How has your collecting style changed over the years?

Estil

I first got into collecting seriously in the mid 1990s (around late 1993-1996) but at that time I could only afford to buy packs or grab bags. I also collected all the Don Mattingly's I could, and continue to do that to this day (he's my favorite player cuz he's from nearby Evansville, IN; I live in Owensboro, KY).

When I got into college, I was finally able to buy complete sets. And even today, I will only buy complete sets. I currently have:

Topps: 1980-2004 (I want to go up to the current year; I started in 1980 cuz that's my birth year; I might also get the 1992-94 Topps Gold/Black Gold sets). My 2000 set has ALL the Magic Moments cards, not just one of each.
Donruss: 1981-1992 (I want to go up to 1994 or 1995)
Fleer: 1981-1992 (I want to go up to 1995, with all 1994 and 1995 insert sets)
Score: 1988-1992 (I want to go up to 1994 or 1995, and would also like the 1994 Score Gold Rush set)
Upper Deck: 1989-1993 (not sure if I want to continue with regular Upper Deck or Collector's Choice)
1952, 1953, and 1954 Topps reprint sets (from 1983, 1991, and 1994 respectively)
1991 Stadium Club
1993 Flair (I want to go up to at least 1995)
1993 Finest (I want to go up to at least 1995)
1994 Leaf Limited
1996 Upper Deck SPX
1996-2001 Mantle, Mays, Clemente, Ryan, Aaron, and Through the Years insert sets (regular, NOT Finest or Refractor versions)
Nearly all major 1980s unopened wax, rack, and cello packs, except for the Donruss blister rack packs from late 1980s/early 1990s

I also want to get the 1991-1995 Ultra (with all the 1994 insert sets) and 1991-1995 Studio (with the Gold/Platnium inserts for 1995), and POSSIBLY all the major traded/update sets up to at least the early 1990s. I also would like to collect the Diamond Kings inserts up to at least 1995.

So what is your style of collecting (do you collect complete sets, prefer to build a set one or a few cards at a time, collect a favorite player/team, etc) and why did you choose the cards you collect?

Estil

Geez, I figured lots of people would love to discuss what they like to collect and why. Guess not.

ToppsCo1lector

I collect;

NY Yankees(Mattingly is my all-time favorite, grew up watching Donnie)
NY Giants(LT, Tiki, and Carson are my favorites; Basically, I collect any and all)
NJ Nets
NJ Devils
Topps rookies in the 3 major sports
Topps rookies of HOF'ers
Topps/Bowman as well as the atomic refractor, bowman best refractor rookie parallels
Orlando Cabrera(watched him in Single A, was a fan of his since then and I talked to him maybe 20-30 times as a kid when he was in the minors; told him he'd make the big show.)
Willie Harris(watched him in single-A, he gave me his personal bat and he was a utility fielder for the ChiSox when they won the series)
Mark Mulder(Just a fan of his)
Topps factory sets


Basically, I collect cards of who I cheer for. There are a few guys I saw their first professional season in the minors, and I remember talking to them and watching them in the minors. It's real nice to see a guy you cheered for get called up, especially when they aren't highly touted or regarded when they are drafted. Javier Vasquez, Michael Barrett, and Brian Roberts are a few others I saw come up through the minors.

Estil

Your favorite is also Mattingly? You have good taste. My wife is a HUGE Red Sox fan (mostly cuz she's from Boston), so we might try to build her a Red Sox team set, but I don't know if there's any good dealers that specialize in team sets anymore.

Also, you know how people who try to build a complete set (especially vintage) are called set builders? What's the proper term for people (like myself) who try to build a complete run of sets from a certain time period? Like if someone was trying to build a complete run of Topps from their birth year to the present?

blindflyer

Estil,

I graduated High School in Evansville (Castle High School). Donnie Baseball is definitely huge out there!

As for what I collect, I'm just getting back into collecting after years of layoff (stopped when I was 14, I'm now 29).

I'm definitely more of a set-builder. I like building sets that I either like the look of, consider an important set for the hobby, or have some personal connection to.

