Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

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Saturday, July 2, 2011

What is a PC?

No, really. What is a PC?

I've seen it referred to in two ways. First is a player collection, and that I can understand. I have some of those.

The way I see it referred to more often is a personal collection.

This isn't quite as clear to me. Isn't every collection a personal collection? I mean, other than a collection of extra cards you want to trade away, or that collection you're building to open your own eBay or retail store.

I look at my various collections. Most of them are defined, and in my mind, fun. All the Upper Deck Heroes cards ever issued. Women on Sports Cards. Diamond Kings. Awards and Leaders. But they're mine. Aren't they personal?

I used to collect Braves cards. I'm sure I still have most of them - Braves team sets or near-team sets from the '80s and early '90s. Would those be personal collections?

When I think about it, I would guess a personal collection is that group of cards that you feel you can't live without - the ones that really mean something to you. Fuji recently asked about the personal collection that means the most to you, and mine has to be my autograph and memorabilia collection. It's a collection of my favorite athletes and movie stars on cardboard. These are the cards I most want to display, even though I haven't shown any of them yet on the blog.

So my questions to you, this week: What is a personal collection? What is/are yours? What makes it so personal?


I'll send one random commenter a nice little prize. As before, feel free to pimp on your blog, but it won't get you an extra entry. You have until Monday evening to comment.

12 comments:

  1. I think most people use it as personal collection, and that refers to the cards that they will keep forever.
    I have 33 million cards scattered all over the place, but that doesn't mean thy're all part of my personal collection. It just means I'm a dumbass who busts too much wax and can't afford the shipping fees to give it away.

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  2. I will second what Captain Canuck said 100%

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  3. My PC is Hunter Pence and the Rest of my Astros cards. I feel like Hunter is the main reason I love baseball: Old style. He plays like a player from the mid 20th century. He is the nicest player Ive ever met. 179 cARDS AND COUNTING.

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  4. I've wondered the same thing. I thought it meant player collection, but what do I know? As far as what my personal collection would be, I would say my number one priority is working toward a complete Texas Rangers collection. A few sets would be next along with a couple of player collections: Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Mauer. Play at the plate cards fit in there somewhere.

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  5. I'd say my personal collection is my "keepers" the cards I specifically go after, trade for or buy that are staying in my collection pretty much no matter what. I collect Astros and Nolan Ryan cards in my PC. I consider all non-base Astros to be keepers as well as vintage Astros. It's personal because these cards have more value to me than they would pretty much anyone else.

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  6. To me PC means personal collection. The cards that mean the most to me. The cards that I will keep forever, the cards that are off limits for trade. The cards that I try to trade for are for my pc.

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  7. PC to me means the portion of the collection that is not available. No trade, cash or crow bar could get them away from the collector.

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  8. PC is personal to me as well. I would go with the simple explanation said above. Anything not available for trade would be a personal collection piece. Something you plan on keeping.

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  9. To go along with the majority, PC to me is cards I would never part with. My 1987 Topps complete set, because it was the first major set I completed EVER.

    Nowadays, players sort of come and go on teams so as a team collector there aren't any Rockies "player collections" I am married to...just the uniform. The exception to this is Christian Friedrich "PC" who has never actually played in a major league game for my team, I will collect him no matter what team he goes to because I went to college with him.

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  10. To me PC is Player Collection. I have never heard it used the other way before or if I did I didn't realize it. I don't think it can mean Personal Collection because every singe collection is personal.

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  11. I originally heard it the way the majority has been defining it as "Personal Collection" Ain't no way no how you're ever gonna trade it away, even to your best friend the Scarecrow.

    Usually when I hear about player collecting it is as "Super Collector". Technically that term though is for people who go beyond just the "it's my favorite player so I'll collect any cards I find of him". They search and destroy for any and all cards of that player. I think most "Player Collections" are not that hardcore, because to be a true "Super Collector" sometimes you need to spend $100s on just one lousy card. For me anything over $20-$30 per card is TOO MUCH. I don't care if it's a '52 Mantle or a real Honus Wagner 1911 T206 card If it's more than that I ain't buying it.

    I think I've only paid between $20-$30 for a single card once maybe twice. Usually after a card has been in my collection for more than a year, heck sometimes even just a few months. The price I got it for doesn't matter and is forgotten.

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  12. For me, PC means Personal Collection, and it is those cards that I plan on keeping that don't fit in a set. Many people have several personal collections, ranging from certain players, certain teams, or in my case, certain numbers. Though I have several different categories in my PC, I'd have to say the 7s is my favorite. And the most I've ever spent on a single card is $15, twice, for the same David Wright Rookie card, that I gave away, both times!!

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