Most Collected Set Of All Time
 

I know that this may be widely debated and a moving target...Pre-war vs Post-war...what do you consider to be the most widely collected / loved / iconic set of all time? I'm thinking the following would be the top 3 in no specific order. Your thoughts?

T-206
33 Goudey
52 Topps

T206 is likely the top. Not sure about the other two. Trying to think of the hobby as a whole. I think most everyone would know the t206 set. That fact alone would help propel that to the top. For example- many non-vintage collectors just want one vintage card. They’d go to the t206 I would think more than not.

I think type could argue 1955 Topps set is highly collected. It’s iconic and is packed with stars and rookies.

For whatever reason I love the 1953 Color Bowman and feel there is a strong collecting group there. One of the best cards ever produced - the Pee Wee Reese is in the set. Mantle has a nice card.


Least -
1990 donruss
1991 Fleer


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I would bet there is more 1990 Donruss sets in collections than the 3 you mentioned combined.:D

"-1990 Donruss-"

Thanks for the many inquiries, still available...

I think these would easily be among the most collected sets of all time. Probably a million people collected those sets back in the day, way more than T206s, etc.

I would personally lean towards either the major 1989 or 1990 sets as the most collected of all time. From 1991 on you had the beginning of the exponential growth of new sets coming out each year (Fleer Ultra, Stadium Club, etc etc) which probably divided collector interest more than pre-1990.

As a 1953 Bowman collector I'm biased that it's a gorgeous set overall, but it doesn't come up much in discussions and I don't see the cards being sold and traded here in comparison to its Topps counteparts from that era. I know there were lots more Topps printed that Bowmans and that may be a reason. It would be nice for those of us who have or are in the process of assembling a 1953 Bowman color set to swap information and what we've come across.

Phil aka Tere1071

Ben - you have a point. I think my bias for vintage tainted my selections. I know I bought a million packs of both of those sets back in the day.


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Bwhaha


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I’m up for that. Have some doubles to trade for other years. I just finished the set when I picked up the Spahn.


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I suggest it might be 1981 Fleer and Donruss. The busting of the Topps monopoly was big news within the hobby and lots of folks flocked to the new sets. Some of us bought cases to provide college funds for unborn children.

1987 topps:D

1989 Fleer gotta find that FF Billy Ripken.

The OP asked what is the most widely collected/loved/iconic set of all time.

I think that requires three separate answers:

Widely collected: 1989 Upper Deck (or some other late 80s set already mentioned)

Loved: t206 (or 33 Goudey)

Iconic: 52 Topps or 51 Bowman

Even though I much prefer vintage, the only set listed above that I have more than a handful of cards from is 1989 Upper Deck. So affordability and availability definitely lends itself to being ‘widely collected’.

Run over to the psa registry.


Me thinks 52 wins by a landslide, but havent checked in years

In an attempt to be partially scientific about it, I ran some quick stats from Ebay (/Sports Trading Cards/ Baseball Cards) for sales of different sets on the basis that the sets that have the most sales are the most popular and hence the most collected.

These are the results...you're mileage may vary.

Search Term Quantity
--------------- -----------
"1971 Topps" 37,195
"1972 Topps" 36,286
"1968 Topps" 33,231
"1975 Topps" 32,306
"1961 Topps" 32,253
"1959 Topps" 31,447
"1969 Topps" 31,272
"1965 Topps" 29,697
"1970 Topps" 29,683
"1964 Topps" 29,092
"1960 Topps" 28,639
"1967 Topps" 27,910
"1973 Topps" 27,002
"1962 Topps" 25,921
"1966 Topps" 22,743
"1974 Topps" 22,669
"1958 Topps" 22,607
"1957 Topps" 21,296
"1956 Topps" 21,248
"1963 Topps" 20,580
"1952 Topps" 13,384
"1954 Topps" 10,639
"1955 Topps" 12,209
"1955 Bowman" 11,098
"1953 Topps" 10,872
"T206" -2020 -reprint 8,688
"Goudey" 7,694
"1953 Bowman" 6,016
"1954 Bowman" 5,289
"1952 Bowman" 5,243
"1951 Bowman" 5,281
"1950 Bowman" 4,116

I think some of those sets lower on the list are only as low as they are because the prices are higher, and there are fewer available cards.

The sales when new would be telling, if we ever got much for figures.

Just as a small reference point, when the small card store that also did a little wholesaling I used to go to was closing he offered me two pallets of 1990 Donruss. Maybe around 100 cases? (I didn't ask)
They would have been $2.01 a box, because the liquidator had offered $2 a box. I probably could have saved a few cents if I took them all....

The number of collectors in the early 90s was amazing, easily enough to support multiple full time stores on many towns. Few lasted, as they were forced to overbuy then clearance to afford the next hot thing that might last a week. The estimate of there being a million collectors is to my mind a very conservative estimate.

Very interesting, even more interesting is how the rankings on the list change when the number of sales per set is then divided by the number of issued cards from each set...this of course assumes that many of the sales are for single cards. It makes sense that the 71 and 72 sets would have more sales than most of other sets as there were more cards issued in those sets....the 56 set is less than half the size of the 71 and 72 sets yet has sold more than half the number of each of either the 71 or 72 sets.

There are so many ways the data can be sliced. Tell me the answer you want and I'll show you the statistics to back up that answer :)

Searching Ebay sales only goes back 60 days. There could be seasonal variations, demographic biases, etc.

My biased opinion is that the Topps Cards from the 1950s were probably the most collected ever. That's based on the popularity of cards and baseball in that era. My view is also skewed by my love for the 1953-55 Topps cards. Personally, I'm just glad that the 1968 Topps set didn't make the top of the list. I just can't find it in me to love that set.

The most collected must be a late 80s set. There are relatively few for sale on ebay ("1989 Topps" = 14k results) because they're worthless. But the baseball card boom, plus (as Sean noted) fewer sets than in more recent years, plus larger population, just has to lead to more collectors. US population in 1955 was about 171 million, it was about 250 million in 1989. Even if baseball cards were more popular in the 50s (doubtful, but let's run with it), if even a small portion of those extra 79 million people were collecting baseball cards it's going to swamp higher popularity in earlier decades.