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It's On

My attempt to build the Exquisite base set of 42 cards for less than the price of a pack, that is. I started buying singles off ebay a week ago, and the first 8 cards arrived today. I must say, I'm not impressed. The spot varnish with a rainbow foil with the matte white borders, kind of weak. The sloppy ink lines? Didn't they do that with 1998 SP baseball? I hadn't seen any in person yet, but I was thinking that at least the whole front would be glossy. The thickness is nice, I guess you have to feel you actually bought something. On the bright side, only one card has exhibited any flakiness along an edge so far, something I worry about with thick cards.

I'm sure I can assemble the base set for under $300, as I've won auctions for 19 different cards including a Jordan for a total of $123.17 so far including shipping, and that comes with a couple doubles I'll resell to knock down my net a bit. Singles are drying up, though, 150 fewer auctions today than last Saturday, and prices on key players like Kobe, Garnett, and McGrady are rising.

This is the first basketball set I've collected since 1980-81 Topps, all of which I broke into thirds and lost/sold/traded away long ago. It's kind of fun. So addicting, I've got to slow it down a little. I am curious about the composition of the set, though. There are patch/auto/jersey cards of so many more players, I wonder why they weren't included in the regular set. Legends like Wilt, Bird, Dr. J., Bill Russell, Magic Johnson. Recently retired stars like David Robinson, Rodman, Ewing, and Mourning. Even a lot of current players with insert cards are unrepresented in the regular set like Jamison, McDyess, and Reggie Miller. Jordan is the only non-current player with a card, and I guess he still falls under the "year after retirement" rule, though he's shown on the Bulls not the Wizards.

Anyway, if anyone wants to part with their base singles for about 1% of the pack price, LMK, thanks.
WANTED:
2005 Origins Old Judge Brown #/20 and Black 1/1s, 2000 Ultimate Victory Gold #/25
2004 UD Legends Bake McBride autos & parallels, and 1974 Topps #601 PSA 9
Rare Grady Sizemore parallels, printing plates, autographs

Nothing on ebay

Comments

  • joestalinjoestalin Posts: 12,473 ✭✭
    oh for the love of god, stop this! This is garbage and will always be! Its not like paying 8-10 bucks a pop
    for Peyton Manning or Brett Favre, basketball is bad! 95% of those guys are garbage! Man, hit the
    eject button NOW!

    JS
  • ctsoxfanctsoxfan Posts: 6,246 ✭✭
    Nice to see you back, JS!

    Now, where was that Ndudi Ebi Exquisite card I had laying around?

    Seriously, I can see how this might be a cool thing to undertake. Only 42 cards to find, all numbered to 225, from a set that is noteworthy because of the silly price tag. I might give it a go myself...
    image
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