What to do when you've hit a plateau in a rainbow?

[Bambino22]

You can't give up on an /50, 2024 card.

I have multiple in process rainbows of 3+ years. It's the /5 cards after you already own the super that are tough.

[Bambino22]

Originally Posted by Cardsareus84

I have been trying to find the Topps x Bob Ross Hunter Brown Bright Red /5 since they came out. There is on on eBay for an astronomical amount and I have made realistic offers and they are all denied. I'll be waiting a while for that one. If anyone knows where to get one, help a brother finish the rainbow!

Same for the midnight black /1 Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve.. I have the rest but looking for a 1/1 is likely to never be found.

Unrealistic sellers is frustrating for a grail card for sure.

The biggest issue with /1 cards and /5 cards is they can all be stuck in boxes. There are ways to estimate what % of a product has been opened based on parellels posted and sold.

[ObanMontecristo]

Just curious, at what point are people ‘satisfied’ with their rainbow? Obviously it’s great to complete one all the way down to 1/1, but I have attempted to complete a lot of rainbows and have yet to actually get to the 1/1 plus all 4 printing plates. So what line do you draw for yourself to basically consider it ‘complete’ and not be totally frustrated?

When I first started chasing rainbows, I’d typically feel satisfied when I got down to /25. Now it’s more like /5 (though I’ll jump at an opportunity to get the 1/1 too). Sounds like OP is at /50. Others?

[JeffG1954]

Originally Posted by ObanMontecristo

Just curious, at what point are people ‘satisfied’ with their rainbow? Obviously it’s great to complete one all the way down to 1/1, but I have attempted to complete a lot of rainbows and have yet to actually get to the 1/1 plus all 4 printing plates. So what line do you draw for yourself to basically consider it ‘complete’ and not be totally frustrated?

When I first started chasing rainbows, I’d typically feel satisfied when I got down to /25. Now it’s more like /5 (though I’ll jump at an opportunity to get the 1/1 too). Sounds like OP is at /50. Others?

I don't need all 4 printing plates, I am good with just 1 of those.

[base set]

For the OP, I suggest setting some bookmarks on COMC, and checking them often. Lindor has plenty of collectors, so cards will appear - & disappear.

RE: 2013 Opening Day Purples - I have a few dozen of those I could get rid of - but, how? If I submitted them to COMC I think one of them would sell quickly, at random. The rest would never sell. Ebay, maybe a little more likely, but overall still unlikely. In my/this case, they will end up in a team sort bulk lot of inserts & parallels, eventually.

So hunting for 11 year old low end single cards is always going to be difficult. Nevertheless I am always working on an all-parallel set of 2013 Topps, all 3 series. Where in the heck is a pink #457 Nate Schierholtz? It just never appears. And I will be wanting 2013 Update Platinums essentially - FOREVER.

But in good news, a little less than a year ago I reduced my want list of the 2011 Topps Lineage 75 Minis down to just one card - the #200 card, the last one on the checklist (Tom Seaver). It was a long 11 months of worrying that it was a corner card on the printing sheet and some obscure forklift boo-boo at the printer wrecked a large portion of the possible copies somehow and never would I ever find a copy some 13 years after production.

Finally a few weeks ago it suddenly appeared on Ebay as a single with a handy BIN listing. Hooray!

[Bambino22]

My two easy rules for rainbow collecting.
1) Check every day
2) Overpay

[wiper]

Originally Posted by Bambino22

My two easy rules for rainbow collecting.
1) Check every day
2) Overpay

yep.

then there’s the guy that has a random /50 that’s never come up anywhere else and he’s firm on his price that’s 5x what the gold /10 sold for twice

[ObanMontecristo]

This thread needs more pictures




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[Bambino22]

Okay...but incomplete rainbows only to stay on theme!

[OhioLawyerF5]

A couple of my recently finished rainbows that took me many years to finish.

[rfgilles]

Lindor rainbow for the OP. I have no interest in printing plates.

[CicadaMound]

Unrealistic sellers exist at multiple levels. At shows, a /5 or 1/1 of some guy on an out of market team might be priced high because of the rarity, not the demand. An /50 might be stuck in a $5 box when that's realistically the upper limit. It's a problem with Cards with Really Uncertain Demand (CRUD) - $5 is a steal when there's a collector willing to pay $50, but it's dead inventory if that guy isn't there.

[volblorx8634]

Originally Posted by CicadaMound

Unrealistic sellers exist at multiple levels. At shows, a /5 or 1/1 of some guy on an out of market team might be priced high because of the rarity, not the demand. An /50 might be stuck in a $5 box when that's realistically the upper limit. It's a problem with Cards with Really Uncertain Demand (CRUD) - $5 is a steal when there's a collector willing to pay $50, but it's dead inventory if that guy isn't there.

