Over the last 10 years, I've picked up a bunch of cheap Kellogg's sets from 1980 to 1983. They usually went for less than $10 years ago. Some of them were sealed, like the one shown below.
I probably bought this at the National but I am not sure. I've had two sets from a place called Sports Fan Attic for many years. I really liked the way that the set was shrink wrapped, so I made no attempt to open it. That changed over the weekend.
I found those two sets and three others - another from 1980 and two from 1981. When I bought the sets I did so with the assumption that the best cards could be missing or in poor condition. I also found it odd that card #1 was not on the top of the packs.
I decided to open the five sets this weekend. The two sets from Sports Fan Attic contained all 60 cards from 1980, they just were not in order. The conditions were fine. The other 1980 pack was missing three cards. Not surprisingly, three of the best cards were missing - Ryan, Brett and Rose. I have no idea where I picked up this "set" because it was so long ago. Smart on my part? No, but any set before 1979 should be opened to ensure that it is complete.
The other two sets were from 1981. They were complete with only one corner issue to the first card in the set.
My only other challenge here was back in 1983 when the traded set I picked up just happened to be missing Daryl Strawberry.
Has anyone else made a mistake like this?
After being burned so often I don't buy hand collated sets anymore unless they are $5 or less.
ReplyDeleteWhen one is complete is the real surprise.
Although I can't think of an example off the top of my head, I'm sure I've bought sets with missing cards. As for damaged cards, the 1992 Leaf Gold set I purchased last year had several damaged cards. The seller issued me a partial refund though.
ReplyDeleteThe mistake is not leaving them unopened or finding them missing a card, but selling them incomplete in the first place....
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I do have some factory sealed sets, but I would never sell these other ones without opening them. I am sure that there are ways to scam factory sets too, but most of the ones I have are not too pricey.
ReplyDelete