Gaps in Your Collection

[deepbluejacket]

I've collected cards since 1986. Some years I'm more engaged than others. But even in years where I'm inactive, I will typically backfill at some point. But looking over my collection of 25000 non- Pro Set cards (I own a LOT of Pro Set), I see two years with major gaps.

1998-99

The 4 years where I was in college still have a very light footprint in my collection, but this first year when I was out of college is a vast emptiness. No packs/boxes opened; no sets backfilled. When I got out of school and discovered eBay, I immediately went back to the past. For whatever reason, this year remains a big empty. I own all of one card that is flagged as PC from this season - an autographed Ray Bourque card of little consequence. 1999-00 isn't much better. The dearth of decent rookies in these years has made them easy to neglect.

2009-10

Not one card in the PC from this year. And it appears I opened all of 1 pack of Series 1 and two packs of Victory. It wasn't a bad year to miss in retrospect. Tavares is the headliner and it would have been nice to have him; Marchand was the sneaky success story. But a lot of the other guys - while good NHL players - aren't superstars. 2008-09 is nearly as vacant in my collection with just one sort-of PC card acquired last year, worth no more than $20. There are all of 2 cards on my wantlist for 2009-10 at present and none for 2008-09. I wouldn't turn a Stamkos RC down, but I'm not looking to acquire one either.

What are your gaps?

Mike

 

[capsfan30]

18-19 to current
Dealing with personal issues that I just haven't been able to add much/anything to my collection beyond a small trade here or there.

 

[Sabresguy]

For me I have cards from 1979/80 OPC through to about 1996/97 Upper Deck. I did acquire some cards in between my gap, but I did not really start up collecting again until the lockout in 2004/05. I missed the hockey that year and enjoyed reconnecting with my childhood hobby. Hitting the Crosby YG in my first box the following year helped solidify the passion again.

 

[sdpdesign]

Very thin on the early 2000’s. Met my wife, got married, house...not too many card shops in my area but got back into it that coincided with Crosby’s RC yr.

Another few years that are thin are after I bought my truck in 2011...bit thinner around 2013-2014 when The lcs closed and I moved to CT for work. Paid off the truck and that allowed an extra $300/month in the pocket in McDavid RC yr. only slowed down recently due to prices.

Btw, been collecting since ‘90, exclusively hockey since ‘95, and only have picked up a few packs here and there of baseball and football in the last 25 years. I have picked up a few of the Topps Heritage Retired Stars packs in 2018 & 2019 with 1/1 Bo Jackson in the first two packs!!! Got me hooked on that. Nice buybacks with on-card autos...bonus that I sorta know the guys, too, since I don’t follow baseball all that much. I have a Mark Grace /36, Juan Gonzalez /5 from 2018, also...1/1’s of Andruw Jones and Tom Glavine from 2019. I’ve hit good. Don’t worry, there are plenty of non-big names, too.