Just curious as to the general consensus or reason why we all collect non sport packs. Lots of people are into non sport cards now more than ever. However I can only find so many pages or groups that specifically collect non sport packs, especially vintage. In my opinion vintage is pre 1980 but I'm in my mid 40s so I'm sure it's different for everyone.
I collect for part nostalgia and part just collecting cool stuff that not many others do. When you search for an old Civil war news card there are quite a few out there, so you have a good amount to choose from. When I search a Civil War news pack, I get a search of maybe 3 packs at any one given time. And I honestly don't know if they are legit unopened or not as I'm not familiar with their wrappers or cellophane. Just so many variables to consider, where as most people who want a card get it graded or buy it that way. I have more fun finding obscure packs that are so rare you see them maybe once a year or so.
Let me know what everyone thinks, and why you love this niche hobby! Thanks for looking 👍
I started collecting when I went into a local candy store and they had a big wire rack full of boxes of wax packs - probably different 40 titles. I sat there and picked out the nicest one of each from every box and bought them for about a quarter each. I wish I could still get them for that price!
For me it is all about the art and graphics of the pack itself. I had a friend who around 1998 got his entire childhood collection from his parents and we were looking though it. He had a full run of 1980-1990 Topps football packs included in there. I thought it was the most amazing looking thing, so I started my collection of unopened sports packs. I realized very early on that I was gonna be priced out of that after about 30-40 packs. So I switched to non-sport (Magnum PI first non sport pack purchase). And soon realized (at the time) there was hundreds of packs that could be had for the $1-$3 range.
Now looking back through my unopened collection it has nothing to do with what's inside, but the complete pack itself in its original state. Based on that statement alone I should probably just collect wrappers, but it doesn't feel the same.
Even if I only collected all Topps, or just OPC, or Fleer and Donruss it's still the fun of always finding something new and undiscovered. There are packs in someone's basement or attic as we speak that are probably thought lost or some people never even knew of. The treasure hunt and discovery are the most fun parts of pack collecting. Like you said it's the actual unopened pack itself, rather than it's contents that is so much more special and interesting!
Firstly, why collect anything? I think it's a completely human activity. If somebody told me that they didn't collect anything and had never collected anything in their whole life, I would think that they were kind of strange. It's just human nature.
All my friends growing up collected baseball cards. I had absolutely no interest because I thought that they all looked pretty much alike and I found it boring. Remember that this was way before the era of chase cards which (let's face it) is just a lottery for kids!
I liked the fact that nonsport cards were so different from each other. They are way more colorful and unique. I do have a few individual cards but latched onto unopened packs early on. Firstly they are somewhat ephemeral in nature - never having been designed to last and they get rarer every day as "pack busters" do their thing and open them. They are also harder to find and I liked the challenge. There are several titles with only a handful (or less) of examples still existing. I store mine grouped by year and I can see fads come and go as I flip through them. They are also way more efficient to store. If I collected full sets, I would need huge numbers of notebooks while my whole collection fits in a few boxes.
Also some packs are way more interesting than their contents. One example is Fleer Hot Seat Stickers! Have you ever seen a full pack? The wrapper graphics are wonderful and over the top but the contents were a couple of stupid and poorly printed stickers. Probably that is why they didn't sell and disappeared quickly. Now another rare thing for us to pursue!