The secret to amassing an affordable collection in today's market is two-fold: first, if you have a limited budget, the rule is to stay away from buying expensive packs of cards. Yes, you may be lucky and strike it rich when you gamble on high-end packs and manage to find a rare "insert" card, but there is no worse feeling then when you've ripped open a pack and discover that you've blown your hard-earned money on a bunch of "commons." Therefore, you are probably better off targeting single individual cards or save up and purchase "factory sets".
These cpmplete base sets are produced by the manufactures and an economical way of aquiring all of your heros. Most manufactures then release "special sets" through out the season in limited quantities. The limited amounts drive the price of these sets up, but this doesn't necessarily mean these sets will retain their value, so be careful. The same rules apply for these type of sets as it does for purchasing packs.
The third savvy rule in today's market environment is to stay away from card stores that sell individual cards at full Beckett price. Beckett is the universally referenced price guide that quotes the book value of individual cards. Since card stores usually have high overheads tied up in rent and wages, they normally charge customers the full Beckett price ( in Canadian dollars instead of US dollars). The important thing to realize is that you should generally not settle for any price higher than around 25 per cent to 75 per cent of the Beckett book value because this adjusted price range is usually within what the real market value lies.
To seek out the lower market prices, try to go to card shows or exhibitions on weekends. Another alternative is to find great deals on the internet, although the prices tend to be in US dollars and shipping costs will negate part of the savings.
However, you may find hidden treasures just by simply digging out your old dusty collection out of the basement. For instance, suppose you are from Hamilton and like to collect cards of local hero Tim Horton. Then, formerly non-descript common cards of Tim Horton suddenly have special meaning attached to them. A 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee AS Tim Horton card is listed at $15US in the Beckett guide, but locally you might get $20US. Just for the record his 1951-52 Parkhurst RC is listed at $600US but goes much higher.
I started collecting for fun about 1976-77 and stopped about 1982. In that time I poured every cent of my $3.00 a week allowance in to my "habbit". In that time I probably opened a couple hundred packs and when I sold my box of memories at the local card shop in 1989 and three partial sets on E-bay in 2004 , my treasure box amassed the grand total of $440. Not a bad return on my original $40.
I started collecting again in 1990 as my "allowance" for my hobby grew slightly. I have managed to find some great deals at the aft mentioned place on complete sets and individual cards. My hobby has grown into more of a gathering of insurable cards to add to my future retirement earnings, since I doubt there will be much of a Canadian Pension Plan left when I retire. Anyway, I've scrapped and scrimpt to put a decent collection together of mostly "O-Pee-Chee/Tops" brand sets and individual cards from 1969-70 up to 2003-04 with some "Parkhurst" individual cards from the 1950's.
Although not monitarilly rich, my favourite set is the 1980-81 "Super Cards" put out by O-Pee-Chee. This one year only 5"x7" set of 24 cards features the "Great One" and goes for about $40US. I remember running to the local variety store daily, asking the terrific store owner if she would search through the boxes she kept behind the counter for my "need it" cards. For what ever reason, she obliged and I finally got the set done.
As I remember each card went for about a quarter. Well jump ahead a decade and while I went searching through my parents basement for this set, to my disheartment a little, I found out that my mom had tossed out my neglected memories including this set. Oh well, my mistake, so a couple of years ago I repurchased this set online for a song. Now my childhood memories are intact once again.
Here are the photo scans I took of some my favourite cards from my sets.
Later,
Kenaz
