The "Why am I wasting my time/money" thread

[jmoran19]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Same as you, never saw them before I ventured here. Conventional wisdom has them as a test issue that didn't have much distribution at all. Not sure if any extant (nice word usage) wrappers have been discovered.

One 1971 Greatest Moments wrapper is known. Nice article about the set just posted by David

http://www.thetoppsarchives.com/

I still need 18 of them after all these years and since I’m a sucker for punishment I’m trying to complete the 1971 OPC set too. Finding cards #524 thru #752 is going painfully slow.

John

[ALR-bishop]

I have met another guy who says he has a wrapper. I think Larry Serota has or has a scan of a box. Although I do not think they were retailed, I have seen posts where people say they have cards with gum stains. I think they entered hobby through the Card Collectors Company or other source who ended up with un marketed product. Maybe Dave Hornish knows more.

My set is all ungraded and most of it was acquired before grading became the rage it is now

[ALR-bishop]

From Dave's Blog

https://www.thetoppsarchives.com/sea...test%20Moments

[frankhardy]

For me, I guess the thing that fits the original topic is....I am actually considering spending several hundred dollars on a 1956 Topps.....wait for it...wrapper! I have completed my Topps set run project from 1953 to present. I have a pack for each set down to my birth year of 1975. I have settled for a wrapper from each year to finish the rest. I still need 1953 and 1956. I think it is a neat addition to each set....but....really? It's a wrapper for crying out loud!

Having said all of that, this topic makes me think of my reasoning for participating in this hobby in the first place. I have often thought....why in the world do I collect cardboard pictures of baseball players? I have come to one conclusion. I love baseball....and I love history. I was not good enough to play professionally. To me, this is my personal attachment to the history of baseball. It is my personal historical archive. That is the way I look at it. As far as the financial aspect goes....generally speaking, these little artifacts hold their value. To me, I can be another form of money. If I needed the money, I could just turn around and sell them. Hopefully that doesn't ever happen.

So, with all of that in mind....why would anyone EVER spend ANY amount of money on a 1988 Topps set? Because if you want the complete run of sets, you have to have it. I am just OCD enough for it to drive me crazy if I had a hole like that in my run. As I have said before....I'm just glad they didn't make a Topps set in 1952!

[homerunderby]

Originally Posted by frankhardy

For me, I guess the thing that fits the original topic is....I am actually considering spending several hundred dollars on a 1956 Topps.....wait for it...wrapper! I have completed my Topps set run project from 1953 to present. I have a pack for each set down to my birth year of 1975. I have settled for a wrapper from each year to finish the rest. I still need 1953 and 1956. I think it is a neat addition to each set....but....really? It's a wrapper for crying out loud!

Having said all of that, this topic makes me think of my reasoning for participating in this hobby in the first place. I have often thought....why in the world do I collect cardboard pictures of baseball players? I have come to one conclusion. I love baseball....and I love history. I was not good enough to play professionally. To me, this is my personal attachment to the history of baseball. It is my personal historical archive. That is the way I look at it. As far as the financial aspect goes....generally speaking, these little artifacts hold their value. To me, I can be another form of money. If I needed the money, I could just turn around and sell them. Hopefully that doesn't ever happen.

So, with all of that in mind....why would anyone EVER spend ANY amount of money on a 1988 Topps set? Because if you want the complete run of sets, you have to have it. I am just OCD enough for it to drive me crazy if I had a hole like that in my run. As I have said before....I'm just glad they didn't make a Topps set in 1952!

I totally get the wrappers- it captures the excitement of seeing these on the shelf in the drug store. And these days actually unopened it prohibitively expensive so wrappers make a lot of sense.

Before the hobby got big (think 1981) collecting wrappers was pretty popular, at least more popular than now. Check this out, there was a guy who had a magazine just focused on wrappers. Amazingly he still publishes it!
http://www.thewrappermagazine.com/