Anyone working on a true "Master Set?"

helionaut

To me, a Master Set is one copy of each and every card that you might get out of a box of cards, or through some sort of redemption or mail-in program. Back in the day, and even up to about 1996 or so, this was not extremely difficult. Then there came all the inserts that came out one per box, one per case, etc. Then came the really short cards, then came the 1/1s. Nowadays, it's pretty much impossible to complete Master Sets of most sets, and difficult for all others, unless you just really have a ton of money to throw around, and even more connections and patience. I know two guys who are building the 2000 UD Ultimate Victory set (120 cards, the last basic 30 numbered out of 3500, 2500, or 1000) including all inserts (none are very tough except the triple GU card) and parallels red #/250, silver #/100, and gold #/25. They are even trying for certain serial numbers on the 25s. Last I heard, one of them had the complete 100s set, all but a couple of the 250s, and was missing about 30 of the golds. I've accumulated 32 of the golds myself, but the other parallels are beyond the level of dedication I'm willing to give. I'm curious if anyone is attempting something like that, especially with a set from the last 5 years or so.

FMS

I am ... not going to say which one but its not football or baseball or basketball... but almost done! 22 left and I will get them!


OUT

FMS

joestalin

I think heritage might be a possiblity, the rarest cards are numbered to a hefty 25, the red autos would
get expensive but at least you would have something. In many cases putting together a true
master set means spending major mula on rookies and game used, two types of cards that usually
go down after initial release.

I know many people who put together rookie sets, but I see this as perhaps the most costly in the
long run as many of the cards are worthless as more and more players fail to reach the majors. Hot
sets like BCDP and UD start out at really high prices and a lot of the time you have to jump on board
early because some of the rarer cards (#ed to just 25 or less), disappear.

If you really want to see a nice set, go to the beckett board and look on the football board, there are
a few posts about a guy who traded for the Warren Moon Leaf Certified FOTG auto 1/1. For those
of you who don't know, this is a very popular set, there is a 100 card Fabric of the Game set in
which the cards are numbered to the players jersey number and in many cases autographed too...8
Steve Youngs, 12 Dan Marinos, 12 Bradshaws......easliy not enough to go around...the Moon is a 1/1
thus very sought after.

I would rather put together a set like 2000 greats of the game baseball or 97 Legends football, many
HOF'er and stars. If you really want a challenge check out topps fan favorites which will be out within
the next month.

-Kevin

roastedcat

I'm currently working on the Michael Jordan master set, I got about 100+ cards on the registry, this set takes 2600+ cards to complete, I know I'll never finish the set but hey, it's fun to attempt it. I have been buying up lots on ebay, and have about 1500 different Jordan cards in raw form, just waiting for PSA to do a super special before I think about submitting to them, my last submission of 104 cards met the grader of death and recieved all 7's when I know alot of them were 9's. I'm currently holding off on submitting anymore, but looking for numbered cards and game used stuff just to plug in the holes. I have a bunch waiting for the next $5.00 special, I'm not in any rush now. Currently ranked #7, but soon to move up the ladder.

Jery

2323

So you're #7, Guess what, we're tied, cause I'm 7 too. When I read that, I'm like, "no he's not, I am", so I went and looked, and sure enough, we are both tied at 7. Now I know the competition.

DeutscherGeist

Oh, I see, the 23 is for Micheal Jordan, not Don Mattingly.

Mattingly's Master set is not easy to complete either. I would probably stick with the basic set, but even that's too much. One card per year played, that should be enough.

ptper

I am trying to complete a master set of 2001 Topps Heritage basketball. But, being the obsessive compulsive that I am, I am going after not only the subsets, but all the color variations as well. As far as I know none of these are checklisted. Even the Topps web site did not checklist them.

For example in the Competitive Threads subset there are players with 2 or 3 different color jersey swatches. In the Articles of the Arena subset there are 3 different color pieces of Boston Garden Floor-brown, green and gray. In the game used rookie ball subset, I'm going after cards that show a piece of basketball and also a piece of ball with black writing on it.

The autographed jerseys #'d/25 were relatively easy, but I think there is a gray Wally Szczerbiak jersey swatch out there and it's driving me nuts not being able to find it. Of course I just may have dreamed that I once saw it.

