is it scarce or easy to find? it helps if you were collecting at the time something was issued, but 10-20-30+ years later, then what? New people are coming into the hobby everyday with different levels of knowledge. want lists and budgets and may know very little about past issues. I personally find it fun to share some of my items and information I have picked up over nearly 50 years of collecting sports memorabilia. At the same time, at least for the foreseeable future, i am still out there scrapping with everyone else to find great deals on cool items and when you share your secrets, you may also be inviting more competition. I am guilty myself, seeing something another person shares and then realizing that I want one or something similar. Knowledge is truly power in this case.

There is something to be said about collecting in anonymity. At the same time, sharing your interest can also lead to great experiences with others helping you location, gifting you things or just supporting your quest. It's a double edges sword that gets discussed from time to time. There is no right answer. Each has to decide how open they are going to be.

 

[swish54_99]

As my collecting focus ebbs and flows and changes with the times, I'm not really looking for uber rare items like you do where competition can determine weather you add it to your collection or someone else adds it to theirs. There was a chunk of my collecting focus where I got autographs in-person at ballparks and hotels. On that side of the hobby, you really see the sharing of information get held close to the chest. Identifying a player, knowing the best place to stand inside the stadium, knowing where the players exit the stadium outside, what hotel do they stay at, all adds to the competition between the collectors. Autograph hounds, unless you're in their close circle, don't generally share that information with just anybody. Having extra people around could mean the player only signs 1 per instead of multiples to try and get to everyone, or they might just not sign at all if the crowd is too big. I've participated in both sides of the competition over the years. I've withheld some info, but have also shared some as well. I've also had it happen to me, where someone shares a critical piece of info, and then next time no one does and you miss out.

 

[joey12508]

i have traded a sold to all type collectors. some share my interest. met some cool people. dont collect cards much now. still have some gems and cards that were gifted to me. i remember when i showed someone my collection over 4000 cards at one time. he told me you crazy lol. since moved on to collecting vinyl of music i like.

 

[jmc855]

Cant really say I ve ever hyper focused on staying anonymous, or withholding info. I think I'm pretty open and conversational. I point others to cool stuff I could grab, and they do the same to me i have found. I dont announce every bid I make lol, that would be insanely impossible, but if someone asks if I am "on" a card, I answer honestly. They're just cards, and there's way bigger and more serious stuff in life IMO to worry about. None of us are taking them with us......

 

[michaelstepper]

I think about this all the time. I've become less "showy" over the years.
I've found if I ask or want something in particular.. crickets. The longer I go without saying anything.. the more I find.
I know of several other great collections as well as mine but I've become more hesitant to share or post needs as I get nothing in response or suddenly one will show up on ebay at an outrageous price. So I know people see.
I'm also aware unfortunately (I've had several DM's telling me so) a person will hold onto or hide things because a certain person is looking or wants it.
I'm willing to help someone out in their collection if we can scratch eachothers backs in a sense. Just ask

 

[tramers]

I meet many players parents / G/f's ---last year I managed to get two homerun baseballs of the other team = their parents at game .It was players FIRST home run this year . Parents wanted to pay me =LOL . Two years ago I got home team players GRAND SLAM ---I gave it to him ==he cried that I did that. Famous former RED SOX son hit a foul that i got and gave to his dad . I do have 300 game signed baseballs and I get practice baseballs and give to kids for birthday or first game . SO if in area ask for me at games --

 

[Dazed]

This is the only place I share much. And there have been a lot of helpful and generous members here that have helped me with my collection.

Since my house was broken into last year and some of my favorite cards and most valuable cards were stolen I share even less. I set up at a few card shows a year. So, people at the shows have an idea of what’s in my collection. Plus, our wonderful county shares everyone’s address and even a picture of our property.

 

[mrmopar]

This is the only place I share much. And there have been a lot of helpful and generous members here that have helped me with my collection.

