General Forum

Sorry I wasn't clear enough about the PC reference, For me it is Player Collection for the players that I collect. As a kid when I began collecting (in the late 70's) I don't remember any specific way. 

This is really a great idea for me personally. I have a some player collections, PCs, that complete a set and was considering putting them with the set to keep it complete. 

If you want the set to be complete, this is really the only way to go IMO. I keep notes in my PC albums, pretty much a hand-written spreadsheet. The rows are the years for that player and the columns are: In Album, In Sets, Duplicates, Cased/Other, Total. In the "In Sets" and "Cased/Other" columns are details about what set or what is cased. The "Other" portion is for oddities and oversized cards (like the 1980's Donruss All-Star Jumbos and Cadeco Discs) and there are details for them too.

I used to keep all set cards in my PC until I got one to fill in the set. But I found it was easier to put the cards in the sets and then I knew what was missing from my PC. Then I started using stickers/labels on pages so I was able to leave an open spot in my PC album for the specific card. Then I immediately knew it was in the set, but I needed another copy of that card. I still use stickers to mark open spots, but also to show the book value for many cards or mark the differences b/t 2 similar cards (like COR/ERR/VAR, base vs. parallel or Promo/Sample). For the past decade or so, I've been using "Pre-Priced Labels" from The Hillman Group. Some have prices on them and some are blank. They are easy to use and re-use, especially if you fold over one end of the oval-shaped sticker to create a pull-tab. You can find them at home improvement stores (like Lowe's and Home Depot) in the Garage/Yard Sale signs area. 600-label packs are about $5.

I also use Post-It Notes to mark all of my complete sets. They tell the year, manufacturer, brand name, number of cards and Set BV for that set. As you can see, I keep meticulous records of my collection INSIDE of my collection, not just online or on a computer. It used to just be for myself but I realized that it's also a huge help to anyone in my family if something bad should happen to me. But being that specific has it's downside too. Sometimes I wait a long while before adding new additions into my albums just b/c of the paperwork that I know will also be involved.