what is the longest time it has taken you to finish a set..or still working on a set..

benderbroeth

i have been trying to finish my 71 raw baseball set for a few decades..lol...i also have beenn trying to finish my t205 set for at least 4 years, how long was the amount of time you have taken to finsh a set? or what is the longest time you have been working on a set?

helionaut

I've been picking at the 1955 Bowman and 1941 Play Ball sets for over 15 years. Hardly any would ever appear at the local shows, the larger regional shows would usually only bring out the 55B stars, rarely a small stash of 41s. I've bought a few off ebay, but its never been a priority. This is my year, though. I'm done starting new sets till I complete those.

Brick

I started to put the 1955 Topps BB set together in the early 90s. I also started the 1960 set as a secondary set to be working on. Both sets were low to mid grade raw. After I discovered PSA I switched to higher quality graded. I finished the 55 set within the last year with an avg. grade just over 6. I may be able to finish the 60 set next year in an avg. over 7.
I still have several hundred of the original lower quality raw cards I purchased way back when.
For me it is a marathon, not a sprint.

Cincykid8123

I too have been working on the '71 Topps set for quite some a while. Seven years at this point.

baseballfan

i agree its a marathon not a sprint. i keep starting new sets instead of finishing one.
i have had a 55 topps started for about 4 years got the list down pretty good to just the big stars and a couple of hi's.
a 70 topps baseball for about 3 years need about 40+ with upgrades. so in the mean time i started a 69-62-57 topps and 55 bowman.
i have a 51 topps red going for about 5+years

i did finish my 55 topps all american set graded in about 5 years buit i did that on a budget looking for deals.

i hope to start denting these sets at the national and through big lot buys this year.

AISAVDBBALLINPHILLY

I've been working on my Lawrence Taylor Master set for six years. I've got about 15 cards to go that I know of, but there are always upgrades

interchanges

It took me nearly 17 years to complete my Wilson Frank set. I finally got a Ray Jablonski after years and years of waiting.

Then got an offer I couldn't refuse. Then I started all over again....

markj111

I worked on my 61 set (PSA 8 or better) for about 5 years before completing it. I have been working on several other TOPPS sets in PSA 8 from 59-72 for close to ten years. Some are close to completion, others are not.

Stooge

I've been working on my 1980 topps baseball set in PSA 10 since 6/8/09. I now have 108/726 cards.

Going slow...........!

Later, Paul.

perkdog

Ive started and stopped building my 52 Bowman Large set roughly 4 times, each time I sell everything about a year goes by and I start it again

Right now Im at 25+ % again

wiseotherwise

I started collecting '50 and '51 Bowman FB in PSA-8 or better in 2002. In 2008, I decided to lower my sights to PSA-7 or better for both sets, particularly due to the meteoric rise in price of a NM-MT '50 Doak Walker which has priced me out of the market for one. One just recently sold for over 6K. I've been occassionally picking these up if I can get a good price for them, but not in earnest. I'm about 20% complete on the '50s and about 40% complete on the '51s.

In 2006, I started collecting '53 Bowman FB in PSA-7 or better, because of two things. 1) I was fortunate to be the winning bidder at a Mile High auction on a PSA-8 Eddie Le Baron. 2) The market seemed dead to these '53 Bowmans. I practically ceased collecting everything else to build a complete set of these at what I considered good bang-for-the-buck. I'm about 75% complete, and have run into some resistance from other bidders during the last 6 months, so my progress has definately slowed down.

Other than the 33 years it took me to complete a 1969 Topps FB and 1969 Topps BB set in ungraded EX-EXMT condition in 2002, I can't seem to complete anything! A very wise coin dealer at the turn of the 20th century stated that "I always collect what nobody else is collecting, and I always sell what everyone else wants, and in so doing, have never lost money." That seems like good advice to me, but can be hard to implement in practice. I find that I don't have the discipline to stick to the task of completing any one set before starting off on the completion of another set. If I find for instance that the same particular person is bidding me up on cards, I tend to start looking at other areas where the "upward resistance" isn't as severe. Am I alone in this, or do others feel the same way?

