Traveling to Ohio for Brett Favre’s NFL Hall of Fame induction this weekend (Go Pack Go!), my wife and I found ourselves in a small Ohio town in Amish Country. Horse and buggies, Amish beards, bonnets… the whole nine yards. There were also plenty of places selling all sorts of art-and-craftsy homemade wares. Being good tourists, we stopped into just such a place, finding painted wall-hangings, handmade clothing, old-fashioned toys and the like. (We even found crocheted Pikachu and Jigglypuff!)
The place was huge, with three stories winding through several connected buildings. We found a few passing sports references, mostly the local teams, and I talked myself out of buying a Packers cornhole set. I thought we’d seen everything, but there was something urging me to keep looking. A subtle force pulling me further into the labyrinth of quilts and woodcarvings. Out of the corner of my eye, a quick flash of sports memorabilia through a doorway that lead to a backroom. Stepping cautiously into this uncharted chamber, I looked to my left and found this:
It was a veritable mini hobby shop! This one display case was packed with unopened wax packs and boxes, hundreds of binder pages of singles, a few dozen bigger name rookies and hits, and more stacked on top. The small, pink note on the side heralded discounts and great deals on all of it, too! Recognizing that I was irretrievably drawn in by its siren song, my wife graciously left me to this little slice of collecting serendipity I had stumbled across. After just a few minutes (OK, an hour), here’s what I decided I couldn’t leave without:
A great mix of older and newer unopened cards, with a stack of singles to round it out. I love the silver, refractive sheen of those 1996 SPX packs. More on the specifics of the haul later, but for now I’ll say this was an added bonus to a great trip!
