2018 Collecting Goals

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone survived the New Year festivities unscathed.  It has been nice reading other blogs to see how everyone fared over the past 365 days....here is to another great year of collecting.

Like most other collectors, here I am after a wonderful year of collecting trying to figure out what I should focus on this coming year.  It is nice to have these goals in order to provide a bit of framework and metrics to what should be a fun and exciting year in my card-collecting world.  I had 6 last year and decided to go for an easy-to-remember 10 this year.  Without further delay, here are my 10 goals for 2018 (in no particular order):

1. Discover and Catalog at least 5 "new" vintage sumo sets (pre-1997).
- This one should not be a problem as new stuff seems to creep up all the time.  It is challenging to think I must be so close to the "end of the rainbow" only to fall two steps back when a ton of new sets pop up.  They are out there for sure and I am determined to find them.

2. Add 2 more 1973 Calbee Sumo Cards to my collection.
- The 1973 Calbee Set is a modern enigma in the sumo collecting world.  The cards are not that rare, yet they command prices 100x what the silver and golden era sumo menko go for.  Consequently, I end up only dabbling in this set as a full set is going to run me several thousand dollars.  I put in low bids and occasionally pick one up here and there.  I always feel like I need to complete this set sooner than later before it becomes a $5000 set.

3.  Conduct some interviews of fellow collectors.
- I am by no means a journalist, but I enjoy hearing about the backstories of card collecting in general.  I'd love to be able to conduct some interesting interviews of fellow collectors, with a focus on Japanese cards, and share the interview with the rest of the card collecting world.

4.  Add at least 1 more Murai card to my collection.
- As I mentioned in my 2017 Goals Update, someone warned me how hard this set is going to be.  I'll slowly work at this set over time and pick up a few cards here and there.  I'd love to pick up some from this military set:

5. Continue to expand my German Card Collection.
- This one should be fairly easy to accomplish as I've managed to connect with several of the more prominent dealers here in German.  There are way too many sets out there to try and even make a dent, so I am going to have to focus on either a certain manufacturer or subject matter.  Probably cards that have a Japanese or Space theme will be my starting point.

6.  Add two more card catalogs to my library.
- In keeping with the above theme (really the photos), I'd like to add more card catalogs to my library.  I have a fascination with catalogs and card guides so I am hoping I find some interesting ones.

7. Add to my Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Collection.
- I've been collecting both of these athletes for a year or so and so I am hoping I can expand on my player collections of both of these guys.  Occasionally, good deals pop up on cards of both of these guys.  I'm hoping to be able to add to them throughout the year and come away with some sweet deals.  COMC, YJ, and eBay should help me here.

8. Expand the B-League Sets.
- I need some easy goals so this one is perfect.  It shouldn't be too hard to knock out this year as there will likely be at least two to three sets released.  I enjoyed last year's product and I'm looking forward to more.

9. Update the BB-Series of Sumo Menko and Bromides.
- One of my most ambitious goals this year is to "fix" and update the BB-series of sumo cards and bromides in my book.  There were so many produced during the 1930s-1950s that is was daunting to get to the spot where I am now.  I have been loading up on a ton of these bromides so I should be able to catalog more sets, fix a few that I have, and update checklists on some others.  This is going to take dozens of hours that I'll need to squeeze in along with the other 9 card goals I have.

10. Finish the 1974 Yamakatsu's Mini Card Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon (Series 1) Set and add to The Way of the Dragon (Series 2) and Green Hornet (Series 3) Sets
- I'm two short on the Series 1 set, about 30 short on the Series 2 set and about 40 short on Series 3.  Each consecutive set gets harder to find with the Green Hornet sets commanding the highest prices.  I can't believe I missed a whole box of them a few years back for a few hundred dollars.  These mini cards show up on occasion, but there is a big market for them out there and they are often difficult to pick up for a price I am willing to pay at the moment.

There you have it.  Hopefully some manageable and achievable goals and I'll keep everyone updated on them as the year progresses.