Summer Project Shaping Up - Hoarders: 70’s Edition
Bosox1976
Posts: 8,535 ✭✭✭✭✭
I am a set collector, Topps 57-83 baseball primarily, with a few other things thrown in. For the past decade, I have built nice sets, typically raw with graded stars and toughies.
I usually build sets by buying raw sets on eBay, and merging them together to put the best cards in my “A” sets. Ideally, the second best would go in the B set, and so on.
Theoretically, my plan is always to sell off the B, C, D sets to acquire the next new set. The idea was to keep money tied up in secondary sets minimized, and avoid a Hoarders scenario, as I get about half of the office room in my home. If I creep to more than half, I risk violating the “Happy Wife/Happy Life” axiom. I am dangerously close.
My selling has been sporadic (at best) the last few years as work has been busy. It is at a full stop since PWCC stopped selling raw and sets, as I sent most stuff to him to list. I have been mostly working on 1950’s the last couple of years but will always throw in a nice bid on any clean raw sets I see on eBay. So some 70s and even early 80s stuff has kept rolling in. Going through a “virgin” set has replaced ripping 70’s for me over the years, and I have been fortunate to have had some good hits for my A sets.
Anyway, the 50’s and 60’s B, C, and D stuff fits nicely on some shelving. Those are a project for another time.
The 70’s stuff is overflowing the office closet. My hope for this summer is to organize and sell off most or even all of the 70’s extras. Today I assessed the closet, dragged it all out, and took some photos to give me an idea of what is there and how much work/time it will need. Looks like it will take most of the summer, but found quite a few buried treasures. The best find was a 1975 Topps set with SGC graded stars that I bought at auction. I think I had planned to cross the best over, and I know I had cracked out the Ryan hoping for a PSA 9.
The big “winner” appears to be 1978 Topps. I think I counted 22 sets. I believe I tried this 8 or 9 years ago, and sold off about 10 1973 Topps sets, so that was the only year minimally represented from 1971 forward. Here are the “Before” pictures. I will try to bump this thread with progress on the project, and will also promise not to spam with sale stuff.
I think most complete sets will head out to the big auction houses, nice singles to Greg Morris and graded to PWCC or Probstein. I just don’t have time to do the pricing/listing/shipping anymore.
Below are the 70s Pics...
Bosox1976
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Bosox1976
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Bosox1976
I think I counted 72 total sets, either complete or close, that I need to manage through the process. Lots of cards were pulled for grading or to the A sets, and it looks like I didn't always put the replacement cards in the right spot. Lots of graded stars - some good and some G.O.D. stuff that still annoys me. I must have seen sixty or seventy 6's that are as nice as 8's in the same stacks. Ah well.
Bosox1976
Everything back in the closet, and bonus points awarded for fitting the vacuum back in the closet again...
Bosox1976
Finally, here are the “A” sets, and the 50s/60s B/C sets - I need to get better organized in general.
Bosox1976
Hiya Mike
Wow!
You've got plenty to look forward to this summer buddy.
Good news? It'll free up a nice stack of cash for "other" stuff.
Did you realize you had "mass" purchased this set?
Is everything cards? While I've got more cards than I could ever need - the non-card stuff outweighs my collection - especially my main focus of board games.
This is one that I'll be watching to see how things progress. Thanx for taking the time to post.
Hi Mike - yep the 78's were all purchased with cognizance. They are still a "cheap rip" relative to a 78 rack.
Not much of a memorabilia guy, although I do like looking at other people's stuff (like your games) - just cards for me.
Bosox1976
That is absolutely fantastic! I am impressed! Wow. Thanks for sharing.
mike i still have the 1975 topps set i bought from you two years ago. great set thank you!
What you need is a global pandemic to shut things down and keep you quarantined for a few months so you can work through all of that stuff.
Kiss me twice.....let's party.
love those racks. once ya get the hang of them they are super easy to put together.
i always hated getting to the bottom boxes when they were stacked 2 or 3 deep. i ordered a few extra on the next go around simply for the shelves. did proper measurements for 1 box per row, added extra shelves per rack and fit 8 more boxes on the same rack than i did before. i was surprised how much extra space i wasnt utilizing efficiently. 4” bungees in between each binder to ensure they stay upright and/or dont fall out the side. 😉
how many psa brett rookies do you have if you can think of.
Bobby - we should have worked out a deal years ago for all of the cards you went through that you weren't collecting! Then I could have filled two closets! LOL
Bosox1976
That 76 Aaron. 🙌
Am guessing about 10, but I will know for sure by July 4!!
Bosox1976
I just sat down and saw this thread and I smiled because I knew the greatness that was going to be inside. Mike and I PMed many times back in the day about sets, and I knew he was always buying multiple sets to upgrade his A sets (something I do with 1972 sets), but I had no idea of the accumulation.
