Collector Larry Berman recently purchased a piece of hockey history so important he didn’t feel right about keeping it. The 1948 letter from New York Rangers executive Frank Boucher was an invitation to the team’s training camp at Saranac Lake, N.Y. The recipient was prospect Herb Carnegie. A highly skilled black player, Carnegie could have been the first to play in … [Read more...]
Beckett Releases 2018 Football, Hockey Price Guide Books
Beckett Media is releasing a pair of price guide/checklist books. Published last month, the 35th edition of the company’s Football Card Price Guide has debuted as the number one release in the Antique and Collectible Sports Card category. The book includes checklists for every major set issued from 1894 to the present along with values for individual cards and complete … [Read more...]
2018 Beckett Almanac Released
If you prefer your baseball collectible knowledge in book form, the 2018 Beckett Baseball Almanac is now available. The annual publication checks in at over 1,300 pages including checklists, photos and prices for baseball cards and other collectibles from 1867-present. This is the 23rd edition of the softcover publication. Albert Pujols, who reached 3,000 hits … [Read more...]
Ramblings: Recalling the Show Vibe of 25 Years Ago
1990 doesn’t sound like ancient history if you were a working adult back then but I guess it’s time to face facts and admit that it was 25 years ago. I was recently asked to compare what card shows were like in 1990, compared to today. The hobby itself has gone through a huge transformation since then but has continued to move forward. While it’s not likely we'll see sports … [Read more...]
Editor’s Blog: Take Me Back to 1980
Sunday marked the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team’s stunning victory over the Soviet Union, the ‘Miracle on Ice’ game that’s a part of the collective consciousness of any sports fan old enough to remember it. It got me thinking about what was going on from a collecting perspective 35 years ago, a time which also marked the end of an era of dominance. It … [Read more...]
Ramblings: Don’t Kill Cataloguing
Recently on Net 54 there was a thread discussing the new release of the vintage-only Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards. This huge tome used to include just about any known baseball card set from every year but is now strictly 1981. As a former editor of the Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards & Collectibles, it’s a subject near and dear to my heart. To me, cataloguing … [Read more...]