how many of you got tired of a set and stopped building it?? opinions wanted

mccardguy1

I have been building a 1973 Topps baseball set in psa 8 for about a year now. I have enjoyed it up until now but lately I have been very bored by it. I have been looking at older sets and feel that maybe thats the direction I am wanting to go. What is everyone else's past experience here? I am feeling like I just want to sell off what I have and start on something new.

I am sure everyone gets tired of a set now and then but my problem is I dont have a lot of cash to go into another set right now. Do I sell what I have and go after something else or give it a rest right now and possibly come back to it later.

I would be very interested to hear what others have done and the what happened after they made their decision!!

Axtell

Having run into this directly lately with my 1971 set, I decided to expand my focus to the 1985 football set. I think with limited options for purchasing the card (ebay for me), that when the market goes dry (like it has seemingly for a month or so) it can get tiring to check ebay every couple of days and find nothing new.

It's going to depend on your finances, and how focused you can be. I think with higher resources, you can continue to buy when the market dries up a bit....but if you don't have that, I'd suggest taking a break, maybe working on something new/different (I am working on completing a non-graded master set of 2005 topps heritage).

I think especially with the big sets, it's easy to get burned out...but don't give up! Take a break, and you'll find yourself naturally coming back to it.

lostdart58

With these monster sets, (your 73 and my 72) I am sure that MOST people never reach their goal and give up.

At this point you will probably lose money by selling the set, although you will do better selling them off one card at a time.

I am going to finsih my 72 set come hell or high water. I am up to 70% and not bored yet.


i say give it a rest for awhile before you sell out.........once you do sell out you can only regret it later on.....

calleocho

Have you tried a TYPE set?

Its a neat way to collect many interesting cards, Its very hard to get bored and you make up your own theme.

Some people collect one HOF from every set, or maybe catchers or particular poses, portraits, action shots.

It could get expensive for certain rare sets or if you collect in high grades, but otherwise its usually very affordable.

I Collect cards this way and its been really fun. I have my own theme but along the way i pick up cards that i just find cool.

At least it keeps Ebay fresh and you get to learn a lot as well, from classic sets as well as some rarer ones.

There its a type set on the registry as well if you like keeping track of your progress this way.

GOCAVS

I've never gotten tired of building a set but I've just this week decided to stop two sets I had started due to monetary constraints. I am selling off the cards from my 1958 and 1959 Topps football sets that used to be listed under Al and Sandy's Sets. I'm concentrating now on my 71 Topps football and trying to complete my 1961 and 1957 Topps football sets....just got too many sets going at once. some of the 58 and 59 cards I've listed on ebay under al_n_sandy14 but I'm still looking to add to my other sets......wish I could hit that mega million jackpot so I could collect them all!!!

softparade

Great thread!

I have found out from talking to a bunch of graded set collectors that most burn out and sell at 60% in these monster sets. They are quite a huge undertaking. Of course finances fuel the whole project but my advise would be to hold on to the set and put it on the back burner if you really like the set and slowly start something new. If the emotion for the cards is still not there a few months down the road then selling them off is the way to go in my eyes. I am collecting the 1978 Topps baseball set and I am at 42% since starting it in November. It is the only set i am collecting graded and I have not lost the burn to collect them after 6 months. However, I have been tossing the idea of a 60's Topps set around but have done nothing and probably won't for now.

Axtell makes a great point about collecting a nice raw set such as 2005 Topps Heritage. I did the same thing with that set and it slowed down my 78 Topps pace. I am now finished with the master set so I am back to concentrating on the 78's. It was a refreshing change of pace and the cards look beautiful in a binder. Plus it was tons of fun trading with many of the fine people on these boards chasing down those crazy Sp's. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, just don't make any rash decisions!!

fsjeter

I would not sell unless you do not think you will ever work on that set again. If you sell and decide to work on the '73's some time in the future, you may have to re-purchase some cards for more than you currently paid. I am almost at that point now with my '67's (my budget is shrinking). I hated having to sell my Mays and Aaron. I may have to sell the rest of my set to finance my wedding in June but I am trying not to. If you only had a few cards in the set it would be different but it sounds like you're pretty far along. I say take a break and work on another set that interests you. Just my $0.02.

Scott

Buccaneer

Another great thread. I did this recently with my 1961 Topps set. I have sold off the graded cards and will figure out what to do with the ungraded NM cards. I am keeping the All-Star subset though. I don't why I decided to stop doing this one. Probably the sheer magnititude of working on this set along with 4 others.

Right now, I am wavering on continuing with the 1964 and 1965 sets. I am only 19% done on the 1964 with almost no stars and while I am about 50% done with 1965, I have very few that are graded. It doesn't make much sense to pay for grading on NM commons for 1965.

By the way, I did start a PSA Sampler Set but 5 cards into it, I stopped and sold them off. I think it's a great idea but I got stuck on searching and buying a great looking sample of each (design, beauty and eye appeal were my goals).

Knuckles

Everytime I ever went to build a set.. It's a fun thing to do, hunt down the cards and everything but really I don't enjoy all of the 'bum' players I would rather just collect vintage cards of the big named players.

edited to add.. although I do enjoy the cartoons on the backs of the vintage cards bum or not.

roastedcat

I stop buying cards all together, I haven't worked on any set for awhile.

I even put my Hall of fame autographs on hold. After being burned by PSA/DNA a bunch of times last year, I just figured I'd take a break from collecting cards.

I was very tempted to sell all my cards during .10 cent listing day, as I was about to. I just couldn't get myself to let them go.

