NOW 75% COMPLETE - BUILDING THE MEGASET

lostdart58

It was in November of last year, after having completed a 72 Topps baseball set in mostly raw form that I stumbled upon this website and the PSA set registry. I had accumulated about 65 PSA graded cards for the set in 7s and 8s. I then made the MISTAKE of starting the set in the registry with the 65 cards.........I then made a BIGGER mistake by deciding to complete the set graded........

6 months later and $6500 poorer I have reached 75% completion.........

I applied for my 5 free submissions for 75% completions. ( I have been filling in the various 72 team sets to get more free submissions).

The first 500 cards came fairly easy and relatively cheap. ( bought alot of lots on ebay and through board members here)...

The next hundred came easy enough but not so cheap...........

The last 180 or so I expect will not come cheap and be harder to find......

The set has a respectable 8.07 weighted GPA which includes 66 PSA 9 and even two PSA 10s. There are 9 PSA7s which will eventually be upgraded.......

My next goal is 90% completion.....which will keep my set forever listed in the registry even after I sell it in 20 plus years.....

pb19991

Awesome set, I'd love to put it together myself somewher in the future. good luck with the last 25%. Phil

ArnyVee

I've seen your progress lostdart and have also embarked (as you know) on the journey to get the 1972 set complete. In less than 10 days I've already moved up from the #80 range to nearly cracking the top 40 with over 17% completed! Not bad for less than two weeks, I think.

Continued good luck to you lostdart and keep me in mind when you do your upgrading to 9s. I take those hand me downs

Vintagegolfcollector

Nice job lostdart. The '72 set is one of my favorites and I've been thinking about starting on it myself in the near future. Good luck with the last 25%.

ArnyVee

Woo hoo!

Just cracked the top 40! Currently 39 and I expect a few minor star cards soon that should boost my rating a little more!

I might not be at 75%, but I'll get there!

imafishinnut

Having completed a 1971 Topps monster in PSA 7 or better, I feel your pain! However, I can tell you that it is a great feeling of accomplishment when you finally get it done. Right now, I am taking a break from building monster sets and am focusing on some player sets and smaller sets. However, the 1972 set is probably the next one I am going to tackle. Good luck with completing your set!

Mike

highend

jami- keep on keeping on. your making great progress. i have some tough cards going up on EBAY tonight, barton ia, houk, kendall to name a few.all PSA 8 nq. they should get you that much closer....jim

lostdart58

<< <i> barton ia, houk, kendall to name a few.... >>




I will look into second mortgage for those three low pop cards!

Krems

Just out of curiousity, what are some of the more difficult cards in the set to get in high grade? This is a set I have thought about starting as well and was wondering what cards to look out for.

lostdart58

The two toughest cards are Red's Rookie card #524 with 17 8s and none better, and Paul Schaal IA with 17 8s and only one better.

There are a whole lot of cards with only two or three examples graded better then 8 including the Barton IA card #40, Rick Wise IA #43, Hal McRae IA #292, Terry harmon #377, Jim Nash #401, Ken henderson #443, Bud Harrelson Boyhood photo #496 Jerry Grote 655, Juan Marichal IA #568 and the list goes on. The Aaron IA card is also another tough card with just two 9s or better.

Krems

Thanks for the info!

highend

harmon and nash are up for auction this week too!!

ArnyVee

I just went ahead and updated my set, but I looked at yours LostDart and noticed that you do have a heck of a climb from #11 to #10. Sheesh.

Good luck brotha!

And, keep little 'ol #37 here in your thoughts as you upgrade

lostdart58

<< <i>I just went ahead and updated my set, but I looked at yours LostDart and noticed that you do have a heck of a climb from #11 to #10. Sheesh.

Good luck brotha!

And, keep little 'ol #37 here in your thoughts as you upgrade >>



Yes it will be about an 80 card swing for me to catch #10

Did you ever get the cards i sent ya??

ArnyVee

Yes I did. Forgot to mention that.

Thanks a lot!

RayBShotz

It's amazing how quiet the masses have been on this thread. There was a day when any discussion about 72' Topps accumulation would spur 8 or 10 of the set collectors to post and there would be a rollicking good time ensuing as they discussed the virtues of the set.
Congrats Lotsdart for your achievement so far.
The fun with this PSA set is steeped in history and the legend of the "Fab Five".
It's quite a monster indeed.
Just remember to keep having fun.
RayBShotz

mcastaldi

Ray> There are a couple reasons for the drop-off in discussion that you mention.

1 - Only one of the original "Fab Five" is still involved with the 72 set. Frank has kept going, and Erik has kept his set, but. . .Dale has sort of disappeared, Neil is doing 50s stuff now, Carlos shifted focus to football. . .and I'm currently doing a 74T set with another grading company.

