Strategy for acquiring high grade commons when set building

[SAllen2556]

I love the '72 set, by far my favorite of the 70's, and have been working on it myself forever - like 30 years or so!! Not to rain on your parade, but if I had to do it all over again, this would be the absolute LAST set I would try to put together piece by piece.

In the long run, 787 total cards with those damn high numbers (if you're trying for mint condition) will cost so much that you're way better off buying the entire set somewhere and then maybe doing some upgrading. The "parts" of this set cost way, way more than the "whole". It's a huge set and for some reason the book value does not seem to take this into account. I think it's the #1 set for buying and reselling card by card. Good luck though!

I think the Clemente might be my favorite all-time card:

[Zach Wheat]

Good question. I always try to buy commons in high condition bulk lots. I am not so much worried about trimmed cards or reprints, etc. but it is much easier to get good looking commons in bulk.

Then you end up with a bunch of cards to trade or sell on the N54 BST.

Z Wheat.

[Griffins]

I did exactly what Scott suggested- bought the '72 set complete, and then upgraded by buying vending lots. Too big a set to go one by one, the shipping alone will kill you doing it that way.

[almostdone]

Originally Posted by Griffins

. Too big a set to go one by one, the shipping alone will kill you doing it that way.

Excellent point. Even if you average $1.50 per card for shipping, which seems low, you will shell out over a grand just to get to your house!
Drew