2008 Topps Obama set (no politics)

Recently I picked up this 90 card set put out by Topps in 2008. I'm not sure what else was available along with these base cards. I think it might have been stickers. I also have a similar 2009 set which was supposed to come with a 'gold' coin. I didn't get mine but that's a long, dull story.

Anyway this is a pretty high quality set. The cards span Barack Obama's life up to and including his 2008 inauguration.

Of course there are family shots.

Lots of cards cover the '08 primaries and the presidential campaign.

The backs had a wall of text and a photo related to the subject but not necessarily from the same event depicted on the front. 

And of course my main man, Joe Biden makes a few appearances.

The Presidential Debates in '08 featured a couple of decent men with civil disagreements who both got a bit salty at times. Oh, the good old days. (That's not political, is it?)

That's President Obama's first Chief of Staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. I got a signed picture of him after he was the commencement speaker at my daughter's graduation ceremony at Sarah Lawrence College in 2009. He's an '81 SLC alum. 

Key players in the '08 election.

This last card is the front of the checklist.

The checklist itself is about as hard to read in hand as it is in this scan.

Somewhere, somehow I'd love to pick up an Obama signature. maybe on a card but anything would be cool.

Happy Presidents Day!

I'm gonna celebrate the day (it's also both my wife's and my late mother's birthday) by getting the oil changed on my wife's car, taking her to a movie and making breakfast tacos. But first I'm gonna post some cards from my Presidential card collection. In no particular order:

1952 Bowman Abe Lincoln. Our greatest President. If you are real quiet you can hear him spinning in his grave at this very moment.

2011 Obak John Kennedy mini

Jerry Ford graces the flip side of JFK's card.

A bunch of my favorite Presidents from the 2011 Panini set. These are sweet cards. First up...Honest Abe.

Teddy Roosevelt

LBJ My favorite President.

Bill Clinton

Here is the 1972 Topps LBJ

2015 Topps Presidential Chronicles Jimmy Carter

And JFK form that same set. Photo taken at Rice Stadium in Houston.

1956 Topps Calvin Coolidge.

And last but not least is my newest Presidential card. This is from the Barack Obama hosts the Cubs Topps now cards. I think there are three. I have this one.

If you have off today I hope you enjoy it. Again, Happy Presidents' Day!!

Oh how I long for those heady times when we actually had a President!

Presidents and Junk Wax

Collecting Presidential memorabilia is an expensive hobby for the most part. That's why I confine myself to inexpensive campaign pins, Presidential cards from Topps and other companies and assorted trinkets.

When I saw that Archives had a Presidential Chronicles subset I figured I could find it cheap and I did. It's only 10 cards total but several of those ten are targets in my collection, such as it is.

The JFK and Nixon cards are my favorites of the set. I really feel the pictures Topps chose for these two cards capture the essence of each of them. Kennedy, the charismatic orator, Nixon the thoughtful brooder.

The other cards in the set are Truman, the two Bushes, Jimmy Carter.....

...Hoover, Lincoln (how I wish I could afford some actual Lincoln memorabilia!), Ford and President Obama. The last two are very well represented in my collection.

The back of each card has a one paragraph blurb. You can't call it a 'bio'.

The Kennedy card uses a picture from his speech at Rice University in September of 1962. That day he proposed a large budget for NASA in hopes of having them put a man on the moon. Here's the original photo from Google Images. Looks like it was a beautiful day at Rice Stadium. I've seen many games there and that place hasn't changed a bit in 50 years.

And the Junk Wax I mentioned in the title? The seller used eight 90's era baseball and hoops cards to fill out the thick toploader. I'm sure every one of us has gotten cards orders thru the mail that included extras that the seller used to protect the 'goods'. I've never had this many cards as a 'bonus'. These are the six 'best' cards of the bunch. The Frank Thomas and Karl Malone cards are probably worth a nickel apiece but hey, a Hall of Famer's card is a Hall of Famer's card!