30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, July 12, 2018

The Best for Last

When it comes to collecting cards, there are few things that rival 70's and 80's Kellogg's lenticular baseball cards.  My earliest memory of them was in the early 80's when my buddy sent away for a complete 1982 or 1983 set.  Compared to your standard Topps, Fleer, or Donruss card... they were in a league of their own.

The past ten years, I've made it a mission to collect each of the 80's sets.  I'm still looking for the 1981 set, but I've managed to pick up the other three.

When it comes to the 70's sets, I've made the executive decision to hold off on trying to grab these since they're scarcer and pricier.

That all changed three Saturdays ago at the Serramonte Mall Sports Card, Toys, and Collectibles Show.

Remember the guy who sold me the 1977 Topps baseball and the 1964 Topps Giants sets a while back?  Well he was back and this time he had more affordable vintage goodies.

On Tuesday, I showed off my 1968 Topps Poster football set and a partial 1971 Topps Pinups set that I bought from the gentleman.


Well... I've saved the best for last.  Today's post highlights three new Kellogg's sets for my collection.  They weren't the best deal I've ever found at a card show, but they're arguably one of the coolest baseball card purchases I've made.

See for yourself...

Set #1:  1974 Kellogg's  $50

Wait.  Before I show off the cards, I want to establish that I paid $140 for all three sets as a package deal.  He was asking a lot more for each of these sets individually.

Okay, let's get to the cards...


Out of the sets, this is the one in the poorest condition.  About 40% of the set has some form of cracking.  The card with the honor of having the most damage happens to be the most valuable card, which kind of sucks:


The good news is there are only a few in this poor of condition and there are plenty of cards that are in really nice condition like this Johnny Bench:


I'm debating on whether or not to replace the cracked cards.  If I do attempt this, it'll be a long term project where I pick up singles here and there when good deals present themselves.


Set #2:  1976 Kellogg's  $50


This set is beautiful!  Usually I'd use this adjective to describe a card's design.  Today I'm talking about the set's condition.  

 

These look like they're fresh out of a box of cereal.  No cracks, no browning, and no missing cards.


Set #3:  1977 Kellogg's Baseball  $40



Okay... so this set isn't complete.  It's missing two cards:  #23 Thurman Munson and #26 Mark Fidrych (rookie).


Besides that... this set is in excellent condition too.  I might be mistaken, but I didn't see any cards with cracks or discoloration, which kinda stinks because I'm gonna need to pay a little bit more to find clean copies of The Walrus and The Bird.  Don't worry.  I'm not complaining.  It's a small price to pay to have a mint condition set of 1977 Kellogg's.

Well that just about wraps up my card show purchases.

I did grab a few items I didn't mention since they're cards for some people I owe.  Plus I just requested my shipment from COMC, so I should have everything I need for my care and contest prize packages within the next few weeks.  I'm hoping to ship things out the first week of August.

Until then...


How do you store your Kellogg's cards?

I'm a little concerned about the long-term storage of these cards.  As you can see from the photographs, these sets came in penny sleeves with top loaders.  I was thinking of moving them into semi-rigid holders to conserve space.

Well that's it for today.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!

17 comments:

Commishbob said...

Oh wow those are terrific. Great pick-up!

My Kelloggs cards are in binder sheets. I probably should do a better job with them. I don't have any complete sets so the ones I pick up are mostly for player collections or just 'because'. If it were me, and I wasn't planning on putting them in binders I'd keep them in the sturdiest top loaders I could find.

Jon said...

I agree with everything that Bob said!

Peter K Steinberg said...

Holy wow! What a great deal on these. I don't have any Kellogg's cards so I cannot answer your question. But looking at the design of the 1976 set... I see what might have been an inspiration for 1982 Topps.

Matt said...

Holy smokes! Cool stuff! Not sure how I would store those. In a box sleeved I guess.

Vanessa williams popped into my head with this blog post title

Nick said...

WOW is all I can say. Just...wow.

Mark Zentkovich said...

I have been working on the kelloggs sets for about 5-7 years by trading and buying individual cards.

I have complete 74,75,77-83, and 91 or 92

working on 76, 73. 72 and will persue older ones later

I do not mind cracks if priced fairly

I have stored in sleeves and hard cases in 2 row white boxes

I have had more issues finding some of the 78 than any of the other years I have completed so far

mark

gcrl said...

Those are Grrrrreat!

night owl said...

Ouch, I am quite jealous. Owning a complete 1976 Kellogg's set is up in my top 10 in wants. And the 1977 Kellogg's set is the first one I ever saw, so I love that dearly, too. I will be coming to this post regularly for inspiration or self-pity.

The Shlabotnik Report said...

Fantastic acquisitions!

I keep my Kellogg's in binder sheets; don't know if that's good or not, it's just what I'm going with. Of course, almost all of mine are commons.

The Lost Collector said...

Awesome cards. I only have 1 or 2 Kellogg's cards, so no special storage.

P-town Tom said...

Same as TLC and I'm very envious of your purchase.

Nick Vossbrink said...

ZOMG. I have exactly zero 1970s Kelloggs cards in my collection which, as a lenticular fan, is extraordinarily negligent on my part. So to see this kind of pickup is super exciting.

I do have a couple in my COMC to-be-shipped pile so I guess that's my answer to your question. And 1980s/90s Sportflics/Kelloggs are just in binder pages.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Well played. What causes them to crack?

Fuji said...

Commishbob & Jon - Might end up keeping them in top loaders. They definitely seem to do the job. It just takes up extra space.

Peter K Steinberg - Nice catch on the comparison. I see what you mean.

Sport Card Collectors - Lol. As soon as I'm done commenting, I'll try to find a video of that song. She was so hot!

Nick - Even though your comment is only 8 words... that's saying a lot from the king of card show finds.

Mark Zentkovich - I'm super jealous of your project. The guy actually had a complete 1973 set too. I didn't pick it up, since they aren't lenticular.

gcrl - hell yeah they are! ;)

night owl - Owning a 1972 Kellogg's is up in my top 10 wants. Feel free to check them out whenever you want. Maybe one day I'll do a set spotlight post and take the time to scan each card.

The Shlabotnik Report - I have three vintage binders that house some Kellogg's. Thought about displaying the sets in binders too. But I'm worried they might start to curl... and possibly crack when I flatten them again.

The Lost Collector & P-town Tom - Good news for both of you. The 80's sets are really affordable. Just picked up the 1981 Kellogg's set for under $10, which is about 15¢ per card.

Nick Vossbrink - Outside of these sets, I don't have a lot either, but I try to buy any affordable 70's Kellogg's card I can find.

SumoMenkoMan - Lenticular Kellogg's cards have a tendency to curl over time and when you try to flatten them, you risk having them crack. I've even read on message boards that people send them in to grading companies and when they put them in the holder they end up cracking. That's why I was pretty excited to see these stored in top loaders.

Baltmoss68 said...

Nice sets! Kellogg’s cards are some of the 70s finest.. I keep my 1970 Kellogg’s football in semi rigid holders and 4 pocket pages so I can read them and keep them from curling. Also saves s ton of storage space.

Fuji said...

Hmmm... I like that idea. I think I have a few 4 pocket pages laying around.

GCA said...

I finished the 1970 set last year. They are in a binder by themselves. Most of the others I have are in player collection binders, but I have the last couple 80's sets in those two piece clear plastic 100ct boxes. They are stacked facing down. Think I heard somewhere that stacking them this way helps flatten them out a bit, but that might be a myth.