I am a SF Giants collector. I have 44 binders that contain my collection plus several boxes of relics and autos. I generally tried to collect base cards from every release and as many of the inserts, parallels and hits that I can track down and fit within my budget. For years I have collected all the gold parallels and rainbow foil parallels from Series 1 and Series 2 Topps flagship and the Update set. I have also gone back and filled in the gaps since the gold parallels started in the early 90s and have a full run from 1992-2000.
I decided to stop this massive pursuit of everything Giants and focus on the other areas of my collection at the end of the 2000 release season. Retail cards started to disappear and hobby prices skyrocketed. Also the parallels I liked to chase like the gold and rainbow were tough to get at reasonable prices. Lack of access to these parallels and the rising prices of them when I did find them was a big part of my decision.
While I agree with much of what you said about wanting flagship cards to be available, there are some consequences that may drive some collectors away as well.
I am a SF Giants collector. I have 44 binders that contain my collection plus several boxes of relics and autos. I generally tried to collect base cards from every release and as many of the inserts, parallels and hits that I can track down and fit within my budget. For years I have collected all the gold parallels and rainbow foil parallels from Series 1 and Series 2 Topps flagship and the Update set. I have also gone back and filled in the gaps since the gold parallels started in the early 90s and have a full run from 1992-2000.
I decided to stop this massive pursuit of everything Giants and focus on the other areas of my collection at the end of the 2000 release season. Retail cards started to disappear and hobby prices skyrocketed. Also the parallels I liked to chase like the gold and rainbow were tough to get at reasonable prices. Lack of access to these parallels and the rising prices of them when I did find them was a big part of my decision.
While I agree with much of what you said about wanting flagship cards to be available, there are some consequences that may drive some collectors away as well.