1987 Topps Collectors Kit

I'm continually amazed at some of the stuff you can find just by digging through junk piles at the card shop. I found this randomly one day while buying some packs and some vintage singles. With the $9.99 price tag, I knew I couldn't pass it up.

The box claims it contains the following ... a Topps 3-ring binder, 10 plastic pages for said binder, a price guide, 44 collectors series cards, 20 stickers, a guide to collecting cards, and 160 baseball cards. Hopefully, everything that is supposed to be there is there considering this thing wasn't sealed.

First up, the binder. For as old as this binder is, it's in remarkably good shape and still holds up pretty well. The thing I really like about this is the collage on the front with cards from different eras. I'm thinking this is a good binder for some of my higher end commons

Hey look! A huge pile of 1987 Topps! I'll admit I wasn't really excited to see these as I tore into a box of it just recently but still, I'll take what I can get.

There were a few winners though in the pile. A proverbial mid-to-late 80s All-Star team with Cal Ripken Jr., Reggie Jackson, Dennis Eckersley, Mike Schmidt, Cecil Fielder, Pete Rose, Ryne Sandberg, etc. The cards themselves didn't show much corner damage and were in pretty good shape considering they'd been sitting loose in this kit before being unearthed by me.

Here's the packs of stickers that were included. I wonder if the offer is still valid for me to win a trip to 1987 spring training? And yes, I know that there is a Panini sticker pack in with the Topps sticker packs.

I couldn't get a good shot of the stickers but suffice to say that it can't be all bad when you get a Rob Deer and an Expos sticker, right?

These are the so-called "collectors cards", mainly a sub-set of some sort featuring nothing but Hall of Famers. I pulled all the Reds cards out for my Reds collection, the rest, unfortunately, will live the rest of their cardboard lives in my mixed commons binder.

The price guide was pretty basic, nothing to the level of your monthly Beckett magazine, with just prices from the basic sets. The collectors guide was pretty simple as well, making note to expand your collection by attending card show, shops, and swap meets. Swap meets? I couldn't tell you the last time I heard of a swap meet.

The last thing in the box was the pages. I won't provide a picture as they were your standard, 9-pocket, side load pages. Yes, side load, not top load. 

Overall, this was a nice find for ten bucks. I was amazed to find out that the thing was pretty much intact when I opened it at home. Hopefully I can find some other interesting things on my next card shop visit.