Crazy to start a 1986 Fleer Basketball PSA Set?

1957Braves

As I am wrapping up my Robin Yount Master Topps registry, I was contemplating starting a multi-year project of a PSA 10 '86 Fleer basketball set. Any guesses on what the total cost would be? Is now a good time to start? I see some commons are in the $30-$50 range, with the stars around $400 and of course the Jordan costing what it does. Top of the market here? Room to grow?

halosfan

I'm in the middle of a strait 9 and an 8 set.

SpinFadeSplash23

I started my 1986 Fleer PSA 10 set and stickers about four months ago. IMHO, we are on the upswing and prices are rising. If it is a multi-year project, try to scoop up the commons cheap and look for bargains on the mid-range players. Wait for a recession or market dip, then try to scoop up those higher priced cards. It is a daunting task and I have considered sending my 40 cards to PWCC to sell the lot and focus on my NBA Hall Of Fame Autograph project. Even if you forget about the Jordan, there is a lot of competition for the rarer PSA 10's that don't pop up too often (Wilkins sticker $5k, Wilkins card $2.5k-$3k, etc.). I have a line on a PSA 9 set and stickers for $7000 which may be a more reasonable option for me. I hate "overpaying" for cards and I'd like to build a PSA 10 at a reasonable cost, at least in my eyes. Good luck with your journey. If you can buy PSA 10 commons at $30-$40, buy them all day long. That is a decent price right now.

slum22

If you are going to do any registry set (especially post 1980) I think this is one of the best. You mentioned finishing up a Yount registry set. I don't know if you have done an actual card set registry before but I would definitely advise you to look at VCP before undertaking any new project like this. I have only started one registry set, 1961 Fleer basketball, and while it is always fun to go out and get a HOF RC like West, Wilt, Oscar or Elgin it is less fun picking up the Phil Jordan, Willie Nauls or Bob Boozers of the world. Nothing against them, but commons, especially low pop commons can become a tedious part of your adventure in set building. A one day subscription to VCP is $3.99 and if you are not familiar with the site, it will give you historical sales of all the cards in the set so you can forecast your budget. One of the reasons I think basketball sets are great is because there are far fewer commons to deal with. 1986 Fleer and 1961 Fleer are loaded with HOFers and HOF RC's so it will be a fun build. As another poster said, pick up any common you can in the $30-50 range. You will almost always be able to recoup your money at those prices if you need to sell someday. Just know that you will also likely have to drop $100+ and in some cases possibly $400+ for commons like Steve Johnson, Johnny Moore, Lewis Lloyd and the other low pop commons. Of course macroeconomic events control a lot of price appreciation and depreciation so I will not forecast that. I think that prices are fair on this set at current levels.

vettfanatic

I have no real opinion on the Fleer basketball set. I'm just glad to see another Robin Yount fan on the boards. Just from cruising through your Yount master Topps set you still have a tough task ahead of you. The cards you have left can be difficult to find.

Jeff

bounce

I started a set plus stickers all PSA 9 about 3 months ago, and down to less than 15 cards on it now. It's definitely doable, even in PSA 10 if you want the high end.

$7k for a full 9 set plus stickers is a pretty good price I'd say, I think i'm going to put mine together a good bit underneath that but I don't have the Jordans, Wilkins or a Jabbar sticker yet.

If you can grab PSA 10 commons under $50, I'd say do it. They come up some, but they aren't plentiful. I agree with others, seems to me that prices are moving up especially for the stars in 9 and 10, as well as for some of the multiple of 11 cards. I haven't seen an affordable PSA 9 or 10 checklist in some time now, either.

As far as the registry goes, I don't know that I'd mess with it but I would research it. If you decide to go for the 10, you'll see that there are several registry sets that don't have the Jabbar or Wilkins yet, and several missing the Thomas as well. All that means pretty heavy competition when those cards do come up.

Just know that at $4-5k for a Dominique sticker and $3-4k for a Jabbar sticker in a 10, you could literally LOSE thousands on a set build if they turn out not being worth that.

If you're after a challenge, though, might I suggest the 1961 set (there's one between 5 and 7 that just went for auction on eBay) or the 1969-1970 tall boys in a nice high PSA grade, say 7 or 8 or higher? Now THAT would be a multi-year project and not something you could find very easily.

1957Braves

<< <i>I have no real opinion on the Fleer basketball set. I'm just glad to see another Robin Yount fan on the boards. Just from cruising through your Yount master Topps set you still have a tough task ahead of you. The cards you have left can be difficult to find.

Jeff >>



So you're the Jeff that I'm chasing on all my sets. Glad to meet you. I have maybe 10 Yount cards coming back from grading, so I think that brings me under 20. It's been a fun challenge. Hard being a a Brewers fan and looking for a set registry to complete. Yount is really the only Brewers (note not Milwaukee Braves) star that played his whole career with Milwaukee. I thought about a Molitor set, but couldn't stomach the though of buying cards of a Twins player on purpose.

The '86 set appeals to me as my next project. Maybe a PSA 9 set might be a better idea. I do think of my cards as 60% fun and 40% investment, and I would think that 9s will always cost about the same. The challenge of a 10 set is appealing too, and I would see that as a higher possible return. Of course, the day I complete it the economy will evaporate or a hoard of 3000 unopened cases will be found.