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There are a few different approaches to vintage set building, and I plan to run through the pros and cons of them here in this post. At the end I’ll share what has worked best for me.
I love sports cards.
Ever since I was a kid, one of my favorite aspects of collecting has been building sets. From that first 1986 Topps set I put together via weekly packs from the grocery store, to the mid-90s basketball sets I built just prior to taking my hobby hiatus, I loved capturing the full historical snapshot of a season that comes with a complete set.
When I returned to the hobby in 2015, I tried to pick up right where I left off. However, instead of four or five sets to build each year, there were dozens and dozens. That wasn’t going to work.
It took me a few years, but eventually I found my set building passion was focused on vintage sets. There was no doubt I loved these cards. The question was “What is the best way to go about building these sets?”
1) Just Buy the Complete Set
If you’re a no nonsense type of collector and prefer to “see card, buy card”, then the “just buy the complete set” option could be great for you. It is by far the fastest way to get a complete set.
While fast, it also takes the biggest amount of upfront cash. For example, depending on what year you are going after, you can find sets like these on eBay running from about $250 for this 1977 Topps Set to $6-8k for a 1957 Topps Set.
If you’ve got the up front cash on hand, this is probably the cheapest way to get a vintage set. In almost every instance I’ve seen, the cost of the complete set is cheaper than buying the cards individually. You save on the cost of the cards themselves and if you are mainly buying online, the cost for shipping one set is way cheaper than what you’d pay in shipping dozens or hundreds of individual orders.
Saving money is always nice, but there are a couple drawbacks to this approach. First of all, the condition of vintage cards varies widely. There were no factory sets back in the vintage era, so therefore, all of the hand built sets you find, contain cards that have varying levels of condition. Some sellers have done their best to build sets with more consistent condition levels, but unless you’re buying the set in person, it can be hard to know the condition of each and every card.
My 1970-71 Topps Basketball Set
For my vintage set collection, I’m more concerned with having an authentic card. I don’t expect these cards to be perfect. Nor do I want to pay the cost of a Nr. Mt. vintage set, so a little condition variability in my sets is ok with me. It may not be for you, so just keep that in mind.
Another potential drawback, is that while it is overall the cheapest way to get the set, it also takes a larger amount of cash up front. For some collectors, this may mean you have to go weeks or months without buying any cards as you save up for a big ticket purchase.
Finally, some collectors enjoy the hunt and process of putting together a set one card at a time. That enjoyment gets taken away if you are buying a complete set.
2) Commons First, Stars Last
Another popular approach to building vintage sets is to first buy a starter set with a couple hundred cards. It provides a foundation to build off of. Then once you’ve got your checklist created, you can start filling in the holes with commons purchased from Sportlots, COMC, or local shows and shops.
Some collectors who use this approach will also mix in the occasional star or more expensive high number card in their process. You don’t have to necessarily only buy the cheap cards first. The main advantage to this strategy is that you get more regularly add cards to your collection and you get the satisfaction of checking cards off your checklist. For many people, that sense of “accomplishment” is part of the fun.
In my opinion, the only real downside of building sets this way comes up if you aren’t really sure you want to focus on building vintage sets, or are doing so with a primary goal of reselling them.
When I was recently a guest on Jeremy Lee’s Sports Cards Live show show, I had a chance to ask Leighton Sheldon from Vintage Breaks about this. In his opinion, the biggest downside of this approach is that if you lose interest in the set build part way through, the resale value of your partial set will be much lower without the star cards, and it may also be more difficult to sell.
For established collectors, who already know they love vintage sets and have proven to stick to their process to completion, this downside doesn’t seem like that big of an issue. However, if it is your first set or are still figuring out if you like vintage set collecting, you might want to take it into consideration.
3) Stars First, Commons Last
Buying the expensive cards first was Leighton’s recommendation. When you do it this way, you have a bigger up front cost, but you know that regardless of the set building process, you have some significant cards in your collection. If you need to generate some quick cash, you will be able to sell them individually or as a partial set at a higher price than if that partial set was mostly commons.
Some collectors find they enjoy the idea that the “hard work” was done up front. They find closing things out by buying the cheaper and easier to find commons is more fun and relaxing to them. It’s like the happy hour of set building.
I have found, this approach is very common with collectors who started their vintage collections with buying singles of Hall of Famers or other stars. It makes sense right? If you have spent time putting together a collection of vintage stars and then decide to go ahead and complete some sets, of course you’d be using the Stars First, Commons Last approach.
My 1960 Topps Baseball Set
So What Is My Strategy?
For the most part, I use option 2.
When I buy collections, I always set any vintage cards aside. If they are from a set which I haven’t built yet, they go in a box with other “pending set build” cards.
When I’m ready to start focusing on that set, I go through them and put together my starter set. Sometimes I already have a few of the stars and high numbers in that starter set, but more often than not, I end up starting with mostly commons and the more expensive cards are still on my want list.
As a seller, I regularly use my store credit on Sportlots and COMC to fill out my set needs. What I’ve found is that relatively speaking there are fewer stars and high numbers available on those sites, so I’m most often buying the commons and semi-stars first, but I do find competitively priced stars there as well. I prefer to minimize the cash outlay when completing sets, so I use that store credit first to buy as many of my needs as possible and then eventually, I fill out the rest of my sets using eBay, card shops, and shows.
Typically, its the stars I still need. For example, I’m down to only needing 3 cards for my 1959 Topps set. The Koufax, Gibson rookie, and high number Mantle are my last 3. The other set I’m working on right now is the 1966 Topps set, and it’s the high numbers that are still missing. I’ve pretty much cleaned out the Sportlots and COMC inventory, so I’m picking them off one by one on eBay every couple weeks.
I’ve built dozens of vintage sets at this point, so there is no risk of me losing interest. My goal to keep working all the way back to 1951, so my determination to “stick with it” is pretty well established.
Wrapping it Up
So when it comes down to it, there really isn’t a universal “right way” to build vintage sets. It all depends on how you as a collector prefer to collect! It depends on how much cash you have available at any given time. And in reality, you will likely find your vintage set building story will contain a mixture of all three strategies.
If you are a vintage set collector, let me know your approach in the comments below!