I Got An Idea

I've been foreseeing a bad winter. Not weather wise as it were, although it may be. Mainly, I see it being a bad winter for collecting. The drought this year has driven up the cost of feeding our horses precipitously. Plus, we are going to have an electrician in next month to do some improvements to help us manage the farm better during bad weather. In short, my budget is going to be tight heading into the holiday season. Complicating matters, there is going to be another card show in October where I wanted to start working on my 1971 set. I was unsure how I was going to manage my adult obligations while still indulging my inner 9 year old. Then I had a brilliant idea.



I have a 3 foot tall change bank that looks like a coke bottle. I have had it for a while and about every 3 or 4 years I cash the change in. So, yesterday, I dumped all the coins into a smaller, easier-to-handle box, threw in some foreign currency I had lying around unused after past business trips, and headed off to the bank. I figured I would clear around 2 c-notes. Boy, was I in for a surprise. What you are looking at above is a bit over $450 in coins. The bank wanted to charge me a $35 fee to exchange the currency. Given that you are looking at about the equivalent of $34.20 US in foreign currency, I just stuffed the bills back into my pocket.

Now, I have no intent of spending all that at the October show, but it should get me through the lean winter months. So, I am mapping out a few goals:

1. Add a few more cards to my Paul Blair player collection.


2. Complete my 1977 set. With pending trades and a few pick-ups at a new card shop I discovered, I am down to needing 7 cards to finish.


3. Finish that 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game set for once and for all. I have also been mulling over starting the equivalent set from 2006.


4. Start working in earnest on my 1971 set. Since I mainly need the higher number cards, this will probably be a fairly long process where I only add a few cards every month.


5. Knock off some more short prints for 2011 Topps Heritage. I haven't looked at COMC to see if the prices are coming down yet. Last time I looked, the SP were in the $3 to $6 range. They'll need to be alot lower than that before I pull the trigger.


6. Start 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League. As I approach the conclusion of my first year of being back in the hobby, I am reflecting on how to focus my second year. I have come to the conclusion that the only modern set that really interests me is Heritage and, in 2012, it may be the only modern set I collect. The minor league set seems interesting


7. 2011 Topps Update. Given my above comment, it would seem odd to even bother with Update. But, as a set collector, I do have a touch of OCD, so I may just go ahead and put it together, so I have the entire 990 card run. Besides, I want to see if Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, and David Robertson made the set.

So, that is about it for the moment. I don't think I can do all of what I have listed above, so I may just drop the last two.