I have been collecting sports cards for almost a decade, but it wasn’t something I simply decided to get into.
Back in 2017, a friend of mine, Chris, a fellow NFL fan, messaged me to ask whether I was interested in collecting NFL cards. I didn’t even know collecting them was a thing back then. He sent me a link to a Facebook group for NFL card collectors based in the UK, so I joined it.
After looking around for a while, I began negotiating my first deals. I’ll be honest, I don’t know exactly what that first deal was. I just know it involved some sort of Chiefs card. As a complete novice, I had no idea how payment worked, so I was told that PayPal Friends and Family was usually used for cheaper cards, with Goods and Services used for more expensive cards. That was it. I was hooked.
I started by collecting any and all Chiefs cards: base cards, numbered cards, rookies, patches and autographs. If it was a Chiefs player, I was trying to buy it if it was available. This was before the Chiefs became legitimate Super Bowl contenders, so many of their cards were still relatively cheap.
Then I saw people talking about “breaks” in the group and decided to see what the fuss was about. A break is when collectors buy into a box or case opening, with the cards distributed according to the team or teams they select. I joined some breaks run by Steve, one of the main admins of the group.
After a few enjoyable breaks, I saw someone mention an American website called Mojobreaks. One reason people used it was that you could buy into some cheap breaks and have them shipped to the UK for free. I had a look and took the plunge, buying into my first break.
Although I don’t collect as much nowadays, it is very easy to get hooked again.
So how did all of this lead to Taywan Taylor becoming my main player collection?
Taywan Taylor came through the same college class as Patrick Mahomes, and the Tennessee Titans were a cheap option to buy into during breaks at the time. I bought the Titans a few times, but when I watched other breaks I kept seeing Taywan’s autograph appear, and I really liked it.
Taywan has a very photogenic autograph. Many NFL collectors will tell you there are plenty of bad and lazy autographs out there, but Taywan’s isn’t one of them. That was a nice change.
I didn’t collect one specific player at the time. Mike Evans was someone I collected very early on, but by the time I started collecting Taywan’s autographs, I hadn’t bought an Evans card for months.
Now I have quite a number of Taywan Taylor autographs, including two one-of-ones. A one-of-one is the only card produced from a particular design. I tracked one of them on eBay for a good 18 months before it finally reached a price I was happy to pay.
Last year, I negotiated a deal for my second one-of-one with a gentleman in America who had been trying to sell it for years. After messaging him, I found out he still had the card and would sell it for the right price. We agreed on a price and I had it sent to a locker in America before eventually having it shipped over.
I have been looking for one Taywan Taylor autograph in particular for a number of years. It is his Flawless /20, which I need to complete my rainbow. A rainbow is a collection of cards from the same set, with different colours and print runs for each number. For example, /20 might be silver and /10 might be ruby.
I have yet to see this card for sale, even on eBay, but one day I’m sure I’ll get my hands on it and finally complete the rainbow.
So I’m sure you’re wondering what happened to the Chiefs collection I started. I’m still collecting Chiefs cards, but I go through phases of buying NFL cards. When I collect again, I am always looking for Chiefs cards. There are no Taywan Taylor cards to collect outside of his rookie cards, so the cards I can find are limited. I’m mainly looking for one-of-ones and that elusive Flawless /20.
Here are my two one-of-ones.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading about my journey into collecting sports cards. I also have baseball, football, basketball and hockey cards. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to reply.