When is a collection an official player collection?

[chris_ac]

I'm posing a question I've been thinking about. I'm asking about the beginnings of choosing a player and you just start accumulating. Could be slow if you enjoy quality much more, or could be quickly when you add simple base cards and cheap inserts/parallels or basic jersey cards from the get-go.

So my question is when are you confident in having a player collection in terms of quantity threshold. Many collectors have a few cards of several players for diversity and so forth, but at what point is it a Player PC?

I gave some round card totals in a poll, so let me know if I'm way off or close by voting and/or commenting. I know many start player PC's but change their mind due to injury, switching teams, or just poor performance to make you less excited about your support.

P.S. This has nothing to do with super collecting. This is the front end of your journey to acquire cards of your favorite player.

Any and all comments are welcome. Purely a debate spurned by curiosity

[jifengjeff]

This is a very good question, i'll go with the minimum amount since i don't have a lot of cards ：）

[jcardstore]

I don't think there's a set quantity. It's all about what you feel. If you have one monster card of your favorite player it's a player collection if you want it to be

[jifengjeff]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

I don't think there's a set quantity. It's all about what you feel. If you have one monster card of your favorite player it's a player collection if you want it to be

Agreed

[Oldschool42]

Depends on your level of OCD.

[IronMonkey415]

Once you have 5 cards of that player, it's a start of a collection.

[chris_ac]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

I don't think there's a set quantity. It's all about what you feel. If you have one monster card of your favorite player it's a player collection if you want it to be

I appreciate the generous definition, but if it was one card, even a rookie Logoman Auto 1/1, and that's the end of it, then the realization of a player PC and the uniqueness of them by the acquisitions would unravel because if all the cards in my collection where I have 1 card of said player is player PC, then my level of reality falls apart. Of course I know some hate the term super collector for people with big collections, unless it's finitely complete.

[chris_ac]

Originally Posted by IronMonkey415

Once you have 5 cards of that player, it's a start of a collection.

Should've shot for lower with my first option Who knew 25 cards is full bore

[smalltown]

Any amount you want.

[bblaue1]

When you start paying 25 times the cards value just because you need another one "off the list"


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[JMarchand1981]

When you consider it one....

[Bigalloyd13]

[QUOTE=bblaue1;11752225]When you start paying 25 times the cards value just because you need another one "off the list"


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I got a good laugh out of this lol

[Bigalloyd13]

It can mean different things to different people. I don't buy the whole if you think your a super-collector you are automatically one just because you think you are one. Quality over quantity.

[AbraCalabro]

I would say 5-25 cards, I would hardly consider 1 card a player collection. Anything below 5, you're just blowing smoke. 1 card, definitely not a player collection, according to that logic I have player collections of MJ, Hill, Iverson, Garnett, Duncan, Kemp, Shaq, Shareef, Damon Stoudamire, Penny Hardaway, Keith Van Horn, so on and so on...actually, no, I have more than one card of each of those players.

Hey man look at my car collection! brb one Toyota in the garage.

Hey man look at my comic book collection! brb one comic book.

Hey man look at my dvd collection! brb one dvd.

Hey man, look at all my wealth! brb one dollar.

Heyyyyy, check out my video game collection! brb Super Mario Land for Gameboy and no game boy, JUST the video game cartridge.

Hey bro, peep my swag sneaker collection! brb one sneaker, not even a pair, just one sneaker.

Hey dude, want to see pics of all my old girlfriends? brb your hand brushed up against a girl in the lunch line one time in third grade, never had a GF, only grainy pic of ONE girl from year book in 1982.

Honey, did you pick up the chicken for tonight's dinner party? Yep! Sure did! brb ONE chicken breast.

[jifengjeff]

Originally Posted by AbraCalabro

I would say 5-25 cards, I would hardly consider 1 card a player collection. Anything below 5, you're just blowing smoke. 1 card, definitely not a player collection, according to that logic I have player collections of MJ, Hill, Iverson, Garnett, Duncan, Kemp, Shaq, Shareef, Damon Stoudamire, Penny Hardaway, Keith Van Horn, so on and so on...actually, no, I have more than one card of each of those players.