However, it's cool to look at other peoples sets from time to time.

Jery

mccardguy1

I appreciate all the opinions.....the 73 set was the 1st one I ever put together as a kid and it holds a special spot in my heart!!! I can still remember going to the Ben Franklin dime store and seeing they had the last series on sale for a dime a pack (or some crazy price..I dont really remember) and begging my mom to let me get them all but only got like 5 packs. Ripping those packs open on a crisp fall day in my parents brand new chevy station wagon.........ahh good times.

So i think I will take the advice and put this set on the back burner for now. I have really taken a interest in the 1964 Topps Giants psa graded. A nice small set that is actually affordable with some great names. Is it me or is that Frank Robinson card from the Giants set not one of the nicest looking cards ever??? ok. Maybe its just me.

Thanks again guys and hope to see you at the national!.

Keep the opinions coming though. I enjoy what others have to say on this topic

calleocho

Jery,

I am not really into autographs, but i always enjoyed your posts about your HOF set.

I hope you keep at it..even if you take some time to blow some steam here and there.

BTW... your scans are really nice

2dueces

I started a 1963 Fleer Football in 1999, worked on it for about a year and laid it down for the past 5 yrs. Just recently pick it back up again. I cant imagine building a monster set, although theres more listed to chose from than this 67 card set. I went for months sometimes not seeing any thing from it. Ithink I'll stick to raw for all my others from now on. Out

MorrellMan

I started a '65 Kahn's set in mid grade; I need two more cards to complete the set but over half of them are ungraded. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do. Grade them? Crack out the other half? Just don't know. For me - the best decision is to not do anything until I feel strongly one way or the other.

However, time not only wounds all heels, it also heels all wounds. My area of interest is early 60s and earlier. Back in the 80s, I traded a raw Carlton rookie and a raw Marichal rookie for a complete 1970 Topps set. I have also picked up enough lots of NM '71s and '72 to be close to complete on those sets. All 3 have sat in boxes for years, and I finally pulled them out this week to put them in binders. The more I look at them, the more excited I am about adding these three sets into my "rotation".

Once a collector - always a collector (although there are drugs you can take....)

1979COLLECTOR

If you ever need the cash for personal reasons sell the cards - other wise keep the set - you wil regret selling it.

I am personally leaning towards building player sets instead of entire company sets. Think about what your set is worth..nono imagine what you have in your set right now..and imagine 1really nice card you could buy that would most likley hold its value more....

smallstocks

Not a PSA set, but I stopped building my 1955 Topps set in 1981 when I went to college and just resumed this January. Down to 8 cards.

Mike

baseballfanatic

Just give it a rest for a while. I've got about 14 sets at between 35-80% complete. I start one when you can pick up a lot of high end starters relatively cheap, and than pick them up one by one over the year at a decent price. All of a sudden this tidal wave comes through and it seems that 20 people are after the same cards that keep coming up at any price, and I put it on the back burner. Pretty soon things get back to normal and you just pick up where you left off...........

acowa

Where are you on the set? The last 10% always take 3-4 times as long as the first 90%. It's easy to get bored and/or frustrated. I would reccommend hanging on to your set. I have built several PSA graded sets and none has taken less than 2.5 years. Patience is key. I am currently working on a 1964 Topps Hockey set and I will go for 5 months without any movement and suddenly pick up 6-8 cards in a week.


Regards,


Alan

mccardguy1

Acowa. I have been working on this set for over a year and I am at 25%. I have always intended for this set to take me 5 or more years to build. Its just lately I have been losing interest but I think now I will take the advice I have been given here and just put it away for the time being and concentrate on some other things.

Maybe part of my problem is I might have spring fever and sitting behind a computer screen looking for these cards is not something I want to do right now! I do this all day at work as it is!! I guess I will probably feel different in the fall and pick it back up again.

But I do have to say those 1964 giants are looking good..........Oh geez someone stop me please....

smallstocks

1964 Ginats one of my favorite sets. Waiting for PSA to run a special so I can send in tons for grading.

Mike

gemint

<< <i>Acowa. I have been working on this set for over a year and I am at 25%. I have always intended for this set to take me 5 or more years to build. Its just lately I have been losing interest but I think now I will take the advice I have been given here and just put it away for the time being and concentrate on some other things.

Maybe part of my problem is I might have spring fever and sitting behind a computer screen looking for these cards is not something I want to do right now! I do this all day at work as it is!! I guess I will probably feel different in the fall and pick it back up again.

But I do have to say those 1964 giants are looking good..........Oh geez someone stop me please.... >>



There are quite a few high grade raw 1973 sets out there. You may want to consider picking up a set and grading the NM-MT or nicer cards. You can sell off any 9's you get to lower your investment cost. This would knock out a huge chunk of the set in one shot. That will save you time from having to stare at your computer for hours on end waiting for someone to list PSA 8's.

ctsoxfan

<< <i>There are quite a few high grade raw 1973 sets out there. >>



I would love to find one - most of what I find lately, raw that is - is NM to EX-MT quality.

On topic, I definitely started out in this hobby with a ball of fire. I was going to complete all the 70's sets (baseball, and some football) a little at a time (from 1973 on, that is). This turned out to be akin to rolling a rock up a hill - no way do I have the desire anymore to do that. Also, I realized I really loved a few '60s sets, and that I needed to go back to those. So, today, I focus on 4 "monster" sets (1966 / 1968 / 1978 / 1979), and even that is a bit much. I am selling a lot of my other sets to upgrade those 4. Still, it will take some time to complete these sets in the quality that I want, but that is half the fun right?