Tuesday, January 4, 2011

follow up

After re-reading the post I did on Saturday, about my plans in collecting during this coming year, I realized that I neglected to mention a few things.

First and foremost is the 1954 Topps set I'm working on. While I would love to finish the set this year, it all comes down to finding the cards at the right price. Currently I am at a little above 80 cards of the 250. I have the 16 most "expensive" cards in the binder already. There are two separate lots I won on eBay coming in with 21 and 30 cards each. Hopefully those two lots will put me at 125, halfway there. I would really like to finish it up as soon as possible because I really get antsy when a set isn't finished (its my compulsive nature) and I need it to be completed yesterday. So maybe this set will be the focus.

Secondly, I am not sure on how many sets I plan to get into this year. With 2010 behind us and being the year I came back in, I've ended up with a lot of cards. A lot of cards and different sets I'll never finish. On Saturday, I only talked about early in the year releases (Topps flagship, Heritage), but what about stuff that comes later? Being that I'm not a huge fan of Bowman (although I can't seem to get enough Platinum), I don't see me buying much of it. There is no 206 or Chicle this year. Gypsy Queen will have to be a 'wait and see' type of set. I don't do high end like Tribute or Triple Threads due to it not being worth their over-inflated price tags. I definitely won't buy into Opening Day as much. Putting that set together was almost a complete nightmare and they said it was easy to collect! Pack after pack of doubles. I'll grab some 2011s but I won't go for a full set. After those products, what's left? I'm not talking about series 2 or Update (or what ever they call it this season), but I am talking about the surprises. Topps released twenty sets this year. TWENTY! Think about that:

Series 1
Series 2
Update
Chrome
Opening Day
Allen & Ginter
Heritage
National Chicle
T206
Finest
Sterling
Tribute
Triple Threads
Pro Debut
Pro Debut Series 2
Bowman
Bowman Chrome
Bowman Platinum
Bowman Sterling
Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

Isn't that a bit much? How many of you bought packs from every release? What about boxes from even just half? Seriously how does someone keep up? Answer: you can't. Your wallets usually can't. I know mine can't. I seriously hope Topps tones it down just a little this year. Maybe whittle it down to fifteen sets this time because twenty is way too many. Of course, if you eliminate Bowman (if you aren't into Bowman), minor league stuff and high end stuff (this counts Finest, as it is way too expensive now), it leaves you with around 10 sets. Which isn't all too bad when you think about it. Still, Topps could do fewer sets and it would be a-ok by me. Maybe I'll just buy considerably less this year and focus on the vintage.

3 comments:

  1. Based on the below stats, I should narrow my collecting focus a bit more in 2011...

    Series 1--Packs
    Series 2--Packs and Rack Packs
    Update--Hobby Box, Rack Packs, Packs
    Chrome--Rack Packs
    Opening Day--Packs
    Allen & Ginter--Hobby Box
    Heritage--Packs
    National Chicle--Packs
    T206--Hobby Box
    Sterling-Packs
    Tribute--Packs
    Triple Threads--one card on eBay (Halladay)
    Bowman--Packs
    Bowman Chrome--Packs and Rack Packs
    Bowman Platinum--Rack Packs
    Bowman Sterling--Rack Packs

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  2. Wow... when you look at the Topps lineup... it's pretty breathtaking and totally ridiculous. I think they should get it down to around 7... and even that seems a little high.

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  3. Thanks for listing this. I only collect base Topps, so I don't really pay attention to the other releases. Before the current monopoly (aka the dark times), I believe each manufacturer was limited to 17 sets, so as not to confuse the collector.

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