Starting out in vintage football

[Laxcat]

I started with the 70's Topps sets. The '72 is far and away the most difficult to complete. I have most of my sets(48-79) in the 85% to complete range. My main focus now: some of the SP's from the '52 large and I would like to pick up some more prewar football. I keep hoping to run into some at a show, but eBay and this forum have been my best avenue for picking stuff up.

Good choice with the Philly sets. Good clean photography, RC's that topps doesn't have, and the sets aren't too big.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Hi Robert, Great news you are diving in! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

My only real card project right now is the Chicle set. I'm 5 cards away, but I'm also working on upgrades at the same time as some nice ones have become available recently at relatively low prices (relative to where they were recently at least). Also looking forward to some time around the holidays to finally finish putting my best of each example from the 84 Topps set (pulled this from packs as a kid) into binders (that's an out of town project - started last Christmas). I only had to buy 1 card from eBay to finish, but I think I still need some inserts - heading into the home stretch on that one at least. No plans to upgrade as I want the ones I collected.

I also really like early NFL and semi-pro (specifically Ohio teams like the Tanks and Armcos) history (specifically 1920-1939). Other than the Chicle set and a few scattered single NFL players here and there (Star Player Candy, Spalding, some strip cards), one would have to dive into other collectables like matchbooks, photos, programs, etc. and I'm not sure if I'll take that plunge yet. Maybe someday.

As a kid in the 1980's I sat at a used book store filing thru boxes of loose miscellaneous cards to gather pre-1976 football for a couple summers. I managed to cobble together an entire 1976 set at 1 penny a card this way. I did not collect baseball because they were 2 or 3 cents. These cards are in PR-G condition, a lot of my cards from the 1970's are beloved beaters.

Fast forward thirty years and the cards are no longer a penny apiece , but I still enjoy set building. While I have been tempted to buy an entire set at auction before (SSA's recent '51 Bowman's set was real nice) I prefer the process. I typically buy large partial sets at auction in the VG/EX range raw. I enjoy trading for commons, and purchase graded stars with good eye appeal, 3-4 cards per set. Usually working on a half dozen sets at any time. My earlier sets 1959-1972 are in much better condition than those I gathered as a youth, but hard to say which I like more in the collection.

Most importantly, have fun!