New to the forums and vintage collecting, starting my first project!

[VinTX]

hi everyone...I guess first I'll introduce myself. My name's Travis (though most just call me T) and I live in the Phoenix area. I've been into card collecting off and on for about 10 years but the new stuff has just lost its appeal to me. The industry has shifted too much towards only being about the "big hit" and most other cards just don't have any value at all anymore...I decided I'd had enough.

So I knew that I wouldn't be able to just walk away from collecting altogether, so I decided that I'd venture into vintage collecting as I've always loved the look of them and they don't have any of the flaws of modern cards.

Over the years anytime I've ever looked at old cards, one design has always caught my eye as being one of the best looking old sets of all of em. The 1955 topps baseball. I love these cards! So for my first vintage project, I decided to dive right in and start working on putting this set together!

So far I've got a little less than 90 cards towards the set. I won't post them all up here, but I thought I'd post a couple of the highlights and then as I get new stuff in I'll put some pics up of those as well.

I'll post a link to my photobucket album at the end of this thread so you can take a look at everything I have in the set so far if you'd like to

As far as what I've got so far, these are probably my two best...

#123 Sandy Koufax RC


#124 Harmon Killebrew RC


thanks for the read! Look forward to hearing your comments and I'll keep the thread updated with new acquisitions!

http://s1193.photobucket.com/albums/...omplete%20Set/

*sorry the photos are kind of huge...I'll try to fix that with future posts

[Ease]

Nice cards, and welcome!

[mintacular]

Classic set, got to like the "big" cards pre-57. Lots of HOFers/rookies. Nice Koufax/Killebrew. Good luck. Here's my one and only '55 card:



P.S. Not to sound like a wet blanket but be REALLY careful about building complete vintage sets and make sure you want to tie your $ up on a particular set...I've done so with the '57 and don't regret it all but have also fell into the trap of set building and ended up spending hundreds+ on common cards, etc. that in retrospect I later wish I spent elsewhere. For me, I think one or two full sets is achievable but the rest of my disposable income I would rather spend on a handful of key cards/rookies from each vintage set rather than spending that $ on commons/short prints, etc from one particular set just to finish that set....JMO

[ls7plus]

Agree with Patrick about spending big $$$ on quite a few commons, but then again, I collect stars and hall-of-famers, with an emphasis on prewar. A lot of the guys here are set collectors, however, and I also understand the appeal of that approach: you've essentially recreated the whole panorama of the single season (or group of seasons--see the 1926-1929 Exhbits Postcard backs, for example). It just depends on what you like, and whether your focus is on maximizing value appreciation over time or pure personal enjoyment. There's no right or wrong approach.

Personally, I think the '55's are the most beautiful set Topps ever produced. Sold some of them in high grade off a few years back, and regretted it, although the values may have declined. Still have the Killebrew rookie in PSA 8, since he's one of my favorite players and a most gracious gentleman to meet at autograph shows.

Larry

[cdn_collector]

Should I ever develop the ability to focus my collection for longer than a month, '54, '55 and '56 Topps sets are all on my hit list [for fun, not investment]. All three sets boast spectacular cards.

My only '55 currently is Jackie Robinson, of which I do not have a scan handy.

Great looking start you've got going based on that album though.

Good luck with the rest of the project!

Regards,

Richard.

NB. Anyone know who the 4 unissued '55 Topps cards were supposed to depict?

[VinTX]

Originally Posted by Ease

Nice cards, and welcome!

thanks Ease, I appreciate it!

Originally Posted by mintacular

Classic set, got to like the "big" cards pre-57. Lots of HOFers/rookies. Nice Koufax/Killebrew. Good luck. Here's my one and only '55 card:



P.S. Not to sound like a wet blanket but be REALLY careful about building complete vintage sets and make sure you want to tie your $ up on a particular set...I've done so with the '57 and don't regret it all but have also fell into the trap of set building and ended up spending hundreds+ on common cards, etc. that in retrospect I later wish I spent elsewhere. For me, I think one or two full sets is achievable but the rest of my disposable income I would rather spend on a handful of key cards/rookies from each vintage set rather than spending that $ on commons/short prints, etc from one particular set just to finish that set....JMO

Nice Clemente!! hoping to get my hands on one of those sooner than later for my set...pretty much smooth sailing after that one, lol. Good advice about the set building. I'm planning to try and do a little of both. Work on a set and then spend some time just picking up some nice singles until I feel the urge to work on a set again

Originally Posted by ls7plus

Agree with Patrick about spending big $$$ on quite a few commons, but then again, I collect stars and hall-of-famers, with an emphasis on prewar. A lot of the guys here are set collectors, however, and I also understand the appeal of that approach: you've essentially recreated the whole panorama of the single season (or group of seasons--see the 1926-1929 Exhbits Postcard backs, for example). It just depends on what you like, and whether your focus is on maximizing value appreciation over time or pure personal enjoyment. There's no right or wrong approach.

