Where it all began

I remember it all very vividly. It was the winter of 1995 and I was at the grocery store with my dad when I first saw them. At the cashiers table was a stand filled with packets of ice hockey cards. I wanted one. I had to get one. But I didn't. No matter what I said (or yelled), my dad wouldn't buy me one. It was only a couple weeks after this that my dad decided to surprise me by bringing five packets from the store. Five! I couldn't believe my luck. I had to rip them open at once. The first pack had only base cards in it but I still thought: "Wow, these look so cool."

Little did I know it was only getting better. In the second pack I found my very first insert card. I was completely hooked. I loved the shiny 90's insert designs and if you have ever seen one, you'll know exactly what I mean. I still like going through my oldest cards every now and then. Mind you these pictures don't make the cards any justice, they look so much better when you are actually looking at them.

Of course I have later learned that in those mid-90's sets print numbers were so ridiculously high that the cards still aren't worth more than the paper they are printed on. That didn't bother me back then and it still doesn't bother me now.

Now a little bit about the actual cards that hooked me into collecting. The set was Leaf's Sisu 1994-95 SM Liiga series 2. As the name suggests it's about Finnish hockey league. The whole set is divided between series 1 and series 2 and consists of 400 base cards and 100 inserts in 8 insert sets. On top of that both sets had 1 super chase card (several thousands of each were made). By modern standards not very hard to complete, wouldn't you agree? Trust me, it was hard enough back in 1995 for a six year old with no internet and very limited trading possibilities. But I did complete it (with the help of my father and godfather). And it still remains, to this date, one of my most precious collections.

Around the same time I found out that there were also cards from NHL on sale and naturally I had to check how they looked like. You might have guessed that the set was Score 94-95 with it's classic base card design and awesome looking gold parallel set. I didn't collect much of this set back in the day and I still have some needs in this set. Every now and then I feel nostalgic and hunt down couple of my needs from Score 94-95 set as they aren't too hard to find.

The following autumn I was ready and prepared for Leaf Sisu 1995-96 Series I. As you might expect, by this time I was almost addicted to collecting cards. I still have one unopened pack left from that set. Actually it is the only unopened pack in my collection and I intend on keeping it that way. This is my story of how I became a collector.

I'd love to hear in the comments what were your first trading card experiences.

Enjoy your collecting!