Thank you for the welcome.

Welcome to Card Talk Bunkie.

You don't say why you switched from sports cards now, but I did that back around 2002. I was weaning off for awhile before a decided to quit and go exclusively to non-sport. Part of it was that I was losing interest in the sports because the teams kept changing players and part of it was the cost of premium products. The non-sport card hobby was a lot simpler and celebrity autograph cards became my thing.

Now non-sport cards are not so simple and have taken on many of the characteristics of the sports card hobby. Some good, some bad. There is a wealth of material in current products, less so in the vintage stuff. I think you will enjoy finding your focus as there is so much more to choose from than you might think going in.

I haven't totally switched to non-sports. My first and only(so far)non-sports is Chronicals of the Three Stooges. I've taken a brake from sports cards these past 12 months. But then I only build sets and collect vintage cards that I like. I won't quit sports cards. Life just got in the way this past year. All normal males like the Three Stooges. I even know a few women that like them too. Good stuff.

My name is Richard Parks (of RRParks CARDS). I'm originally from Sacramento but moved around a bit from California to Vermont to Oregon to Colorado and am now in Nevada for awhile. I just turned 50 a couple weeks ago. I started card collecting around 1973/1974 or so... with the earliest cards I can recall being Topp's Creature Features and Topp's Wacky Packages series three or four (the first box I bought was series four as I clearly recall 'Wormy Packages'). Although by 2001 I had done a number of jobs and career starts (archaeologist in Israel, high school and special ed teacher, librarian, legislative/lobbyist reporter, and antique art dealer) in 2001 I'd amassed enough resources to begin a trading card publishing company -- was in contact with Les Davis of The Wrapper and setting up my first licenses. But instead I got up early one morning and decided to go for a cup of coffee at Java City and 'met' someone, got engaged, married, divorced and began the long process of restoring my financial situation (which had been wiped out) and picked up, in 2013, exactly where I'd left off in 2001... certainly older and with only about 1/5 the working capital I had a dozen years earlier. But in 2013 I launched RRParks CARDS with The Monster Times, Halloween Trick or Treat and Monster Choke n' Gag. The first commercial level series I'd planned was a monster card series -- but after securing all the pre-approvals from the families, estates and lawyers of Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney, Price, Lancaster, Laughton, Costello, Abbott, Hull and others the project went into the basically-predictable limbo of Universal's legal department. And so I secured the license with C3 Ent., Inc. to make my first full on commercial endeavor Chronicles of The Three Stooges (ironically publishing the first box Dave 'Bunkie', right above me in this forum, bought for his son). While getting a trading card company is an uphill running battle it's also a lot of fun and picked up the license for Basil Wolverton about a month ago and so during 2015 hope to have Chronicles of The Three Stooges series three and four completed, Basil Wolverton's Barflyze, a throwback/nostalgic original monster card series, a spoofery series... and together with a new buddy in the hobby (who designed the gorgeous 3D Stooges cards for series three) we're working on getting a 'knock yer socks off' license which could take years to publish completely.

I'm interested in 1950s/1960s monster cards (completed Terror Tales, Horror Monster, Famous Monster & Rosan, Monster Laffs #1-108 in mint panels and working on the high numbers in panels), virtually all non-sport series of the 1950s and 1960s, original Wacky Packages, obscure monster card series vintage and modern, and once in awhile pick up a 'modern' series like Family Guy A New Hope, Mars Attacks, and card series from Studio Haedes / Acheron Mint (which are tricky to collect because I've only ever 'caught' them on Kickstarter.com). And like Dave, above, am also a fan of vintage airplane cards (Wings, the Jets minis, arcade cards... Rails and Sales, although there no aircraft... etc.). I'm not too much of a fan when it comes to modern card series because publishers seem to be mostly concerned with creating autograph and relic cards and 'sketch' (sometimes 'scrawl') cards all too difficult to collect in packs tend to make it too expensive to piece together subsets and chase cards (hence explaining the way I publish -- master sets in a single retail box, achievable without having to buy boxes and cases of cards only to end up with 1,000s of dupes). I'm a fan of the good ol' 'base set' and while I like subsets a LOT I also like it when they aren't ridiculously expensive because of scarcity to assemble. Although I never really got interested in sports cards (except the 1975 Topps 'minis' which I'd get in trades with fellow 4th graders) I guess, on and off, I've been a card collector for 40 years ... and recall when Star Wars came out my brother and I had seen it at the theatre in Vermont and weren't aware there was a card series until we took a weekend vacation to the beach and the weirdest thing -- we found a series one card (trash compactor scene) just at the water's edge (wrecked of course... but still recognizable) and hunted down a kiosk selling series one cards. Collected the whole set... then came series two and we collected that and the rest of the series. And because of that 'surf card' my brother got interested in Star Wars and special effects (he went on to animate 6 or 8 of Pixar's films and is a full time CGI and stop motion animator) and I went onto (eventually) being an OCD trading card publisher.

