I remember buying one of the big Beckett annual hockey books years back when I was collecting a particular hockey player; gleefully turning each page, highlighting his name with a yellow highlighter. I didn't care about the prices, but really wanted the checklisting aspect.

Fast forward to last week. I kept getting the emails from Beckett about the Non-Sport Almanac. Memories of the hockey book loomed large, and with the 25% off or whatever the offer was, I sprang for it.

Pages and pages of releases, most with zero cards listed at all. I was excited for the vintage section--just some set listings and very few cards.

A price range for a sealed box of product x, great. What cards make up product x? Not great.

I wanted checklists, I got disappointment.

I guess I'm just an old guy who wants a physical book so I can rummage through, write in margins, that sort of thing.

I had not bought either of the first couple Almanacs, but if anyone else has been considering buying one, save your money.

There is only so much space. Would be impossible to list every card of every set without the type beeing so small it you would need a magnifying glass

If you really want a breakdown of every card, you will need to go online.

Try Jeff Allenders House of Checklists (http://nslists.com/jachlist.htm). Most sets listed with a list of every card.

Take out the Funko stuff, split vintage and modern into two guides. It could absolutely be done, and done better. The hockey guide I had listed every card. It was a good 600 pages, give or take, and did just fine.

I am very familiar with Jeff's site. As I said, I prefer actual things I can stick on the nightstand and thumb through at night.

Yeah I prefer actual books too. I have no interest in subscribing to a digital price guide or magazine.

Funkos aside, the 3rd edition of the Non-Sport Almanac is an improvement over the first and second versions. The font is larger, there are fewer blank columns and the general layout is easier to follow.

I would hope that the 4th edition improves on this last one too, because it is far from perfect, but its a glass half full kind of thing. This Almanac should be better, but it is also the only game in town. Sports card Almanacs were certainly bigger and better years ago. I also prefer the old comics to the new books they call comics today. That's why I haven't bought a comic in years.

But I do have the 3rd Almanac, one bought on sale and one gifted, and I have used it to find some things. It has holes, but the alternative is nothing. There is a thread in the NSU Update section where we have posted some ideas for changes. Its good to keep the suggestions coming so that Beckett doesn't get the idea that non-sport card collectors don't want print anymore. If the Almanac becomes more useful in collector's eyes, it will also sell more, so everyone wins.

Funko Pop! figures are probably one of the most popular items out on the market these days. Collectors and, probably more impressive, non-collectors buy these big-eyed & headed figures of their favorite shows, movies, and other pop culture items just to display.

Beckett probably Funko in the Non-Sport Almanac as a way to entice the person on the margins of collecting to purchase the book. Plus, it's probably a good way for them to get that information out to print without dedicating a solo publication. It's like laying the groundwork before deciding if they should go forward with a Funko publication.

Actually, I could imagine an individual Funko publication going to print before a vintage non-sport trading card version. I believe inspite my preference as a "seasoned collector" to cards like: Inkworks Buffy autos, Fleer/Skybox Sketchagraphs, and Topps Custom Covers, the Non-Sport trading card collecting base is too much of a niche market to support the splintering of vintage and modern for an Almanac to make economic success. For these types of books and magazines to be relevant enough on the shelves of stores to sell they need to stay up on the current trends and products.

A best case scenario for non-sport card market is that Funko figures end up as a gateway product that introduces more collectors to the trading card hobby so it can grow.

Howdy,

Over-street have been producing an annual price guide for the comic book industry successfully for many decades. A comprehensive non sport trading card guide is only prohibited by the small number of long term collectors in the hobby.

TTFN

About two months ago, I bought the current almanac also when I noticed Amazon discounted them and I had a gift card. The editors could save some space not separating groups of cards in the same set.

I like that a lot of promos are listed but an example of wasted space can be seen in the Marilyn Monroe Private Collection promos (many of which are marked as prototypes). Instead of a line for each card in each group, just write 100P-104P on one line and then the price. In almost all cases no card within any one group is more valuable than the others. The guide does correctly reflect that prototype 1 in Group 2 is worth a lot more than the others in the group.

The guide does not note how Group 5 and 6 prototypes are distinguished. Only someone familiar with the 2008 Promo Encyclopedia and its previous edition would know the front and back colors for those.

Some of the prices are off too. The Goldeneye Graffitti Hawaii show goes for a lot less than $80. It maxed out in value around $50 maybe 10-15 years ago.

They could dump the Funkos too. Would anyone collecting Funkos pay over $30 for a price guide?

I haven't gone through it page-by-page yet - just leafed through.

quote:

Originally posted by AWR:
There is only so much space. Would be impossible to list every card of every set without the type beeing so small it you would need a magnifying glass

If you really want a breakdown of every card, you will need to go online.

Try Jeff Allenders House of Checklists (http://nslists.com/jachlist.htm). Most sets listed with a list of every card.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
They could dump the Funkos too. Would anyone collecting Funkos pay over $30 for a price guide?

You're probably right about that because I wouldn't pay over $30 for a price guide. But I dont have that many of them so I don't really keep up on the pricing so it's nice to have it in the Almanac if I get curious about a certain figure. The more serious Funko collectors that I know tend to use the Pop Price Guide, but they do get a little curious when I mention that there's pricing in the Almanac and/or the Beckett Sports Card Monthly.

An aside on Funko Pop figures, I see those figures in comic shops and card stores more often than I find non-sports cards