The iconic 1979 O-Pee-Chee #18 Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card

A mid-high grade 1956 Topps Basic Set “The Hard Way” from scratch

A passive, zen-like approach to sourcing and cherry-picking the highest quality, cleanest, and most centered examples of the toughest variations to find from auction houses, shows and other marketplaces, and documenting the process and costs involved.

Sourcing high-grade 1966 Topps Football cards to build a set from scratch, centered and clean

As fans of a rewarding challenge, the ’66 Topps Football series offers a nice balance of being an affordable high grade small run of only 132 cards, with a small population of expensive cards in high grade, but mired with paper and printing issues.

Frank Westlake 1967 Hells Angels Janis Joplin Party Poster

Essentially a Janis Joplin, hippie, prison-release benefit concert sponsored by the Hell’s Angels. Posters don’t get much cooler than this.

Collecting ’86 Fleer 9’s while hunting for 10’s

The 1986 Fleer Basketball series is a very satisfying set of cards to source centered and clean.

The Thankfull Adams petition to the Probate Court of Massachusetts Bay for dissolution of the estate of Elihu Adams

Elihu Adams, brother of founding father and second President John Adams, dies in 1775. Historic anecdotes discovered in newspapers and books paint a picture of how his widow’s petition came to be, and how the death of her husband was resolved during the birth of the nation.

A mint ultra-rare 1977 Star Wars Vinyl-Caped Jawa, among others

I remember hating this thing because of that stupid vinyl cape, but I wasn’t one of those kids that cast aside things of perceived diminished value. Thankfully, tastes change, now I can’t live without it.

Collecting ’59s purely for their visual appeal

I caught the collecting bug with the 1959 Topps series, but started with low expectations. Things have changed.

Rare One-Day $7 Mail-Order Friday Woodstock Ticket

A rare variation of Woodstock tickets, good for entry on opening day, Friday August 15th, and available only to those who responded to ads for the concert found in various magazines in the spring of 1969.

Mint early examples of the BMX magazines that changed my life

BMX Magazines full of my idols and their awesome rides and the excitement that rich, vibrant, energetic colours and design that edgy youth sports magazines offer

Rare examples of pristine, early, short print-run magazines by Sports Compact Car and MiniTruckin’

The idea of customizing my car (even though I really wanted a truck) was so tantalizing and these early car magazines really made it exciting

Gorgeous illustration and cerebral gameplay compels me to use half but store half

These solid, beautiful AD&D books and manuals brought much gravitas to the artwork, and simply reading them for their illustrations and gameplay details was just as much fun as using them as game guides.