The way to do that is to add it to the library.
You select a year (1971, 1989), a set (Topps, Donruss, Flair), a subset (Main Set or Franchise or Hot Gloves or All-Stars, etc), then add the card name (player) and card number.
If the set (or subset) isn't listed it is easy for the user to add it.
You have the option to add the Player's Team and images of the front and back of the card.
Then push the 'submit' button and wait a bit until the minds and fingers behind Zistle okay the data.
As more users add more cards, there is more likelyhood that the card you're adding to your collection will already be in their library.
But who builds that library? Users do. And not all users have the same methodology, knowledge set, attention to detail or concern.
So, Zistle has an interesting group of Sets. For example, I selected a year at random - 2005.
I took the first Set name with multiple entries - Bowman.
There are:
Bowman
- A-Rod Throwback
- Autographs
- Future Game Gear Jersy Relics
- Gold
- Main Set
- Relics
- Signs of the Future
- White
Bowman Chrome
- A-Rod Throwback
- Blue Refractors
- Gold Refractors
- Main Set
- Red Refractors
- Refractors
- X-Fractors
Bowman Chrome Draft
- AFLAC
- Blue Refractors
- Gold Refractors
- Main Set
- Refractors
- X-Fractors
Bowman Draft
- Draft Blue Refractors
- Future Game Jersey Relics
- Gold
- Main Set
- Signs of the Future
- White
Bowman Heritage
- 51 Topps Heritage Blue Backs
- 51 Topps Heritage Red Backs
- Draft Pick Variation
- Future Greatness Jersey Relics
- Mahogany
- Main Set
- Mini
- Pieces of Greatness Relics
- Signs of Greatness
Bowman Sterling
- Main Set
- Original Autographs
- Refractors
Bowman's Best
- Blue
- Gold
- Green
- Main Set
- Printing Plates Cyan
- Red
- Silver
I haven't checked The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards to see if these are correct or complete. Should these all be Bowman?
But back to the title of this post... What is a set? I'm still wrestling with this question.
1953 Topps. That easy. That was the only product that Topps produced that year for baseball. 280 cards. No inserts. No refractors. No chase cards. It is a set. Period
Jump ahead a few decades to 1989. Fleer had a slew of boxed cards. Baseball All-Stars. League Leaders. Exciting Star. Superstars. These 40 or so card sets were sold in individual boxes. Clearly, they are not part of Fleer's Main Set. The World Series cards are, therefore they are a subset of Fleer.
I still don't know how to categorize them. I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts.
This is a tough problem and even if collectors can decide on a definition, it will be nearly impossible to enforce conformity initially. One of the things that we are doing is planning on messy data by building tool on the back end that allows us to clean this up. We have the ability now to merge duplicate sets or rename them. It may be messy at first but slowly I think a schema for the data will emerge.
ReplyDeleteLike I mentioned before, I think you have to think about how the set is packaged. If you could buy a pack of something, then it is a set. If it came in a pack but you couldn't buy a pack of it, then it is a subset. I know that there are exception to these and I just hope we can find some experts out there to lend their expertise to us lowly masses :)
I'm having fun putting my cards from the 60's and 70's on there, so I haven't run into that problem. I think that's why I liked collecting in the 70's more than I do since about 1991.
ReplyDeleteI think I bought that Fleer World Series set separately from the main set. I think you could either put that as a separate set or a subset.
The way I look at it on Zistle, it's a matter of how you'd put together a checklist. Subject to what Ashley thinks, I'd just put them in there in a format that makes sense to you.