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Buying repeats

 
It's February, which means January is over, and that's worth celebrating for a variety of reasons.

This past month I may have added fewer cards to my collection than any other month since I started blogging. I'm not fanatical about budgets so who knows if that's true, but it sure felt like I wasn't accumulating.
 
In fact, I can count the number of cards I picked up online last month on two hands plus a couple digits from someone else. And seven of those 12 cards were repeats -- meaning I had them already.
 
You saw the '76 Kellogg's Reggie Jackson, that was purchased to replace the one that cracked under my watch. The rest of them are 1975 Topps buybacks! Weeeeeeeeeee!
 
I am trying to stay positive in this hunt, which is difficult with my "prepare for the worst/hope for the best" tendencies. I can't help but think the buyback pursuit window is starting to close. But then something like this happens.
 
I found a seller on ebay who had a bunch of '75 buybacks, including a few I had never seen before!
 
We'll start with the Don Carrithers at the top of the post. That was one of the cards that mystified me because I was pretty sure just about all of the common cards are stamped. It turns out I just didn't come across it yet!


Here is another common mystifier that's been obtained! 



I always rejoice when I land a team card buyback. Out of all the non-player cards in the set -- the league leaders, MVP subset, World Series cards, Highlights cards and regular checklists -- the team and WS cards are not that difficult to find, but they're still a little elusive.





The last three are more notable players, which means I automatically assume they weren't stamped. But that theory has been disproved over and over again.

The stamp over Bryant's head is just bizarre and just shows the disregard for the original card that these buybacks have. But I got to try to collect them all!

I also had a shot at a '75 Topps Ron Santo buyback, which would be a great one to land, but I didn't want to pay 20 bucks for that. It's weird how much buybacks of some of the stars go for, I mean the card is ruined already.

Anyway, these cards bring me up to 469 buybacks for the set, which is 71.1%.

I hope February will bring "new-to-me" cards to my collection. But I won't turn away any more '75 stamped repeats that I need.

Comments

Brett Alan said…
Next year's Heritage should generate a good number of 1975 buybacks.
Finish it up already will ya, hehehehe
I know everyone wonders if the big stars get included in buybacks, but I actually pulled the 71 Clemente out of a box of 2020 Heritage. So I presume that they do!
Fuji said…
It's a shame that Topps stamped Bryant's head, but if it moves you one step closer to completing this project than it's something worth celebrating. It's so cool that you passed the 70% completion mark.
Daniel Wilson said…
I didn't pick up many cards in January either. More than you, but not a ton. I've spent most of my time in January trying to organize my collection. I've started using TCDB for some of my collection and that is taking a ton of time. Nice buybacks for your collection!
Bo said…
I am on a Facebook group with photos of old Long Island stuff, and occasionally people just post other vintage stuff they happen to own. Someone posted some 1975 Mets cards, and in the discussion someone mentioned that when they were a kid they used to flip the cards and used the colors to decide who won. If the top and bottom both matched the flipper got the whole stack.

Card flipping sure meant something different back then.
gogosox60 said…
Don't worry I'm sure Topps will dump a bunch of 50th Anniversary stamped cards in the 2024 Tops Heritage celebration of the 1975 Topps set!!!
Robert said…
Almost looks as if Dave Johnson hit his stamp with the bat, sending it flying. Love seeing these btw...
Chris said…
If you haven't already, you might want to check COMC's listings of basic 1975 Topps cards for some that you're missing. I've found buybacks listed among the unstamped originals on at least three occasions.
Jon said…
I sold most of my buybacks a few years ago, and the guy that bought all of them was (from what I could gather from his messages) a very well-to-do collector who in recent years had become obsessed with buybacks. Money seemed to be no object in his pursuit. Since there's rarely just one person collecting something, I would have to think that there are more guys like him out there, so with that in mind, I can totally see someone paying $20 for a stamped '75 Santo.
Jafronius said…
Slow and steady wins the race!