2 - In all honesty, the set just isn't that tough anymore - especially in PSA8. I mean the hardest cards in the set have pops of 17 now. As recently as a year ago when I was finishing my second go at the set, you still had several cards with PSA8 populations under 10 - Barton IA, Schaal IA, Blue IA, McRae IA, and Reds RC all were VERY tough. In the last year, the populations on the tough cards in the set have doubled or tripled.

3 - It doesn't help that the market for all 70s stuff is in the toilet. So you don't end up with nearly so many PSA8 commons getting $100+ bids and calling attention to the set anymore.

Mike

highend

i agree that the 72 set is now "easier" to complete in psa 8. some cards will always be harder to come by and not just the "obvious" ones like schall ia, mcrae ia, blue ia kendall red rookies etc.

off the bat, #14 phillies rookies comes to mind. since late 2003 i have only seen 2 of these come up on ebay 1 in psa 9 and the other in psa 8. since i started working on the set in graded form this is the only card i have yet to own in 8 or better.i was blown away for the 9 and the more recent 8 IMO was grossly overgraded and i passed on it. there are a few more "sleepers" that i don't want to give away.

if you look at the registry you'll notice that most of the guys over 90% complete need # 22 gardner as well as most of the "obvious" cards.

it's true that most commons can be had very easily and while i'm not so sure the final "10%" is still the costliest part of the set. i'm certain that adding the final 5% isn't going to be cheap at any time soon.

i think the dynamic of the set has changed drastically since i started, my first incarnation fell just three cards short with an 8.30 GPA it took me a little over a year to get that far and i spent alot of cash (nearly 12 k not including unopened material or grading fees. that's a very stark contrast when compared to the 6500 jami spent to get over 75%. nowadays , the bidding patterns of the set's players are usually very predictable and the "wait for another one " approach is becoming more prevelant . on all psa 8 's, 9's, and 10's the prices seem to be set. you just don't see too many bidding wars anymore. even though as of late there has been one bidder driving the prices of yankees and mets 9's & 10's...but that's not going to last.

on a whole it seems the bottom feeder mentality prevails and the "gotta have it" approach is passe.

since 2003, i noticed that only a handful of stars in psa 8 still sell for similiar (2003) prices. despite this trend, the bench cards (especially the ia) aaron ia, morgan traded and some others have increased notably. but again, most stars in psa 8 can be had for half.

in addition since 2003 the attrition rate on the 72 registry is very high. alot of great starts but not too many finishes. in the end, for me it's always been a journey and not a destination. if it takes 5 years or 10 years or more i intend to have a mint set that meets PSA's PUBLISHED standards as well as my own standards for mint. looking foward to all the fun.... in my collecting world 72's rule !!!

gaspipe26

I just submitted about 100 real nice 72's from the 1st and 5th series. Some tough IA cards too.

brianwintersfan

Actually thinking about building this one raw along with some other sets from the 70's. As much as I have a soft spot for some of the cards I grew up with I just can't see spending $5,000 to $10,000 on sets that book for $250.00 to a $1,000
I mean more power to you if you can swing it but pulling out a shoebox and looking through some nice raw cards gives me just as big of a thrill.

Machodoc

The "Fab 5" is now just a memory, although Frank and Eric are still active charter members! The rest of us ain't chopped liver however - I mean really Mike, I just added to my set for the first time in months in a big way and will continue to spurt until I'm at least 8.30 (currently at 8.28 so not that far away).

To quote Monty Python: "I'm not dead yet"!

Steve

#1 1971 set and #5 1972 set and damn proud of it.

highend

you know what's funny?, is that frank is often overlooked. the magnitude of his set is just mind boggling. his closest competition would have to add over 150 psa 10's to get close, and to put things in better perspective EO's set is comprised of ALL psa 9's !!!
dave read is still upgrading and is well within striking distance of 9.00 as well. in addition there are a few guys like joe maggio, chris,and mark wagner who are very close to 100%, all with an eye for quality examples. that's not to forget about andy montero who is probably THE most discriminating guy i can think of on the registry. "new comers" are led by jami (lostdart) who is VERY enthusiastic about the set.
there are also a couple of non registry guys who are assembling some very nice sets. overall , it may not be as popular as it once was but like steve said it's certainly not dead.....now with all this talk about 72's , can i expect to pay more for the 9's i need??

lostdart58

It appears that Dave Read has retired his set. My quest to get into the current top ten did not want to come by default.

I suppose we will find out but I know he had twice put his complete lot of PSA 10's up for auction on ebay, with no buyers but offers.

Dave was the first fellow '72 collector I got to know. He offered and sold me many cards off ebay saving me time and money.

He is First Rate....A1 .....Top Notch in my book!!!

Cheers my friend.......

highend

dave had mentioned to me a while ago that he planned to retire the set but i assumed it would be later than sooner. dave is indeed a top notch guy who had been very helpful to me as well.
i wished i had the money to buy all those 10's from him, i considered selling my car but it would be tough for me to get to work since they don't allow bikes on the VZ bridge and i'm not that strong a swimmer.