Can anyone honestly say....

[Rickyy]

In my case for some of the 70's set I would say yes (although won't be a killing...I probably will come out ahead by a hundred dollars or two)...because most were bought buy me as kid back in the 70's and I took good care of them....and just filled in or upgraded some cards...as I went along... also for some of the earlier sets I bought near complete or complete series that I needed from old time dealers like Larry Fristch back in the 70's so I did alright.

Ricky Y

[BillP]

I recently decided to upgrade my 71 set to bring it to exmt or so, considered it a condition challenge as the set probably needed at least a 60% improvement. Mainly in the semi high series. Came out spending a good deal of money but I had a lot of fun doing it. I think that although we all want to look at the value of our collections, a lot of us do it for the enjoyment. That's the way I look at my collection.

[bbcard1]

I am currently doing three 1973 sets at that I think I'll do ok on. One is high collector grade (I'll keep it) one is mid collector grade and one is essentially terrible but all the numbers are there. I had about 3000 dupes and started with two full sets.

[eliotdeutsch]

I think in general, the sum of the parts is usually greater than the whole, simply because there are certain buyers who will “pay up” for specific cards.

By buying specific cards, you are competing with the entire market for a single card. The market for an entire set is much smaller, and at the higher dollar prices, buyers want a better deal.

It’s the reason auto shops buy cars for parts and Wall Street mortgage traders slice up cash flows. You want to give each buyer exactly what he wants most and will payup the most for.

[Bigdaddy]

Agreed.

Unless you have some kind of head-start - a childhood collection, a bunch of cards someone gave you or you bought years earlier, etc - then the sum of the parts will always be worth more than the whole. Ask Greg Morris. In general, dealers will buy sets and break them apart to sell, not buy single cards and put sets together. This 'churn' and constant building/breaking apart of sets and the difference in value of the whole vs sum of parts is a singular profit motive for some dealers.

Originally Posted by eliotdeutsch

I think in general, the sum of the parts is usually greater than the whole, simply because there are certain buyers who will “pay up” for specific cards.

By buying specific cards, you are competing with the entire market for a single card. The market for an entire set is much smaller, and at the higher dollar prices, buyers want a better deal.

It’s the reason auto shops buy cars for parts and Wall Street mortgage traders slice up cash flows. You want to give each buyer exactly what he wants most and will payup the most for.