This article is a draft and I will be adding to it frequently until complete. My aim is to help you collect your favorite celebrity, from Hank Aaron to Zorro. You pick who you want to collect and I will give you tips on how to do it. The principles and knowledge I learned over the years have made me an expert. I can tell fake from real, rare from common, while learning prices, making money, and finding and adding rare items to my collection. A hobby can be challenging and fun. My favorite celebrity is my hometown star Tony Conigliaro outfielder for the Boston Red Sox 1964-75. I was a fan since 1964 Spring training when he tried out for the Sox and we were both teenagers. I have been collecting him on a advanced level since 1980. Before ebay I bought just about everything I could find on him at Card Shows, auctions and everywhere. Which wasn't much. Ebay has greatly improved my collection as it can yours.
SEARCH EVERY DAY ON EBAY
My collections includes cards, autographs, publications, tickets, photographs, awards, pennants, pins, equipment and odd items. I will show you how to have a advanced collection of the subject you like. Searching on ebay is key. Search everyday. For example today Oct 12, 2012, I typed Tony Conigliaro in the search box and found a little over 1,000 items. Roughly 655 items were cards, 45 autographs, 135 photographs, 31 publications, 10 tickets, 14 pins, 4 pennants, 4 posters 1 glove and 100 others items.When I added look at description and title I found about fifty percent more 1,500 items. Finding 1,500 items on a subject you like in one search is amazing. Of course many are common items. For example there are over 500 common cards. However the key is to look every day. Even the items that only mention the item you want in the description can be valuable. Make it a habit of searching the newly listed items daily.
CARDS
Cards are the usually the first and most popular things to collect on a sports person. So I will briefly start with cards and then go on to other items in the same manner highlighting my favorites with tips and photos. How many different cards there on Tony Conigliaro? My store has 35 different cards and my collection has about another 30 different so I will estimate he has under 100 different cards. Not many, but try to find them and afford them. Quite costly. One can add greatly to this number of 100 different cards if you count all the possible conditions, errors, and rare one of a kind production cards.
Below left to right are some of my favorite cards of TC. Most of them you can find in my store with a detailed description of each. 1964 Topps All-Star Banquet card. 2001 UD Bat card.Ted Williams set aluminum printers plate one of one. 1966 Topps Bazooka Panel and production negative one of one. 1964 Topps Rookie card with printers error corrected see blue ink line under Bill Spanswick left arm only one in thirthy have this mark and it is not noted in any of the grading guides or grading companies. 1966 PSA Slabbed signed card. Two collector made cards and the vintage TC fan Club card the Boston Red Sox gave out to Conig's Corner.
All these cards have there own history and pricing. The banquet card is properly TC best card to have if I could have only one,as it is scarce and was only given to players, executives and dealers. Try to buy one $500-$1,000. In my store you will also find 1971 Topps uncut sheet panel, 1969 Topps unopened rack pack, 1968 Topps Action Stickers, 1967 Topps test sticker and thirty other different TC cards. These are some of the hard to find cards of TC. After collecting you favorite subject you will learn what is rare and common buy the best as it does not come up often.
PROGRAMS
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