How do you handle the last few cards?

Copyboy1

I have 11 cards left to finish off my NFL HoF Rookies set. Soooo close. As you can imagine, the ones that are left are either a) hard to find in the grade(s) I want or b) pretty expensive. I've been trying my best to not overpay, but when you're down to the last few cards left for your set do you:

1. Stick to deal hunting, only buying when the price is right. After all, it's the hunt that the fun part.
2. Just go for it. Who cares if you overpay a little to finally finish the set?

miwlvrn

Get low grade place-holder examples until you find better ones for a price you can afford and then flip the old ones to help fund the upgrades.

bobbybakeriv

The latter (if possible). Good luck! That's surely a nice set!

basketballcollector

Define "pretty expensive". Do you mean $1000 ? $5000 ? $10,000 ? $20,000 ? $50,000 ? $100,000 ?

Copyboy1

@basketballcollector said:
Define "pretty expensive". Do you mean $1000 ? $5000 ? $10,000 ? $20,000 ? $50,000 ? $100,000 ?

It's football, so they don't get as high as, say, baseball. But most I still need in a grade I want are in the $1000-$5000 range. Maybe a couple left over $5000.

But as an example: Say Card #1 has an average recent sale/auction value of $1000. When one comes up for sale at $2100, do you overpay for it just to finish the set, or say heck no I'm not paying that much, I'll wait?

handyman

If it sells for 1000 and the only ones offered are 2100.
Just wait and buy 2 of them when the time is right.
And then try and sell one for 2100

Cakes

@Copyboy1 said:

@basketballcollector said:
Define "pretty expensive". Do you mean $1000 ? $5000 ? $10,000 ? $20,000 ? $50,000 ? $100,000 ?

It's football, so they don't get as high as, say, baseball. But most I still need in a grade I want are in the $1000-$5000 range. Maybe a couple left over $5000.

But as an example: Say Card #1 has an average recent sale/auction value of $1000. When one comes up for sale at $2100, do you overpay for it just to finish the set, or say heck no I'm not paying that much, I'll wait?

Trust the process. I think you knew when you started such a large project that you would have to factor in that those last couple of cards would take much longer than the easier ones. I would be patient and trust the process.

Have you purchased the Jimmy Brown Rookie yet? That is one I would target soon. It's very morbid and I hope he lives to 90 but he is getting older and his card prices will jump when he passes.

Sox

Stick to hunting.

Copyboy1

@Cakes said:
Have you purchased the Jimmy Brown Rookie yet? That is one I would target soon. It's very morbid and I hope he lives to 90 but he is getting older and his card prices will jump when he passes.

I do. I had one from my childhood (paid $20!) that graded out as a 3. Then I sold it and traded up to a 5 a few months ago. Of the 11 I have left, I think the 1935 National Chicle Nagurski is the only one I just really won't be able to afford. I think everything else is doable.

graygator

When I got to a similar point in my post war baseball HOF rookies, in the excitement I overpaid on some cards to finish. Those all look like bargains now.

I would buy the most expensive one left first, even if you have to overpay some to get one you like, then work your way down. The only exception is if there is something particularly rare, buy it when you see it. If I had bought the Mantle when I started in 2014 I could’ve gotten a 4 in my budget, but by the time I bought one later in 2015 I had to by a 2.5, and if I’d have bought it last to finish the set, in 2019, I would’ve had to settle for a 1.

Unless you think the market is going to crash. Then you should do exactly the opposite of what I just said. But I doubt you come out ahead very often betting against popular HOF rookies.

1951WheatiesPremium

@Copyboy1 said:
I have 11 cards left to finish off my NFL HoF Rookies set. Soooo close. As you can imagine, the ones that are left are either a) hard to find in the grade(s) I want or b) pretty expensive. I've been trying my best to not overpay, but when you're down to the last few cards left for your set do you:

1. Stick to deal hunting, only buying when the price is right. After all, it's the hunt that the fun part.
2. Just go for it. Who cares if you overpay a little to finally finish the set?

I’m in a similar boat; around 8-9 cards to finish off a set. I have banged out all the key cards so I’m just hoping they show up at auction or at a fair price.

Cakes

@Copyboy1 said:

@Cakes said:
Have you purchased the Jimmy Brown Rookie yet? That is one I would target soon. It's very morbid and I hope he lives to 90 but he is getting older and his card prices will jump when he passes.

I do. I had one from my childhood (paid $20!) that graded out as a 3. Then I sold it and traded up to a 5 a few months ago. Of the 11 I have left, I think the 1935 National Chicle Nagurski is the only one I just really won't be able to afford. I think everything else is doable.

Ouch, I was going to ask about him and the Namath. Uffdah has a beautiful Bronco.

ndleo

I'm down to 2 for my 1955 Topps All-American set. When I got down to the last 7, I started getting more aggressive bidding them up. My list has been open for years with the last 10 or so, a few times I thought about breaking it up and quitting. At this point I just want to close it out. Most of the cards were purchased over the past 15 years, so my invested cost is reasonable, time to open up the wallet.

Copyboy1

@Cakes said:
Ouch, I was going to ask about him and the Namath. Uffdah has a beautiful Bronco.

Funny about the Namath. I had sold a bunch of other cards all at once and had cash, so I went and bought a Namath PSA 3 about 2 years ago. Then prices started shooting up. Somehow, I found a PSA 4 on a great deal, so I bought that for basically what I ended up selling the 3 for. Then a year or so later, I got a PSA 6 at another great price and sold the 4 for way more than I bought it for. So in the end, I ended up with a PSA 6 for the price of what a 2 or a 3 is going for now.

You can see everything here.

DMasci

@Copyboy1 said:
I have 11 cards left to finish off my NFL HoF Rookies set. Soooo close. As you can imagine, the ones that are left are either a) hard to find in the grade(s) I want or b) pretty expensive. I've been trying my best to not overpay, but when you're down to the last few cards left for your set do you:

1. Stick to deal hunting, only buying when the price is right. After all, it's the hunt that the fun part.
2. Just go for it. Who cares if you overpay a little to finally finish the set?

Congratulations on getting that far....I started the same set but way too late, 2020. Now I'm beginning to realize it's never going to happen, I still need 132 cards out of 288! I can probably manage the Modern set 1970 and up which I've been running in parallel. I also went off track along the way and started some HOF individual player sets so I've plenty to work on just not enough cards out there at reasonable prices. The good news is I've gotten way more patient.