As a publisher and, I 'think', a bonafide 'fanboy' turning 'nerd' (someday a 'geek' but at present merely a nerd -- and proud of it) I'm always happy to talk cards and ideas with fellow fans and I set up my website with a contact link so chats are easy (and spend a lot of time on the phone just talking with fans I don't know and making new friends in the hobby). I'm delighted to be 'back into cards' after being 'out' for a dozen years ... and publishing is the most fun I've had in AGES.

Oh... one last thing: am delighted with the sense of 'family' that the non-sport hobby has at all levels -- both fellow fans and nerds (sorry if the word 'nerd' offends some people... I like the word 'nerd' because it is easier to type than 'afficionado' which I can't even spell... and I enjoy being a card 'nerd') but also the wonderful encouragement, support and help provided by Harris Toser of NSU and Les Davis of The Wrapper). There's a nice sense of passion for the hobby among the majority of collectors and even when I encounter 'disagreements' about this or that it really seems that there's a "we're all in this together" feel. It's a blast!

Richard, thank you mentioning me in your post above. It looks like you've done a life time of interesting jobs and occupations already. I actually bought the boxes of the Three Stooges for me. My wife thinks I'm nuts. I was trying to sort cards from the 2nd series the other night, when my 9 year old nephew came in and asked what I was doing. He helped me sort the cards for a few minutes. All the while I tried to explain what the Stooge cards were about. I got he usual lost look of a 9 year old. I even tried to give him one of the cards from the Stooge Christmas subset. He said no thank you. I have my Pokemon cards at home. At least he has some non-sports cards to hopefully keep up with collecting others. I'll keep working on him. He's a great kid too.

As Richard said, the non-sports community is more of a family from what I've seen so far. It's a good thing. In the sports card forums it's a tough nut to crack to get to know people better. A lot of the sports sites have bashing going back and forth.

The Chronicles of the Three Stooges are great looking cards. The photos are sharp and crisp. It's great that I can make one or more sets and subsets from one box and still have some singles to trade. I did manage to get a redemption card too. No, I don't work for Richard. It sounds like great work. The commute from Boston would be a small problem.

Sorry to admit, but I think I'm going to stick to vintage non-sports and vintage sports cards. Both building sets. My wife and I haven't been to the movies in over 5 years and I usually watch history programs and science channels. Most TV programs seem to turn into soap operas after a while. And the reality programs. We won't go there. I don't follow sports either. It's great to read about other peoples collections. Thanks for letting me join in.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bunkie,

My turn to chime in....I am Steve and I am a collector and a dealer. I remember talking to Roxanne Toser in 1998 at a Chicago card show and asking her if I could be both a collector and a dealer. She said a resounding "yes." For about 10 years I was an active dealer. Now I am more a collector than dealer. I collect promo cards, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Garbage Pail Kids.

From 2013-2019 my profession was conducting estate sales. Before that I was a Futures trading office manager.

I have met many people though this forum and appreciate both NSU and the people that participate.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stevetrek,

All these years I have been on Card Talk, and I have never posted here (I don't think)

My name's David, age almost 42, married with 2 sons, ages 5 and 2

I think the first card set I ever purchased was the 1990 Marvel Universe set, and then shortly there afterwards, the 1991 Hulk set by Comic Images, and the 2 Peanuts (Charlie Brown) sets by Pro Sports, 1992

I collected all of the Marvel and DC Comics sets through 1998, and from the 1990s to present, all of the X-Files (except the 2008 movie one), Smallville (except the Crypto one) Topps Star Wars, and James Bond sets that have been produced !

Since 1995 or so, I have also been an avid promo card collector

I've been a practicing attorney since 1999

Hello,

I'm Joseph aka Kryten67 & ebay Josemo67

I remember getting cards in the early 70s...

1st set was the 76 Topps Star Trek Set.

then STAR WARS came along......

the Most Important thing to know is I am SyFy.

I don't carry anything I don't like.....

I am doing Trek, CONTINUUM, Star Wars, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and a select few requests...

I have Artist Proof/ Returns for most of my Current sets....

