My first completed set!

 A couple of weeks ago, with the arrival of #33, Willie Mays, my 1969 Topps Deckle Edge set was finally finished. And the quest all started with an Ebay order that never came.

It was probably back in 2017. I had ordered a small lot of Deckle Edge cards, but they were lost in the mail. I was very disappointed, and to console me my parents bought me a lot of Deckle Edge cards for around $20. Actually, I just decided to dive into the Ebay feedback history to get the details. It had 26 of the cards, for $16.60. Which was just an unbelievable deal. The lot had Roberto Clemente, Rod Carew, Pete Rose, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, all those guys. It even had the two short prints, Joe Foy and Jim Wynn. 

That was a huge part of the set, leaving just 9 cards, but I didn't add any more until last year. I got about four in my COMC order,  one or two from my dad, one from a card show, and suddenly I only had one card left. Willie Mays. 

At the card show I went to in the spring, I had the chance to get Mays for $10, but passed it up, remembering that I had seen it for cheaper online. A decision which I cursed for a while, until I found a copy on Ebay for $6.95 + shipping/tax. Finally the set was complete. I still think I should have gotten it at the card show, but it's okay.

Mays is the last card in the set. As you can see, it's numbered to 33, but it's actually a 35 card set because both of the short prints share numbers with another player. Jim Wynn and Hoyt Wilhelm are both #11, and Joe Foy and Rusty Staub are both #22. 

1969 Deckle Edge isn't the best set ever, but it's a fun little set with plenty of star-power. The checklist is a little weird. Felipe Alou is the representative player for the Braves, instead of Hank Aaron. Being black and white makes it distinctive, and it's just a nice clean set.

It feels good to have a complete set. There's a couple cards I want to upgrade, but they're both commons so it won't be too hard.