The Set Builder Slog.... 1953 Bowman Edition

[STL1944]

Almost four years ago I started by journey of putting together a 1953 Bowman Color set. I was getting back into the hobby and just LOVED how the colors popped and the simplicity of the design. The set is awesome!

What started out as just putting together a raw set became a quest to put together a nice mid-grade PSA set which has now evolved to wanted to build a top 20 registry set... (yes I am one of the suckers that am chasing overpriced high grade commons...)

My question to the other set builders out there is how do you handle the slog which comes towards the end of building a set? I am three cards away from completing the set (#112, 128 & 129). It has probably been 5 months since I bought anything.

What do you do?

- Do you bit the bullet and just buy something overpriced from Dean or another one of the high dollar BIN eBay sellers?

- Start working on another set?

- Just be patient and wait?

[Volod]

My advice to you is to start drinking heavily....no wait, that was another situation. I would say the latter two of the options you listed. Working on another set will relieve your OCD about the '53's to some extent, and assuming that you are still relatively young, it is very possible that ancient collectors like me will move on to the great cardshow in the sky and their heirs will want to liquidate the remnant moldy assets as quickly as possible, which might result in a juicy set break on the Bay or elsewhere. Patience is a virtue that is especially rewarding in this hobby.

[savedfrommyspokes]

On most sets, I agree with Steve that the last two options together are a good approach. I have completed many sets and that is the approach I have used. However, I am 25 HI #cards short of completing a PSA 5+ 52 Topps set. Because of the cost of these mostly commons, saving enough funds to afford these cards cause me to be patient and wait. In addition to waiting for affordable copies of the remaining cards to show up, my patience is at it's peak.

[bxb]

Jim, I too am building this set. I built the raw set over 5 years, then got some graded and have been working on a graded set for 2 years.

I take a slightly different viewpoint - the 3 you need are quite tough to find, I would consider splurging a bit for those 3, they only come up once or twice a year mid grade with decent centering.

[commishbob]

I have found it verrrrry difficult to overcome the urge to overpay for the last cards in a set. With my '59 and '58 builds I hurried to finish without regard to getting value for my $$. But as time has gone by I've gotten better at it. What I've done has been, as noted by others, is to begin my next set and walk away from the nearly completed one for a bit. Then I'll add a card or two here and there.

I'm down to just a handful of needs for my 1970 basketball set so when I troll eBay or COMC for my many 1979 needs I will add a card from that hoops set if I can. When that one is done and my '79 set gets closer to completion I will shift focus to my 1962 set as my 'one at a time slowly' goal.

I have starter lots of '61 and '75 baseball and a stack of '54 Bowman football which I haven't even looked at yet. I'll take them on one at a time as I finish my three currently 'open' sets. It's like an endless chain. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[hcv123]

The first questions I would ask myself are 1)how available are the cards I'm looking for in the condition I'm looking for them in? 2) When they come up for sale in that condition, what have they sold for (looking for sales within a 12 month time frame - vcp or PSA auction history).

If the cards as Larry suggested earlier rarely come up for sale or are within about 20% of what they sold for and available from a "high priced seller", I would probably pull the trigger. If they come up a little more regularly or are "available" -but grossly out of line (>20% over) with past sales - I'm going to anticipate waiting 6 months to a year to try to buy them right.

The tougher the card (given the condition I want it in), the more likely I am to have an itchy trigger finger. The easier the card, the more likely I am to have great patience.

[rats60]

I would just buy PSA 6s that are on EBay and then upgrade later. For me, it is a relief to be completed. I just completed a t205 set that I had been collecting for over 30 years, although I was really only trying to complete it for the last 4 years. I ended up taking some lower graded cards because the cards weren't available in the grade I wanted. I have found that it isn't too hard to sell the old ones when I find better graded ones.