Congratulations to John "Gemint" Constantino!

ZodiacMindwarp

John is the first person to have completed the 1969 Topps Baseball set in PSA 8 or higher! That's quite an accomplishment. Congratulations and good luck with your upgrades. John, can you share how long it took and offer up any advice for the rest of us?

John Constantino - 2nd Current Finest Set

dude

Great job Gemint! This is definitely a tough set to complete in high grade. I've been working on it for 14 years and it may be another 1 to 2 years before I complete it in 8 or higher. Again, great job John.

carew4me

Nice!

Basilone

Great Job...a heck of an accomplishment !!

Scumbi

Speech! That is one son of a gun. Congrats!

Best,

S.

theplasticman

thats awesome, hope I can handle a vintage set like that someday

gemint

Oops, I started another thread before I saw this one. Boy you guys are quick! Anyway, I've provided a small writeup in the other thread describing how long it too me and who provided key help along the way.

1969 Set Completion

It actually took me 23 years if I count the time from when I first started working on the set. I still remember what started the whole journey. It was at a card show in 1981. I bought a cello wrapped 100 card lot of 1969s that a dealer put together where he strategically placed a Clemente and Stargell (I'm a lifelong Pirate fan) on the top and bottom and sandwiched it with 98 commons. The cards were probably EX to EX-MT and I highly doubt any of them ended up in the current version of my set. After buying other mid-grade 1969s through the early 80s, I started focusing on buying NM-MT cards after I moved to California in late 1985. So technically, it took 18+ years. If it weren't for eBay and professional grading, it would have taken me many more years to complete this set. I literally scoured through all inventory the dealers brought to west coast card shows over the years and many of the tough low pop cards were never seen in high grade in the tens to hundreds of thousands of cards I filtered through during that time.

Don't get discouraged. It's an incredibly tough set to complete, but if you have the patience and perserverance, as well as the will to spend big $ on the tough cards, it is a doable project.

ctsoxfan

Wow, that is really quite an accomplishment. Congrats to you!

FB

John,

Great going on a very tough set! Its always great to see one of the Registry "Old Timers" take another step on the road total insanity!!!!

Virtualizard

Congratulations, John!!!

1969 Topps Baseball will always be one of my favorite sets. I will attempt it again some day - probably after I finish my favorite set, 1960 Topps Baseball.

Again, great set.

JEB.

magellan

Great Great job John ! I started on my set in 1969 and had it nearly complete in Ex-Mt to Nr-Mt raw but decided to build it graded around March 1st. I do hope the graded version doesn't take 18 years .

Dave

gemint

<< <i>I do hope the graded version doesn't take 18 years .

Dave >>



With the advent of eBay and professional grading, it shouldn't take you nearly so long to complete it. Good luck with the set.

baseballjeff

Way to go!!!

That must be some sight to see all those cards at once. Any chance you have a digital camera and we could see the set? Even if it is just a pile of cards? I am at 30% for my '59s and I get excited when I see all my cards together. Anyone else do that?

Good job! What set are you taking on next?

Jeff

gemint

<< <i>Way to go!!!

That must be some sight to see all those cards at once. Any chance you have a digital camera and we could see the set? Even if it is just a pile of cards? I am at 30% for my '59s and I get excited when I see all my cards together. Anyone else do that?

Good job! What set are you taking on next?

Jeff >>



Sorry I don't have a digital camera. I do plan to get around to scanning all the cards and adding them to the registry. I do have some up there. Regarding the next set, I'll probably keep seeking high grade raw of no particular year. I've been able to get several sets to 5-10% completion without having to buy graded cards on the secondary market.

pc