The difficult part is not knowing if I have all the cards due to the lack of a comprehensive checklist. So if anyone has any extras lying around, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know what you have.

Thanks.

Tabe

I'm working on a master set of 2003 Press Pass football. The lowest #'ed cards are #'ed to 100, so that's not too bad. But there's 200 autographs and over 20 jerseys, so that's a bit of a challenge. I've got 355 of the cards so far, 169 to go. I don't count the case toppers as part of the master set in this case, as they aren't cards, they're actual full-size footballs.

Wish me luck!

Tabe
www.tabe.nu

NickM

Theoretically, I'm working on a master set for everything.
In practicality, not really, although there are several sets where I am devoting some time to acquiring the multitude of serial numbered inserts.

Nick

krazyace5

I think a set of 99 score football artists proofs would be cool. They only made ten of each card. I only had 4 but threw 3 of my more common players on ebay. Think I will hold on to Marvin Harrison.

Also Upper Deck had superscripts numbered to 25 a few years ago, and fleer ultra platinum numbered to 99. Well, I guess I could go on all day.

As for putting together one of these sets, do you think you could make your investment back?

joestalin

that brings up to another "master" set and that would be cornering the market on a certain
players card like owning all 10 Harrison artist proofs. Anyone ever chase a card like that?

JS

Tabe

<< <i>that brings up to another "master" set and that would be cornering the market on a certain
players card like owning all 10 Harrison artist proofs. Anyone ever chase a card like that?

JS >>


There's a couple guys on Beckett doing that. One guy is chasing a card #'ed to like 100 or something.

There's also the famous case of a guy buying up all the serial #'ed cards of, I think, Jaromir Jagr from one year. And he ended up with more cards than they were serialed to (oops!)

Tabe
www.tabe.nu

envoy98

I had 3 of the 5 Glavine cards from leaf one year. I knew who had the other 2 but the 1/5 guy wanted way too much and so I gave up bidding on #4/5. I only bid on them cuz they were all on ebay within a few weeks of each other. I ended up selling the 3 I had. Oh well. I think it would be cool to get all of the same serial number of a group of rookies, or all jersey numbers. For example in SP Authentic, all the rookies. It would be unique to have all of them jsy#/1250 or all matching serial numbers. 1/1250 or 234/1250. But, after you finish that, aside from sort of personal sense of accomplishment...will you get your investment back? Not even counting the time you spent?

I am currently working on an 03/04 SPA Basketball set, all the rookies, rookie fx/ sp spectactulars and the base signatures. I won't chase the duals, or the triples or the jerseys. Unless I can find a ton of them being sold in one lot. I am over half done with the autos, I need Bron, Wade, Bosh for the rc's and a few of the Rookie FX cards. Then I'm done. What's odd, is I have all the high end autos from Ultimate Collection that I don't have from SPA. Bron, Jordan, Melo, Kobe, TMac, Garnett. I'll probably end up trading those for the SPA ones so I can complete the set. Of course, the ultimate collection set would be cool too... CHA-CHING!

Clementefan

I have just complete my MASTER set in the 2001 Playoff Contenders Cards (I have at least 1 of every card that you can get in a box).

Base cards (1-100)
Rookie Autos (101-200)
Championship Tickets(1-200) Limited to 100 each
Legendary Contenders Autos (1-71) - Quite a few cards limited to just 25 each
ROY Cards (1-20)
ROY Auto Cards (1-20) Limited to 50 cards each
MVP Cards (1-20)
MVP Auto Cards (1-20) Limited to 25 cards each
Round Number Dual Autos (1-15)
Round Number Gold Autos (1-15) Limited by round picked in Draft (10 each for first round, 20 for second round, 30 for 4th round and 40 for 5th round pick)

joestalin

wow, that 01 contenders set is a nice one, and one that has some mystery behind it as playoff never
released print runs for all of the cards. I would be interested in your opinion on which cards are scarce.
Personally I think Andre Carter and Kenny Walker are some of the rarer ones that don't have print
runs...which cards did you have the most trouble tracking down? That is a very nice set!

Kevin