Collections in Trying Times We're living in unique and challenging times. Lives and daily routines have changed for so many. Some, quite dramatically. The worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 has had a great impact on the sports card industry and on the hobby, as well. Before the pandemic, Just Collect would receive between 10-15 email inquiries and another 5-10 or so telephone inquiries about collections and values on a daily basis. Since the onset of the pandemic, those numbers have nearly tripled. The
The Making of a PurchaseOur saga begins with a late September email from the son-in-law of a Boston area collector that was interested in getting an assessment and valuation on a few cards in the father-in-law's collection. The initial email featured 6 cards (the image to the immediate left is the image that we received), which included a T206 Ty Cobb, 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth, 1954 Topps Hank Aaron and 1951 Bowman Willie Mays. The cards appeared to range in
Sweet as Candy Most collectors are aware of the tobacco cards that were issued in the early part of the 20th Century, with the White Border T206 Set being one of the most popular issues of all time. But what options were available for non-smokers or those that didn't buy tobacco products for the premiums? Well, there were some less common issues released by a few different confectionery companies. One such set, release by the American
Two Birds - One Stone Not to offend any animal rights folks, but to use an old adage, looking back on this blog's deal, "we killed two birds with one stone." Just Collect already planned a trip and while on the trip, another opportunity presented itself and we were able to act upon that as well. We closed the primary reason for the trip and then added the second portion before returning home to our Somerset, NJ office. Just Collect was escorting
Music to Our Ears We've used song lyrics to describe some collections that we've seen and/or purchased in the past. Well, this collection reminds us of the Rolling Stones classic with the lyric, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need." We traveled down along the Atlantic Shore to view a tobacco collection that had been in the family for more than a century. We met them at