General Forum

As I have been recently been updating my collection here I have really began to ponder if I want to collect so many sets. Since I am a team collector as well I feel a get a decent example of each set just by getting a Cubs team set at least when it comes to baseball. I have actually made a set and then have a seperate team set for my binder. So I have been collecting two copies of the same cards especially for my Topps team sets.  As for other sets like football I've noticed I have little interest at all. I do want to collect some basketball sets but they do seem more manageable since they are typically smaller. Of course with Non-Sport I want the whole set typically. 

Anyhow I think that may be the direction I will be heading in the future. I actually took most of my baseball sets out of binders and put them in 5000 count boxes. I can always go back to them later if I want. 

I stopped set collecting when parallels and SPs became so prevalent, I think the move by Topps and Panini to create 12 different parallels for every card has ruined it for set collectors. Though I have begun to look at some vintage sets and considered working on the ones from my childhood.

I had the same dilemma when i got back into the hobby about a year and a half ago.  The number of parallel sets, inserts, and SPs may it more difficult to collect sets (team or complete sets).  it eventually comes down to personal choice on what you consider a set.  For some, it's base only.  For me, I decided to include SPs and updates as long as they are consecutively numbered from the base set.

I've been a set collector my whole life, but due to Paninis crappy nature of tiny sets and the majority of them being not real photos, I've transitioned more to my project of trying to get at least one card of everyone who ever got one, in NBA, NASCAR and the NHL. I have to say it's been much more rewarding and much less frustrating than trying to be a set cillcolle in this day and age. 

I still try to complete Hoops every year, but it's small size is so frustrating. NASCAR has only one real set and it's impossible to complete, at least on my budget, because half the cards are short printed. I have not decided yet which set I will chase for the NHL. I want it to be the Upper Deck flagship, but the stupid short printing of the young guns prevents it. O-Pee-Chee would be nice to collect but I don't have as much access to it, and the final 30-50 cards are short printed and not even in OPC packaging. 

It actually seems to me like the card companies are actively conspiring against set collectors. 

I similarly have been put off by all the different parallels, SPs, brand off-shoots (Topps Total, Topps Unique, Topps Thursday the 18th, Topps Let's Make a Green One, etc.) that really does make a thorough collection difficult no matter what your hobby/habit.  I've now become a "focused set collector", I guess.  For vintage stuff I'm all in, as well as the just Donruss/Fleer/Topps years prior to "junk wax". For a few varieties in later years that I've seen where I really like the design, I am willing to try to build the set even if there are SP's or S/# limited quantities involved (e.g., 2009 Upper Deck Sweet Spot, but not necessarily other years of that same brand).  And I'm a hologram and team logo junkie, so those get some attention from me.  But I've come to the realization that I have a lot of stuff in my collection that I really don't care about ever completing that set, and perhaps it's time to clear some space accordingly.

I am a set collector through and through with a few choice PC. When I came back in last year my first goal was to collect everything that I used to have (starting at 74T), the stuff I sold off 15 years ago. I'm still working on that, though I am concentrating on baseballl and forgoing football except for PC. I spent a great deal of time on this site familiarizing myself with what had been released since I departed initially and determining what sets I do want to collect. Funny thing is one of the reasons that I left was because they had started introducing SPs into the flagship sets; I was okay with the premiums doing it. My initial goal was to put together the sets I chose and the collectiable insert sets therein (reasonable chance of putting together without breaking the bank). I happened upon a card show in April with great looking vintage galore (73T and prior). Not only were they great looking, but you couldn't beat the price. Change of plans, working on some vintage now (started 71 and 73T, looking to start 70 and 72). Money better going there then on insert sets. Those can be done through trades.  

BTW, if anyone has lots of 70-73 Topps in Ex-Mt or better I'm all ears

I'm part of this club too. I started collecting as a kid in the late 70's and through the 80's and of course I always tried to complete the set. I have a few older sets that I still work toward completing as I can. For the stuff today I have pretty much transitioned to Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks. There is just too much stuff out there to still be a set collector unless you want to stick with one brand like say Topps and focus on the base set. In baseball I reaaly like Heritage, Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter so I try to collect the full base set of Brewers for those 3 brands. I will still collect other brands of Brewers but those are the ones I try to get a complete base set for. I haven't found a brand I just have to have in football or basketball yet so just my teams in those sports.

I also have a little quirky collecting habit I have picked up since being on here. I try to add into any trades any time I can any late 70's and early 80's Cecil Cooper, Ben Oglivie and Gorman Thomas Brewers cards I can whether I already have them or not. I think I have added 10-15 1981 Topps Ben Oglivie cards to my collection in the past couple of months. 1981 was one of my favorite sets, these are some of my favorite Brewers and they are generally cheap enough for me to pick up in trades. Oh, I won't pass on Ronin Yount or Paul Molitor either if I can work them in but they are not just commons so cost a bit more in trades but they aren't too bad either.

If you have any of those you want to send my way send me a proposal. I am more than ever though a team set collector now instead of a full set collector.

nice thread, I will chime in with more opinion later

mark

When I joined the TCDB community in October 2016, it was because I had decided to rejoin collecting after dropping out in 1992-93. I actually started collecting in 1966 (or thereabouts) but like many here, sorry Mom (RIP), dearest mother determined the cards were unworthy of keeping and transitioned them from my box into who knows where (she never claimed to have thrown them away, although that's what I suspect). Anyway, I wasn't a set collector back then as I concentrated on my teams or favorite players. When I got back into collecting in '89 I began seeking to complete sets. That ended by 1991, and I just bought packs for a couple of years after.

Since returning to collecting I go for team sets (Houston Colt 45s/Astros, Dallas Cowboys, and to some degree Houston Rockets) and a plethora of favorite players from my youth to a few (getting fewer and fewer) modern players. There have been a few sets I really like and have considered collecting, however, what's big for me is to enjoy the cards by seeing them, so I display as many as I can, but not enough for my taste. 

So team and players are what I concentrate on. My player collection keeps growing because as soon as I purchase a lot and if I find an RC of a player I admired - he didn't need to be a favorite - I may start collecting him. That's why I'm now collecting Ozzie Smith, John Smoltz, and a few others. I found a Jeter RC in one of the huge lots I bought. It had a crease, but it was Jeter and an RC. Yet, he's one I've not decided whether to collect based on the RC factor, but that's based mainly on the era he's in which would mean a whole lot of RCs to collect, whereas Ozzie just had the one.

The financial aspect of collecting sets prohibits me from pursuing that, but I'm extremely happy to keep collecting as I am.