I am not gonna Carry Cryptozoic except for request as I REALLY don't LIKE them .

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kryten67,

Hello Joe and welcome to Card Talk. That is a really cool picture.

Like David R., I've been a member here for several years but haven't posted here before (though I did check to make sure).

My name is Jess and I've been collecting cards off and on since the early 70's. I started with Topps baseball and football cards. Then one day in 1977-1978, my brother and I stopped the ice cream truck intending to buy ice cream until we saw that we could buy Star Wars cards (red series had just been released). We bought all the packs we could. We ate as much General Mills cereal as possible to get those Star Wars stickers too.

I started college (from geology to languages) in 1981. A high school friend was working at a comic book store so I picked up some comics and cards then.

I got out of cards for a while but then got back into them one day (late 1994) while visiting my brother. He had told me a little trading card store had opened up near his apartment so we walked over to check it out. Star Wars Widevision had either just been released or was about to be. I ended up buying a couple of boxes of that and several packs as well as other sets (William Stout, other SW, etc.). Within a couple of years, I was really getting into collecting promos too. My brother and I went to SDCC from 1998 to 2001. Those shows were great just starting to become a huge multimedia thing. He got married and started having kids.

Around 2005-2006, I started drifting away from collecting cards and sold some of my collection - kept a lot of stuff I liked (many promos, science-related sets, my 70's-80's cards).

A couple of years ago, I resubscribed to the Wrapper and started buying every issue of NSU again. I started to better organize my card collection and got into buying cards again.

My other main collection is fossils, buying, trading and digging for my own. I have a little of several groups but mostly shark teeth. It's a hobby that is sometimes as much a job as any real job I've had because of the research that can go into it if you really want to know more about what you have. I have done some of my own fossil preparation and that led to people asking me to help prepare their fossils.

In the late 80's to early 2000's I worked in text-to-speech (creating computer voices). After the company was sold and the new company let go of the five of us from the old company, I worked for other voice work companies and now I do website stuff for my brother's company as well as some fossil preparation.

I have done some work that's very technical and collecting shark teeth can be technical too. There have been times when I needed a break. Trading cards are as low-tech as you can get (though there can be research involved in that too, trying to find out where some oddball promo came from). One of the things that can keep card-collecting a viable hobby in the future is that there will always be people who work in high-tech (and/or deal with high stress at work and/or home) who need to get away from it and play with something simple like little, illustrated pieces of cardboard.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

Welcome in from lurking. Glad to have another person who shares the joy of non-sport trading cards.

Hello, I have been collecting since 2000 (Base set of Charmed Season One) and on the boards since 2005.

Took a break from 2011 - 2018 where I sold, traded or just gave away about 95% of my collection which was about 2,000 cards of all levels across 200 sets.

My 'bare bones' collection now is mainly all the Charmed sets by Inkworks. I was nostalgic for collecting lately and missed it, so I decided to get back into it. Thanks to the magic of Ebay I've been buying some packs and starting base sets from scratch.

I also casually collect postcards (Edwardian/Victorian theatre mostly), stamps (Worldwide, USA and Film themes), coins (Any interesting ones that take my fancy), stickers (Film/TV tie-in official albums) and hoping to get into collecting Lobby (Cinema) cards if I can find a good storage solution.

I've tried collecting comics in the past but they're so fragile and expensive to store 'correctly' that I never got into it. But I enjoy 'collecting' digital versions of the same comics. Much easier.

Some names might be wrong but here's, in no particular or organised order sets I used to collect:
Note: Sets in bold I'm currently collecting.

