First, great guy to collect. Off the top of my head, the ONLY great draft pick Ireland made. Likely the most under rated WR in the NFL.
For commons comc is by far the way to go, good pricing and you can see what you're getting very clearly. I do feel sorry for guys trying to put together a modern master set because it's going to be close to impossible to complete with the amount / cost of things produced these days. I love the idea of PSA registry sets for the older stuff, but I really can't see it for anything after 2000... the condition is too good for it to add value or intrigue. The Marino set is a different story, I looked for a decade before finding a psa 10 '90 hot card and I still don't believe I found one... they're ALWAYS jacked.
In the case of Hartline, 2009 and up means condition should be good so a raw set is the way to go. Since he's under rated he's also not in EVERY insert set which makes it a little easier... still a daunting task though. I take the same approach as what you outline, rare cards first. I have a list of "whale" cards that, when they pop up, they get bought... credit card max, refinance, sell the car type cards. Luckily for my wallet, they don't come up very often.
For commons comc is by far the way to go, good pricing and you can see what you're getting very clearly. I do feel sorry for guys trying to put together a modern master set because it's going to be close to impossible to complete with the amount / cost of things produced these days. I love the idea of PSA registry sets for the older stuff, but I really can't see it for anything after 2000... the condition is too good for it to add value or intrigue. The Marino set is a different story, I looked for a decade before finding a psa 10 '90 hot card and I still don't believe I found one... they're ALWAYS jacked.
In the case of Hartline, 2009 and up means condition should be good so a raw set is the way to go. Since he's under rated he's also not in EVERY insert set which makes it a little easier... still a daunting task though. I take the same approach as what you outline, rare cards first. I have a list of "whale" cards that, when they pop up, they get bought... credit card max, refinance, sell the car type cards. Luckily for my wallet, they don't come up very often.
* Always buying ANY reasonably priced Marino card(s) I don't already have *
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