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The Will to Build a Set
If you are reading this post and you're not my mom or one of my students stalking me... then you're probably a fellow card collector or at least a former card collector.
My set building days began in the mid 80's when I attempted to build the 1986 Toppsset... although I'm not quite sure if I ever finished or not. For the remainder of the decade, I enjoyed building all of the Toppsbaseball card sets and some of the other affordable sets like 1988 Score and 1989 Donruss.
Singles trumped sets. And before I knew it, I had sold the majority of my collection and was out of the hobby by 2001.
Clearly my retirement didn't last long. It never does. In 2008... I was right back in it and set building was one of the biggest reasons. That year, I was busting tons of boxes and building sets left and right.
It took a few years, but eventually I realized that it wasn't practical in a financial sense... which brings us to the collector I am today: a guy who prefers to buy sets, rather than build them.
However... every now and then something will catch my eye and I'll dive right back into my old collecting ways.
Best of all... between finishing this set and wrapping up my Donruss Puzzle Project, I rediscovered the thrill of completing a set. Over the weekend, I went on a COMCshopping spree and was able to cross off two additional sets that I'll share in a future post.
Does this mean that my focus will go back to building sets? Probably not. But I have more than a fair share of sets that are currently keeping me busy right now.
Happy Monday and sayonara!
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And if you collect cards... then there's a somewhat good chance you've attempted to build a set at some point on your collector timeline.
My set building days began in the mid 80's when I attempted to build the 1986 Toppsset... although I'm not quite sure if I ever finished or not. For the remainder of the decade, I enjoyed building all of the Toppsbaseball card sets and some of the other affordable sets like 1988 Score and 1989 Donruss.
Set building was placed on the back burner in the 90's, because that's when I discovered a passion for inserts, parallels, rookie cards, and autographs.
Singles trumped sets. And before I knew it, I had sold the majority of my collection and was out of the hobby by 2001.
Clearly my retirement didn't last long. It never does. In 2008... I was right back in it and set building was one of the biggest reasons. That year, I was busting tons of boxes and building sets left and right.
It took a few years, but eventually I realized that it wasn't practical in a financial sense... which brings us to the collector I am today: a guy who prefers to buy sets, rather than build them.
However... every now and then something will catch my eye and I'll dive right back into my old collecting ways.
Last year... Topps produced a very cool insert set for their Archives product that highlights and features one of America's most beloved actors and his memorable Spring Training day when he traveled to five different stadiums and played nine different positions for ten different teams.
At first I only wanted the A's and Padrescards, but after picking up a few other singles here and there... I eventually decided to build the entire ten card set. Two eBay purchases later... and the set was finally complete.
Best of all... between finishing this set and wrapping up my Donruss Puzzle Project, I rediscovered the thrill of completing a set. Over the weekend, I went on a COMCshopping spree and was able to cross off two additional sets that I'll share in a future post.
Does this mean that my focus will go back to building sets? Probably not. But I have more than a fair share of sets that are currently keeping me busy right now.
Do you consider yourself to be a set builder? If so, what are some of your greatest accomplishments in terms of set building?
Happy Monday and sayonara!
Extra Innings
Sport Card Collectors is giving away a sweetMuseum Collection Zach Wheelercard. All you need to do is comment on his post to be entered. If you want to earn additional entries, you can plug the contest on Twitter and your blog.
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