I got some cards in a trade with Ryan a little while ago: 1987 Calbees that I need for my set.
I am now down to just needing 4 more. I am 98.9% of the way there - 378 out of 382 cards down. It is so close I can almost taste the satisfaction of finishing it more than 5 years after I started with a 60 card starter lot.
The cards I need are:
82 Toshio Shonozuka
84 Sadaaki Yoshimura
89 Kazuhiro Yamakura
92 Yoshitaka Katori
There are a couple of copies of the Katori card available on Yahoo Auctions right now but I find I'm becoming picky about condition with these last few ones and have decided to hold off since they aren't in the best shape. My overall set probably averages about EX, and I am trying to avoid cards with creases or heavily rounded corners. I'll probably need to upgrade about 20 or so cards which are in "filler" condition once its complete, but for present purposes they all count as part of the set.
Its no coincidence that the ones I still need all fall so close to each other numerically in the set, they are all from the "rare block" that runs from 75 to 100 and is noticably harder to complete than the rest of the set. And they are all Giants players.
I'm hoping this is going to be there year I finish this one, I started in January with 15 cards left and have now got just these last four to go: the last 1%! Its going to be a very happy day for me when I compose a post detailing the completion of this baby!
Whoop!....so crazy how hard they are to find in good condition!
ReplyDeleteYeah, any Calbee cards from before the mid-90s are harder to find in higher grade.
DeleteIts kind of weird though, cards from the early 80s (like the 82, 83 and 84 Calbee sets) are extremely difficult to find in high grade, while cards from the 70s seem to be slightly easier despite being older and more valuable.
This is quite the project. I'm assuming these were distributed in bags or packages of Calbee products. That is sure a lot of snacks to consume to build this set. The fact that this set is thirty-two years makes it even more impressive. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteYes, these came 1 card per bag of chips. So in order to put together the set of 382 back in 1987 you'd have probably needed to buy over a thousand bags of chips!
DeleteHence the almost complete lack of complete vintage Calbee sets for sale - only a handful of people have ever completed them!
Dang. That's a lot of chips... and I'm sure a lot of money. Very cool though.
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