I'm tired of working on these large sets ... so give me some ideas

[crazy4kinsler]

I've gotten tired of working on these large baseball sets. I've been working on the 1962T set for almost a year now, and I only have about 400 different. I can't stand not having it finished. I'm the type that wants to sprint to the end of the journey (putting a set together) and not take forever.

I'm looking for some ideas of what to do instead. I've thought about a smaller football or basketball set (like 1955 Topps All American or 1957-58 Topps Bkb). But am looking for some other ideas as well. I really like baseball and HOFers. It just gets too time consuming and money consuming when I'm having to pay $2 for a common that books for $5. Or when I buy individual cards and have to deal with $3.50 shipping.

Help me choose my next set to do. Can be baseball or football, possibly even basketball. Looking for cards that are readily available. Mainly looking for mainstream sets. So no regional sets, hard to find sets that I'll never be able to complete, etc. Also not looking for sets that contain more than 100-150 cards and not looking for s set to contain any cards that have a BV of more than $200-$300. So no sets with multiple cards that book for $500-$1k. I can't do that. Looking for 1950s to mid 1960s.

Give me some ideas and show me some cards for the set you're suggesting. Thanks in advance.

[mjohnatgt]

1909 T51 Murad College Series (150 cards basic set) Multisport issue includes baseball, football, basketball, tennis, hockey cards from 100 years ago and is a mix of the T206 white borders and T205 gold borders for looks. Plus, colleges are always a popular thing to collect. It's my favorite set of all time. (See avatar)

How about the 1960 Fleer Baseball set: combination of great players at the time and great players from history?

1955 Topps All-American is cool, but I know you're a centering/eye appeal guy, and I don't think you'd be happy with some of the cards you'd have to buy at that price level. Centered copies of a few will set you back a thousand each.

[COEFOR]

1963 Fleer, only 67 cards with a few nice HOFers that won’t set you back much. Also the first real Fleer set of actual playing ball players as the 1960 was a retired player set. Interesting story behind the set in terms of Topps vs Fleer.

[unitasfan]

Yeah unless u are doing football sets in that time period u aren't gonna find much beyond the 63 fleer set. I like to buy a partial set about 80% complete with some stars or key cards and go from there, upgrading on lot cards to improve the set eye appeal. If a year scares ya off I am proud to say it took me over 8 years to complete my 55 bowman football set...and there are still 5 cards I wouldn't mind upgrading on centering

[unitasfan]

Ooops

[myusasets]

if i feel roped in on dull or same old sets and need a break i go for eye appeal. if it looks really good build it and it will be a little diamond to keep. then you can get back to the nuts and bolts of the collecton.

[Rookiemonster]

Well it will be very difficult from 51 up as you know Mantle and Mays appear . It’s like you pulled in to McDonald’s and asked for diet food.

1950 Bowman might be easy enough. 1955 Bowman is a pretty sweet set. You’ll probably have to sacrifice grades as you move up by years . Plus tops has high number cards in most of the sets.

You’ll probably also have to change the way you obtain cards. People like to pigeon hole them selves which makes it hard on themselves to complete what they are trying to do.


Pre war you have Diamond Stars no Ruth or Gehrig . But even this set has high numbers .

[smalltown]

'61 Fleer Basketball is a strong iconic set and can still be put together "affordably". Wilt would be your only tripping point dollar wise. But occasionally a cheap raw or PSA 1 pops up.

[stkuhl]

I like collecting sets but have the same frustrations about paying $3.50 shipping for a $1.00 card.

I have Topps Baseball sets from 1969 to present with a 1956 thrown in. I realized I was never going to complete a Topps BB run and probably not even fill in sets from 57 to 68. I decided to focus on Football sets. Topps 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, and 1964 are pretty reasonable in price. Even the 1956 Topps FB is pretty reasonable in price.


The thing I like about focusing on Football is that the sets are not huge, the stars are not terribly expensive, and most cards, even short prints, are not crazy expensive.

[mjohnatgt]

Originally Posted by stkuhl

I like collecting sets but have the same frustrations about paying $3.50 shipping for a $1.00 card.

Look into a COMC account.

[kyle1707]

im working on 56 65 68 69

50-70% done on all 4.... been working on them 2-3 years..

Just put them in closet... i always come back to vintage...

take a few months off

[NickM]

'61 Fleer also comes to mind.
'64 Topps Giants, perhaps, although it's smaller than your target?

[crazy4kinsler]

Yea, I'm planning on putting it in the closet. Most likely will do that. I've been offered a sum for it, but I haven't gotten anything close to what I have in it. So it will probably go in the closet for a bit.

