Saturday, December 19, 2015

Card Show Haul - Vintage Sets


The show ended up being quite fruitful with regard to working on vintage sets.  Two of the three main vintage sellers were there and I made a little progress on a lot of sets.



I managed to pick up 8 more cards towards my 1979 set; leaving me 17 to go to completion.



I managed to find this 1978 TCMA The 60s Sandy Koufax in a dollar box.  I have a good deal of the 293 card set, with about 40 to go to completion.  This set, and other 1970s TCMA and SSPC sets, are what I intend to work on during the long dry spells in the quest to finish pre-1973 Topps sets.



I found 3 1975 Topps cards, leaving me only 6 to go to complete the set.  The Munson however, is not one of the three.  The scanning process doesn't make it obvious. but it is actually a mini. I don't really intend to ever collect the 1975 minis, but how could I pass up acquiring the card of one of the Yankee's iconic players for a mere buck?




I found five more 1961 Fleer cards leaving me 6 to go to completion.  The Ross Young is one of the more expensive cards in the set with a book value of $40.  Why? I'm not sure, but the best explanation is that it is the last card in the set, and like the 1952 Topps Andy Pafko, it is hard to find in good condition because of damage from the rubber bands that held stacks of cards together back in the day.  Alas, two of the remaining cards I need are Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, which both come in at a $120 book value.  I'm hoping to find both for under $30, so it will probably be a long search.



I picked up four more cards from 1961 Golden Press, leaving me 12 to go. It is just a small 33 card set that, as I understand it, came together as pages in a book; explaining the perforation chads along the edges.


I picked up this 1956 Al Kaline for $5.  I am not sure why the seller (who tends to price high) had it for such a low price.  It appears to be a little off color, but the discoloration is uniform and the card has great eye appeal.  The seller had a large number of 1956 cards with him and I could have made significant progress on my set.  Except I managed to leave my 1956 want list at home. However, that didn't turn out to be a major issue.





Since I couldn't work on my 1956 set, I decided to have the seller put together a 1972 starter set for me.   I now have about 235 cards towards the 787 card set.  Among the cards he pulled for me are the 4 cards above, which includes the infamous Billy Martin card. (If you don't know why it is infamous, please look closely at his hand.)  This set will undoubtedly be a long haul to completion, with over 260 high number cards.  I expect that it will take a minimum of two years, since I'll only be able to get small groups of high numbers at a time....when I can find them.

So, that was the bulk of my card show finds. I did get one card towards a player collection, but will save that for a PC specific post.

8 comments:

  1. Good haul. That '61 Fleer is a beautiful set, but your statement about the Gehrig and Ruth may turn me off from trying to start building it.

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  2. No kidding. I would have expected a card in that condition to be $30 to $40. I can't figure out why he was selling it so cheap, but I am going to stop thinking about it and enjoy the card.

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  3. JediJeff, it seems pretty much every vintage set has cards that are expensive. But, you can't let that dampen your efforts. Finishing the set is that much more satisfying. In the 1956 set I am working on, the Mantle card is doozy. Even in poor condition, it is going to cost $150 or more. I'll need to save up a few months to get it. But, it will be great when I have it and the set is complete.

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  4. Those Golden Press cards are golden. They're beautiful in their simplicity and colorized photos rarely seen elsewhere. Looks like it was a good show!

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  5. Great haul. Especially fond of the '72 Billy and '56 Kaline.

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  6. I appreciate simplicity in cards as well, Tony. While it might be sacrilege, I am starting to prefer 1955 Topps to 1956.

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  7. That Kaline is a favorite of many here.

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