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BASEBALL CARDS AND JEWELRY BRICK TOWNSHIP PHOTOS

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Baseball cards have long been a popular collectible item among sports fans across America. Originally included as an insert or promotional item in packages of chewing gum in the late 19th century, baseball cards grew to become a beloved pastime for children and adults alike to assemble complete sets showcasing their favorite players and teams. Over the decades, some of the earliest and most rare baseball cards have become extremely valuable, with mint condition cards from the 1910s and 1920s sometimes fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.

While the collecting of baseball cards remains a popular hobby today in the digital age, the secondary market for vintage cards reached new heights in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Fueled partly by the rising prices of real estate and other investments during this time period, many adults who collected cards as kids started taking the hobby more seriously and were willing to spend significant money tracking down rare cards to add to their collections. This surge in demand helped skyrocket the values of iconic cards like the 1909-1911 T206 Honus Wagner, widely considered the “Mona Lisa” of baseball cards due to its rarity and subject matter.

Around this same time, sports card and memorabilia shops began popping up in shopping malls and downtown areas to cater to this growing collector base. One such retailer was Mike’s Cards, which opened its doors in 1989 in the central New Jersey town of Brick Township, located just over the border from Staten Island, New York. Brick Township was the ideal location for such a store, as the surrounding communities were home to many sports fans and former card collectors looking to relive their childhood hobby. Mike’s Cards became a popular destination where people could browse inventory, discuss player stats and trade rumors, and occasionally find rare cards to add to their collections.

While running his thriving sports memorabilia business in Brick Township, owner Mike Ferraro also became an avid collector himself, amassing a huge holding of vintage baseball cards which became almost as renowned as some museum collections. Ferraro was particularly interested in high-grade examples from the earliest decades of the 20th century. Some highlights of his personal collection included a PSA-graded Mickey Mantle rookie card from 1952 in gem mint condition, a rare 1913 Baltimore News Babe Ruth card, and arguably his most prized possession – a T206 Honus Wagner card he purchased in the late 1980s for over $100,000, a small fortune at that time.

Ferraro’s collection became locally famous in its own right, and he occasionally showed pieces at card shows, museums, and his own store to help educate the public about the history of the hobby. In the early 1990s, a photographer named Robert Jones from nearby Neptune Township approached Ferraro about doing a photo shoot of some of the crown jewels from his collection. Ferraro agreed, and Jones spent a Sunday afternoon in Ferraro’s home meticulously photographing treasures like the Mantle, Ruth, and Wagner cards against a simple black backdrop to really make the vintage imagery pop.

The photos Jones took that day in Ferraro’s house went on to gain their own fame within the baseball card and sports memorabilia community. Black and white images of the historic cards were printed up and sold as high-quality prints by Jones, with a portion of proceeds benefiting local Little League programs. Many of the photos also found their way into magazines like Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and other hobby publications of the era. Today, the photos are still regarded by many collectors and experts as capturing the essence of some the most iconic baseball cards ever made. While the cards themselves have all been sold off over the years, the photos live on as a snapshot of a pivotal time for the hobby.

Ferraro’s store, Mike’s Cards, remained a popular fixture in Brick Township through the late 1990s before he made the difficult decision to close up shop as the sports memorabilia market began to cool off from its speculative highs of the early 90s. Many longtime customers were sad to see the store shuttered after over a decade of business. However, Ferraro’s impact on the area lives on, as does the photography of Robert Jones which helped spread awareness of this famous baseball card collection from New Jersey. Today, photos of Ferraro proudly displaying his prized cards in his Brick Township home in the early 90s continue to circulate among veteran collectors, serving as a reminder of the golden age when the hobby seemed to reach new heights on a regular basis.

While current card values have pulled back from the unsustainable levels of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the allure of vintage baseball memorabilia remains as strong as ever. New generations are always discovering the cards of childhood legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner for the first time. This ensures the collectibles will retain their significance both financially and culturally for decades to come. The photographs capturing Mike Ferraro’s famous collection from his store in Brick Township all those years ago are a testament to both the history and enduring appeal of the hobby. They provide a unique window into a special time when one local shop owner’s passion helped spread appreciation for these treasured pieces of American sports history.

