Player Collectors- How Did You Diversify?

Stopped buying Nash cards to start off my Markstrom collection. I will make trade for Nash cards and I will eventually start buying Nash cards again at shows if I can get a deal and once Markstrom cards stop showing up. I will never sell my Nash cards to help out my Markstrom collection. Just because the Nash collection stopped, doesn't mean I can't pick up his cards later on.
 
I've been collecting anything, and everything Guillaume Latendresse since his Young Guns RC came out. Since then I've gone back, and gotten pretty much everything released before it, and I've been going for one of everything released since (including parallels, plates, 1/1's, etc.).
As it stands, I still try to get everything, but it's easier to do that with him being so much less in demand than he was as a rookie. I have no plans of selling, or diversifying.
 
I used to collect everything....parallels, base, inserts, autos, jerseys, 1/1's, etc. Then in 05-06 when Artifacts hit, I realized I could no longer do it, and I got tired of competing against other player collectors for rare multi-player cards. So, I kept his base, inserts and auto'd cards, and decided to focus on just those. I sold off everything else to another Tanguay collector in Japan, and whatever he didn't need, I sold on eBay. I don't buy regular jerseys, patches or parallels, unless they are auto'd or are truly one of a kind pieces (ie: the Property Of... or Shield). I still collect multi-player cards, but only if they are auto'd, or are base/inserts. So far, my main competition for those would be Al (Uhtred the Viking) since 95% of the stuff out there that I am missing contains Iggy as the other player....LOL
 
quincy said:
I collected everything Sakic EXCEPT 1/1s up until the end of the 09-10 season. From then on it's been strictly IF I like it. I have multiple copies of some things, and haven't bothered at all with others this season.

By way of example - I have a couple copies of the Panini Limited Retired Numbers autograph. I don't think I have a single jersey card.
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This is the direction I'm headed as well. This year for Iggy I had 60 Artifacts, 42 Ltd. & 41 Certified cards to chase. That doesn't even begin to get me into my favorites like SPGU and The Cup. I'm using 2009/10 as the end for trying to get everything, even though I know that will be impossible to achieve. This year there were some series that I didn't even look at (eg. Zenith), and I'm being much more selective by necessity.


TanguayFan said:
I don't buy regular jerseys, patches or parallels, unless they are auto'd or are truly one of a kind pieces (ie: the Property Of... or Shield). I still collect multi-player cards, but only if they are auto'd, or are base/inserts. So far, my main competition for those would be Al (Uhtred the Viking) since 95% of the stuff out there that I am missing contains Iggy as the other player....LOL
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So Rob, when I retire and sell off the pc I have a buyer ready & waiting for Tangs cards? ;):D
 
I'm in the same boat as Al and Q. I went after everything Derek Roy before this year. But because of some really unappealing releases (those half-assed UD Buybacks) and a mess of cards between Certified and Artifacts, I tapped out. I grab what I like for the most part.
 
craxz said:
Once you stopped collecting every possible card of Sakic did you start selling off some of the cards you didn't like as much? Such as the variations of one card?
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Nope. I keep everything from that window of 20 years. Well, 21 technically I guess, but I don't know if I can reasonably count the 1988-9 OPC Sticker as a whole year.

For the most part, the core collection stuff DOESN'T have duplicates except for a few very short print run things. In which case I have ALL of the print run.
 
A few months ago I started collecting limited my Lemieux collection to 1997 and earlier. I am having a lot more fun collecting his stuff now and because for me part of the fun in collecting is the chase of finding that certain card. Even some of those 90's regional issues and parallels are tuff to find.
 
I've dabbled in a few player collections over the years and I guess the most constant approach I've taken is to not go after multiplayer cards. I'm too fussy about player combinations and I don't like seeing cards of my player with some random rookie paired with him that may never see the NHL again (Gaborik/Kalus cards from 2007-08 come to mind).

The other approach I take is to go for game-used or autographs only. Lately, when it comes to my two main player projects Rick Nash and Marian Gaborik, I've narrowed it down further to include only high-end, hard-signed patch cards mostly from The Cup. Even then the design has to catch my eye enough or I won't be interested.

I usually have a side-project or two on the go as well, currently my Darren Pang BTP emblem & number hoard and my little defunct team collection.

I have no problem selling certain PC cards to raise funds for others as it keeps the collection fresh.
 
Mine started out as just rookie cards but that ended quickly as Hossa didn't have too many to track down, just a few hard parallels to find.. Now I have upgraded to autographs and the odd patch/jersey card.

Hard signed autos take preference over most things now.

I do not collect base cards or regular inserts. I only have some if they are thrown in during trades or sales. There is no way I will go after every single card out there. Yah gotta pick and choose.

Overall since I have quit busting wax and collecting various players to concentrate on one PC i have been very pleased and have added some high end stuff I never though possible.
 
I've been collecting Lindros cards for years, but with so many cards (well over 3000) I recenlty decided to focus just on the Philly years (up to 00-01) to give myself a more attainable goal. I sold off a lot of my rangers, leafs, and dallas cards, except for some specific cards/sets that I liked.

The only new stuff I will pick up in something like this years Cup whcih has a Flyers picture on it, but ONLY WITH a Flyers Swatch. At this point I can't stand a Flyers Picture with a Leafs Patch.
 
lucscaps said:
I collect the memorabilia cards and auto's of my guy. I might pick up the odd low numbered parallel if I can snag it at a good price. There is just to much out there to pick everything up.
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to further expand on my post, like some above I also don't go after the multi player card. I stay to just the one guy.
I've added a side master set project along the way. I choose the Certified set because it's nice and shiny and has added some excitement back to my collection. I like how the backs have stats and small blurbs even if they are auto'd or mem cards. Unlike the standard UD and ITG backs.
my guy dosen't seem to sign these days so something on the side was needed to keep the excitement. But it's also helped me cut back drastically from trying to be a completionist.
 
I an trying to find one of every game used and autographed card of Lindros pre-lockout and only those cards that I like post-lockout. I'm with Joel on the distaste of Lindros pictured in one jersey and having a memorabilia piece from a different team in the window.
 
My previous collecting focus was Boston Bruins: get everything, ever, and take every trade thrown my way for any Bruins cards. And that, my friend, was an exercise in foolishness.

I've gotten to the point where I realize that I'll never get every Neely card ever made, so I spread out and started collecting three other Bruins on a more limited scale, also started up an Alex Ovechkin PC to kind of bring some more color to the PC, and now I'm also doing a broad collection where I grab at least one auto and one game-used card of my favorite all time players, both Bruins and other players. It's allowed me to widen the focus, and not just try to collect everything of one player, and not worry that there are loads of cards out there that I'll never get my hands on.

For example, I've got all of Marchand and Lucic's true RC's, which was certainly a fun accomplishment, but with Seguin, I'm resigned to the fact that his Cup and Dominion RC's are just way out of my league, and that's OK. I ended up lucky enough to get his Ice and Crown Royale RC's, and most of the lower-mid-end stuff, and I'm proud to have gotten that far I guess, while not being disappointed that there are cards that I just won't own, can't, you know? I have three kids at home, and they're all collecting for fun now, each with favorite players, and it's more about US, than ME.

Neely is someone whose stuff I will always chase, and will pick up whatever I can within reason, Ovechkin is pretty much the result of landing a sweet 09-10 Neely/Ovechkin dual Honorable Numbers, and the 08-09 and 10-11 versions are in my sights for when I do end up with the funding, but again, I'm no longer hunting everything ever, and it's a lot easier than I expected to be OK with that.

I'm with a lot of other guys, other than my Neely PC, I've been trying to shy away from multi-player cards too, trading my PC players' duals for cards that just feature the one player unless they feature multiple guys from my PC.

It's so weird trying to outline what you collect though, as some cards just tend to stick with me, while others I actively try to move, and there's always some exception to every rule I try to put on my collecting, haha. Anyway, that's my deal, and it's very interesting listening to how other folks on the board approach this. I hope we get a lot more answers, it's very informative and fun to see everyone's take on collecting.

-Chris
 
When I was in my heyday of collecting I went after every Iginla auto that was out there and I had almost 150 different autos at one point. Too many cards were coming out and designs were getting bland so in 06-07 I started to refocus my collection to only cards I really liked. It took me a few years to get from where I was to where I am because I wanted to take my time and make sure I wouldn't regret selling anything.

In the last year or two my wants have been VERY limited so I started collecting base, inserts and parallels (which I hated before) to keep things interesting.

I also like to collect Doug Gilmour autos of him in a Flames jersey as a side collection and I have been picking up some Brayden Schenn rookies for something fun to do.
 

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