Art by Tim Carroll

It is the 100th anniversary of the "Holy Grail" of sportscards.  Even if you have never collected cards, you probably recognize the 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner tobacco card.  Very few were released to the public, and as few as 50 are known to exist.  The most recent sale of the card was around $2.8 million.  Because of the 100th anniversary, I decided to start a new series involving sports cards. Here's the theme: What is the one thing that most collectors strive to do? What is the overall gist of collecting? I used those questions to fuel the fire for this project. To me, the fun of collecting is taking unwanted cards in the collection and trading them for cards you desire.

SO.........


Here's the question I asked myself: If I could trade my no-good, worthless, late 1980's commons for the most popular, most expensive card of all time.....would I do it? SURE - WHO WOULDN'T!!! Obviously, finding someone to trade you a 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner for 997 common cards from 1985-1990 is not going to happen............................................ .......................but through the world of art, anything is possible!  Here's the breakdown:

(49) 1985 Topps
(83) 1986 Topps
(296) 1987 Topps {for frame only}
(86) 1988 Topps
(88) 1986 Fleer
(342) 1989 Fleer
(53) 1990 Score {for lettering and black line framing only}
997 TOTAL CARDS
(2) pairs of scissors
(11) professional quality glue sticks
(41) Total Hours of Work Time
36" X 26" Total Dimensions
*And, only 1 HOFer was injured during this project (my apologies to the 1989 Fleer Eddie Murray - it was an accident;))*

 

 

So I started by cutting up some cards:

 

 

 

 

 

And I started pasting them together:

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I finished, my "trade" looked like this:

 

 

 

 

Detail of the jersey:

 

 

 

 

And of the face:

 

 

 

 

And of the hair and background:

 

 

 

 

Signs of the light source:

 

 

 

 

Another view:

 

 

 

 

And the frame: