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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Lee's dispproval notwithstanding, I think his question is a good one and deserves an answer. I think this thread has been hijacked to some degree back to the Slab v. Non-Slab War. For some background, I collect both high grade vintage Registry sets (I've got a few in the top 5 and 10) as well as some highly graded vintage cards of players that I love. Many times I wonder why I bother spending a lot of money on some expensive, high graded common or even a star that is not one of my favorites when I could be spending the cash on really special cards. For example, spending $1500 a piece on four highly graded 1933 Goudey HOFers in PSA 8 when I could be spending that 6K on a T205 Matty in PSA 7 - a card I consider to be one of my alltime favorites. Psychologically speaking, I think the reason I try to complete the Registry sets I've started is due to the same collecting habits I had as a kid. Back in 1972 when I started collecting in earnest, Topps was the only game in town and I tried like hell to get every card in each set. Same thing every year until 78 when I discovered Renata Galasso and ordered the whole set at once. Now as an adult, with more disposable income than I should have and the inversely proportional level of intelligence, I find myself buying high graded card after slabbed card of players in sets I only dreamed of as a kid; sets of cards I used to just want one of, i.e., 33 Goudey, T206, 54, 55, 58 Topps, etc. And as a kid, once I start a set, psychologically I want to finish them all off and have the entire set, the entire history of that set in one, complete place. I suppose it makes me somewhat obsessive/compulsive (and as Jim C will attest to, when you're a card or two away from completing a high graded Registry set your head feels like it will explode until you get that final piece of the puzzle into place) but that is what my collecting habit is. I still buy the highly graded versions of the players I adore (Hank Greenberg, Cobb, Matty, Hal Chase, Mantle, etc.) I just don't necessarily spend the same cash as I could if I didn't bother spending the cash needed to complete a vintage Registry set in PSA 7.5 to 8. I don't know if that sheds any light on what you were thinking, Lee, but there it is.