So, in addition to the sets mentioned above, I also have partial sets of '49 Leaf FB, '52 Bowman Large and Small FB and '53 Bowman Color BB. Most of these sets were started around 2008. The '53 BB were started in 2002. So I guess you can say that I am "partial" to Bowman FB, but never complete.

Cheers

perkdog

<< <i>I started collecting '50 and '51 Bowman FB in PSA-8 or better in 2002. In 2008, I decided to lower my sights to PSA-7 or better for both sets, particularly due to the meteoric rise in price of a NM-MT '50 Doak Walker which has priced me out of the market for one. One just recently sold for over 6K. I've been occassionally picking these up if I can get a good price for them, but not in earnest. I'm about 20% complete on the '50s and about 40% complete on the '51s.

In 2006, I started collecting '53 Bowman FB in PSA-7 or better, because of two things. 1) I was fortunate to be the winning bidder at a Mile High auction on a PSA-8 Eddie Le Baron. 2) The market seemed dead to these '53 Bowmans. I practically ceased collecting everything else to build a complete set of these at what I considered good bang-for-the-buck. I'm about 75% complete, and have run into some resistance from other bidders during the last 6 months, so my progress has definately slowed down.

Other than the 33 years it took me to complete a 1969 Topps FB and 1969 Topps BB set in ungraded EX-EXMT condition in 2002, I can't seem to complete anything! A very wise coin dealer at the turn of the 20th century stated that "I always collect what nobody else is collecting, and I always sell what everyone else wants, and in so doing, have never lost money." That seems like good advice to me, but can be hard to implement in practice. I find that I don't have the discipline to stick to the task of completing any one set before starting off on the completion of another set. If I find for instance that the same particular person is bidding me up on cards, I tend to start looking at other areas where the "upward resistance" isn't as severe. Am I alone in this, or do others feel the same way?

So, in addition to the sets mentioned above, I also have partial sets of '49 Leaf FB, '52 Bowman Large and Small FB and '53 Bowman Color BB. Most of these sets were started around 2008. The '53 BB were started in 2002. So I guess you can say that I am "partial" to Bowman FB, but never complete.


Hey! 1st post? Welcome to the boards, Im sure you have been reading for awhile. I love checking out other guys FB sets, whats your sets listed under?

Cheers >>

Cincykid8123

Aside from the '71 Topps baseball raw/graded, I've attempted some of my favorite Reds from the 70's..namely Concepcion, Bench, Rose, & Perez.

Blackborder

<< <i>Ive started and stopped building my 52 Bowman Large set roughly 4 times, each time I sell everything about a year goes by and I start it again

Right now Im at 25+ % again >>




Don't feel bad, been there more than once myself with sets.

wiseotherwise

Thanks PD. And yes I've been lurking on and off for several years now getting educated. I've learned so much from the posts that I've been feeling guilty about not taking an active part, and decided to finally take the plunge and participate.

I've only committed four sets, and the're listed under "wise otherwise". I'm not allowing the public to view my set's details at this time. When and if I ever get around to completing a set, I'll open it up to public viewing at that time. I'll even upload photos once I figure out how to do that. I'm just not comfortable with people knowing what I'm missing to complete a set. Maybe I should start a thread and ask if other collectors feel the same way, and if so why?

Cheers

alnavman

A couple years ago I finished a 1960 Topps football set in PSA 8 that took about five years total.....can't remember the last card I needed. eventually had to sell the set but it was fun putting together....luckily I started with about half the set in raw NM/MT condition.

fiveniner

I have collected enough 59s to probably build 3 sets ,finished my original about 1979 vg shape,kept upgrading finally sent many out to PSA and upgraded the rest to PSA current rank 12 master set.Need to get 2 Haywood Sullivan variations entered plus find the 3rd one then I will be back to 100% complete.



Tony

Farmkidd

I have been collecting this set since the time it came out. 2001 Topps Archives Autographs. My next PSA submission is going to put me over 90%. There has always been a strong ebay presense with these autograph cards, but only within the last year have I consistently seen PSA graded examples up for auction. I have submitted about 160 to PSA out of the 900 shown in the population report.

I want to write an article for SMR Report about this set. I think it would be a neat change of pace to all the Vintage sets they feature. The set make-up is appealing to Vintage guys as well I think.