I've seen in the basketball boards a thread akin to "Rare-ish cards others might need" in which people post cards they don't want or need and others might be looking for to complete a rainbow, set, etc. Might be worth starting here.

[wiper]

Originally Posted by CicadaMound

Unrealistic sellers exist at multiple levels. At shows, a /5 or 1/1 of some guy on an out of market team might be priced high because of the rarity, not the demand. An /50 might be stuck in a $5 box when that's realistically the upper limit. It's a problem with Cards with Really Uncertain Demand (CRUD) - $5 is a steal when there's a collector willing to pay $50, but it's dead inventory if that guy isn't there.

that’s fair. but there are a few cards on ebay where i’m the entire market and they would rather look at their shiny $8 card with the $100 bin

[awz50]

I have 7 (maybe 8) E-Rod rainbows that are almost complete just missing the 1/1s. The 1/1s are with 2 sellers who have/had them listed at obnoxious prices, Im talking 5k or more. I am fine with never completing them at those prices.

[FTLFTL]

Originally Posted by rfgilles

Lindor rainbow for the OP. I have no interest in printing plates.

Gorgeous! I'll post mine later today.

[FTLFTL]

Thanks for the encouragement!

I've never tried to put together a rainbow before (I have some Griffey stuff where there are 3-4 variations, but never anything anywhere close to this), so I guess my question (which I did not articulate) is whether stuff really does pop up after a while. It's not so much the expense (though there are cards on ebay that I need but don't want to drop $300), but it's the idea that I'll end up a few short in a significant way and it will frustrate me.

[ObanMontecristo]

The key is to jump on low #d ones early- like as soon as they’re released. In most cases I’m able to complete a rainbow down to /25 within a month or maybe two. Sometimes it’s harder to get the ones rarer than that- and if you want them, you gotta jump on it early or it could sometimes take years to find another one. And if you’re competing with another long-term collector, you may never get another shot at a 1/1. But if you’re only going down to /50 for cards released within the past few years, it’ll pop up- just gotta be patient and keep checking diligently. Finely-tuned saved searches and notifications on eBay can help with that

[Bambino22]

Originally Posted by ObanMontecristo

The key is to jump on low #d ones early- like as soon as they’re released. In most cases I’m able to complete a rainbow down to /25 within a month or maybe two. Sometimes it’s harder to get the ones rarer than that- and if you want them, you gotta jump on it early or it could sometimes take years to find another one. And if you’re competing with another long-term collector, you may never get another shot at a 1/1. But if you’re only going down to /50 for cards released within the past few years, it’ll pop up- just gotta be patient and keep checking diligently. Finely-tuned saved searches and notifications on eBay can help with that

This is very true across all product releases. It could be expressed in some amazing equation, but for sure odds go down exponentially with time.

For some reason I had searches like "Yordan 2021 Stadium" on release date and within weeks of release I owned the super and multiple reds/5. Since then, years after....no more reds for sale.

[FTLFTL]

Got the pictures, but what's the best image hosting site so I can post them? I have... a lot. I'll create a list as reference.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by FTLFTL

Got the pictures, but what's the best image hosting site so I can post them? I have... a lot. I'll create a list as reference.

If the pictures are on your phone, just download the Tapatalk app and use it to post here directly from your phone. WAY easier than using an image hosting site.

[PapaStu]

Originally Posted by FTLFTL

Thanks for the encouragement!

I've never tried to put together a rainbow before (I have some Griffey stuff where there are 3-4 variations, but never anything anywhere close to this), so I guess my question (which I did not articulate) is whether stuff really does pop up after a while. It's not so much the expense (though there are cards on ebay that I need but don't want to drop $300), but it's the idea that I'll end up a few short in a significant way and it will frustrate me.

Yes it does and can. I'm doing five rainbows across 2024 S1/S2/Update and I've seen different bottlenecks with all three releases, though low numbered blaster parallels being in short supply for S1 and S2 are among the bigger holes I've still got. I had to wait ~5 months for the first camo /25 of one of my S2 rainbows to show up and it appeared on COMC vs eBay. It took over 2 months for a /299 of my Update rainbow chase to show up for some reason and the first Indy /76 hit a few days after that.


Save searches and open tabs on a search that gets manually refreshed once or twice a day have been very helpful over the last 7 years as I've built out a rainbow a year. I still find new things that searches catch a few times a year (I had a few /5's hit for older rainbows in 2024). It's not always a lot of 'new' stuff, but things do still pop up.

