7 years...
Seems so short and so long at the same time. This piece of my collecting adventure started in late 2013, just as I was really coming back into card collecting. My interests had really shifted in the late 90s/early 00s to autograph collecting. In person, at shows, I was on the hunt for great signatures for nearly 15 years pretty hard core. It was only after I got married, had kids, just didn't have the time for the in person autograph collecting that I really started getting back into cards.
And it wasn't card from my youth, which was 80s/90s - junk wax era. I started really getting interested in the "all timers" of the game, so naturally I landed in the 1950s and the turn of the century (T206 mostly) eras of cards. I was only a player collector once in my life, for a brief period of time. I otherwise was always a set collector. So as I started looking to collect again, it was obvious I would never be able to complete the Monster of T206s, because when would I realistically ever be in position to acquire the Wagner? That's a ton of cards to compile and not have the crown jewel, but I do subset collect T206 Hall of Famers and that been a satisfying and continuing journey.
As I researched sets of the 50s, 60s, even 70s, I just kept coming back to the 1956 Topps set. As an autograph collector, too, the design of the cards just always appealed to me. The combination of the faces, action pictures and replica autograph just gives the card great appeal. I also normally don't like horizontal poses, but again the combination that comes together in this design just really sets it apart. It also became clear from the pop reports (which was something I knew literally nothing about when I first got back into this) that this was a really popular set with collectors, and arguably might be the most popular set of the 50s? There's around 100 pretty active and/or complete registry sets of 1956s, by comparison there's less than 70 or so 1952s. Obviously some bigger rookie card challenges with the 1952, which likely accounts for the difference. Still, 1956 Topps is a staple of vintage card collecting, and I just decided it was the set for me.
So I started the journey in early 2014, with the intent of building a PSA 6 fully graded set. At 342 cards, it was daunting enough but not so overwhelming that I knew it could be achieved with the right level of focus and price discipline. Somewhere around halfway through building an all 6 set I realized that it was probably going to take longer than I wanted, as I needed more inventory availability to move it along. So at that point I "bit the bullet" and decided I would do combo 6s and 7s. By early 2014, I was coming down to the last 20 or so cards to complete my set, and my avg GPA was about 6.5 - so half 6s, half 7s.
Of course at that point, with the finish line in sight, I don't think it's unusual for set collectors to start thinking about "what's next", because you really need that next project to be lined up. Because of some of the variations within the set like the dated team cards, the gray back and white backs, there is some opportunity to go for a "master". But I've never been a "master set" type of guy. I knew I'd be satisfied with the full 342, however it came together. I ultimately finished up that 6/7 combo set in May of 2015, so not quite 18 months from when I started.
I had met a number of cool collectors along the way, people who were also building the set or other vintage collectors who helped me with my set, I had helped them with theirs as well, as I would frequently buy lots of graded 1956s for the ones I needed and just sell the dupes. So in that final stretch, one of the collectors I had gotten close with was working on a full set in 6s. He needed basically all of my 6s except about 20, and I figured what the heck - let's do this thing in 7s. So I sold roughly half my set, and "started over" so to speak.
At this point I had a huge affection for the set and the cards, was really getting in tune with pop reports and which ones were really tough and which ones were "urban legends" of tough. I was also really familiar with centering issues, minor back scarcity, all the little things you discover about a set when you've dug into all the details. And really - PSA 7s are normally really nice cards, so this set collection was really going to be something. But yet again, trying to get them all in a single grade wasn't keeping me quite busy enough, so of course what do I do? I decide to start a second set of all 8s. Now, the entire set is available to me again, and I know I've taken on a multi-year project. So the second half of 2015 was a really busy time, because when you start a clean slate of 342 cards, and have half a set of another, there is always something available to be had. That's where the discipline matters. Anyone with money can take cards down on buy it nows or bid things up, but I was focused on the cost side and was starting to learn more about eye appeal, I wanted the right combination of both. Let's be serious, how many people would ever really study how well centered my Pedro Ramos was? That's again something I enjoy about set collecting, I can take a little bit of a break from the "eye appeal" discussions and just get a nice looking card and feel good about it - even if the centering is 55/45.
And so the search began to finish a 7 set, and build an 8 set. In hindsight, this was probably not the greatest collecting decision I ever made, I mean why didn't I just replace the 6s with 7s and eventually 7s with 8s? Who can say why we really do this stuff? That's the path I chose, and it continued steadily over the next several years into 2018. At that point, I had become a little bit of a "registry monkey" I have to admit, I was constantly looking at the registry and adding my cards so I could climb the all time list. The registry was also such an easy way to keep my "checklists", and really from that standpoint it is very useful. I ultimately completed the all 7 set in October 2016, again not quite 18 months from the "start" of the reset.
Here's actually a post I put together at that time, because I was pretty pumped to have gotten it done. For anyone who collects these sets, you know as the grade goes up it gets much more difficult - and expensive.
https://forums.collectors.com/discus...mment_11580193
So at that point, October 2016, I'm focused on 8s and 8s only. And things slowed down considerably at that point. If you're really going to make a set of 1956 Topps in all 8s work, you have to have the discipline to not overbid on the commons. Just about all of them available in pretty frequent time frames, but the prices can go all over the place. Registry sets were the rage as well at this time, and there were constantly fights over some of the lower pop commons that would send VCP in a tailspin - or should I say rocket ship. And once it goes for $X, everyone wants $X plus 10-15% for the next one, and so on and so on. You must keep the goal in mind, and I'm just not one to chase price on commons. I just won't do it. Stars and HOFers is a different discussion, but the realistically I don't care if I have the best looking Pedro Ramos in an 8 holder, I'm not paying 2X the average just to knock a card down - at least not until the finish line is in sight anyway. So what went from several cards a month slowed to single digits, sometimes even none, but the chase continued. And considering I had a full set of 7s, no need to be in a hurry.
Until August of 2018 rolls around, and someone posts they have a fully graded NEAR set of 1965 Topps, all 8s and a few 8.5s and 9s. It's missing 5-6 cards including some big guys, but 1965 is my favorite set from that decade and I definitely don't have the appetite to take on 598 new cards from scratch, so... some VCP calculating and wheeling and dealing and I swapped my 1956 set of 7s for the near set of 1965s and I'm back to two sets to finish up - all 8s in both. It was tough retiring that set of 7s from the registry, but the 8s were my focus now and I was really excited to have another set to chase - downgrading 8.5s and 9s to 8s for cash to help me pay for the few missing still from the 1965s. And so the chase continues...
Until FINALLY - August 2020 - TWO YEARS LATER - I got this guy in the mail.
He's the LAST CARD I needed to complete my 1956 Topps Basic set in all PSA 8. According to the registry, I'm tied for 27th all time - can you believe that, 27th?!?! - but it's finally done. I plan to spend some time this weekend going through them all again, I'll come back and add pics of the HOFers, but I'm really excited to just enjoy looking at the cards. It's been a trip, a pretty long one really, but it's been really one of the best parts of my collecting life. I get to see singles all the time, have held tons of really expensive cards that are worth more than my whole set of 8s, but I don't know that I would trade the experience of completing this set (again!) for anything.
And no, I'm not looking to upgrade it. I'm good here. And I'm still working on those 1965s, I just have 1 to go on it, too! So who knows, maybe I'll be back soon...