Monday, March 19, 2012

the final piece of the puzzle


It's finished.

The final card needed for my 1973 Topps set has arrived today. John Callison was the last to show up to the party out of the final five cards I purchased.

Allow me to explain.


I needed three cards to finish off the set, 535, 554 and 586. Those were the cards missing. I picked up an other 578 due to it having tape on the back and was the only card that was in dire need of replacement.

The fifth card comes from a big error on my part. I kept seeing the Harmon Killebrew card (card 170) in places. The local shop. The past few shows. Online. The weird part was I didn't recognize it. I checked my binder and what did I see in the slot where card 170 goes? How about a double of card 168, Jim Northrup? Jim was in his proper position as well, meaning I messed up and put two of the same card on the same page. No idea how it happened but now I needed the Killebrew and I found him cheap online as well.

So there it is. The final five have arrived and the set is complete. How did I do though?

Well, let's do a little math. Or at least stats, I've already done the math.

I kept track of everything regarding 1973 purchases. How many cards, how many I needed, how much, where I got them and even cost per card. Nothing got bought without it being logged onto my chart here. Its handwritten so I don't have it on here but here are the final totals:


Total cards purchased: 1071 (in the beginning I picked up lots just to get the set started off)

Total cost of all cards/lots purchased: $336.81

Cards needed out of total purchased: 686 (684 in the set total, including the blue checklists)

Cost per card (average): $0.49



Not too shabby but I recently sold a lot of 152 cards for $45.00. Subtracting that brings my totals to this:



Total cards purchased: 919

Total cost of all cards/lots purchased: $291.81

Cost per card (average): $0.42



I started about 2 weeks before Christmas, so thats close to three months. Completing the project for under $300 is really good, I feel. The average price for a set sold on eBay is about $400, maybe $350. All things considered I think I beat this one out, plus it was a bunch of fun to collect and piece together myself. I am doing the same thing with the 1971 set too, so we'll see how well I do on that one.

Feels good to finish off a set almost 40 years old. Let's hope 1971 goes just as smoothly.


(Don't forget to cast your pick from yesterday's post!)

7 comments:

  1. Very nicely done! I've got an average ebay price for the '73 set at $400.51, so you saved yourself a bundle. Hopefully you'll do as well with the '71s. My 12 month average price for that set is $846.46.

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  2. Thanks for the info! That's even better than I thought on the 73. Hopefully I can do the same with the 71 and keep it maybe around $600. Something to aim for, for sure.

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  3. Now that's a nice set to complete for sure.

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  4. Congratulations! I am working on finishing my 75 set right now, down to 35 cards needed but that includes the Brett. Next up when that is done is either a focus on the 1970 set (about half way complete) or a start up on the 73 set - I am leaning 73.

    Nice job on putting it together so reasonably. I might need some tips!

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  5. Congrats!

    I wonder sometimes if I've got any missing cards in my project through a mistake on my part. Maybe when I'm finished I'll go back through to check - but that would be a project in and of itself!

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  6. And the guy you sold the 152 cards received them and appreciates them. As well as the other cards you threw in.

    Hopefully I can keep my cost of the set down like you did. Nice job on that.

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