Personally, I think the '55's are the most beautiful set Topps ever produced. Sold some of them in high grade off a few years back, and regretted it, although the values may have declined. Still have the Killebrew rookie in PSA 8, since he's one of my favorite players and a most gracious gentleman to meet at autograph shows.

Larry

I agree with you Larry, I love the 55's! For me, its kind of a combination of factors. There's obviously a great deal of personal enjoyment for me in it and that great sense of accomplishment when a set is finally finished, but I also look at long term appreciation in value as a factor too. So I just have to find that happy medium, lol. Thanks for the comment!

Originally Posted by cdn_collector

Should I ever develop the ability to focus my collection for longer than a month, '54, '55 and '56 Topps sets are all on my hit list [for fun, not investment]. All three sets boast spectacular cards.

My only '55 currently is Jackie Robinson, of which I do not have a scan handy.

Great looking start you've got going based on that album though.

Good luck with the rest of the project!

Regards,

Richard.

NB. Anyone know who the 4 unissued '55 Topps cards were supposed to depict?

Don't have a clue about the 4 unissued...might have to look into that. Wonder if one of them was slotted for Mantle in the hopes they could steal him away from Bowman?

I really like the 54 and 56 sets too along with the 53's. Just something about those particular sets that really grabs my attention. Second to those among my favorite topps baseball sets is the '62 which I may someday start working on.

Would love to see a scan of ur Jackie! Haven't gotten to that one yet in my set but I'm sure you'll be seeing a scan of it in this thread sooner or later!

[darrend505]

Your burning through the set pretty quickly! I have been working on a 1954 Bowman set for about a year and a half off and on. I am down to only missing 35 cards, but in the meantime I have finished 5 other vintage sets. 1973-1977 Topps! Enjoying your progress, keep it up!

[Exhibitman]

Great project, one that I completed and abandoned about 25 years ago. That 1955 Teddy Ballgame is perhaps my favorite Topps card of all time. Just a perfect composition right down to the team logo mirroring his follow-through. Close second in the set, for me, is Mays. Only gripe I have is that a lot of the cards used the same head shots as the 1954s.

[VinTX]

Originally Posted by darrend505

Your burning through the set pretty quickly! I have been working on a 1954 Bowman set for about a year and a half off and on. I am down to only missing 35 cards, but in the meantime I have finished 5 other vintage sets. 1973-1977 Topps! Enjoying your progress, keep it up!

Thanks darrend! Yeah I've gone thru this one pretty fast...my next project will take much longer but will be even more enjoyable

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Great project, one that I completed and abandoned about 25 years ago. That 1955 Teddy Ballgame is perhaps my favorite Topps card of all time. Just a perfect composition right down to the team logo mirroring his follow-through. Close second in the set, for me, is Mays. Only gripe I have is that a lot of the cards used the same head shots as the 1954s.

Yeah the 54's and 55's have pretty similar designs but I really like em both. Thanks for the comment Exhibitman!

[almostdone]

I just wanted to join in this discussion. The first venture into vintage collecting I had was to build the '55 Topps set. My resons were slightly nieve but I took on the challenge none the less. Small set and no Mantle to worry about. It took about 2 years for me and loved it until I found myself worrying about all those commons. I ended up selling all of the commons off in one lot to help pay for my honeymoon. My only regret was I didn't think to takes some pictures to remember the experience. Great collection and I wish you luck. Keep the pics comming. It brings back good memories.
Drew

[VinTX]

Originally Posted by almostdone

I just wanted to join in this discussion. The first venture into vintage collecting I had was to build the '55 Topps set. My resons were slightly nieve but I took on the challenge none the less. Small set and no Mantle to worry about. It took about 2 years for me and loved it until I found myself worrying about all those commons. I ended up selling all of the commons off in one lot to help pay for my honeymoon. My only regret was I didn't think to takes some pictures to remember the experience. Great collection and I wish you luck. Keep the pics comming. It brings back good memories.
Drew

ask and ye shall receive! lol. I just got a bunch in the mail today from my recent shopping binge on ebay, lol. Up to about 86% of the set in hand now. Added all of the pics to my photobucket (link in signature). I'll keep em comin til its done!