I originally started the 1960 Topps set when I was a kid, so I am building that now --- only now in PSA 8 or better.

I'm also building the '84 Donruss set and the 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter mini parallel sets (regular and a&g back).

I'm trying to stay focused, but I find myself wanting to potentially build these sets:
'85 Topps Football
'89 Score Football
'79-80 Topps or OPC Hockey
'83-84 Topps or OPC Hockey
'76 Baseball
'34-36 Diamond Stars Baseball
Ozzie Smith Basic Set

Card collecting is definitely addictive, no matter which collecting route you take!

-t

Stone193

<< <i>Geez, I figured lots of people would love to discuss what they like to collect and why. Guess not. >>


Estil
Sorry, I didn't respond yet.

The number of people logged is probably small.

My computer is on but I'm watching FB.

I will get back to ya.

I never get tired of talking about this and what my experiences have been.
mike

Estil

Set building does sound like fun, but I've always just bought complete sets outright and then if neccesary, upgrade (like if I ever have the heart to get the 1970s sets again), so I guess that's sort of like set building if you're upgrading to get the set as consistent of NRMT or better shape as possible as well as upgrading miscuts and such. The only set I can think of I'd even consider building from scratch would be the 1993 Finest jumbo all-stars to go with my complete 1993 Finest set.

And I guess the reason why I love the 1994 (and to a lesser extent 1995) Fleer and Ultra insert sets so much is 1994 is the first full year I was into collecting seriously (I started in late 1993 and got the 1993 Topps jumbo packs back then; I loved those Topps Gold inserts you got five per jumbo pack). I loved 1994 Fleer (and Ultra) back then cuz I liked getting an insert card in every pack (and dreamed of pulling the then $50 Nolan Ryan Smoke 'N Heat), plus I always thought the 1990s Fleer and Ultra insert sets were the most interesting. Now I have all 1994 Fleer insert sets except the Tim Salmon insert set (1-12; I have the 13-15 mail ins) and all the 1994 Ultra insert sets except for Home Run Kings, On-Base Leaders, RBI Kings, and Rising Stars (the ones that were seeded one per carton and the hardest ones to pull). It's a good thing its such a buyer's market now for mid-1990s stuff or this would not be financially possible for me.

Anyone else remember the 1994 Score Gold Rush set? It was a very beautiful set and I liked getting those one per pack too. I hope a complete set shows up on Ebay for a good price.

Estil

<< <i>I never get tired of talking about this and what my experiences have been.
mike >>



I feel the same way about all those "Should Joe Smith get in the HOF or not?" debates. And I mean "Joe Smith" as a generic name, not the basketball player

ColleSystem

Sports to non-sports (Star Wars).

-Scott

ToppsCo1lector

Well Estil, I'm from a family of Yankee fans. My family immigrated to the 5 boroughs between 1904-1915. Until the mid 70's my mothers family still lived in Queens(her along with her family) and a few of her Uncles lived in Brooklyn and the Bronx. My Pops went to watch the Yankees as a kid, and those are his few good memories of his rough start in life. He got to run the bases at Yankee stadium before a few games, met Joey D, The Mick and the rest of the clubhouse. He even got to sit in the dugout during BP and some other cool stuff. I still remember talking with my Grandpa back in Mattingly's last season; and through the rise of the last Dynasty about the team and what he saw growing up in the Big Apple. I remember going up during the summer and staying at his house in Fords, NJ and we'd help out the even older folks in the neighborhood(G-Paw was that guy that'd go to the grocery store and mow the lawns of the really eldery) and I'd come along; and all these old people and us would sit around and talk about the Yanks. I'm talking 80 year old women and Gents who knew career/current and situation stats! As a young kid, that was what real fans showed me. Mattingly, his career was going on when I was very young, and when I got into the game he was "The Yankee" you know?

The same thing goes for nearly all the teams I'm a fan of, if we as a family we're watching football; on saturday it was Notre Dame and sunday it was the Giants. Unless it was the playoffs or the national championship game. Otherwise, that's how it was. I became a fan of hockey through Scott Stevens. Seeing him play as hard as he did, that turned me into a hockey fan. It's football, plus less safety equipment, fistfights, big sticks, and 2 blades on your feet. Not a fan of flashy, I'm a hard nosed tough guy fan.

