What black borders can do for you

Every year at this time, I kind of wander aimlessly through the card aisle. I never have very much money between August and December. That fact, combined with the tail end of the card collecting season, leaves me uninspired when purchasing new product.

Mostly, I turn toward vintage and team-set efforts at this time. But there's always a part of me that MUST have something to rip periodically. Despite my aimlessness, I manage to find something each year at this time that piques my interest that didn't necessarily interest me the first time around.

This year it's Topps Heritage blister packs. Yeah, I'm a sucker for the black borders. I've grabbed a few, not too many. But it's re-ignited my interest in the overall Heritage set.

I know I disparaged 2012 Heritage when it first came out because I'm not crazy about the 1963 Topps design. But here's the thing: when you stack it up against what else is out there -- Topps base (uninspired design on super-thin stock), Archives (4 randomly selected past designs on super-thin stock), Bowman Platinum (one expensive yawn), and Gypsy Queen (just plain fugly) -- that doesn't leave a lot left.

It's about the cardboard, folks. It really is.

So I've been interchanging between A&G (for the minis now, as my set wants are very small), Triple Play (gotta love it) and those Heritage blisters.

I had managed to accumulate a little over 200 cards from the Heritage set. That's about the same amount that I accumulated from 2011 Heritage, another set that kind of won me over. And I was pretty happy with about 200 cards. I've done the "try to complete Heritage" thing before and I've never been successful. I mean, come on, does anyone really complete Heritage? I'm still trying to finish off 2008.

So, anyway, I was on Twitter and I noticed that Those Back Pages from The Diabetic Card Geek has a fondness for the black borders in Heritage. He's trying to collect them all.

Well, I like them, too, but no way am I trying to collect them all, I just get some for the thrill. So I offered up a few of them to him. He asked what I'd like in return. I didn't really know what to say, but I figured he probably had a few 2012 Heritage cards lying around, so I gave him my non-SP Heritage want list.

This is what it looked like:

2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 22, 23, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 40, 42, 43, 47, 48, 52, 57, 60, 64, 66, 69, 70, 71, 75, 79, 81, 82, 84, 88, 91, 92, 96, 97, 98

104, 106, 107, 108, 110, 115, 116, 118, 119, 122, 124, 125, 127, 132, 133, 135, 137, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 149, 153, 154, 157, 159, 160, 162, 163, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 180, 182, 185, 187, 189, 191, 193, 194, 196, 199

200, 201, 204, 206, 208, 209, 212, 213, 216, 217, 218, 221, 222, 223, 224, 227, 230, 232, 233, 237, 240, 243, 244, 245, 247, 251, 252, 253, 255, 257, 258, 264, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 274, 275, 277, 280, 284, 285, 286, 288, 289, 290, 293, 298, 299

300, 301, 304, 305, 308, 311, 312, 315, 316, 318, 321, 322, 324, 326, 327, 328, 331, 336, 339, 340, 341, 342, 344, 345, 352, 360, 361, 366, 372, 376, 377, 379, 381, 382, 383, 384, 388, 391, 392, 394, 395, 399

400, 401, 403, 404, 405, 406, 408, 409, 410, 413, 414, 415, 418, 419, 420, 422, 424

I figured I'd get maybe 20, 30, possibly 50 cards in exchange. For 5 or 6 black borders, that would be plenty.

Well this is what I got in return:

I'm not going to have you count them up. They couldn't all fit in the scanner anyway. But, damn, he sent me 199 cards!

If you are ridiculously bored and want to count up the numbers on my want list there, you'll see that it also adds up to 199.

TBP done completed my entire non-short print Heritage set!

I had 226 cards from the set prior to receiving that big box in the mail. I now have all 425.

I have never finished off even the non-SP set in Heritage. Even the 2008 set is missing a couple of random non-SP numbers.

199 cards. Complete set. For a few black borders.

That is just amazing.

I even received a few random Dodgers from the set in the package. But the one I really wanted, I didn't expect to get. The short-print Jerry Hairston Jr. card, one of three SP Dodgers in the set, had avoided me for a long time. I put it on my Nebulous 9 list and everything.

So I added onto my want list to TBP "especialy looking for 431"

Not expecting it. Because you know how much those Heritage SPs can go for. But, you know, just in case.

You'll notice my Nebulous 9 is now a Nebulous 8.

Of course, I know what everyone is thinking. I've gotten the question once already.

"Are you going after the SP set, too?"

Sort of. It's not a priority. There are so many other cards that I want more than those. And I don't expect people to send me Heritage SPs just for the hell of it, which is about what it would take right now considering how few cards I'm buying at the moment.

But I won't turn away cards.

Because you never know what could happen.

Up until about a week ago, I would've bet you everything I had that I would not complete 2012 Heritage. How could that happen? I wasn't even trying to complete it!

Glad I didn't make that bet.

Need to save up for a binder and some pages.