I'm changing my wallet card.
I'm assuming I am now disqualified from the wallet card competition, but that doesn't matter to me.
When I chose my wallet card, I didn't have much of an interest in featuring it in various locations. Not only can I not compete with Mardi Gras or New York City, but everyone around here has been hibernating for three months. Repeated pictures of cards in front of snowbanks gets pretty monotonous.
No, my wallet card was being used to conduct an experiment in how badly a card could deteriorate in a 12 month period. And I chose a Chrome card because Chrome prides itself on being immaculate and beautiful, and I wanted to see one that wasn't those things.
Well, I found out that the above image is about as ugly as Chrome gets. It wasn't terribly bright of me not to draw the conclusion that all of the cards that are meant to be in a wallet - driver's license, credit cards, insurance cards, etc., are glossy and laminated for a reason. It will keep them from deteriorating quickly while stuffed between someone's butt and a chair.
Chrome is treated in much the same way. So all Kershaw Chrome has to show for a couple months living in my wallet are a whole bunch of scuffs and scrapes, a bent corner, and a tiny bit of paper separation on another corner.
It's probably going to remain basically the same -- all the edges crisp and clean -- for the rest of the year, unless I decide to use it for target practice. So I'm changing the card.
In fact, I'm changing it to two cards.
Yep, I'm definitely disqualified.
The first card is a card from my childhood:
This stunningly sharp but miscut 1977 Topps Dave Lopes card will work wonderfully. This was one of the first Dodger cards that I pulled in 1977. It was an instant favorite and I can still remember being devastated by the .241 batting average listed for him in the most recent season on the back, 1976.
However, "they're still talking about Dave's marvelous streak of 38 consecutive successful Stolen Base attempts in 1975."
The other card I am storing in my wallet is one for which I have just a few extras:
I might as well put one of the three dozen to work.
The reason I selected two cards is I want to see what each card looks like by the end of the year. The '91 Upper Deck Mickey Hatcher isn't as sturdy as the Chrome card, but it is made out of the lighter, slicker cardboard that arrived when UD arrived in 1989.
I'm sure the Lopes card -- made of real cardboard -- will not hold up nearly as well. But I'm looking forward to displaying them side-by-side and comparing every so often.
Maybe one or both of them will take a trip with me and I'll snap some pictures, but that won't happen much.
As for 2010 Chrome Clayton, it will go back in the dupes box.
Hey, at least the card is almost flat now.
Comments
Got a project in the works that should be done in a few months...