The last card you needed for a set

[HaloFan]

There was a story on this subject in Beckett about 15 years' ago and I never get tired of reading it or hear other set collectors discuss this. I've built quite a few sets over the years and there are a few that are quite memorable.

1938- Jimmie Foxx #273
1954-55 HK - Edgar Laprade #56
1957- Ernie Johnson #333
1973- Checklist #588
1974- Pete Rose #300
1977- Thurman Munson #170
1994- Sean Berry #344
1996- #425

I included some recent sets only because those were the ones I built from packs and visits to card shops and for whatever reason had trouble locating those. In '94, I went through three vending boxes trying to find Berry with no luck. Halfway through the fourth and final box the shop had, I finally found him. Seems rather ridiculous but even with modern cards it can happen.

Most of the last cards involving stars, it just so happens they ended up last as they weren't hard to find. When it starts looking like a common might be my final card, I get nervous as sometimes they can be tough to locate. I have since bought more than one 1957 Ernie Johnson just because it ticked me off that one card was the final card I needed to finish the '57 set.

Craig H

[betafolio2]

My most recently completed set, 1971 Topps, actually came down to two missing cards: 649 and 650. Since I had already waited 28 years to finish the set in NM (yep, I started working on it in 1984), I figured I could be a little more patient until I found the cards I needed that met my tough standards. I ended up getting 649 a few times, but each one had been touched up (people are really getting good at doctoring the cards with a black marker so you can't tell -- but since I had become quite the expert in the '71s, I COULD tell, either with my naked eye or with a loupe). So I kept returning the touched up cards. Eventually I won both of my missing cards at the same time in two set break auctions, and they came from an eBay seller who I knew I could trust. And sure enough, when the cards came, they checked out OK. What a thrill to finally slip those cards into my two empty slots in my '71 binder!