Originally Posted by kyle1707

im working on 56 65 68 69

50-70% done on all 4.... been working on them 2-3 years..

Just put them in closet... i always come back to vintage...

take a few months off

Thought about that year hoops or 57-58 Hoops. Both are really small sets. I don't do anything graded, so I'd be buying raw in Ex to NM in all.

Originally Posted by smalltown

'61 Fleer Basketball is a strong iconic set and can still be put together "affordably". Wilt would be your only tripping point dollar wise. But occasionally a cheap raw or PSA 1 pops up.

Got a friend doing the 1960 Fleer set, so that's a possibility. Can trade my extras with him. 55T AA seems high to me. I've been looking at various cards from that set (and football cards from that era), and most are listed at high BV or higher. It's crazy to me.

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

1909 T51 Murad College Series (150 cards basic set) Multisport issue includes baseball, football, basketball, tennis, hockey cards from 100 years ago and is a mix of the T206 white borders and T205 gold borders for looks. Plus, colleges are always a popular thing to collect. It's my favorite set of all time. (See avatar)

How about the 1960 Fleer Baseball set: combination of great players at the time and great players from history?

1955 Topps All-American is cool, but I know you're a centering/eye appeal guy, and I don't think you'd be happy with some of the cards you'd have to buy at that price level. Centered copies of a few will set you back a thousand each.

[EldoEsq]

I recently completed the 69 topps deckle set with all of the variations. Small, inexpensive set with alot of star power!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[silverandblack]

Originally Posted by COEFOR

1963 Fleer, only 67 cards with a few nice HOFers that won’t set you back much. Also the first real Fleer set of actual playing ball players as the 1960 was a retired player set. Interesting story behind the set in terms of Topps vs Fleer.

This would be my choice as well. Great set with not a ton of cards and a nice group of HOF guys

[nman84]

Just buy singles of the best HOFers. They’ll be easier to move if you decide to go that route again.

[crazy4kinsler]

That's the deal. I love putting the sets together. Whenever I go to sell raw singles of stars, they're hard to move it seems (at least for me on here). But I know sets should be easy to move.

Originally Posted by nman84

Just buy singles of the best HOFers. They’ll be easier to move if you decide to go that route again.

[DJCollector1]

Easy - *1968 TOPPS GAME*

Its not a terribly popular set for collectors, but the cards are plentiful. All over Ebay and shows, and even though you don't like the graded route, if you chose to piece a graded set together, it should still be rather affordable. (even in such "low grades" as PSA 6-7) I'd personally try and get PSA 7 or higher.

But it has all the hallmarks you are looking for, and the names are about as big as they get from in the 1960's.
MICKEY MANTLE, CARL YASTRZEMSKI, HANK AARON, WILLIE MAYS, PETE ROSE,ROD CAREW, RICHIE ALLEN,FRANK HOWARD, BROOKS ROBINSON,ROBERTO CLEMENTE, HARMON KILLEBREW, FRANK ROBINSON and others.
I believe it has only 33 cards or thereabouts, so it won't take you years to put one together either.

There are a lot of smaller sets around, and most are named further up thread.
Consider some ALL-STAR subsets from any year you like most, too. Maybe consider graded, as thats how they hold their value ironclad. If you do go that route, I'm betting down the road you get into more graded items. Its just so much easier to quantify value. (Plus you can get them out and look at them more often and handle them, without worrying over nicking them up or damaging nearly as much)

Whichever way you go, nman84 hit the nail on the head with his comment. "Just buy singles of the best HOFers."

Personally I just am choosing to go with a select few stars, but in grades A - I am happy with, and B - Nice enough to hold strong value.
Due to a few personal reasons I have not picked up much lately, but it won't be long until I snag a few more pieces.

Be sure to post whichever project you eventually go for.

[GoldPanner]

I don’t know your budget and their are a few higher end cards in the set, if I were ever to go after a set I would definitely want to go after 1933 goudey sports Kong’s. Only 48 cards great design and some big and interesting names in the set

[rittdk01]

Maybe pick a single set. I chose 1956 baseball because imo it’s the best looking set ever made, has my favorite Mantle during a triple crown year, and has no pricey rookies. Once you get past Mantle none of the others are super expensive. Once I complete the set there are a lot of variations to then collect. I plan on the set taking a few years to complete, but the collecting is the hobby, not quickly getting a set and looking at it occasionally.

[Snider fan]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

Look into a COMC account.

Or sportlots.com