A Return to Normalcy

After the high of actually possessing two Mickey Mantle cards that were issued during his playing career, you might expect that I would experience something of a letdown. Not true.  As a set builder, every card is a goal unto itself.  And, as a set builder, I find the importance of a card is not measured by it's book or historical value.  On the contrary, the importance of a card to me is measured by when it is acquired.  A star card can be less important than a common if it was acquired earlier in the set building process.

Example.  When I bought a 1971 starter set last summer, it included a very nice version of card 513, Nolan Ryan, which books at $150.  However, since it was part of that initial set of cards, it is less important than the following two cards.

I got these for $3 each, which isn't too shabby considering they are high numbers. My progress on 1971 has been stalled for almost 3 months.  I didn't get a single card towards completing the set during that period. So, I was quite pleased to find these.  I am down to needing 50 cards to complete 1971, 4 of which will be upgrades to poor quality cards I already have.  I had hoped to finish 1971 by the end of the year, but with the holidays coming up, I am quite sure that won't happen.  There is another card show coming up December 15 and 16, which I may go to, but I don't expect to have much of a budget. And if my main (non-incarcerated) source for vintage commons isn't there....well.....forget about any more progress at all on 1971 until the calendar flips over.

One other cheap pickup yesterday:

I now have 27 of the 33 cards in the 1969 Deckle insert set. Luckily, none of the cards in this set are expensive. So, even though I still need Willie Mays, it won't be a hard set to complete.  Actually, the most expensive card in the set is 22B - Joe Foy, a short print variation (22A is Rusty Staub.)  Even that only books at $25 and generally sells on Ebay for less than half that.

So, with that, my collecting activity goes into hibernation and I'll probably go back to featuring interesting cards from 2011 Tristar Obak, with a couple brief interludes when I get some cards back I sent out to be autographed.

What I am listening to:  "The One that Got Away" by Dave Pahanish