I first watched Nets games when Drazen Petrovic was alive. I grew up playing the game, John Stockton and Magic Johnson are my two all-time favorites. I most times was the smallest guy on the court, and I learned quite quickly that passing is easier than going inside.



Scott Stevens tribute videoESPN Stevens Top 10 Hits

Stone193

Estil

Let me start with something that happened to me and my friends in the early 90s.

In the 80s - my collecting was conservative. New sets - open some packs - pick up a factory set and an occasional vintage card.

Then in the 90s I got caught up in the "corner the market" mentality - the rookie and error card craze and I opened way too much UD and Topps products.

If I saw something - I had to have it - SLU's, Classic Games etc.

I wished I had spent more time learning about the turn of the century stuff - in 1989 is was plentiful and much more affordable than today.

So, to sum up, in the 90s I lacked focus.
mike

ChrisC

My family immigrated to the 5 boroughs between 1904-1915

Me too, from Sicily.



Swithched from baseball to football, raw to graded!

ColleSystem

Realizing that this is primarily a sportscard board.... I do want to state that demand for the original star wars sets (late 70s to early 80s) in Mint to Gem Mint will be strong in the decades to come (IMHO). Darth Vader and Obi-Wan have cemented their place in time with the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein, Batman, etc.

A rule of thumb....
If you do a search on ebay for a particular item and multiple pages come up, you may want to really study what is going on with supply and demand with that product.

Scott

ToppsCo1lector

^^
I agree, a lot of that generation is already starting to supplant the white-collar upper managerial/executive position in America. That will only lead to a LOT more spending on items that they remember as youths.

djspann

I've always tried to compile complete sets. I have generally stayed away from team sets and player sets.

I started collecting football cards as a kid in 1983. I bought a lot of packs, and usually picked up one factory set per year. I would pick up an old card or two at local card shops when I had the means. More often than not, the card would be in rough shape, and I picked up few stars. At one time, I had a goal to get at least one card from every year back through 1948. I had reached 1954-present in 1990, when I became frustrated with the surge of card manufacturers and stopped collecting.

I resumed collecting in 2000, and now I buy nearly entirely vintage football. I buy some T206's, and I'm starting to show interest in other baseball sets. (I've never been much into baseball card collecting until recently.) I also pick up some non-sports cards occasionally now. My goal is still to complete sets. I'm trying to complete the following sets: 1935 National Chicle, 1948 Bowman, 1949 Leaf, 1950 Bowman, 1951 Topps Magic, 1952 Bowman Large.


Doug

packman

I started collecting cards in 1978. During the 1980s, I focused on baseball and basketball sets from the 1960s and 1970s and unopened product. I then sold most of my collection to pay for 9 years of college. I got back into collecting in 2000. This time I decided to rebuild my unopened pack collection and focus on baseball sets from the 1950s. I added the 1933 Goudey set a couple of years ago. This year I have decided to refocus my collection on 2 baseball sets, 1 basketball set and several non-sports sets. I am in the process of selling everything I own that do not fall within my current collecting focus. The three sports sets that I am working on are the (i) 1910 T3/T9 set in PSA 4/5 grade, (ii) 1979 Topps baseball set in PSA 9/10 grade (with an overall goal of 9.5), and (iii) 1978-79 Topps basketball set in PSA 9/10 grade. I collect the T3/T9 set because I think it is the most beautiful set ever made. I just wish I got into it earlier. The 1979 Topps baseball and 1978-79 Topps basketball sets were the first sets I really worked on as a child. There are many non-sports sets that I am working on. They include Raiders of the Lost Ark, Beatles color and Hard Days Night sets, Mars Attacks, 1969 Planet of the Apes, Brady Bunch, 1933 Goudey Indian, etc. I have grown to appreciate the non-sports cards more then most baseball sets.

David

TheCARDKid

It's really evolved over the years.

