A 1952 Topps complete set. Starting "the" ultimate post war project

[cardsagain74]

One of the last few high minors picked up: Joe Black.

This card was cheap, though not alarmingly so. But it's not pretty. Between increasing prices (trying to stay on budget for the set), decreasing supply, and impatience to finish the set so much sooner than I expected, I'm starting to let my standards lax. Granted this one doesn't have any of the worst beater-like significant paper loss/tape/writing type damage that I pledged to avoid from the start, but it's still "poor" enough that I would've probably passed on this six months ago.

Am also getting a few more raw highs than I ever planned to. That makes this more exhausting, because I'm still not strong enough at diagnosing fakes/reprints or trimming. I know a lot of people say how obvious intentionally rounded corners, white corner wear, edges that look wrong, and so many other of those characteristics are, but for some of us, it's not as simple to diagnose sometimes as it's made out to be. I stick with longtime sellers with a great history in those spots, but as we all know, that's not foolproof either.

Naturally I'll double check the Black when it gets here, but I don't expect any problems. If anyone disagrees, feel free to let me know!

382/407

[cardsagain74]

Three more commons.

385/407

[Vintageloz]

Hi John

Thanks for the posts and sharing of your journey, it’s been an interesting read for me as I try to do the same (although at a much slower pace!). I started with the goal of completing a PSA graded low number set, which I competed about 2 years ago. I recently decided at give the highs a crack, although at this point I only have 8. The lows I was looking for mid grade (PSA3-6), the highs will most likely by PSA1-3 (the only one of note I have is Mathews in a PSA1). Hoping to focus on it a bit on this in 2021, maybe target 20 or so in the next year. Interesting to read your perspective on lowering your grading threshold as your work through. It’s such a large set and so dictated by availability that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. Good luck with the last few cards, it will be a great accomplishment when you’re done. The question is, where do you go from there?!

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by Vintageloz

Hi John

Thanks for the posts and sharing of your journey, it’s been an interesting read for me as I try to do the same (although at a much slower pace!). I started with the goal of completing a PSA graded low number set, which I competed about 2 years ago. I recently decided at give the highs a crack, although at this point I only have 8. The lows I was looking for mid grade (PSA3-6), the highs will most likely by PSA1-3 (the only one of note I have is Mathews in a PSA1). Hoping to focus on it a bit on this in 2021, maybe target 20 or so in the next year. Interesting to read your perspective on lowering your grading threshold as your work through. It’s such a large set and so dictated by availability that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. Good luck with the last few cards, it will be a great accomplishment when you’re done. The question is, where do you go from there?!

There are few places better to start than the Mathews though While the highs are naturally tough to start at this point in the marketplace, it could be worse. When I looked back at a couple SCDs from the junk wax era, it was surprising to see that low-grade highs (other than Jackie Robinson and, of course, Mantle) aren't that much more expensive than back then. While if someone is trying to start collecting something like PSA 9 or 10 '80s football or '86 Fleer basketball, you're paying like 5-8 times what the HOF rookie cards sold for one year ago

From here, I plan on slowing way down for awhile. Have been fortunate enough to land most of what I hoped to get (across everything). Eventually I want to fill in the entire '51 to '85 baseball sets run, but all the '60s (except '67) and a lot of the '70s remain. But it's the ones I'm least interested in that are left, so it's far from a rush.

[cardsagain74]

One...more...common

It's been almost a year now since the build began. No timetable for what's remaining; will get whatever I can, whenever the deal seems alright.

But highs are pretty picked over at the moment (even a little more than usual)

386/407

[BradW]

This is my first post on the forum, so hopefully I did it correctly. First of all, thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing your knowledge. I am newly re-interested in collecting baseball cards. I grew up in the 80’s and collected my entire childhood (wish I still had my old collection). Collecting sure has changed since then. I have learned so much just reading through the historical posts on this forum.

Like many others, I think the epidemic has given me more time to reflect on the past and card collecting brings with it a sense of nostalgia and a way to fill time. I also hope that it can be a shared experience with my sons (age 5 and 7).

Growing up I collected Topps - coolest thing I ever did was put together a 78 Topps set in the late 80’s. I like the process of set collecting and decided that I want a longer term project to focus on and have embarked on the process of attempting to collect the 52 Topps set. To this day, I still remember being a kid and looking at the 52 Mantle at my LCS and thinking how great of a card it was. Not to mention everyone’s posts on this forum outlining the beauty of this set.

My current philosophy is to attempt to build in a PSA 5-6 (obviously will need to settle for a lot less on a handle full of key cards). I’ve seen on this forum and agree that a well-centered 5 presents very nicely. In the last 2 months I’ve compiled 30 commons (including a few high numbers). Most significant card so far is Herman Wehmeir (red back) in PSA 6 from the Greg Morris auction the other night - cannot wait to get that one in hand.

I’m interested in what others think of what seems like very quick inflation on the prices of the non-Mantle stars (Robinson, Mays, Mathews, Campanella, Wilhelm) in lower grades 2-5. I’d like to pick-up at least one or two of these in the short term to feel a real sense of commitment to the set and a bit of accomplishment. I’m not looking at this as an investment so not concerned with that, but because I am viewing this as a longer term (at least a few year) project I don’t want to rush into buying something if the prices are close to the top of a bubble. The commons and minor stars seem to be fairly consistent on pricing to me so I am going to keep plugging away on those now.

Thanks again for sharing all of you knowledge and I’ll update on my progress as I move forward.

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by BradW

My current philosophy is to attempt to build in a PSA 5-6 (obviously will need to settle for a lot less on a handle full of key cards). I’ve seen on this forum and agree that a well-centered 5 presents very nicely. In the last 2 months I’ve compiled 30 commons (including a few high numbers). Most significant card so far is Herman Wehmeir (red back) in PSA 6 from the Greg Morris auction the other night - cannot wait to get that one in hand.

I’m interested in what others think of what seems like very quick inflation on the prices of the non-Mantle stars (Robinson, Mays, Mathews, Campanella, Wilhelm) in lower grades 2-5. I’d like to pick-up at least one or two of these in the short term to feel a real sense of commitment to the set and a bit of accomplishment. I’m not looking at this as an investment so not concerned with that, but because I am viewing this as a longer term (at least a few year) project I don’t want to rush into buying something if the prices are close to the top of a bubble. The commons and minor stars seem to be fairly consistent on pricing to me so I am going to keep plugging away on those now.

Jackie and Mays have led the way during covid. Low grade ones have tripled in price; when I started last February, I remember noticing that Willie was extremely easy. You had your pick of the litter for a $1000 grade 2. Now if I were starting out, I'd focus on a PSA 4 or 5. Those are a much better value now, as all the new quarantine set collectors have pushed up the lowest grade key cards just to "have the set" as cheaply as possible. Not just in some of the '52, but all over quality vintage during this time.

The other huge cards/other HOFers/high numbers have done about as well as other top of the line vintage (up around 40-80%). And like you mentioned, the minors (except for Minoso and Doby) and commons haven't moved much.

As far as "bubble" talk, naturally it's impossible to time as well as many think. Just like during the junk wax boom, most post-war baseball vintage hasn't exploded like many other bubble-ish items from the modern or other sports worlds. And when things eventually burst in those other areas, that vintage probably won't get hurt nearly as badly on the downside either.

But the thing is, starting out with the '52 now is still awful tough, cause it's so damn expensive that even the "non-bubble" gains have really taxed the bottom line of buying now. You'll have to be very price-conscious and patient (and have your really long-term view) to navigate the possible current pitfalls well enough.