[frankbmd]

Why does Topps put numbers on their cards? They want you to get them all by buying more packs. Why does Topps have SPs? They want you to buy more packs to get them all. Why does Topps no longer sell gum? Gum stains damage cards and no one putting a set together wants to chew the gum from all the packs they were “forced” to buy.

Factory sets you say. Yup, one and done, but booooooooooring. Keep the shrink wrap intact and never look at the cards to prepare for the 2083 REA Auction.
Problem solved.

To fool around a couple of years ago I put a 1950 Bowman FB set together. I purchased lots and individual cards with only 1 rule. What was the rule? When completed the set was not have cost me more than $8/card. This created an interesting challenge, because I also wanted the set to be as nice as possible, but then again I couldn’t blow my wad on a high grade Graham, Tittle or Baugh.

The chase and the end result were both interesting. I was able to feed the kitty, so to speak, by selling dupes from lots for a modest profit. To stay within my proscribed budget though I did end up with lower condition cards of Graham and Tittle. However my Baugh is respectable. About 40 of the cards are graded and overall the set is EX-EXMT. Less than 10% of the cards are outliers on the low end. I spent less than $1300 on the set and think it would sell as a set for more now.

A more recent project was my mutilated 1955 Topps Baseball Set including both RCs of Clemente and Koufax. Here no effort was made on card condition. It’s raunchy but complete and represents my only true “OBC-like” experience.

So many options on putting sets together other than PSA Registry Sets (UGH!)