How Did You Arrive At Your Current Collecting Focus?

[RiceBondsMT2Yng]

Pretty fascinating stuff actually. You’ve got the identical origin story of a lot of us but branched off in a different direction, multiverse style. I’ve always wanted to go back and collect the comic cards of my childhood. Could never afford a tin of the original masterpieces as a kid but I got to see some of my rich friends’. Now I feel like I missed that soft time in the market to get all the 91 and 92 and 93 marvel stuff for nostalgia money instead of real money. Would like to pick your brain about masterpieces sometime including which stuff you think will maintain value over time, what sets to buy to break myself that aren’t post-Covid insanity prices, and whether there’s a scryfall-like clearinghouse to get an idea of the universe of pack released cards. If it’s anything like 90s inserts, it’s going to take years of studying to become competent at understanding the genre.

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Not from baseball, so my story probably wont be of interest to most here, but good thread topic.

I collect marvel cards, and have honed my focus down to just one set brand, Marvel Masterpieces. My goal is to reduce my collection to just Marvel Masterpieces. Some familiar with baseball might remember it from the 90s, and may be surprised that they are still making Masterpieces, with a new 2023 set soon to release.

I master-set collect, as in try to get everything ever released for the sets (particularly the 90s ones). This includes not just all the cards and inserts, but also all the promos, prototypes, magazines that had articles about the sets, ads, uncut sheets, store displays, weird knick-knacks, original paintings....everything associated with the sets. Also error cards, which has become my primary focus...talking about misprint errors lacking foil, wrong backs, misaligned foil, etc. They are generally hard to find and nearly unique. I argue that error collecting is basically the end-stage of master-set collecting, as once you have most of the normal stuff to get, that is what's left, the oddball errors that will never be completely collected. I find errors interesting as they reveal some in's and out's of the printing process.

How I got to this point: I started in the 90s mainly collecting baseball, with a little bit of marvel alongside (a combination which was pretty common with kids in the 90s). I stopped after the 90s and resumed around 2010 collecting just marvel. I then decided maybe 5-7 years ago that I my focus was too broad and it would be more fun to narrow down to just one particular set brand, Masterpieces. This would be like in baseball only collecting Topps Chrome, Topps Finest, or Topps Heritage....and nothing else.

[lemmer]

Excuse the bump on an old thread, but I needed somewhere to post this and didn't want to start new one.

The last few years I've bouncing around in the hobby - I completed a few old basketball sets, dabbled in 90s baseball inserts, picked up some nostalgic 1980s-90s RCs, tried being a joe panik player collector, got caught up in heritage action variations...but I just wasn't enjoying it as much as I wanted. Now have a few goals that feel attainable, challenging, and fulfilling.

Singles focus: flagship gold parallels (numbered /20XX) AND heritage action variations/SPs/chromes of my favorite sf giants players from 2008 to present (the year I moved to san francisco). Most years I'm targeting 2-4 players. I'll end up with at least one card from flagship and heritage from 2008 onward, which will be a fun way to document the sets and be able to look back through the designs.

Set focus: pro debut and heritage minors base sets for every year from 2017 to present, hand collated by opening 1-2 boxes and trading.

I can't get away from completing sets. It was 1992-93 upper deck basketball that sealed my fate as a set collector. I have very fond memories of sitting on the floor of my room with my mom, putting cards in binder pages and looking through the checklist to see which players I still needed (christian laettner was the last card I tracked down for that set).

Excited to downsize and have a more defined approach to the hobby, feeling like I can enjoy new sets via a few singles (for MLB) or a few boxes (for MiLB).

[fulltritty]

Money. Everything costs too much now. During COVID, I stopped collecting select vintage cards because the prices exploded. I used to collect tons of sets, but scaled back to just buying Topps Series 1, 2, and Update and trying to put together Holiday, Opening Day, or Big League via opening boxes. I try and PC a Yankee guy that I actually really like and won't cost me an arm and leg to buy.

[jbuck]

Started collecting cards that looked cool of players I liked. Focused a lot on bowman chrome 1st auto’s for a while too.
Now I’ve mostly pivoted to just collecting “high-end” or “rare” Braves cards since they’re my favorite team.


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[Bambino22]

I wanted to take huge risks on just a few players.

I decided two emerging stars and 1 top prospect was the best way for high risk high reward.

I then focused on swing speed and power hitting.

I collect Soto, Alvarez, and Luciano. And no one else.

[cardsin47]

Originally Posted by Bambino22

I wanted to take huge risks on just a few players.

I decided two emerging stars and 1 top prospect was the best way for high risk high reward.

I then focused on swing speed and power hitting.

I collect Soto, Alvarez, and Luciano. And no one else.

I like it!

[RiceBondsMT2Yng]

Originally Posted by lemmer

Excuse the bump on an old thread, but I needed somewhere to post this and didn't want to start new one.

The last few years I've bouncing around in the hobby - I completed a few old basketball sets, dabbled in 90s baseball inserts, picked up some nostalgic 1980s-90s RCs, tried being a joe panik player collector, got caught up in heritage action variations...but I just wasn't enjoying it as much as I wanted. Now have a few goals that feel attainable, challenging, and fulfilling.

Singles focus: flagship gold parallels (numbered /20XX) AND heritage action variations/SPs/chromes of my favorite sf giants players from 2008 to present (the year I moved to san francisco). Most years I'm targeting 2-4 players. I'll end up with at least one card from flagship and heritage from 2008 onward, which will be a fun way to document the sets and be able to look back through the designs.

Set focus: pro debut and heritage minors base sets for every year from 2017 to present, hand collated by opening 1-2 boxes and trading.

I can't get away from completing sets. It was 1992-93 upper deck basketball that sealed my fate as a set collector. I have very fond memories of sitting on the floor of my room with my mom, putting cards in binder pages and looking through the checklist to see which players I still needed (christian laettner was the last card I tracked down for that set).

Excited to downsize and have a more defined approach to the hobby, feeling like I can enjoy new sets via a few singles (for MLB) or a few boxes (for MiLB).

Lovely rundown. I am biased, but that you dabbled in 90s inserts and lost interest is almost inconceivable to me. But I can tell you landed somewhere nicely that brings you happiness. Such a reminder t's really wonderful to have so many little pockets in the hobby that do it for us, all different.

And ofc it helps that I'm also a Giants fan, only with no interest in any card after 2007, coincidentally. Hope you'll continue to keep us updated on where you are. I actually love the idea of seeing how a set design progresses over the years, especially where there is a massive design change year to year.