Completed The Monster! 521 cards

[Bpm0014]

After 13 long years, I have finally completed The Monster! A little backstory: I had purchased a Mullen portrait in about 1992 for $25 when I was a kid. We have the same last name. Fast forward to 2007 during the poker boom. I was playing poker in various underground games/clubs in and around Pittsburgh. One club had a computer. While fooling around on the computer I came across eBay and T206 cards. Man were those the days! So that night I told myself that every time I had a winning night playing poker I’d buy some T206s and try to complete the set (to go along with my Mullen portrait). An interesting fact is that the entire set (all 521 cards) was purchased with poker or gambling winnings (I’m also pretty decent at picking college football games as well ). The set is also 100% raw in a binder. I’ve cracked roughly 80 slabs.

So were there times that I lost and had to sell some cards? Of course! Haha. But they were surprisingly few and far between. The 2 worst “beats”: I sold a PSA2 green Cobb on here in about 2015 for $900 and a pretty nice raw Lenox back in 2018 for about $600. Other than those 2, no real regrets. My fist card was the Mullen portrait and the last card was Johnson throwing. One last interesting tidbit; I was super reluctant to purchase the last card (Johnson portrait) that I needed. I’ve been holding back for about 3 months. What was I supposed to do once I completed it? Once you complete it, although it’s a great sense of accomplishment, it’s also semi-depressing at the same time. Like, what do I do now!? Anyway, thanks for reading this. Any questions that anyone has I’ll be more than happy to answer! Anybody want to purchase a T206 set?

[vthobby]

ummmm.... yes! lol

I just found a set that sold in 2014 Heritage Auction for $29,000 and it had 75 graded cards! ugh

Thanks for sharing Brendan! Valid point about "full set remorse" but no one feels sorry!

Peace, Mike

[Leon]

Very nice Brendan, congrats. There are an almost infinite number of cards to collect. Most of us agree, the journey is sometimes better than the finish.

.

[ClementeFanOh]

Congratulations, Brendan! Take a bow! Trent King

[atx840]

Congrats, bet that is one sweet binder to go through.

[Casey2296]

Congrats on a Monster feat!

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

The journey is ALWAYS better than the finish. But that's one hell of an accomplishment. Huge congrats to you sir.

[Steve D]

Congratulations Brendan, that is a tremendous accomplishment, especially to stay at it for 29 years, starting as a kid! And then, to have a Green Cobb, have to sell it, and then be able to get one back.....Nice!

Steve

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

After 13 long years, I have finally completed The Monster! A little backstory: I had purchased a Mullen portrait in about 1992 for $25 when I was a kid. We have the same last name. Fast forward to 2007 during the poker boom. I was playing poker in various underground games/clubs in and around Pittsburgh. One club had a computer. While fooling around on the computer I came across eBay and T206 cards. Man were those the days! So that night I told myself that every time I had a winning night playing poker I’d buy some T206s and try to complete the set (to go along with my Mullen portrait). An interesting fact is that the entire set (all 521 cards) was purchased with poker or gambling winnings (I’m also pretty decent at picking college football games as well ). The set is also 100% raw in a binder. I’ve cracked roughly 80 slabs.

I'm highly jealous............

......

...... that you can legally play online poker for real money. I live in the state of Washington which explicitly made it illegal*.

I'm also jealous of the set. Congrats!

* - Kind of a positive development in a way. I was playing for real money on Poker Stars and Washington made it illegal, so I cashed out all my money. Roughly a month later was Black Friday when the feds swooped and locked up everyone's assets. I'd gotten all my dough out so it worked out fine. I don't have any interest in trying to play over a VPN or otherwise skirt the legalities. Bums me out as it was a decent source of income for me.

[Bpm0014]

Tabe. I never said I was successful online hahahaha. I tried my hand at PokerStars. Not much success. I had one nice cash for about 6k but that was about it. I believe that overall I was a loser. It’s almost impossibly hard to win online. I really dont trust it with bots and problem solvers etc. Give me live poker in a poker room or underground game any day!

[Troy Kirk]

I hate to tell you this, Brendan, but George Mullin is actually spelled with an i, not and e. Your whole collection was built on a false premise! Seriously, though, that's a great accomplishment, congratulations!

[Ricky]

So, most people consider the set complete at 520 but you said you have 521… which one of the tough final four do you have?

[Bpm0014]

Haha. I realize that. But my family as well spelled it interchangeably. And the card that got me started was the MULLEN portrait. But yes haha. Definitely aware.

I have 521. I have a DOYLE that has the slightest bit of NY NAT’L present. That’s the closest I’ll ever get. So I’m counting mine as 521

[NYYFan63]

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

After 13 long years, I have finally completed The Monster! A little backstory: I had purchased a Mullen portrait in about 1992 for $25 when I was a kid. We have the same last name. Fast forward to 2007 during the poker boom. I was playing poker in various underground games/clubs in and around Pittsburgh. One club had a computer. While fooling around on the computer I came across eBay and T206 cards. Man were those the days! So that night I told myself that every time I had a winning night playing poker I’d buy some T206s and try to complete the set (to go along with my Mullen portrait). An interesting fact is that the entire set (all 521 cards) was purchased with poker or gambling winnings (I’m also pretty decent at picking college football games as well ). The set is also 100% raw in a binder. I’ve cracked roughly 80 slabs.

So were there times that I lost and had to sell some cards? Of course! Haha. But they were surprisingly few and far between. The 2 worst “beats”: I sold a PSA2 green Cobb on here in about 2015 for $900 and a pretty nice raw Lenox back in 2018 for about $600. Other than those 2, no real regrets. My fist card was the Mullen portrait and the last card was Johnson throwing. One last interesting tidbit; I was super reluctant to purchase the last card (Johnson portrait) that I needed. I’ve been holding back for about 3 months. What was I supposed to do once I completed it? Once you complete it, although it’s a great sense of accomplishment, it’s also semi-depressing at the same time. Like, what do I do now!? Anyway, thanks for reading this. Any questions that anyone has I’ll be more than happy to answer! Anybody want to purchase a T206 set?

That’s a great story Brendan! Congrats! That is quite the accomplishment.

Thanks for sharing. At least you put your poker winnings to good use, unlike the the rest of us who have it back the next week haha. I used to play poker at the Borgata some 12-15 years ago.


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[Bpm0014]

Poker and betting have been pretty good to me. And I’ve been lucky enough to invest in T206s that have steadily increased. I use the 15 count pages for my binder. Cant wait to post pics once the Johnson arrives and the set is “complete”.