The "Why am I wasting my time/money" thread

[carlsonjok]

I guess for me, it is the 1955 Topps set. I finished the 1956 set three years ago and turned my eyes to 1955. I already had the Koufax rookie, so I figured why not? I'm only 14 cards from completing it, but the Clemente rookie has gone up so much since then that I will never be able to afford it. Of course, the last show I went to I bought the Mays card. Why? No idea.

Similarly, I am not even going to attempt any of the Topps sets prior to 1955 since each has at least one card that is well beyond my means.

[midmo]

I'm working on an extreme miscut 1975 Topps set. I'm over half way done. Don't ask me why, there's no good reason for a human to do this. I'm not heavily invested (money or mind) so if they ever become coveted for some reason I'll just drop it.

[Cmvorce]

Originally Posted by midmo

there's no good reason for a human to do this

That line pretty much sums up my wife’s opinion of everything I do in this hobby.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by Cmvorce

That line pretty much sums up my wife’s opinion of everything I do in this hobby.

Amen.

[ALR-bishop]

Topps 1951 Current All Stars, the 3 unissued cards
Topps 1955 Stamps
Topps 1955 and 56 Hocus Focus baseball.. need 2 of the 55s still
Topps 1961 Dice
Topps 1966 Punch outs ( not 67)
Topps 1968 3D, still need 2 of the unissued proofs and the Prototype
Topps 1970 Cloth
Topps 1971 Rookie Artists Proofs
Topps 1977 the unissued proofs listed in SCD

Fleer- completing the 1923 issue.
Bowman 1949 PCL… one card short

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by midmo

I'm working on an extreme miscut 1975 Topps set. I'm over half way done. Don't ask me why, there's no good reason for a human to do this. I'm not heavily invested (money or mind) so if they ever become coveted for some reason I'll just drop it.

Heh, I love 'em too

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Heh, I love 'em too

I was recently decimated in my heart for coming in low on my snipe on some 75' scrap for my 75' error collection (sadly 252.12 was too low ). I went high but someone else got the same look at the photos I did and saw the gold. I think it's safe to post now for the buyer as I received my Evel Knievel strip from the same seller already. If one of you grabbed this congrats, I have concerns it sadly might have gone to the nut who always snipes these from me and adds them to his ebay museum.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/31359060737...p2047675.l2557

Check these photos -

How many Robin Yount/ George Brett double print rookies do you think are out there?

[ALR-bishop]

Justin---I do not collect errors like these but they are cool

[jchcollins]

My "What the hell am I doing...?" moments with vintage recently seem mostly related to the '67 Topps set.

Historically, I'm not really a set collector - I focus on singles and HOF'ers - but at some point in the last two years, I got the idea that it would be sad if I never tried to build a vintage set. I had already been working on '72, but for the 1960's - I decided I needed not only a set, but perhaps the most difficult one. In retrospect this seems dumb. Truth be told, I don't even like it as much as the '65 Topps design, but noooo, I wanted the "challenge" of the high numbers. And the errors and variations. Not to mention the expensive HOF'ers.

Oh well. I have a decent start because it's generally my habit to go after difficult cards first, and commons in bulk later. So I only have maybe 15% of the set, but have already knocked out the Seaver, Carew, Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Clemente, etc. etc. Even so, the remaining high numbers, especially the SP's (which will come much later...) scare me. With the bubble that just ended, even no-name players in decent shape seemed to be going for well north of $100.

[Tere1071]

Upgrading my 1953 Bowman color and 1971 Topps Baseball sets. My 53 Bowman Color overall is in excellent condition; the Mantle is a newer PSA 4 and the Reese is ungraded but also in vg/ex. I should leave well enough alone, but I am upgrading some commons and minor stars which probably won't make that much of a difference to the set, but could easily run another $500.

The same with my 1971 baseball set. I've replaced some cards three times and now have nearly 1,000 extras as a result with a list of 69 more cards to upgrade and I'll probably do the same for my 1972 and 1975 sets. Compulsive madness!

[Tomman1961]

Off cut like this? PM me and I'll drop it in the mail. It needs a good home. FYI-it has a pretty heafy crease

[midmo]

Originally Posted by Tomman1961

Off cut like this? PM me and I'll drop it in the mail. It needs a good home. FYI-it has a pretty heafy crease

Hey Tom, thanks so much for the card! It fits in my ridiculous set perfectly.

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[skil55voy]

The year 2012 marked my 50th year as a collector. As I have stated in previous posts I sold my sets in 1986 to buy a house. I rebuilt my collection with only Detroit sports teams sets. I decided to build a 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen set to "commemorate" my 50 years of collecting. I've just about given up. I have the Base set with all the variations, the mini base with all the variations gold borders, blue borders etc. However the Trout minis have become ridiculous for the mini Gypsy queen backs and straight cut backs not to mention green and black. I should have just bought a 2012 Topps factory set and been done with it.

[Tomman1961]

Glad I could help. I gotta say, a pretty cool collection. I like it.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by skil55voy

The year 2012 marked my 50th year as a collector. As I have stated in previous posts I sold my sets in 1986 to buy a house. I rebuilt my collection with only Detroit sports teams sets. I decided to build a 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen set to "commemorate" my 50 years of collecting. I've just about given up. I have the Base set with all the variations, the mini base with all the variations gold borders, blue borders etc. However the Trout minis have become ridiculous for the mini Gypsy queen backs and straight cut backs not to mention green and black. I should have just bought a 2012 Topps factory set and been done with it.

I feel your pain. While mainly a 50s and 60s collector, I started liking what I saw from Heritage and A&G. While I resisted the A&G temptation, I attempted to build a few Heritage sets. They are money pits, and I soon discovered I could buy actual vintage cards for the same (or less) money in many cases. I have a couple of base sets, some inserts, and a few SPs from a couple of years, but those SPs won't happen for me unless I find them for sale for much less than I have been seeing.

[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by midmo

Hey Tom, thanks so much for the card! It fits in my ridiculous set perfectly.

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This is insanely amazing! Was there something particularly haywire on the Topps presses in 1975? 1978 is my pet year and I will occasionally look for some miscuts but I've never found more than a small handful.

[midmo]

No idea. Maybe the drugs were good in '75? It probably comes down to one dude working in production not paying attention. Reminds me of when I was in college I took a night job working in an auto parts production plant. The guy giving me the orientation tour pointed out a machine while walking passed it and said a kid working that machine a couple years before caused a major Ford recall.

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

This is insanely amazing! Was there something particularly haywire on the Topps presses in 1975? 1978 is my pet year and I will occasionally look for some miscuts but I've never found more than a small handful.

[egri]

Originally Posted by midmo

No idea. Maybe the drugs were good in '75? It probably comes down to one dude working in production not paying attention. Reminds me of when I was in college I took a night job working in an auto parts production plant. The guy giving me the orientation tour pointed out a machine while walking passed it and said a kid working that machine a couple years before caused a major Ford recall.

That plant didn't build the Pinto, did it?

[butchie_t]

Originally Posted by midmo

No idea. Maybe the drugs were good in '75? It probably comes down to one dude working in production not paying attention. Reminds me of when I was in college I took a night job working in an auto parts production plant. The guy giving me the orientation tour pointed out a machine while walking passed it and said a kid working that machine a couple years before caused a major Ford recall.

The drugs WERE good in 75... At least so I have read about it.

And that set rocks for me quite nicely.

[Tomman1961]

Hmm. I posted a 1975 Madlock to you, but it is way down as last post in thread. Check it out.............