Heckuva Mailday!

I'm slowly dipping my toes back in the hobby pool. Not a lot, what with the holidays nearly upon us.  But, a little.  I have a show today where I would like to get one or all of the remaining 1972 Topps cards I need to finish my set, though I am not particularly hopeful.  Perhaps, I'll knock off some of the 139 cards I need to finish 1970 or some of the 125 I need to complete 1968. It is entirely possible I do none of that and just trawl through discount boxes for cards that catch my fancy.  The show is small enough, with (normally) only one seller that specializes in vintage that I need to be flexible.

But, enough about that. I have more exciting news.  Yesterday, two Ebay wins showed up at the end of the driveway.

There it is!  The final card I needed to finish my 1956 Topps set.  This journey started back in 2011, quite soon after I got back into the hobby and got serious about a year ago as I found myself well past the halfway point.  And now it is done.  I'm still thinking about my next "super" vintage set to work on. I am leaning towards 1954-1955 Redman, but it may end up being 1955 Topps, for which I am already past the halfway point and need only (!) 95 cards to complete the set.  Of course, I have none of the major stars from that set, so it won't be as easy as the final half of 1956, where I had been acquiring stars for a number of years leading up to my final push towards completion.

AT this point yo may be wondering if I managed to acquire another want for my 1963 Fleer autographed set project.  Not exactly.  I still sit a 64 (out of 66) cards.  This Lou Cinton above was intended as an upgrade. You see, the Clinton in my Fleer binder was in only fair condition.  When the card above came up on eBay, I threw a lowball offer of $9 at it and, surprisingly, won.  Exciting, huh?

Well.....

The thing is, I have been very slowly transitioning my signed Fleers from raw to slabbed and authenticated.   So, every few months I'll send two or three cards in to be authenticated.With the set split between a binder and a  PSA storage box, I failed to realize that I already upgraded this card in March of 2017. I'm not happy about it, but given how little I spent, I am not going to obsess over it. At some point, I may sell one off.

Long time readers, all 2 of you, may recall that for a number of cards I already bought them slabbed and broke them out of the plastic jail, because the signed set displayed really well in binder sheets.  But, when I got to the point where I have most of the set signed, I started to think about this not only as a collection, but an investment.  I know I shouldn't do that. But, I am about 10-12 years from retirement, and it seems I automatically classify every major purchase as an investment or a depreciable asset. I can't help it.  Sorry.

What I am listening to: Cool 'n' Out by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros