My name is Steve Booker and I collect business cards.
I am always on the lookout for business cards. Whenever I enter any type of store, I immediately scope out the counter area to see if they have business cards. I�ve also been known to enter a store that I know has business cards for the sole purpose to pick up a card to add to my collection.
I�ll admit, this isn�t a mainstream hobby like collecting coins or stamps. I see many a confused expression when I admit to someone that I�m a business card collector. After all, why on earth would anyone collect little pieces of paper with names and addresses on them?
In my case, I started out innocently picking up business cards when I had my own business doing stationery and business card design for others. What started out as a sort of idea portfolio continued to grow as I fell into the habit of picking up cards wherever I went.
After a couple years, I moved on to bigger and better things, but I was still in the habit of picking up cards. I had also found that looking thru the cards I had was a scrapbook of sorts. I had specific memories associated with many of the cards. Thus, the habit- I mean hobby, was born. I thought I was the only person in the world who actually collected business cards. I remained a �closeted� business card collector.
But then, in Sep 99 I discovered some websites relating to business card collecting! All of a sudden, I wasn't alone! I'd found a bunch of weird people just like me! What a liberating day it was!
Okay, so they aren't weird like me. But it was refreshing to find out that business card collecting was a socially acceptable hobby. I am now a member of the International Business Card Collectors and the American Business Card Collectors.
My card collection is approximately 6,000 cards strong. It�s a lot of cards, but small potatoes to some of the collectors I know who have collections in the neighborhood of 50,000 cards and more!
Every collector has certain types of cards that he or she likes. For instance, a really popular type of card are those printed vertically. Cards for restaurants and hotels also seem to be quite popular.
I like most cards, but do prefer to try and collect those that are my �favorites," a list that seems to be constantly changing so I've taken it down for now.
I currently keep all of my cards in plastic pages in three-ring binders. I keep them sorted by category, such as Accountants, Banks, Printers, etc.
Finally, here is a link to a page of a few unique cards from my collection
If you have some old business cards laying around, drop me an email because I'd love to add them to my collection.
