By Amar Shah
The thrill is in the chase.
For David Glickfield, collecting sets has been a passion since childhood.
“I started when I was eight,” Glickfield recalls. “And I never stopped.”
Glickfield has been a criminal defense attorney for years, but collecting remains his true passion. His niche is assembling complete sets. And we're not talking about low-end, dog-eared, well-loved, bicycle-spoke collections lying around in junk drawers. We’re talking about some of the best in the hobby.
“What I do is fly around the country,” Glickfield says. “I'm looking for raw collections that have very nice cards. I'll also buy sets and merge them. I keep the best card, and then I sell the extras.”
Glickfield's refined taste is like that of a sommelier with a scent for cardboard instead of grapes.
“I really want my sets where every single card is near-mint or mint,” Glickfield says. “I always wanted the cards to have good eye appeal, sharp corners, and be well-centered.”
High-Grade 1956 Topps Complete Set (340 Plus Two Checklists) with 100 PSA- and SGC-Graded Cards Including Mickey Mantle SGC NM/MT 8 (Lot 1367)
Glickfield's strategy of hand-built and hand-curated sets has allowed him to accumulate some of the most immaculate collections from T206s through the 1950s and 1970s during his time in the hobby.
“In the late '90s, I bought a T206 set that was out of this world from this collection in Seattle,” he says. “The guy had everything.”
Glickfield ended up grading the cards and discovered he had some of the first Southern Leaguers in PSA 8s. He even got a Ty Cobb graded PSA 7, along with Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance graded PSA 8.
But this was a time when no one cared much for tobacco cards.
“It was hard to believe,” Glickfield recalls. “I paid $10,000 for the set. I had a buddy who really wanted it. He offered me $12,000, so I sold it like an idiot.”
High-Grade 1957 Topps Complete Set (407) Including Three Contest Cards and 62 PSA- and SGC-Graded Cards (Lot 1392)
Another collection he remembers was from his law school days.
“I was a student at the time and I just didn’t have the money to buy cards,” Glickfield says. “I went to a friend of mine's local card shop and he had family on the West Coast who sent him three coin boxes. The coin boxes contained 1948 Bowman Football, ‘48 Bowman Basketball, and ‘48 and ’49 Bowman Baseball.”
The cards looked brand new.
“I don't even remember how many (George) Mikans (rookie cards) were in there,” Glickfield says. “But then, no one cared about basketball.”
He picked out notable players like Jackie Robinson and Yogi Berra and bought a few other cards.
“In retrospect, I wish I had bought the whole thing.”
Glickfield learned and moved on. He started collecting his true love, Topps and Bowman sets, including an immaculate 1955 Bowman Football Complete Set (160), a High-Grade 1956 Topps Complete Set (340 Plus Two Checklists) with 100 PSA- and SGC-Graded Cards Including Mickey Mantle SGC NM/MT 8, and a stunning 1959 Topps PSA-Graded Complete Set (572), all of which are featured in REA’s Spring Catalog Auction that is open now through April 21.
“They are fabulous and fresh,” Glickfield says.
High-Grade 1968 Topps Complete Set (598) Including Ryan Rookie, Bench, Mays, Mantle, and Aaron PSA NM-MT 8 (Lot 1707)
It’s a theme that carries on throughout the dozens of other incredible sets he’s consigned as part of REA’s Spring Auction from the 1950s to 1970s, including a 1953 Topps Complete Set (274) Including Robinson, Mantle, and Paige PSA EX 5, a 1962 Topps PSA-Graded Complete Set (598) Plus 32 Variations, and a 1961 Topps Football Complete Set (198).
This is not his first go-round with REA. He’s been working with the auction house for years.
“REA is very customer-friendly on both ends,” Glickfield says. “I've been a consignor and a buyer. I really like their service.”
1964 Philadelphia Football Complete Set (Lot 2989)
“I always tell people that the thing I love about the cards is they don't talk back to you,” Glickfield says. “They don't tell you how to practice law.”
They do, however, tell some great stories. And when the story of David Glickfield’s sets are told, they’ll go down as some of the best there ever were.
Amar Shah is a multiple Emmy-winning writer and producer who has written for ESPN.com, NFL.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Orlando Sentinel, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Slam Magazine and The Washington Post. In the 90s, Amar was a teen sports reporter and got to hang out with the Chicago Bulls during their golden era. He even landed on the cover for Sports Illustrated for Kids with Shaquille O’Neal. His debut novel "The Hoop Con" is now available with Scholastic. You can order it here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hoop-con-amar-shah/1143287376?ean=9781338840315