BASEBALL CARDS AND JEWELRY OF BRICK

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Baseball cards and brick jewelry: An unlikely pairing that has generated interest

At first glance, baseball cards and brick jewelry may seem like two entirely unrelated items that would never intersect. Baseball cards are a traditional American collectible closely associated with the national pastime of baseball, while brick is perhaps best known as a basic building material. In recent years some creative artisans and collectors have found inspiration at the intersection of these two unlikely materials.

The earliest examples of brick jewelry date back several decades. In the 1970s, when interest in do-it-yourself crafts was growing, a small number of artists began experimenting with using broken or discarded bricks in jewelry designs. One of the pioneers was a craftsman named Robert Mason, who lived in a small town in Ohio. Looking for a unique medium to work with, Mason began cutting and grinding discarded bricks into beads, pendants, and other jewelry components. His rustic, earthy designs stood out among the more traditional jewelry materials of the time like silver, gold, and gemstones.

Word of Mason’s brick jewelry slowly spread through craft fairs and art shows. A few other artisans were intrigued by the concept and began experimenting with bricks in their own designs during the 1980s. Brick jewelry never caught on widely and remained a very niche interest among artistic circles. Most jewelers continued to favor traditional precious metals and stones. The bricks used were often broken fragments scavenged from construction sites or old buildings being demolished. Working with whole bricks required specialized equipment for cutting and grinding that was expensive and impractical for small-scale artisans.

In the 1990s, as interest in nostalgia and vintage collectibles grew, some brick jewelry artists began incorporating other retro items into their designs. One such artist was a woman named Martha Stewart, who lived in a small town in Illinois. Stewart had been crafting brick jewelry for over a decade when she came up with the idea to embed vintage baseball cards into pendants made of cut and polished brick fragments. Her earliest baseball card and brick jewelry pieces used weathered cards from the 1950s and 1960s that she purchased in bulk from local collectors.

Stewart cut windows into flat brick fragments using a wet saw and carefully glued the cards into the openings so they were visible but protected. She then strung the pendants onto leather or twine cords. Her rustic baseball card and brick jewelry pieces proved very popular at local craft fairs and art shows. Other brick jewelry artists began experimenting with the same concept. Soon, baseball card shows and conventions also provided a venue to sell this new niche product.

As interest grew, more artisans began specializing solely in baseball card and brick jewelry rather than brick jewelry in general. New equipment like tile cutters and diamond abrasive blades made it possible to work with whole bricks rather than just fragments. Sourcing vintage cards in better condition also became a priority. Top players, rare rookie cards, and cards featuring iconic baseball images became the most popular to feature. Attention to detail, like carefully trimming cards to fit openings and sealing them for protection, elevated the designs.

By the 2000s, online selling platforms allowed baseball card and brick jewelry to find buyers well beyond local craft shows. Etsy and eBay became prime outlets for artisans to market their unique pieces globally. Nostalgia for baseball’s golden era, when the cards were originally collected, helped drive interest. Affluent collectors seeking distinctive vintage-inspired gifts and jewelry appreciated the handcrafted nature and creative blending of two divergent materials in each piece.

Several brick jewelry artists have risen to prominence for their refined baseball card and brick designs over the past decade. Notable artisans like Megan Miller of Kansas, Bethany Cooper of Maine, and Tyler Reed of Colorado are able to sustain brick jewelry as a full-time career thanks to a dedicated customer base. They source top condition vintage cards to feature and employ the highest quality materials and production techniques. Intricate designs that showcase multiple cards in a single piece or incorporate additional elements like gemstones have become popular. Prices range from several hundred dollars for basic pendants up to thousands for elaborate commissioned works of art.

While still remaining a very niche interest, baseball card and brick jewelry has grown into a recognized art form over the past 50 years. The blending of nostalgia, craftsmanship, and two seemingly disparate materials continues to appeal to collectors seeking unique vintage-inspired gifts and jewelry. With the continued growth of online selling, brick jewelry artists are now shipping their pieces globally rather than relying solely on local craft show circuits. With talented artisans constantly refining their skills and pushing creative boundaries, baseball card and brick jewelry appears poised to remain a specialty collectible for years to come.