I'll get some pics of the 24 rainbows tomorrow hopefully with lighting that doesnt glare out the cards or capture my reflected arm and cell phone over them.

[BdotHobbs]

I’m not even sure why I landed on the 2023 Topps Altuve to attempt a full rainbow. I haven’t seen any of the printing plates for sale yet. And I got outbid at the last second for the rose gold logofractor. But there’s no way I’d give up on buying the last 10-12 cards I need for this run


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[FTLFTL]

Below is the link to my flickr folder that has the pictures. The cards in order are:

- Flagship, team set, vintage /99, mother's day /50, memorial day /76, mets logo, true image
- asg foil, 582 montgomery foil, rainbow foil
- aqua, aqua foil /399, yellow, yellow foil /50, green foil /499, blue, blue speckle /999, gold foil, gold /2024, black /73, black foil
- holiday, hot dog, statue of liberty, beach umbrella, red foil /199, orange foil /299, purple speckle /799
- holiday, santa SP, plaid, silver, purple glitter /99, blue metallic, blue something else (idk), golden mirror (not holiday)
- sapphire, gold sapphire /50, orange sapphire /25, logofractor, purple logofractor /250, aqua logofractor /199, blue logofractor /150, green logofractor /99, gold logofractor /50
- chrome, refractor, prism, x-fractor, raywave, fanatics fanfest big apple refractor (yes I went no I didn't buy any there), lightboard refractor
- pink refractor, sepia, bw reverse, purple /250, purple raywave, purple speckle /299, purple sonar /275
- blue refractor /150, blue raywave /150, blue sonar /125, blue wave /75, magenta speckle /350, orange wave /25
- green refractor /99, green waywave /99, green sonar /99, green wave /99
- aqua refractor /199, aqua raywave /199, aqua lava /199, gold refractor /50, gold raywave /50, gold wave /50, gilded /99 gilded mini diamond /50
- collection to companion variation, superbox companion, HR challenge, 1989, 1989 silver foil, 1989 gold foil /50, 1989 blue, 1989 black /299, 1989 gold /75
- 1989 chrome update x3, 1989 chrome update green /99, 1989 silver pack, 1989 silver pack blue /150, 1989 silver pack green /99, 1989 silver pack purple /75, 1989 silver pack gold /50
- CTC variation boxtopper, superbox boxtopper



I acquired these over the past six-ish months and I'm still on the lookout.

I also have some more inserts and some GU stuff, alas...


https://www.flickr.com/photos/199474...77720324180971

[NYRE2PECT]

Originally Posted by FTLFTL

Below is the link to my flickr folder that has the pictures. The cards in order are:

- Flagship, team set, vintage /99, mother's day /50, memorial day /76, mets logo, true image
- asg foil, 582 montgomery foil, rainbow foil
- aqua, aqua foil /399, yellow, yellow foil /50, green foil /499, blue, blue speckle /999, gold foil, gold /2024, black /73, black foil
- holiday, hot dog, statue of liberty, beach umbrella, red foil /199, orange foil /299, purple speckle /799
- holiday, santa SP, plaid, silver, purple glitter /99, blue metallic, blue something else (idk), golden mirror (not holiday)
- sapphire, gold sapphire /50, orange sapphire /25, logofractor, purple logofractor /250, aqua logofractor /199, blue logofractor /150, green logofractor /99, gold logofractor /50
- chrome, refractor, prism, x-fractor, raywave, fanatics fanfest big apple refractor (yes I went no I didn't buy any there), lightboard refractor
- pink refractor, sepia, bw reverse, purple /250, purple raywave, purple speckle /299, purple sonar /275
- blue refractor /150, blue raywave /150, blue sonar /125, blue wave /75, magenta speckle /350, orange wave /25
- green refractor /99, green waywave /99, green sonar /99, green wave /99
- aqua refractor /199, aqua raywave /199, aqua lava /199, gold refractor /50, gold raywave /50, gold wave /50, gilded /99 gilded mini diamond /50
- collection to companion variation, superbox companion, HR challenge, 1989, 1989 silver foil, 1989 gold foil /50, 1989 blue, 1989 black /299, 1989 gold /75
- 1989 chrome update x3, 1989 chrome update green /99, 1989 silver pack, 1989 silver pack blue /150, 1989 silver pack green /99, 1989 silver pack purple /75, 1989 silver pack gold /50
- CTC variation boxtopper, superbox boxtopper



I acquired these over the past six-ish months and I'm still on the lookout.

I also have some more inserts and some GU stuff, alas...


https://www.flickr.com/photos/199474...77720324180971

Great job - that is amazing.

BdotHobbs, too, so many variations.