Erik
Im glad to hear that there are still those who collect for the love and memories the cards themselves invoke in us. In the mid eighties I became obsessed with building all of my childhood seventies Sets in perfect condition. I searched high and Low at Card Shows and Shops. While I eventually had to wheel and deal to be able to obtain the high grade cards I was after, it was always about how beautiful that perfect card looked in my set, weather it was a common, semi-star or Star card, it was always about the way it made me feel when looking at the cards. These days it seems like most people involved in the hobby are in it simply for the "whats it worth" or the Label some third party grading company places on it. The cards themselves really have no meaning to them and are secondary to "Whats it worth"
While I do have to play the "What's its Worth" game in order to obtain other cards I so desire for my sets, The day the the label or "Value" or "Price" becomes more important and meaningful than the card and its connection to my childhood memories, is the day I will stop being involved in the hobby.
As for the 1972 Sunoco Stamp Set? Boy oh Boy was it something special. I still remember my uncle Bill taking me and my cousin to the Gas Station to get them.
We was 8 years old and had boxes full of cards from prior years, but when we seen Them full blown Team logos and action shots it was like nothing we had ever seen before. An unlike the Topps Sets we were use to, the Sunoco Stamp set included EVERY player on the team!
Uncle Bill got us the Collector Album to put the Stamps in as well and we would never miss a chance to go to the station with him.
That Sunoco set was way before its time and those Memories of collecting them with my cousin and his dad taking us there will always hold a special place in my heart.
About 6-7 years ago I became so Obsessed with putting together the finest 1972 Sunoco Stamp Set on the planet that I spent out of control buying up every pack, uncut sheets and collector Albums I could find. I opened literally 100's of the 9-stamp packs and went through countless uncut team sheets to complete the set.
I don't care how much money I spent on it or even what its worth. Its priceless to me every time I pull it out to look at it instantly transports me back to the care free days of 1972 and the trips to Del Skouglands Gas Station.
Anyway the Stamps are bigger than a postage stamp. They measure about 2 1/4 inches high by 1 1/2 wide.
There are 624 Stamps in the set, but there were new "Update" Players issued for each team on the end of the year Team Sheets that were issued later in the year.
I still have lots of singles from opening so many packs. I think I still have a few of the collector Albums and some of the Team Sheets around here somewhere.
The Stamps I posted previously were just some random doubles I had.
I made Special acid free Mattes and Frames to display my set in. Boy was that a time consuming project! 624 Mattes!
Here are a few of my favorites! Be warned! Its a very difficult set to assemble in high grade centered condition due to the format they were issued in. I would say virtually impossible without obtain the uncut team sheets and the full sheets issued in the collector albums. But also beware that you can not obtain the full 624 stamp set from the team sheets. Why? Because some of the early year players that were issued in the original 9-stamp packs were not on the late year Team sheets that included the updated or traded players. A prime example is Bart Starr... He can ONLY be obtain in the early year 9-stamp packs. Due to his retirement he was not issued on the late year team sheet as Scott Hunter was the updated player on the Packer Team Sheet.
This is true for Every Team in the set. So there are certain Players from every Team, weather they Traded or just New Players, or retire like Bart Starr that can only be obtained from the packs.
My God how long have I been rambling on! OK again some of my favorites:
