What are the rare, nearly impossible or impossible sets to complete

[Brian Van Horn]

1911 Sporting News.
1932 US Caramel simply because of the Lindstrom, otherwise the set is not too difficult.

[Bicem]

complete master w600 set would be impressive.

a bunch of postcard sets if we are counting those.

[npa589]

Complete set of T210 Series 1-8 has to be up there!

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[philliesphan]

Whether you consider it as a series, or even many of the individual years of sets, Zee-Nuts ranks right up there as impossible or nearly impossible. 1911 Zeenut Bohen is profoundly rare, for example.

[E93]

Nobody has completed an N167 Old Judge set.
JimB

[smtjoy]

Agree on the Zeenut sets and would think a 1918 set would be the toughest, has anyone ever finished it?

I also think these sets are on the extremely hard to complete side (regardless of the amount of money you have to spend)- N167, N172, E107, E270 (Tin Tops and Red Borders), T4, T209-2, 1926 Exhibit, M101-4/5 (any back other than Blank, Sporting News and Famous & Barr).

[barrysloate]

Virtually all of the 19th century photographic sets are impossible to complete. The only one remotely possible is N370 Lone Jack, since it contains only 13 cards. But I've only heard of a single complete one and don't know if it's still intact.

Kalamazoo Bats, G & B's, and Yum Yums are so difficult that it's possible we don't even have an entirely accurate checklist. Some of the cards are unique or only two known so the most somebody could hope for is to acquire most of it.

Among the smaller sets are Four Base Hits and Large Gypsy Queens. Nobody has come remotely close with FBH, but since the large N175 set is only 9 or 10 cards, I wonder if there are any complete ones known.

[Runscott]

For the average collector, it's probably any set other than E95, E96 (or similar), or N162, unless you're talking about a fair- T206 set that doesn't include Wagner or Doyle. Finishing off a rare collection doesn't impress me nearly so much as when a passionate collector on a $20-30K/year income completes a T202 or T206 set after toiling for 10+ years. It's doable, but it's gotta be tough to drop a month's pay on a Demmitt or O'Hara St.L.

[oldjudge]

Barry-Lew sold a complete, albeit trimmed, Large Gypsy Queen set about ten years ago. There is a Kalamazoo Bats set that is two cards short of being complete as we currently know it. N167 is also a small set which could be completed if you are strictly talking about the baseball cards. Like many sets from that era, N167s are really mixed subject sets with actors, boxers, etc., and as such completion is probably very unlikely.

[barrysloate]

Jay- I remember the trimmed set of N175, but was it sold intact or individually? And I knew one collector was very close to completing the K-Bats, but I assumed he was missing a few cards. To be within two of completion is quite an accomplishment.

[sycks22]

Maple crispette set with the tough Stengel to find.

[rainier2004]

T200 of premiums? Not sure how many of these are out there........

[AndrewJerome]

There certainly are several Zeenut sets that are nearly impossible to complete.

1911, 1915, 1918, 1926, 33-36, and 37-38 are all nearly impossible to finish.

However, there is at least one complete 1918 set known.

Andrew