I started at about age 10 in 1987. Bought all kinds of modern stuff through about 92/93. I subscribed to Beckett, bought and sold at shows, traded with friends, I read 2 or 3 books by the time I was 14 (Mr Mints first book and a Tony Galovich book). What an education , actually the Galovich book was pretty good.

I collected like most kids I guess. Lots of modern, a little vintage ('52-80) and 1 or 2 Goudeys to round it out. Those were great days, no regrets at all.

Then about 92/93, I got tired of the modern stuff and shifted alot of my collection to Star basketball. I subscribed to SCD, and was inspired by all the high end vintage stuff (Brigandi Coin ads, etc) and high end wax (Darren Prince, Mark Murphy).

Then sold most of what remained in my collection, and didn't do much for the 90's (college, women etc came into play). Then back about 2000 or so I got into PSA and graded cards. Kind of dabbling in it, nothing real focused.

My goal now is to complete the modern collection I had as a kid(which I've done) and get into some high end PSA stuff (some 50's and pre war).

When I look through ebay or a Mastro catalog, I know there's some stuff I'll never collect (autographs, index cards, soccer, 70's jerseys). I can eliminate what I don't want quick. Coming up with what I do want is still evolving. Overall, it's gone from unfocused to becoming more focused as time goes on...

Estil

I hope someday in the not so near future I'll be able to do a complete run of 1970s Topps as well in NRMT or better shape. The 1971 and 1975 sets are my favorites as far as design goes. Or at least 1974-79.

fiveniner

Being an Old Time collector I lhave always enjoyed putting together sets with not much emphasis on condition.Now I am just the opposite and am willing to spend a bit more for top condition cards.I never thought that I would be taken in by the Graded Card racket however after buying so many cards just in the last few years that were raw that were overgraded more often than not I have changed my thinking toward profesionlly graded cards as I am now 1 card short of completing a 59 Topps set 100% PSA graded 6 or better.

blade35

Got my first pack in 1970 at the age of 5. Wow look at this baseball palyers on cardboard, cool. 1971 Baseball, wow action cards, I like these card thingys. Collected mostly baseball and some football when I saw them or my dad brought some home. Surprisingly, I didn't collect much Hockey. Which was odd since Hockey was always one of my favorite sports. Bought tons of Baseball through the years. Than 1981, wow 3 companies and the explosion. OMG, if it was made I had to buy it until 1995. In the earlier years, condition was not paramount with my cards and it shows.

I was a huge Baseball fan. Than in 1994 the unspeakable happened to me, the strike. How could they cancel Baseball? No World Series!!! Left a bad taste in my mouth. Needless to say, I think I've bought about 10-20 packs of Baseball since 1994.

Now, I only collect Hockey cards, autographs and memorabilia. Hockey has always been a great love of mine. Since Baseball ripped my heart out in 1994, I got a renewed interest more so in Hockey. It didn't hurt that the Rangers won The Cup in '94. For some reason the Hockey lockouts haven't bothered me. (I type this at I watch the Buf/Mtl game w/ SJ/Clbs game in PIP.)

Plus, there was so much Baseball stuff starting to come out in '94 and the inserts. Just too much stuff. I love looking a price guide, the first few pages go to the 80's and then the rest of the magazine is all stuff from like the last 10 years.

AJ

5STAT

how has my collecting style changed:

I used to spend $10's and $20's...now I spend $100's..

That's styling!! BLING BLING....

Estil

I think it looks like I'm gonna hold off on all those Traded/Update sets for now. I can get those anytime. What I really want first and foremost is 1991-95 Ultra and 1993-94 Fleer sets with all the insert sets too. Even on Ebay finding all the insert sets in one package is pretty hard and would be more of a challenge. Not to mention they can be had for relatively bargain basement prices considering how hard it is to make those master sets. Oh, any of you remember the 1994 Score Gold Rush set? I mean, the regular set is one of my favorites too as far as design goes but the Gold Rush set was drop dead gorgeous, and it too isn't too expensive either. I might even get the 1995 Ultra Gold Medallion set for a good price too, but I'll stick with the regular inserts. Boy, there's just so much to choose from in this hobby, isn't there?