would you be willing to start a set that has no real value

achtey

What I mean is, I'm 22, so I sadly grew up collecting the early 90's in football cards. They were all mass produced and no real value in them. But I loved busting those packs and those cheap packs are what got me hooked in the hobby. Would you be willing to start a graded set in one of these "valueless" years if that is what you remember. Let me know what you think.


Josh

Aknot

Me, no. Im not really into set collecting. You, well if you want to and you enjoy it (and it is not against the law) go for it. It is still a "challenge" to get "10" cards.

Buccaneer

In my opinion, there are probably many unopened and exceptional raw cards of these types. No need to pay extra for the fancy plastic slab to build a beautiful looking set.

Dhjacks

I would suggest submitting a subset of either your favorite team or HOFers. That way you can enjoy them in graded form, but not incur the huge cost of grading the whole set (with no real chance of recovering any of the cost).

Aknot

<< <i>I would suggest submitting a subset of either your favorite team or HOFers. That way you can enjoy them in graded form, but not incur the huge cost of grading the whole set (with no real chance of recovering any of the cost). >>



eh?
Isnt having a "Hobby" enough? The "pride" of completing the uncompleted? Having something that no one else has. Who cares if you loose/make money, as long as you enjoy doing it?

Im sure there are a lot of us that "collect" some things just to "collect" them. At 22 you have a nice long time to slowly and meticously create something. Possibly passing down the only set in existence to your children. That has to count for something.

helionaut

Sure, I already have. I have a tiny percentage of a PSA 10 2001 UD Golf set, which sells for about $8 per box these days. I've got some 1993 SP cards, probably my favorite card design ever incorporating foil stamping. I have a couple 1985 Topps football that I'll add to eventually, which, while not exactly worthless, is tough to see appreciating as the population will go nowhere but up. I got a few 1970 Rold Gold cards back when there was only one set on the registry in hopes of actually being competitive in a category.

I collect a lot of modern sets just because I like the design, especially the kind where the packs are $10 each and boxes have 12 packs and there's only about 1 insert card in every fourth box that is worth more than the price of 2 packs. These kinds of sets get ripped eagerly by the thrill seekers, and the base sets are dumped on ebay usually for less than the price of a single pack. I'd love to have PSA 10 sets of 2001 Legendary Cuts, 2001-2004 Topps Heritage, 2003 UD Exquisite baskets (the $500/pack set that came out last month). Not to mention 1991 Topps & Stadium Club, 1999 & 2000 UD Ultimate Victory, 1989 Fleer, 1986 Topps, 1993 Stadium Club & Finest, 1995 Bowman's Best, 1997-99 Bowman Chrome, etc. In fact, I'd love to have PSA 10s of every card ever made, regardless of value. What do you think of that? Paying for them, though, that's the problem.

Dhjacks

eh?
Isnt having a "Hobby" enough? The "pride" of completing the uncompleted? Having something that no one else has. Who cares if you loose/make money, as long as you enjoy doing it?


Aknot-
I'm just guessing that most of us wouldn't spend several grand on childhood nostalgia if it doesn't have a reasonable chance of recovering most of the $. There are a number of sets I've purchased for sentimental purposes, but I'm not going to send in hundreds of them to be graded if there isn't a market.

grilloj39

I say do whatever makes you happy...remember this is a hobby, you collect what you want. There is no wrong or right way of choosing what you want to collect.

However, there are strategies for buying cards and pursuing your set as so eloquently put by Acowa in a recent SMR for example.

onegaucho

Collect what you want.

I love displaying some of the "valueless" cards around my office. Unfortunately, most of my PSA cards from my sets are boxed up because it's easier (and probably safer) to store them all that way. I do have a select few on these cool PSA stands I found at a local store.

sixdart

Josh,

Most of the early '90s football issues were fairly large, and then were significantly reduced in size once the mid-'90s premium versions came out. However, I plan to eventually complete some of the sets in PSA format. The sets that I collected were; '91 Topps Stadium Club, '93 Score Select, '93-'96 UD SP, '92-'96 Playoff, Contenders & Illusions, '94 Topps Finest and maybe the '92 Gameday issue.

Boxes and cases for these years are a bargain compared to their original retail prices. There are many cool subsets that came out of these years. I am still buying '93 Playoff Hobby to complete my Brett Favre Collection (5 of 5). The Playoff brand is available, however the cards always stick together because of the Chromium process - it difficult to pull mint cards.

Many PSA 10s are sold cheap on EBAY from DLS, Eagle and 4 Sharp Corners. So at $4.99 - $19.99, I would buy those and submit your PSA 9 quality cards.

You may start other sets, but collect what you like. You will always have that urge to go back to what you originally collected - I can't fight mine.

jimtb

if you collect for investment purposes only, this hobby could gey old for you in a hurry. Collect what or who you like. The satisfaction in that will far outweigh any potential financial gain. Just have fun!

perkdog

I have been waiting for the next show to purchase a 1990 Score football set for about 8 bucks and place it in a binder w/sheets to enjoy, I see no reason to grade them ie: a 40 cent card in a 8 dollar holder seems sensless to me, I will enjoy these cards very much and who cares if you take the card out to view it and it gets a little wear?

I agree that you must enjoy what you collect.

achtey

Thanks everyone that responded to my question. I think I might just start one of my sets and enjoy it slowly coming together.

Thanks again,
Josh

Cyphilissb

2 of the 3 sets that i actively collect are modern and those are the sets that i enjoy the most honestly. (the sets are 96 topps chrome bkb and a kobe player set) My cards are almost valueless, commons in psa 10 go for 4 or 5 dollars most of the time and star cards only 3 or 4 times that, but i really enjoy the cards so its worth it to me.

MalePro

MalePro

Sorry,
Computer locked up on the previous post.
Anyways, good to see another collector putting together the 96-97 Topps Chrome Refractor set. I can't believe that only 4 ppl have tried putting together this beautiful PSA set. Good luck Cyph!

FB

It depends on what you mean by value...

I was thinking about requesting an NFL Cheerleaders set be added to the registry (next time my wife is away on business...) Moneywise they'll never be worth much. But, when I show my nephews the joys of card collecting - they'll be a helpful piece of show and tell...

Fabfrank

I'm currently working on the 89 Score football set. I originally wanted to do this set in just PSA 9, but than raised my sights to PSA 10 and I'm 5-6 cards short of completing the set in all 10's.
This is definitely a labor of love. I would suggest doing the SP/SP Authentic sets. In football the sets contain mostly stars, are around 200 cards in size, and the RC cards are usually the preferred card to collect.
Another option would be to do insert sets from any of those years. The sets tend to be only 10-30 cards, already have a theme and only include the best players.

Scumbi

I built the 1965 Philly James Bond set which is worth less than a two block taxi ride in Fresno. I did it because I liked the cards. It was fun and I'd do it again in a second. All told I spent like two hundred to have a mint set. It would have cost half, but I got taken by that Scottsdale Card jerk-off on a few before I knew they were completely worthless.

What makes this hobby special is you can participate, learn more than the high dollar players and set any budget. That's the heart of card collecting so good luck.

S.

1420sports

I can appreciate putting together "worthless" sets, as I am working on one - Greg Luzinski. His player set has cards which otherwise would go unbid on, had it not been for my bid. If this "set" was over 25 cards, I would collect in raw form.

I am a pretty simple collector and I cannot truly appreciate (or honestly see) the real difference/big deal between an 8-10, modern or vintage. I would put these sets in 9 card sheets, get a nice binder, and put it on the shelf.