If i lived closeby I would show up every night after dinner with some adult beverages and help you go through and organize it all.
I wish!!! Am in the wrong line of work to enjoy this damn virus (Nursing Homes).
Bosox1976
I might borrow that bungee idea!
Bosox1976
by all means. i borrowed it myself! 😉
Haha. Was thinking of you when I was going through those 72's Nick. Your set must be a smoke show by now.
Bosox1976
curiosity is getting the best of me. what is this? did you cut a shelf for side rails?
Good eye Blurry! One shelf I bought came with one pair of these
Bosox1976
Nick: tried four times to get this into a 9. Best color I’ve ever had on a 72...
Bosox1976
Yeah, like I've said, "what an idiot I was!" I still have a lot of 77s from vending that I haven't went through (aside from pulling all the AS cards out). Maybe that will be a summer project for me, Mike. LOL You have some truly GREAT stuff there. Good luck and have fun!
Reviews or cracks? I'm guessing reviews, although the fantasy side of my brain wants to say it was a blistering 8 that you knew was under graded and cracked it once or twice, then when you got it into an 8.5 you had it reviewed once or twice. Either way it is a monster for sure.
Edited to add: This was my 10,000th post, and I couldn't think of a better guy's thread for it to end up in.
Haha. 1 raw (8), cracked twice (got 8.5 on second). 1 review. Centering isn’t perfect, and a pd dot next to Pudge. Ah well.
Bosox1976
mind blown! 🤯
mine did not come w those. googling now though!
Wow!! I pretty much nailed it.
I think they are for soup ladles, Blurry, if that helps.
Bosox1976
You're an addict. I will look for a place where you can get help. LOL.
Sportscards anonymous.
Curious on your opinion about something Bosox. Have you considered taking a run of sets (say 1970 through 1979) and selling them as team set runs? I always wondered if maybe that would be an interesting way to maximize profits without having the work associated with full set breaks.
Have never tried that, as I think some teams would sell much slower than others. If Greg Morris is only doing HOF from the late 70’s it might be a possibility for some teams though.... kind of curious to see if he gets the same money for just the stars as the set itself would sell for. If so, there are many residual cards (and even whole teams) left over.
Bosox1976
FANTASTIC project!
actually it it did!
but now i cant get the soup nazi outta my head yelling “no soup ladle racks for you” since ive bought 12 of them and never got a single one. keeping in mind i bought extras just for the d@mn shelves themself! 😉
Mike, we have very similar tastes and I believe we have bid against each other for some of the sets we have. I only go back to 69 but my I’ve done the same thing. My “A” sets are pretty awesome (not bragging just went through so many that they have to be pretty good by now) but I’ve kept up for the most part and sold off most C and D. Anyway, look forward to keeping up with your project, and seeing some of your A sets !
Jeff
Collecting:
post world war II HOF rookie
76 topps gem mint 10 commons 9 stars
Arenado purple refractors(Rockies) Red (Cardinals)
successful deals with Keevan, Grote15, 1954, mbogoman
Wow thanks for sharing. Has been fun to stare at those pictures. You have some amazing cards.
Good to hear, Jeff. It is a pretty good system if you can keep both ends of the pipeline flowing. Glad you are able to do both, buying and selling.
Bosox1976
Thanks for sharing and as a person who grew up in the 70’s and collected from 1973-79 those are awesome to look at. Guessing you are about 52-54 years old by the years you collected. Great looking group of cards!
First off, what an amazing collection and a great thread. I have to admit I admire your bravery for using three ring binders. I used them a long time ago. I stopped when I realized some of the inside pocket cards were getting damaged from being up against the metal binder rings. Also, the top cards would move and sometimes stick out from the page pockets and get damaged from being exposed. Did this ever happen to you? Good luck with your project.
I'm 56 years old, and downsizing is a very natural process that some of us go through. I don't envy all that work that needs to be done there, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun and bring back good memories.
Amazing collection and good luck on the project.
Yep, I'm 65 and starting that process to get my collection down to what I really like.
Wow............Wow
If you ever want to sell off an extra 75 set, with or w/o the stars, please LMK
The solution seems obvious to me... You've got to quit your day job. Great collection!
Started work on 1975.
3 sets done, 10 to go. Hoping to wrap up a set every other day. Came across some nice 6’s. The color on Hank is just great.
Bosox1976
Also this wasted beauty. Too bad....
Bosox1976
Finally moved on to 1976. Finished up the 13 sets for 1975. Looks like about 6 of these 76’s were vending type sets. Hope to build a couple of real blazers. Some graded in the extra pile and a couple of near misses with the PDs.
Bosox1976