[kailes2872]

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What a long, strange, trip it has been.

In February of 2015, I was able to find someone with 199 of the 206 1955 Topps cards. Everything except Clemente, Mays, Banks, Aaron, Mathews, Kaline, and Williams. The Killebrew was in rough shape and the Koufax had some staining. I made the mistake of going off ebay for the deal and had some dicey moments where I didn't think that the cards were coming.

Luckily, I bought the missing cards and upgraded Koufax and Killebrew right away - so I got the key cards at about half of the current going rate.

The high numbers were in pretty good shape, so I ended up only needing 37 upgrades - with most of them being very slight upgrades and low priority.

I decided to get all of the HOFers in PSA 6. So even though cards like Jackie Robinson were pretty sharp (probably PSA 4ish), I took the time to look for value and buy an example that I would be proud of. I bought Robinson on Sunday. It arrived today, so now '55 is totally upgraded with a nice array of HOFers in PSA 6 - including a very nice centered (L/R) Clemente as the centerpiece of the set.

Later last February, I bought a partial '54 set. This had everything except Aaron and Banks - but it was lesser condition than the '55's. The Williams cards were in rough shape, as were many of the other HOFers. I was able to find an Aaron right away on this board - again last February so it was about 1/2 of the current price of a PSA 6. Banks took more time to find the right example as I was attempting to avoid the miscut on his name which seemed prevelant - even for cards that were graded without the notation. There were 72 upgrades needed. As with the '55's, I got all of the HOFers in PSA 6 plus Gil Hodges and Billy Martin. The only exception was Hoyt Wilhelm in PSA 5.5 because it looked like a nice example. Sunday, I bought Tom Lasorada in a PSA 6. That, along with Jack Dittmer (also picked up on Sunday), made the 54 completely upgraded as well.

The commons in both sets are nice mid-rage ex to ex+ examples with decent corners, no creases, writing, etc. It was an ardous journey and I spent way more money than I had originally hoped - but, as stated earlier, I had good timing on my HOF rookies. Starting in August of '14 and going through until late '15, I did the same thing with my '56 set. So, now I have 54-56 with every HOFer graded in PSA 6 or above (with the exception of the '54 Wilhelm in 5.5).

Along the way, I picked up a '53 and '50 Bowman set, a '63 Fleer set, and a few odds and end upgrades as well.

Now, I am rebooting and figuring what I am going to do next. I think that I will continue to do a few upgrades that I need in the set run and pick up some '70's football and basketball sets that will seem cheap in comparison to what I have been doing. In February, I will buy nice versions of '54 and '55 Bowman - hopefully with less than 20 upgrades for each needed and the stars in good shape. If anyone has a beat on one those, let me know. I am waiting till bonus time to go big on both of them, but they are next.

I have shown many of these in the pick up threads, but here are a few that I have scanned along the way. Thanks to all of those who sold to me and help point