Most Collected Set Of All Time

[riggs336]

I suggest it might be 1981 Fleer and Donruss. The busting of the Topps monopoly was big news within the hobby and lots of folks flocked to the new sets. Some of us bought cases to provide college funds for unborn children.

[MR RAREBACK]

1987 topps

[Bill77]

1989 Fleer gotta find that FF Billy Ripken.

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

The OP asked what is the most widely collected/loved/iconic set of all time.

I think that requires three separate answers:

Widely collected: 1989 Upper Deck (or some other late 80s set already mentioned)

Loved: t206 (or 33 Goudey)

Iconic: 52 Topps or 51 Bowman

Even though I much prefer vintage, the only set listed above that I have more than a handful of cards from is 1989 Upper Deck. So affordability and availability definitely lends itself to being ‘widely collected’.

[Republicaninmass]

Run over to the psa registry.


Me thinks 52 wins by a landslide, but havent checked in years

[UKCardGuy]

In an attempt to be partially scientific about it, I ran some quick stats from Ebay (/Sports Trading Cards/ Baseball Cards) for sales of different sets on the basis that the sets that have the most sales are the most popular and hence the most collected.

These are the results...you're mileage may vary.

Search Term Quantity
--------------- -----------
"1971 Topps" 37,195
"1972 Topps" 36,286
"1968 Topps" 33,231
"1975 Topps" 32,306
"1961 Topps" 32,253
"1959 Topps" 31,447
"1969 Topps" 31,272
"1965 Topps" 29,697
"1970 Topps" 29,683
"1964 Topps" 29,092
"1960 Topps" 28,639
"1967 Topps" 27,910
"1973 Topps" 27,002
"1962 Topps" 25,921
"1966 Topps" 22,743
"1974 Topps" 22,669
"1958 Topps" 22,607
"1957 Topps" 21,296
"1956 Topps" 21,248
"1963 Topps" 20,580
"1952 Topps" 13,384
"1954 Topps" 10,639
"1955 Topps" 12,209
"1955 Bowman" 11,098
"1953 Topps" 10,872
"T206" -2020 -reprint 8,688
"Goudey" 7,694
"1953 Bowman" 6,016
"1954 Bowman" 5,289
"1952 Bowman" 5,243
"1951 Bowman" 5,281
"1950 Bowman" 4,116

[steve B]

I think some of those sets lower on the list are only as low as they are because the prices are higher, and there are fewer available cards.

The sales when new would be telling, if we ever got much for figures.

Just as a small reference point, when the small card store that also did a little wholesaling I used to go to was closing he offered me two pallets of 1990 Donruss. Maybe around 100 cases? (I didn't ask)
They would have been $2.01 a box, because the liquidator had offered $2 a box. I probably could have saved a few cents if I took them all....

The number of collectors in the early 90s was amazing, easily enough to support multiple full time stores on many towns. Few lasted, as they were forced to overbuy then clearance to afford the next hot thing that might last a week. The estimate of there being a million collectors is to my mind a very conservative estimate.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

In an attempt to be partially scientific about it, I ran some quick stats from Ebay (/Sports Trading Cards/ Baseball Cards) for sales of different sets on the basis that the sets that have the most sales are the most popular and hence the most collected.

These are the results...you're mileage may vary.

Search Term Quantity
--------------- -----------
"1971 Topps" 37,195
"1972 Topps" 36,286
"1968 Topps" 33,231
"1975 Topps" 32,306
"1961 Topps" 32,253
"1959 Topps" 31,447
"1969 Topps" 31,272
"1965 Topps" 29,697
"1970 Topps" 29,683
"1964 Topps" 29,092
"1960 Topps" 28,639
"1967 Topps" 27,910
"1973 Topps" 27,002
"1962 Topps" 25,921
"1966 Topps" 22,743
"1974 Topps" 22,669
"1958 Topps" 22,607
"1957 Topps" 21,296
"1956 Topps" 21,248
"1963 Topps" 20,580
"1952 Topps" 13,384
"1954 Topps" 10,639
"1955 Topps" 12,209
"1955 Bowman" 11,098
"1953 Topps" 10,872
"T206" -2020 -reprint 8,688
"Goudey" 7,694
"1953 Bowman" 6,016
"1954 Bowman" 5,289
"1952 Bowman" 5,243
"1951 Bowman" 5,281
"1950 Bowman" 4,116

Very interesting, even more interesting is how the rankings on the list change when the number of sales per set is then divided by the number of issued cards from each set...this of course assumes that many of the sales are for single cards. It makes sense that the 71 and 72 sets would have more sales than most of other sets as there were more cards issued in those sets....the 56 set is less than half the size of the 71 and 72 sets yet has sold more than half the number of each of either the 71 or 72 sets.