Advice requested for a collector at a crossroad

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

I've been collecting cards since I'm a kid and have really started getting serious the past 5 years or so in the vintage area. Anyway, I find myself as one of the set collectors who track down every card in high grade for a set until it's done and then start another set or two. The expense in completing a high grade vintage set can be very high both in the monetary and time senses. Anyway, while I don't necessarily love every player I'm collecting in each set, I do love the feeling of accomplishment in finishing a set and knowing that I've got every card, and sometimes every variation, in a set. I suppose it's an anal, obsessive/compulsive sort of thing but it is what it is. My dilemma is that there are certain players that I just love to collect: Hank Greenberg, Cobb, Matty, Hal Chase, Mantle, etc. that I just don't put the resources into because so much is tied up in full sets (of which I have dozens, many of them vintage and all in high grade). I'm wondering if the satisfaction I get from completing a full set is worth more than the satisfaction I'd have in getting high grade examples of just a handful of the players that are my alltime favorites. I honestly don't know the answer, so I'm looking for some feedback as to why the set collectors do what they do and why do the player collectors do what they do - at the expense of not collecting a full yearly set or a certain player. Part of me wants to liquidate my sets and go hog wild on just all of the Cobbs and Mattys I can find (it would certainly cut down on the storage space allotted to my collection). Thanks in advance for the advice.