Our Story

As a pre-electronic gadgetry and social media child of the 70’s, I did what we all did back then, and collected everything and anything I could lay my hands on, especially those amazing cards that fell out of cereal and tea boxes on those sacred days when you got to open a new box. My attempts to complete sets of Dr Who, Star Wars, Flash Gordon and so on knew no limits, and if it had been down to me, I would have wolfed down a dozen or so Weetabix for every meal to just to get the next new box.

Then there were the holy grail of collectables, the Topps bubble gum cards. Like most kids it was not about the bubble gum, but buying of those waxed paper packets with 5 cards and a tiny stick of gum inside (I seem to recall them costing 3p) and then hardly be able to get out of the shop before opening – it was just magical. I always felt like Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, hoping to find the elusive Kenny Dalglish or Han Solo, but normally ending up with yet another “swap”.

The “swap” was the next part of the process, where you took all your duplicates to school every day, where as soon as the bell ran for a break, you rushed out to join the trading huddle, hoping to offload those pesky swaps for something you actually needed. It was a bit like a Stock Exchange trading pit, though with the added risk that some older kids might muscle in and make off with your goodies.

I also collected stamps, records, marbles (please don’t ask!) and everything else in between, but it was always the cards that created some kind of magical bond.

Roll the clock forward 40+ years and I still have the actual cards I collected as a kid, in the same tatty old cigar box my Taid (Welsh for Grandad) gave me to store them in. The smell of the gum has long faded, but the magic is still there. And the good news is I still have Kenny Dalglish and Han Solo. The condition is not bad to be fair as I was a careful kid, but they have been well thumbed.

My personal journey in the 35+ years since has been interesting, challenging, and at times, painful, but I survived it all and here I am looking for a new and interesting challenge – which is where Cardhawk comes in. I have spent the last few years collecting, researching, reviewing, marketing and so on to ensure I am as well versed as possible in the product, the process and the market,  and continue to do all of those things each and every day. The great thing about it all is that it is something I am really passionate about, so despite the tortuously long hours cataloguing, imaging, packing, posting etc, it never feels like a job – every time the postie drops off another parcel, that excited little boy with his pack of bubble gum cards is awakened within me. The magic never fades.

Fortunately I also have had experience of e-commerce amongst other things during my career, and one thing that I always applied as standard was trying to provide the best possible customer service for every single order, as I know from experience how important is it that your items arrive promptly and well packaged, and conversely how it feels when the opposite happens. I treat every order with the same attention to detail, no matter how many cards are ordered or what the value. If anything does for any reason go wrong (a very rare event, but in reality items do occasionally go astray or get damaged in transit), I always resolve the issue as quickly and amicably as possible.

In terms of the Cardhawk site, it is designed to be a reference tool as much as an e-commerce site, with information regarding producers and card subjects just as important as the cards themselves. I aim to keep adding to both the stock and the reference section, and invite you as part of the experience to add comments, social history or feedback on any aspect of the site – and if you have cards, collections, ephemera, promotional items or anything else of interest you might want to sell, please do get in touch as we are always looking to add interesting stock.

Hopefully you will find the site easy to use, and who knows, it may even re-ignite the collector in you!

Enjoy,

Nigel