Building A Unique Collection
I ask because of a recent episode of the Sports Cards Live with Jeremy Lee podcast. In this particular episode, Jeremy speaks of how he came to realize that he is no longer content with building a collection that was driven by what the hobby expects. Specifically, he no longer feels compelled to collect rookie cards. Or, as he puts it: "chasing the same cards, the same checklists, the same 'must-haves' as everyone else." Instead, he is finding joy in second-year, third-year cards, etc. While this admission didn't cause me to rethink my collecting habits, it did cause me to reflect upon my collection.
As a Topps set collector, I can certainly identify with Jeremy's sentiment about chasing a checklist that's predetermined by others. This part of my collection requires zero thought and there's absolutely nothing unique about my run of Topps Football sets. So from a creative standpoint, it's not very satisfying.
Thankfully, I have another project that does require thought and planning, and scratches that creative itch.
The idea came to me years ago. How could I build a separate piece of my collection that represents the various sets from all the years I've collected. Come to find out, the answer was right in front of me.
At that point, I had hit a wall with my Buccaneers team set collection. There were too many sets at that point to worry about collecting collecting and too many cards of the same players. Why have 60 cards of Mark Carrier (as good as he was), when one or two would suffice? Plus there were a number of sets whose designs I found ugly; I had no interest in having fifteen 1991 Fleer cards in the collection. But one? Yeah, I could stomach that.
Around that time, I began seeing bloggers talk about their "FrankenSet," where they assemble a set from various brands, sets, and years, and organized by card number. Taking that as a cue, I began building my own Bucs FrankenSet. Mine differs from the traditional "FrankenSet" in that I'm not concerned about the card number; I strictly want one card from each set (including insert sets and parallels) produced that included a Buccaneer. This creates a visual buffet, without all the extra fat. I still have multiple cards of certain players, obviously, but those tend to be the players whom I actually wanted to collect.
The second part of my Pewter Pirates Project, as I call my Bucs collection, is the "Bucs A-to-Z," in which I'm trying to get a card of everyone who's played for the team. I have a few criteria for this part of the collection. For one, if at all possible, they must be in a Bucs uniform. If no such card is available, then it needs to be either a college card (preferred) or one from another professional team. I also want each card to be either a rookie card, or at least one of their first cards as a Buc.
Building a collection that is unique and represents me as a collector isn't one that will make my wife or kids wealthy upon my passing. But it does allow me a chance to create something that no one else in the world has. It also helps keep the hobby fresh for me, so I'm not getting burned out on my Topps sets.
How is your collection unique to you?
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