Decision Time

I have mentioned before that there appears to be a malaise infecting the card collecting blog-o-sphere recently that cannot fully be explained by the off-season.  A few bloggers have stated they intend to stop collecting modern products and focus on vintage. I have been toying with the same change in my collecting focus, as well.

When I started collecting in earnest at the beginning of 2011, I was buying every new product that came out.  I didn't collect it all, but I did work on putting together flagship, Heritage, and Lineage. I did this at the same time as I was working on vintage sets.  But, as 2012 started, I decided to narrow my focus to vintage sets or modern sets with vintage vibes.  However, as 2012 draws to a close, I find that while I still love Tristar Obak and 2004 Greats of the Game, I have lost interest in Heritage.

So, sometime after the first of the year, all my Heritage is going up on EBay.  I only need 9 cards to finish 2011, so I may finish that, as I expect the cost of the remaining cards will be more than made back by selling a complete set.  2001, 2002, and 2012 will be sold, though, as partial sets.  My box of Heritage duplicates will likely be sold "as is." Sometime after that, I'll need to figure out to do with the shoeboxes of various cards from sets I didn't collect, ranging from the junk wax era through 2011.

Following the lead of better bloggers, I am going to focus on vintage from here on out.  If another lovably quirky set like Obak comes out, I may make a run at it. But, barring that, I am done with modern cards.

Now that I have that off my chest, I can turn my attention to another matter.  That of the bi-monthly OKC card show this weekend.  My wife got a year end bonus at work, and with our Christmas shopping mostly done, we have a little latitude for some spending. I am not going to take all that much with me, since I have several farm projects staring at me at the beginning of 2013, but I am going to go and see if I can tackle a few modest goals:

1. Finish the 1969 Topps Deckle Edge insert set. While I actually need five cards to complete the master set, two of them are short print variations (11B Jim Wynn and 22B Joe Foy.)  So, while I will chase them in the future, I am going to consider the set complete with the other three (Rose, Gibson, McCovey.)


2. Add a few more cards to my 1960 and 1961 Fleer sets.


3. Try and get a few more cards towards my 1971 Topps set. I am 40 cards from completion, but they are all high numbers. My hope is that Roger Neufeldt, of Sports Memories of Oklahoma, will be there, since he hasn't been at a local show since June. If he is, I'd like to knock off about a quarter to a third of the remaining cards out of the way (or, alternately, just get the Dusty Baker/Don Baylor rookie card.)  If he isn't there, I'll just pocket my money and use it at COMC or a similar online seller for some 1971s, or snag a couple autographed 1963 Fleers off of EBay.

Fairly modest goals, but it just doesn't feel like a time for extravagance.