Since my house was broken into last year and some of my favorite cards and most valuable cards were stolen I share even less. I set up at a few card shows a year. So, people at the shows have an idea of what’s in my collection. Plus, our wonderful county shares everyone’s address and even a picture of our property.

That sucks, sorry to hear that. That is a big reason why I was always hesitant to talk about my collection in certain circles in person. I cautioned my wife and kids not to share with just anyone that hubby/dad has a sports memorabilia collection, All of the non-collectors almost immediately ask what your most valuable card is. I am certain many of you have had that same question posed to you if you were speaking to someone who knew you had cards. I don't think it's stalking, more curiosity, but this information told to the wrong person who then shares it with another person (and so on) might lead to exactly this unfortunate result.

 

[mrmopar]

The card that inspired the thread arrived today. I showed in in my Dodger thread, but will feature it here as well.

2001 Fleer Platinum was at the height of the insert and parallel era. All of the card makers, but especially Fleer and Donruss, were pumping out a crazy amount of inserts, parallels, special cards, etc. in most of their issues. Check out a checklist of any 2000-2005 sets on TCDB and it will feel like you are reading the entire years worth of issues in one set! One of the more unique issues was a collection of Fleer "buyback" autographs from various previous Fleer card sets and some recent prospect autographs. Many were hand numbered, but not all were. The checklist was a mix of HOFers, prospects and established active stars. Steve Garvey actually stands out from this list, as he was neither a HOFer nor active at the time. His card was the 1987 Fleer and was advertised to be 15 copies. That number, although small, is commonplace now. However, back in 2001 that was a pretty scarce print run. Keep in mind that Willie Mays has 2 cards in this set, each with over 100 copies, yet they short printed Garvey to 15 copies? WTF?

I was very much active in chasing Steve Garvey at this time and when the product hit and the cards started flowing to ebay, I was of course on the lookout for the Garvey card. With only 15 copies, it was bound to be a tough one to score. As they started to appear, I realized that they were not in fact serial numbered either via a foil number or a handwritten number. The only way to know that you had one of these cards was to look for the embossed Fleer seal. To make matters worse, Fleer would be bankrupt only a few years later and some weird stuff was happening with open redemptions, a nightmare story for another time that I wish I never had the displeasure of experiencing in person. I have forever been tainted by redemption cards ever since.

I have always also wondered if some things, especially something like a Fleer logo embosser, ever survived the bankruptcy and even worse, if it might have fallen into the wrong hands of someone who could do some real damage to the integrity of the seal on previously legitimately issued cards. I have seen a number of different logos embossed on cards and wondered why they would use a different logo design on the same issue. That being said, there is another feature of this particular card that tells me, at least, that it is legit. They were all seemingly signed in the same general area with the same pen. The signature is strong and one of the nicer versions of a Garvey autograph you'll find, especially compared to those issued today with volume and age playing roles in how his signature looks now.

The fact that this card is graded could have either hurt or helped the effort. It was graded as a "trading card", but even so, it's unlikely someone at PSA would have even known it was the Rack Pack buyback unless they had prior knowledge. As far as I know, there is no image of this card associated with a checklist online. Who knows how many or where any of these Steve Garvey autographs reside today, outside of my collection. Perhaps a few are still enclosed in their original packaging in someones unopened wax collection? Anyone who was seriously collecting Garvey at the time probably has it on their want list, likely having never seen one and only knowing to look for a 1987 Fleer Garvey that might be hand numbered. There are a plethora of those 87F Garvey's that are signed on ebay, so having the knowledge I just shared may help you differentiate a $5 TTM/IP autograph from the elusive buyback card reportedly only issued in a quantity of 15.

Does anyone reading this happen to have one in their collection and didn't know what they had or maybe did know and just never disclosed that fact to anyone before? I paid around $20 for this card, before shipping. I always have my eye open for them and if any were to appear or become available for sale, I would certainly consider buying more depending on the asking price, of course.

 

[DaClyde]

I'm all about sharing obscure hobby information. You can always identify a card and information about it without saying you have it.