General Forum

When I got seriously into collecting in the 1970s I started out as a set collector.  My first complete set was the 1970-71 Topps NHL set which my Pop ordered for me somehow cos I kept complaining that the local grocery store didn't stock hockey cards.  As time went by I found that I did not like set collecting cos I would end up with cards of players or teams I did not like.  Nowadays I am on random, what I get is what I get.  I don't buy factory sets only packs or boxes.  COMC has made it nice in that I can now easily ship out the cards I do not want and replace them with ones I do like.

I collect sets and have an extensive PC as well.  I had compiled the stats in my OPC sets a couple of years ago and recently did the same for my Topps sets.  These stats are base sets only with the odd exception included such as the Cdn version of the 1952 and 1954 sets, the 1975 mini set and the 1993 and 1994 Gold parallel. 

For all of the OPC sets made from 1965 to 1994, there are 13,764 cards (including the grey backs parallel of 1981). As of today, I am missing 828 of these cards or 6.02%. 

As for Topps, from 1951 to 2019, there are 46,436 cards (including those parallels mentioned earlier).  As of July 1, I am missing 14,495 or 31.22%.  But because of the broad range of years and my greater interest in the older sets, I also broke these down by periods of time.  From 1951 to 1980, there are 17,592 cards of which I am missing 5,014 or 28.50%; 1981 to 2000, 15,710 of which I am missing 900 cards or 5.73%; 2001-2019, 13,134 of which I am missing 8,581 or 65.33%.

I haven't compiled the stats for the other brands (yet) but it is fun to see where one's collection sits by stats.  It also reflects where one's main focus is. Besides, what else is there to do on a rainy day?

I am a set collector at heart, but in recent years with Super Short printed Rookie cards it makes set collecting very difficult and frustrating before one even gets their first pack/box from a set. A 770 card set? COOL! The last 110 are SHORT PRINTS? UGH! 

Also you practically have to buy the factory sets  or buy a full set each year which are pretty pricey.

Sadly I have very few completed sets over the 50+ years of my collecting/life. 

I am happy to say that I too, am a set collector. I have just began trading on this website. I cannot overstate how much fun I have had in trading cards with other members. I find it exciting to check the mail and find a package or two waiting for me. I have had many trades with Craig so far, with one in the process right now.

My goals for trading and set building is a little grand. I am trying to build a run of Topps sets from 1968 to the present in baseball and from 1980 to 2015 in Topps football, as well as 1986 to 1996 Fleer basketball, 1981 to 1984 in both Donruss and Fleer for baseball. I haven't listed most of these sets in my wantlists or in my For Trade lists. I hope to have everything logged in by the end of the year.

Ok, I’ll repeat what I’ve often said on the site. I collect sets. And I define the sets for myself. I buy a factory set of Topps baseball every year. I spend hours going through them. I buy a hand-collated Topps Gypsy Queen “set” every year. I do not include the purposeful shortprints. So, in my eyes, I have complete sets. And I am working my way back to, hopefully, all Topps sets to 1965. I’m one card from 1969. 

I simulate buying packs by buying lots on eBay. This is cheap, effective, and fun. It also gets me upgrades and trading or selling material. 

Other sets, I create or invent, then complete. My Merkle’s Boner Collection. My Last Topps Card Of Every Hall of Famer with a Topps card. My T207 Cubs team set collection, for which I decided the two impossible-to-get shortprints don’t count. 

Whatever works. Just have fun.

v3

Set collecting is still something that I enjoy very much!  Plus I like to put the "loose" cards in Team Notebooks.  The organizing qualities of building Sets, creating your own sets that You want to build for what You like, and putting together Team Collections, is a good skill to have in this Hobby.  Plus there is something for everyone of Us true collectors.  Will try to keep in the "loop" with this great Community of Collectors, as We endure through this intense week of Our move to Florida . .                                               In Sports Card Collecting Affinity - Felix

Something popular in coin collecting is called a type set. It wouldn't really translate to cards because we have so much more to choose from, but what Vytas is saying is getting at that mindset. The sets are defined by the collector, not the manufacturer. It works best when you want to collect something that's genuinely rare or out of reach financially, which makes it impossible, but you go for an acheivable goal instead. 

I'm kind of working on a project like that, but making very little headway...I decided that I wanted at least one card from every parallel issued for NASCAR, not including 1 of 1s.

As my signature indicates "Hockey set collector". But I'm more of a master set collector. I collect all inserts, variants, promos, box bottoms, wrappers and parallels, as well as the base cards. Much easier to do with older sets because there weren't intentional SPs with base cards or super rare inserts. Some of the inserts from the 1990s and 2000s were issued in lesser quantities and some are super rare (1:9,706 packs) but that keeps me busy searching to find those elusive cards to finish my insert sets. Since most of my wantlist is comprised of rarer inserts or expensive older cards, it's hard to find trading partners. The only newer sets I regularly collect are the annual Tim Horton's includng inserts (except super rare) and Upper Deck Hockey Day in Canada/USA.

I am definitely a set collector, however I am known to “bend the rules” a bit to fit my wallet’s desires. For example, I don’t even attempt to get all of the dumb SPs for most sets. I consider those insert cards. The main base set includes the cards you find as 90% of the cards in packs. Anything shortprinted is an insert. That is not to say I totally avoid collecting short prints in sets (see my 09 SP Authentic set/2019 Heritage set for example), but in general if it can’t be found in a factory set, it’s not part of the set in my opinion.