I'm not a professional grader, just a longtime collector. I have a pretty good idea what constitutes gem mint, and what's considered poor. It's just everything in between that throws me. I've scanned one of my cards here. Help me out by giving it a grade in the embedded poll.

1956 Topps Roberto Clemente #33
This is just an awesome card. A few years back I did the unthinkable—by my expectations—and completed the 1956 Topps set. It's the most comprehensive Topps set of the 1950s (in my opinion), since it features Mantle, Williams, Jackie Robinson, Bob Feller, Roy Campanella and Willie Mays on the same checklist. Nineteen-fifty-seven's a great set, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't have Bob Feller, Jackie Robinson, or Monte Irvin, for that matter. The last of the oversized card sets, 1956 has a stellar checklist full of big names. But what makes it a great set also makes it a burden for the budget-minded collector like me. I think I paid somewhere around $50 for this card. Did I overpay? Help me out in the embedded poll.

We take our custom cards seriously around here. At one point we had a whole separate page of this blog dedicated to custom cards from around the Web. And while that page went the way of much on the Internet, our love of customs remains. Here are a few of our favorites we've created over the years, and don't forget to check out our new page presenting the 1978 Topps "Traded" set all in one place...

I, for one, was fooled by this Christmas-themed rack pack—it was created by a third party in the late 1970s, not Topps, and not in 1956. Good thing I didn't shell out the $400 it's going for on eBay.

The real reason I'm posting this is because the third party unwittingly seeded the  Warren Giles/Rin-Tin-Tin variation, to commemorate the seven weeks the animal filmstar ran the National League—appointed by the owners so Giles could take a vacation—in the summer of 1955. It's a great card, and hard to find in decent shape.

(Click on the image to get the full effect.)

I've been collecting 1956 Topps, with the hopes that some day I'll be able to afford the Mantle (in any condition) and complete the set. But as I've been piecing it together — buying commons at my local shop, picking up random cards at shows, and looking for cheaper stars on eBay, I'm finding I really have my work cut out for me.

I like to go for a master set when possible, and my quest for 1956 will be no different. I have just over 300 or so of the regular checklist, including both checklists. But if I start differentiating between gray backs, white backs, dated teams, centered teams, bearded variations, and others, I begin to realize just how complicated the master set will be to put together.

For example, check out this auction I found tonight. I've been searching for the Hodges "incognito" variation for almost a year, and even though $47.75 is sort of out of my price range for a single card, I'm seriously  tempted. (The most I've paid for a single card is $50 for a Ted Williams with a large crease. Second most? $32 for a Willie Mays with a stealth miscut on the back.)

I've wanted to blog about this set for a while now. I really think it's one of the best of its era in terms of checklist and design. It's also, in the grand scheme of things, relatively easy to put together, as it's bountiful on eBay in all conditions. Sure, the master set will be a challenge. But that's half the fun, right?