My return to active participation in OBC this year meant that I was once again able to start making major progress towards my sets.
As a result this year has seen the following happen:
- My 50's sets (1954 Bowman, 1955 Bowman and 1956 Topps) all saw some movement as I was able to pickup singles for all including some stars. The biggest deals of the year came when I was able to win a group of trimmed singles from a seller on ebay that let me pickup a 56' Spahn, Kaline, Robinson and several team cards including the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers for a great price. At the end of 2006 these sets all stand at around 40% completion, I would really like to see myself surpass 50% on all these in the coming year.
- I officially started the 1961 and 1968 Topps sets. The first because I had a bunch of singles for a long time and realized their was no sense in stalling much longer once I was able to pick up another big group and surpass my subjective 10% line for set consideration. The second set got it's real start when I was able to pick up the 68' Mantle for a good price and thus ran into a run of auction wins which got me the 68' Carew, Kaline and about 50 more singles before fellow collector Ken Morganti gave me another 40 card boost. The quick start gives me 102 of the 598 card set, so progress has been brisk. I fully intend to bite the bullet at some point this year and pickup the other stars to make my task easier and see how far we can get in a calendar year.
- My 1970 Topps set took some hits, leaving me with only 17 more before some major needs in the semi-high and high number area. At the end of 2006 I need 128 more for completion.
- My 1974 Topps set also took some hits but I expect to see this set dwindle in 2007. At the end of the year this one stands at 91 cards from completion.
- Despite getting the least attention for most of the year, the 1976 Topps set progressed along steadily as I started the year with 15 or so to go and managed to move myself to within one of completion after my most recent acquisitions come in. This set will be done early next year, it's just a matter of getting the All-Time Greats Babe Ruth subset card.
- In the last piece of news directly related to above, I am starting 2007 with the 1975 Topps set on my list. I had managed to get the Schmidt and Steve Carlton cards this year, but with the 76' set practically dead I was able to purchase the Ryan and Hank Aaron Highlight cards to give me a good number of the priciest cards other than the Yount and Brett rookies. I will probably just buy the rookies and remaining big stars this upcoming year and see what I can do about chipping away at all the commons.
So there is 2006 in a nutshell. I would include the counter, but it hasn't changed since my last post. I should have something new to add early in 2007 once New Year's is over and Canada Post gets back to work.
