Advice on Three Sets

dilferaff

I am about to start up a new set, and I have pretty much narrowed it down to three sets. I have primarily collected basketball in the past, but I have been itching to take a go at baseball and football. The three sets are 1949 Leaf Football, 1956 Topps Football, and 1954 Red Hearts. I have tracked eBay for the last month or so, and it seems that 49’ Leaf doesn’t come up that often in graded form, or in a condition that you would actually want graded. The 54’ Read Hearts seem to show at a greater frequency. The 56’ Topps Football is offered more often by the mere fact that it is more of a main stream set.
My question is what experiences have any of you had with these three sets? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Greg

AlanAllen

Greg,
The '56 Topps FB is probably the most plentiful in high grade of any Topps set before '59. '49 Leaf is near impossible... a close second to the '48 Leaf set. '56 is only 120 cards with a ton of HOFers, and even the short prints come up for sale pretty often. I don't know anything about the baseball set.

Joe

dilferaff

Joe…You are right on with the 49’ Leaf. I love the set design, but I would probably have to put it together in PSA 5-6. There are just not enough examples of high grade material out there. I still may try this set, but it will definitely test my patience. Greg

cmcclelland

I have been working on th 54 Red Hearts for a little while now, and think it's a great set to collect - good group of stars from the era, attractive design (those color backgrounds are awesome), and a manageable size. One word of caution in case you haven't already come across this - the 54 Red Hearts are not as tough as one might initially think they would be in high grade. This is due to the fact that there was a mail in offer that by most accounts remained open until around 1970. Thus, it was possible to send in for Mint or almost Mint cards as late as 1970. I still think they are fairly rare, but they don't even come close to the scarcity of some of the other 50's oddball stuff like Wilson Franks, Dan-Dee's, etc. On the one hand, that makes it easier to complete a set in high grade, but on the other hand they will never be at that top level of scarcity like some other similar sets. In any event, I think it's a great set to collect.

1954

Colt,
You need to contact Jeremy. I think he is going to sell his PSA 8 54 Red Hearts.

1954

Fuzz

I think that cmcclelland sums up the Red heart well. Beautiful set, not real hard in high grade but I think it is a bit over priced due to it's current popularity. The cards are not that hard in top grades.
Have thought about the 49 leafs as well but have stayed away to this point. Also thought about running off to join the circus. Neither passed the sanity test.
56 Topps FB was found in quantity in unopened form a few years ago, high end cards are plentiful including many PSA 10's. Not widely collected at the moment so an 8+ set may be a financial relief at the current time with some potential as this stuff dries up over the years.
All are nice sets. If you like them the same, I would take the 56. The Red hearts are my fav and shorter. The 49 set is a killer in price and difficulty in high grades.
Food Luck,
Fuzz

NickM

'49 Leaf is insanely hard.
Consider this: 4 cards (3 common 6's and Lujack in 5) is the 5th best set of all time. The cards seldom come up on eBay in any form, it has the legendary Leaf lack of quality control (90-10 centering seems average, focus and registration problems, print splotch issues, color bleed, etc.). Be a masochist. Do it.

Nick

Basilone

Dilferaff-

Did you see the lots that Stonegate had in the most recent Mastro auction? You might want to check out the site to see some of the prices realized.

John

dilferaff

John,

I didn’t run across those. I have primarily checked out eBay, and some other sellers that I have dealt with in the past. I am going to probably try to bottom feed for a little while. Hopefully some deals will come my way.

Greg