Hey man look at my car collection! brb one Toyota in the garage.

Hey man look at my comic book collection! brb one comic book.

Hey man look at my dvd collection! brb one dvd.

Hey man, look at all my wealth! brb one dollar.

Heyyyyy, check out my video game collection! brb Super Mario Land for Gameboy and no game boy, JUST the video game cartridge.

Hey bro, peep my swag sneaker collection! brb one sneaker, not even a pair, just one sneaker.

Hey dude, want to see pics of all my old girlfriends? brb your hand brushed up against a girl in the lunch line one time in third grade, never had a GF, only grainy pic of ONE girl from year book in 1982.

Honey, did you pick up the chicken for tonight's dinner party? Yep! Sure did! brb ONE chicken breast.

Hahahaha

[kingmogul]

Originally Posted by bblaue1

When you start paying 25 times the cards value just because you need another one "off the list"


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exactly what this guy said.

[rats60]

With the number of sets released each year for the last 20-25 years, it should be pretty easy to get to 100+. Maybe if it is a rookie, you could say 25+, but for anyone that has been in the league very long, I would say 100.

[NickM]

When you start searching on ebay or comc with just the player's name (last name or full name, or first name if it's unusual) as the search term.

[JasonM32]

In my opinion a PC can start with as little as one card. If you decide to build a collection of a certain player, one is enough. Focusing one's mind on the goal is what matters.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step". -Lao Tzu

[chris_ac]

Originally Posted by bblaue1

When you start paying 25 times the cards value just because you need another one "off the list"


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Yep. I understand that. Overpaying comes into it a lot. Maybe not 25x, but yeah.

Originally Posted by NickM

When you start searching on ebay or comc with just the player's name (last name or full name, or first name if it's unusual) as the search term.

This I definitely get. Keeping search terms broad is a must. I can scroll fast past the junk listings in my mind.

[Digerati]

Originally Posted by JasonM32

In my opinion a PC can start with as little as one card. If you decide to build a collection of a certain player, one is enough.

This.

[8collector34]

Officially

When you have more in quantity or quality of a player than the average collector. I had 25+ cards of more than 50 players back in the 90s, not including the 7 players I PC'd, but only had +100 of PC players. And I think in the 90s more players had cards released of them.

Unofficially

If you have at least one card in your collection with no intention to sell.

[buckunteer]

Originally Posted by 8collector34

Officially

When you have more in quantity or quality of a player than the average collector. I had 25+ cards of more than 50 players back in the 90s, not including the 7 players I PC'd, but only had +100 of PC players. And I think in the 90s more players had cards released of them.

Unofficially

If you have at least one card in your collection with no intention to sell.

I don't know about the "unofficially" portion. I have a Clyde Drexler buyback auto that I love and have no intention of letting go- but it's for my dream team auto PC, not a player PC. Maybe that's true notwithstanding set collections or other themed PCs?

[8collector34]

Originally Posted by buckunteer

I don't know about the "unofficially" portion. I have a Clyde Drexler buyback auto that I love and have no intention of letting go- but it's for my dream team auto PC, not a player PC. Maybe that's true notwithstanding set collections or other themed PCs?

Yeah, it depends on the intention. Of cours if you have a Dream Team auto colletcion with just one card of Michael Jordan and no intention of adding any other card. It is not really a Dream Team auto collection, is it? But it can be an unofficial Dream Team collection, as it exists in you head, but not really recognized by anyone else in the hobby as a legit Dream Team collection.

[derotter]

Imho, there are two different faces :

- if you're willing to add, buy, trade for BASE cards which can be ugly, boring or simply not attractive to other cards collectors' eyes, then you have an official player collection. So here it's more about the quantity for the 'Completionist'

For 'Selectors',

- when you start having one 'key' card in each known category (RC, auto, patch, 1/1...), so at least 5 cards total

You can mix those two faces, trying to get all base or parallel cards of a particular player, while spending money only on his key cards.

At the end, an official player collector will prefer to keep a card of a certain player, even if he deeply knows there is better investment, better players or just better cards of other players around.