By Dan Good | Contributing Editor
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A sunbaked Sunday morning. Early risers congregate on the sidewalk, waiting. The doors will open soon, beginning a day of study and reflection.
No, this isn’t church, but the passi...
By Dan Good | Contributing Editor
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A sunbaked Sunday morning. Early risers congregate on the sidewalk, waiting. The doors will open soon, beginning a day of study and reflection.
No, this isn’t church, but the passion is similar.
Collectors gather in clusters – husbands and wives, fathers and sons. New friends. Old friends. Someone steps out of the line to smoke a cigarette. Others stay, discussing their collections. It’s daunting to face a hobby landscape without limits, and this is as close as you’ll find – the Philly Non-Sports show, where cards of 1800s flowers and 2000s blockbusters intersect.
The twice-yearly show has become a hobby staple since its inception in 1984, a deviation from the usual shows devoted to baseball and football cards.
It’s easier to describe what non-sports cards aren’t – cards depicting mainstream athletics – than what they entail. Movies. Scenery. Bugs. Art. TV. World leaders. Lingerie models. Pop music. Broadcasters. Historical figures. Superheroes.
The non-sports cards don’t receive the widespread attention (and in most cases, value) of their athletic-focused counterparts, but they hold something extra, something you can’t measure with price tags and sales volume.
Fun.
Innocent, sentimental, laugh-out-loud fun.
That fun is reflected in vibrant colors and uninhibited subject matter. TV shows and art cards are popular. Mars Attacks, too. And whatever your interests – naked ladies and Native Americans, Michael Jackson and Spider-Man – here they are, an eclectic mix of popular culture and whatever the heck you want to collect, because non-sports cards provide you with that open option.
emple Coldren passed his love of collecting to his son, also Temple, 13.
The Coopersburg, Pa. resident started collecting baseball cards in 1969. He still has those old cards – including thousands and thousands of others – but baseball cards became too expensive. Lately, he’s been focusing on cards of Native Americans from the early 1900s.
“The same subjects and pictures are used across the different sets, but they each use different designs,” Coldren said.
Another focus is early lacrosse cards. Imperial Tobacco issued three sets between 1910 and 1912 – C59, C60 and C61. Coldren owns all but one of those cards, a 1912 C61 card of Clint Benedict, a Hall of Fame hockey goalie. He could buy it right now, but the $750 to $1,000 price tag is holding him back. Tough to explain that expense when the bills need to be paid.
Coldren found one of the lacrosse cards he needed at a previous Philly Non-Sports Show.
“It was one of the most valuable cards in the set, and the person selling it didn’t know how valuable it was, so they listed it for $12,” Coldren said, smiling. “I talked him down to $10.”
ave Moulder feels like a rock star sometimes, traveling from town to town to share his product. Allentown. New Jersey. Boston. Weekends in wherever, the nomadic life of the card dealer.
Moulder has spent years in the hobby. He notices an emerging trend for non-sports cards.
“I’ve seen more teenage girls buying cards of ‘Vampire Diaries’ and other TV shows,” Moulder said. “They bring their boyfriends along.”
Fans of shows are drawn to the collectability, he said, the chance to own fabric and autographs from their favorite characters and actors.
Three entire bags of Funyuns?” Walter (Bryan Cranston) asks his protégé.
“What, Funyuns are awesome,” Jesse (Aaron Paul) responds.
The pair reaches the desert in their RV-turned-meth lab, with Walter scoffing at Jesse’s food choices. Marshmallows. Cap’n Crunch. Gummy snacks.
The scene – from a second-season episode of “Breaking Bad” – stands out for its humor, reflecting a generational gap between wandering adulthood and stunted adolescence.
When watching the episode you don’t immediately notice Jesse’s hoodie, a black sweatshirt with white embroidery and red lining.
But you certainly notice it in person. The zipper stands out. It shows a cro