Sets I've collected:
The World Is Not Enough (James Bond/007)
American Pride
Back To The Future 2
Beverly Hills 90210
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Don't Let It Happen Here (2003)
Hellboy
Hollywood Pin Ups
Hollywood Zombies
Jurassic Park Series 1
Jurassic Park Series 2
The Lost World Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park 3
Kong 8th Wonder of the World (King Kong/2005)
Mallrats
Star Wars The Revenge of the Sith (Retail)
Star Wars The Revenge of the Sith Widevision
Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace (Ikon)
Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace (Sticker album)
N'Sync
President Obama Inaugural Edition
Sabrina The Teenage Witch
Donruss Americana 2012
The Frighteners
Indiana Jones Heritage
Star Wars Galaxy 4
Star Wars Galaxy 5
Casper (1995)
Godzilla (1998)
Audrey Hepburn The Early Years
Tom Brady & The New England Patriots
Boston Red Sox
Boston Bruins
Boston Celtics
New England Revolution
Finding Nemo (Retail)
Finding Nemo (Sticker Album)
Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Sticker album)
Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince (Sticker album)
Ace Ventura Pet Detective
Garbage Pail Kids (2008?)
Buffy TVS: Men of Sunnydale
Buffy TVS: Memories
Buffy TVS: Big Bads
Buffy TVS: 10th Anniversary
Buffy TVS: Women of Sunnydale
Buffy TVS: Season 7
Small Soldiers (1998)
GoldenEye (James Bond/007)
Freedom (USA/2001)
Terminator: Salvation
I Love Lucy
Ant-Man
X-Files Season 3
Fringe Season 1 & 2
The Big Bang Theory Season 5
American Pie (2011)
Vintage Movies (Brown Glitter/Breygent Marketing)
Vintage Movies (Yellow/Breygent Marketing)
Quotable (James Bond/007)
The Complete (James Bond/007)
Dangerous Liaisons (James Bond/007)
24: Season Four
The 4400 Season One
The 4400 Season Two
Alias Season Thre
Alias Season Four
Alien Vs Predator
Angel Season Two
Angel Season Three
Angel Season Five
Art of H.G. Wells
BattleStar Galactica Colonial Warriors
BattleStar Galactica Premier Edition
BattleStar Galactica Season One
Battle of the Planets
Catwoman
Dead Zone
Doctor Who: Doctors, Companions and Villians
Doctor Who: Battles in Time
Family Guy Season One
Farscape Through the Worm Hole
Firefly
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and Sorcers Stoen
Hellboy Animated Sword of Storms
Hulk the movie (2001)
Lexx
Lord of the Rings: Evolution
Lord of the Rings: Masterpieces
Lost Season One
Lost Season Two
Lost in Space
Munsters
Scooby Doo Monsters Unleashed
Serenity
Shrek Two
Shrek The Third
Six Feet Under
Smallville Season One
Smallville Season Two
Smallville Season Three
Sopranos Season One
Spike The Complete Story
StarGate Atlantis Season One
StarGate Atlantic Season Two
StarGate SG-1
StarGate SG-1 Season Six
StarGate SG-1 Season Seven
StarGate SG-1 Season Eight
StarGate SG-1 Season Nine
Star Trek Celebrating 40 Years
Star Trek Deep Space Nine
Star Trek Enterprise Season Three
Star Trek Enterprise Season Four
Star Trek The Next Genertation Quotable
Star Wars Evoultion
Star Wars Heritage
Star Wars Episode One The Phantom Menace (Widevision)
Veronica Mars Season One
Wallace and Gromit Curse of the WereRabbit stickers
WWE Insider
Xena and Hercules Animated Series
X-Files Season Nine
X-Men 3 The Last Stand
Xena Warrior Princess Dangerous Liasions
American Horror Story: Murder House
American Horror Story: Asylum
Goal! 2006 FIFA World Cup
Match Attax! 2006 (Soccer/Football)
Premier League Gold 2007
Dexter Season One
Marilyn Monroe Series 1
Marilyn Monroe Series 2
Monsters Inc. University Stickers
Pokemon CCG Original Series (1990s/2000s)
Magic The Gathering (2005)
World of WarCraft (2011)
Thunderbirds Are Go (Film/2009?)
Superman Returns
The Chronicles of Riddick
Spiderman Three
The Vampire Diaries Season One
The Vampire Diaries Season Two
The Vampire Diaries Season Three
Highland The Complete
Men In Black 1
Sleepy Hollow (1992)
Looney Tunes Back in Action
Nightmare on Elm Street
Dick Tracy Private Detective
Elvis Preseley Collection Series 2
Elvis Presley Collection Series 3
Elvis Presley Platinum collection
Wacky Packages stickers (2005)
Robots the movie
Twilight
Hook
21 Jump Street (Johnny Depp)
Elvis Presley Press Pass
The Mummy Returns
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (2005)
An American Tale: Fivel Goes West
John Wayne Collection
Wizard of Oz (Breygent Marketing)
Top Trumps: The Simpsons
Top Trumps: Buff The Vampire Slayer
Top Trumps: Angel
Top Trumps: 4th set forgot name
Last Action Hero
Moshi Monsters cards
Doctor Who Stickers (Tenant era)
Walking with Dinosaurs (Kellogs cereal)
GooseBumps (Action cards/CCG/1990s)
Batman (1990s?)
Farscape (Duplicate?)
Beyblade
Aling The Planets (Dynamic Forces)
Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman/2004)
The Big Bang Theory Season 1 & 2
Buffy TVS: Season Seven
Charmed Season One
Charmed The Power of Three
Charmed Connections
Charmed Conversations
Charmed Destiny
Charmed Forever

Think that's all?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TC00,

Note from Mr.Fizzbin:
The text below was posted nearly 20 years ago…..anyone out there that wants an update?

Ok, I've checked and I need to add my story lol

After I get home from work today...

Well G'day, I'm Adrian form Sydney Australia. I've been collecting mainly Promo, sample and prototype cards for just short of 30 years and I still love the hobby and the very interesting and knowledgeable people you meet from all over the globe. I have a few sets of non-sport cards that interest me but mainly focused on Promo cards.
As a kid I started buying packs of the original King Kong Movie cards, Star Wars from my local small town milk bar, then moved onto promos when as a 27 yr old, a card shop in my city was closing down and I happened to be in the right place at the right time.
A few family members here know me, Todd, Albert, Zane and have traded over the years, probably my first overseas trade was with Glenn Leonard and then Bill de Franzo started to send me bunches of Philly show promos which I very gratefully accepted.
Away from collecting, I was a chef for 37 years and recently changed careers to work for Mercedes Benz warehouse. I play comp. squash 2-3 times a week.
My top 3 movies of all time are:
1. Raider of the Lost Ark
2. Life of Brian
3. Nacho Libre

I love live music and going to gigs and My fav band is Midnight Oil, RATM, Frenzal Rhomb, The Amity Affliction, Enter Shikari and Stray From The Path.

I'd love to hear from other collectors/ music fans from Finland to Frenso, Boston to Belgium send me an email and maybe we can arrange a trade ?

quote:

A few family members here know me, Todd, Albert, Zane and have traded over the years, probably my first overseas trade was with Glenn Leonard and then Bill de Franzo started to send me bunches of Philly show promos which I very gratefully accepted.
Away from collecting, I was a chef for 37 years and recently changed careers to work for Mercedes Benz warehouse. I play comp. squash 2-3 times a week.

Congrats on the career change! I hope it brings you much satisfaction and success.

quote:

Congrats on the career change! I hope it brings you much satisfaction and success.

It certainly does Albert... M-F, I finish each day at 3.40pm, my weekends are free. planning a holiday with my beautiful bride, Life's good mate

Hi like cardscout I thought that i had also answered this post but upon looking it is apparent that i have not
My name is Ross aka piko I live in New Zealand.
I am an oldie 83 years on this planet
I have 2 children grown up now 1 semi interested in cards 1 no way
I have basically collected something all my life started with the cereal cards issued by Sanitarium NZ 1942 and still going today with an annual set of cards of wich I have most .
The only year there was no issued set vwas 2020 owing to covid a set was produced but not issued
I have collected coins postcards bottles car models mm toys trading cards comics etc and as i hardly ever sell anything i have a room packed
I enlisted in the army 1958 for 8 years and during that my mother had a clean out thus destroying all my cards and comics everything i had collected saying I thought that you did not want them
wish I had most of them today there was some good comics there.
So i started again about 1994 I found some promos in a card shop and from then on it was promos for me
I have a lot of the earlier Marvel Star Wars promo cards about 1999 or 2000 i became interested in Inkworks Promo cards Initially they were quiet expensive so it was a very selective process an Australian seller tried to sell me the first 5 Inkworks Internet issued cards for $300 no deal then later the crash and Internet and they became easy and cheaper I basically have 98% of inkworks promos box and case cards available now
Over the last few years i have done some trading through some Card Talk members but basically I keep everything that I buy.
Over the last year I have had a bit of a hiatus on buying trading cards.
The E Bay exorbitant shipping has had a lot to do with this never mind we seem to be unable to do anything about this E Bay fees just keep coming and they seem to be able to pluck them out of the air and we have to put up with it . Anyway this a simple account of my non sports card collecting era
Thanks to this forums members that have traded and sold to me .
And a merry Xmas and happy New Year to you all
Piko

Hi I'm Tom. I joined and participated for a while quite a few years back and have been getting back into the hobby more again.

I'm maybe an odd-bird collector wise as I only collect cards on one subject. Lion King. It started as a Dad/Daughter hobby but then became just Dad mostly, though we still open packs together when ever I get a batch of those. And they will be hers eventually. I do collect other things, Toy soldiers mainly, since I was 11 over half a century ago. Here is a recent of my collection currently.