State of the Collection: Looking Back

A year ago, I set some collecting goals for myself for 2011. Today, it's time to see how I did.

Goal #1: Keep Getting New Stuff I will continue to add to my collection the new cards for Topps base, Heritage, Opening Day, Bowman, Allen and Ginter, Pro Debut, Chrome, and probably Gypsy Queen. Since I have the complete Cubs collection for these, I really don't plan to stop any time soon.
Grade: A; I picked up all of those sets, plus Lineage


Goal #2: Add more oddball sets. I had a lot of fun with this last year and plan to continue with it this year. In the past I was interested in sets with at least ten Cubs cards per set. Now I'm ready to lower the number of cards to get more of these odd balls.
Grade: A; I really enjoy finding these oddballs. Among the sets I added were Hostess, Victory, Fan Favorite, Baseball Heroes, Upper Deck Spectrum and Upper Deck X, plus TCMA All Time Cubs from 1977 and 1979, and the 1969 Cubs from 2004 Timeless Teams.


Goal #3: Complete 2005 Turkey Red Set This was a goal from last year that I didn't touch. I'll try again this year. I have about 50 cards to go, but most are expensive SPs; hence the lack of action last year.
Grade: A, I wrapped this up in late June.


Goal #4: Pick up Topps 1952 Cubs: The 1952 Topps Cubs that I've got are reprints. I think I'd like to start going after the real things. This will get very expensive because there are 28 Cubs in the set and the high number cards can get super pricey. We'll just have to see how far I get. This may be a multi-year project.
Grade: B I got off to a quick start and picked up the 19 Cubs in the early series. Since then, nothing. Those stinking high number cards are out of my price range. It's going to take nearly $1,000 to add the nine high numbers, and I'm not willing to put that much money into only nine cards.


Goal #5: Add more relics and autographs: I started picking these up a few months ago and have had some fun doing so. I'm going after one autograph and one relic card from Cubs from the '70s and '80s.
Grade: A, I've been able to add a bunch of players including Joe Pepitone, Sammy Sosa, Rick Reuschel, Steve Trout, Rick Sutcliffe, and Dave Kingman.


Goal #6: Enjoy what I've got: As long as I do this, I've got a hobby. If that ever changes, then I got a chore instead of a hobby and it will be time for me to get out.
Grade: A, I'm still interested and I'm still having fun!


Goal #7: Share with you: Every day at 9:00 a.m. you can expect something new to pop up here.
Grade: A, 365 days in 2011, 366 posts!

It was a nice year for the collection. Tomorrow, I'll set some goals for 2012