Any hints on vintage set-building on a budget?

jskirwin

I've been working on the '72 baseball set for over a year now and I'm about 168 cards away from finishing that bad buy - mostly high numbers.

I've been buying cheap lots, keeping/upgrading what I need and selling off the rest quickly. The problem I have is that this is extremely hard to do with the high numbers since the highs are hard to find.

So I'm worndering: Is there a better way of doing this?

I'm thinking about springing for a set. Do you think it would be possible to sell off the stars and low numbers, keep the high numbers for my set and not get killed?

I have successfully built '73-78 using this method, but the different series are tough to deal with. There is simply so many series 1 & 2 compared to the last two. I was lucky with the '73s since I had a nice stash of high numbers from my childhood.

Stone193

JS

Are you talking graded or raw?

In the graded arena, I like the 5s and 6s centered - priced right and look great in the holder. Much better for the guy on a budget. Now the hi series is another thing entirely - not sure what you can do about that and a tight budget? Perhaps buy raw, get lucky, have graded and gets lots of 5s and 6s!

mike

jskirwin

Raw - although given how close raw and graded high numbers are pricewise, I might go graded for the highs.

Stone193

<< <i>Raw - although given how close raw and graded high numbers are pricewise, I might go graded for the highs. >>


What grade have you been shooting for?

mike

jskirwin

EX for the Highs.
Most of the set is NM-MT given that I have combed through hundreds of cards in lots. However as the numbers get higher, the quality worsens.

MorrellMan

JS

I'm in the same boat for a few vintage raw sets. Of course, it always comes down to the high numbers. Certainly buying a complete set, taking what you need and shotgunning the rest is a solution, but about as satisfactory as blow torching your house to kill a roach. (Overstated? perhaps, but what the heck).

I try to buy lots and recycle what I don't need until I get to the point where this starts to have a negative effectiveness. I don't want to spend hours auctioning off 90 cards because I needed 2 of them. This is the point where the boys must be separated from the men. It is a time of patience, vigilance, discipline. You're at the point where you have to add cards one by one, and, although much slower, the end rewards and sense of accomplishment are so much more.

Find traders; I'm actually building a '72 set the same way. And I'm down to maybe a hundred high numbers. How 'bout PMing me your want list?