Scroll through the registry and you’ll occasionally come to a card listed as “Artist’s personal collection.” Here are the cards I’ve chosen to keep for myself, at least for the time being.

1981 Fleer Dave Parker

The main reason this resides in my collection, besides the obvious reason that it’s the motherfreakin’ Cobra, is that it’s the first one of these cards I ever made. I had some leftover gold refractor paper I’d picked up for a framed Dodgers display and thought it would be fun to experiment.

When a friend of mine pulled a Cobra from a box of 1981 Fleer soon after, he asked if I could make another gold card from it. That makes the 1981 Fleer Gold Refractor Dave Parker the only card I’ve done that’s not a 1/1. At the moment, the production run is holding steady at 2, but I am also happy to make more for any of my site’s readers. Just send me the raw Cobra, and I’ll take care of you. No donation, no charge, no anything.

1981 Topps Steve Garvey

Steve Garvey was more than just my favorite player as a kid. He was pretty much God to all of young Los Angeles. His 1981 Topps card was special to me in that I was the first of my friends to pull one. That made me big man on campus for perhaps the only 3-4 days of my entire scholastic career.

1983 Topps Kirk Gibson

Though I’m pretty sure Gibby would don the Tigers cap if Cooperstown ever came colling, I’m forever in his debt for the way he transformed by Dodgers into winners. Oh, and that homer in the Series was pretty damn terrific too!

Making this card was tough. I could have kept the entire design in one piece and been done in 20 minutes. Instead I chose to split it into three pieces, which made things a lot trickier. I love how it turned out though.

1983 Donruss “Hall of Fame Heroes” Mel Ott

Master Melvin has always been one of my favorite 1930s sluggers, and my interest in him doubled when I met my fiancee, who grew up just minutes from where he’s buried in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie.

You might know I’m one of those collectors who likes to display his best cards. I currently have displays set up for Hank Aaron, Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson, and Dave Hoskins. I suspect Met Ott is next, and I’m not above mixing a newer card like this one (1983 or 2020 depending who you ask) with my older stuff.

I’ll post again if and when I add another 3-4 cards to my private collection. I hope you enjoyed this quick tour.