The junk era of baseball cards refers to the period from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s when many new card manufacturers entered the market, resulting in an overproduction of low quality cards. With so much new competition, card companies raced to mass produce as many new sets as possible each year in order to stay afloat. This led to the nickname “junk wax era” as many of these new mass produced cards ended up in the junk boxes and dumpsters once the baseball card bubble popped in the early 1990s.
While the oversaturation of new junk era sets devalued individual cards from this period, it also created a unique opportunity for creative collectors. With so many duplicate common cards being pulled from packs, hobbyists began experimenting by combining these excess cards in new artistic presentations – namely baseball card collages. Simple at first, collages allowed collectors to showcase their duplicate junk wax era collections in a visually appealing scrapbook-style layout.
Some of the earliest collages consisted of arranging common duplicate cards sequentially by team, player number, or even color coordinated layouts. This provided a fun alternative to straight team sets which now anyone could easily acquire with full rosters. Collages incorporated themes like all Star players from a certain season, greatest hits of Ken Griffey Jr., or even silly mock baseball cards for famous actors or musicians. With so much creative freedom, collage styles grew more elaborate over time.
Advanced collage artists experimented with intricate die-cuts, embossing, unique layering techniques, and other embellishments that transformed ordinary duplicate junk era cards into true collector works of art. Clever themes like the seven sins or elements incorporated symbolic visuals alongside relevant players. Collages began utilizing the entire card surface with additional elements like drawn or printed pictures glued alongside. Significant events from a player’s career were portrayed through carefully arranged narrative collages.
As collaging grew in popularity, specialty card companies capitalized by releasing pre-made collage sets. These introduced collectors to new potential arrangements while saving time. By the late 1980s, ready-made themed collages evolved to include aesthetic die-cuts, rare translucent “window” cards revealing layers below, and other premium production aspects far beyond a simple scrapbook page. Top set makers made boxed collage collections focal points of their annual release schedules alongside traditional sets.
Conventions and national card shows in the late junk era ballooned with elaborate customs collages entering competition categories for prizes. Complex multi-tiered collages were meticulously crafted to tell entire career biographies or reimagine baseball history through creative fictional scenarios. Ambitious collage artists collaborated to produce truly massive collages spanning multiple sheets. Creative collaging became a true art form pushing the boundaries of how junk wax cards could be presented.
The heyday of collaging began to recede as interest waned in junk era “wax” and sets became scarcer, though creative arrangements never entirely disappeared. Today collectors seeking the nostalgic cardboard fix of their childhoods have rediscovered the artistic possibilities in compiling unique personalized collages. Websites provide digital templates for thematic collages while trade forums facilitate duplicate swaps to fuel new projects. Though short-lived fads come and go, applying creativity through medium like collaging ensures the hobby lives on.
While collaging rose from necessity born of overproduction, it forged a new artistic outlet cherished by collectors. Taking common cardboard and elevating it to new heights showed ingenuity and imagination could still shine through challenging eras. The junk wax period lives on in memory largely through beautifully crafted collages capturing nostalgia through novel presentations. Though looked down upon at their peak, today’s collectors appreciate how resourcefulness maintained enjoyment of the pastime despite trying circumstances. And so collaging’s legacy stands as a reminder that creativity transforms what many see as trash into treasured works of collector art.