Collecting sets you can't complete

[darkhorse9]

I'm a set collector, so completing a set is the only reason I even start a set.

I'm only five cards away from completing my 1949 Bowman set. The Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige are simply out of my budget for now. I'll be pausing that effort and moving on. I doubt I'll ever complete it. This one frustrates me, but it's the only Bowman set I haven't completed.

Other sets simply aren't worth completing even if I can. I'm thinking the 1960 Leaf set. The second series cards are overpriced and the set isn't a high demand one anyway. I'll stick with series one on that one.

I actually tried to complete a Salutation Exhibit set with all the variations. I got within eight cards of it and realized completing it wasn't important since no one actually collected that as a set anyway. The individuals were greater than the sum. So I went ahead and broke it up to work on other ventures.

[Exhibitman]

1968 Atlantic Oil contest cards. There are 40 base cards and ten prize-winners (well, 11 if you count a redemption card that could be traded for a stats booklet at the gas station). Here is the redemption card:



It is tough but not rare.

I've seen a handful of winner cards in 30+ years of chasing the set, nearly all of which were the $1 winners Osteen and Wilson. The only higher $ prize I found was this one, which is for the 2nd highest prize:



But I keep looking...

[David W]

I was doing the post cereal cards for a while, but just got tired of chasing the short prints. While , not impossible. I just don’t feel like paying hundreds of dollars for common players I could care less about.

And I’ve got a lot of the Atlantic oil cards, but like Adam said, I just got tired of chasing cards that probably don’t exist or that there’s only one or two out there

[raulus]

I think a lot of this comes down to personal temperament and whether you can be at peace with being "mostly" done, even if you might never be completely done.

Most of my player master set registries are nearly done, but might never really be done, due to a few pieces that may never become available to me. Or if they do come up, the potential seller might decide to only part with it for six figures, which is unlikely to work for me. Certainly my Master Mays set could come down to that, with 2 pieces left to find.

https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...timeset/290520

I'm also just a few cards away from completing some other very difficult sets, realizing that I might never get there, either due to the last pieces never being available, or I might just not be willing to spend the serious cash required to land the final pieces, including:

1971 Bazooka Numbered (46/48)
1973 Topps Comics (23/24)
1954 Stahl-Meyer (11/12)
1953-1954 Briggs Meats (35/40)

For that matter, my quest to collect the full set of 1963 Jell-O Complete Boxes is almost certainly futile, particularly since I only have 6 of 200, and progress is glacial at best.

But in every case, I'm having plenty of fun collecting these sets, even knowing that my odds of actually getting to 100% aren't very good. Confession: I'm also not someone who lives and dies by getting stuff 100% done. I'm usually pretty okay with getting most things 90-99% done, moving the goal posts, and calling it done.

Why let perfection be the enemy of pretty darn good?

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by raulus

But in every case, I'm having plenty of fun collecting these sets, even knowing that my odds of actually getting to 100% aren't very good. Confession: I'm also not someone who lives and dies by getting stuff 100% done. I'm usually pretty okay with getting most things 90-99% done, moving the goal posts, and calling it done.

Why let perfection be the enemy of pretty darn good?

I agree. Part of me likes to wrap things up and put a bow on it, but when the cost of the bow becomes too much, I'm fine with 'pretty darn good'.

For example, I'm collecting the 1964 Topps Giants signed set. Right now at 58/60 and missing only Clemente and Dick Ferrell. We all know about Clemente autos and the Ferrell is actually very tough as he moved to England shortly after retiring and died at an early age, making his cards pretty scarce - and expensive. At least more than I'd be willing to pay for a common autograph. His main issue Topps autographed cards are actually reasonable.

So I'm good at 58/60 and enjoy the set -2.

[RayBShotz]

Originally Posted by darkhorse9

I'm a set collector, so completing a set is the only reason I even start a set.

I'm only five cards away from completing my 1949 Bowman set. The Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige are simply out of my budget for now. I'll be pausing that effort and moving on. I doubt I'll ever complete it. This one frustrates me, but it's the only Bowman set I haven't completed.

I feel your pain.
Actually affording to complete some sets has risen as a problem with the escalation of the major HOF'ers over the last handful of years.
RayB

[doug.goodman]

I put together complete sets of all the Topps baseball sets from 1948 thru 1992 including variations and insert sets. I started with my dad buying me packs in 1972 or so, graduated to buying my own packs, and eventually started hitting dozens, if not hundreds of card stores across the country on my travels (back when every town had at least one). When I got to a point where the only cards I was missing were too expensive for the lovely wife to approve the purchase (yes, I asked) like the Mantle 1952 FTC variations, or "impossible" like the dice game cards, I sold the entire thing and now I'm working on completing the m113 and m114 sets.

Doug "call me crazy" Goodman

[ALR-bishop]

Admit it Doug, you just could not keep up with all the new variants

[irv]

With just 2 cards remaining to complete my 52 Topps set, I highly doubt that it will ever happen? Purchasing a Hoyt Wilhelm is one thing but trying to land an acceptable copy of Eddie Mathews is another.

About 35+ yrs ago now my father gave me 148 of them, and since 2016 I have amassed 257 (not counting dupe black backs and error cards) of them to get me down to those 2 remaining.

Hindsight being what it is, if I could got back and change how I collected those 257, I certainly would start at the high numbers first instead of going after the commons like I did.
With the current exchange rate at roughly 40% now and crazy shipping fees, (which also seem to be the norm now) my dream of ever owning them and completing my set gets more bleaker everyday. My dad is now 85 and I was trying hard to complete the set for him, and although, thankfully, he is still in good health, I know my days are numbered of ever doing so.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by irv

With just 2 cards remaining to complete my 52 Topps set, I highly doubt that it will ever happen? Purchasing a Hoyt Wilhelm is one thing but trying to land an acceptable copy of Eddie Mathews is another.

About 35+ yrs ago now my father gave me 148 of them, and since 2016 I have amassed 257 (not counting dupe black backs and error cards) of them to get me down to those 2 remaining.

Hindsight being what it is, if I could got back and change how I collected those 257, I certainly would start at the high numbers first instead of going after the commons like I did.
With the current exchange rate at roughly 40% now and crazy shipping fees, (which also seem to be the norm now) my dream of ever owning them and completing my set gets more bleaker everyday. My dad is now 85 and I was trying hard to complete the set for him, and although, thankfully, he is still in good health, I know my days are numbered of ever doing so.

I really hope you land a nice Eddie sometime.

[ALR-bishop]

Dale— pick up a couple of reprints as fillers until you can snag the last two