Set Description
FF was probably the first book I started collecting back in the 60s. The goal here is to get a 9.6/9.8 run, but not sure it will happen in this lifetime, as the early books are generally beyond our means. But if you have a 9.8 in the #20-102 range and want to avoid the vicissitudes of auctions, please drop us a line and we will see if a deal is out there.
2019: This set has become one of our focuses of late, as we are attempting to upgrade as many books as possible. While I appreciate the Best Silver Set award this set received, we certainly know that someone out there most likely has a far superior set, as there are a number of books in the census that we have never seen on the market. As most long-term collectors know, there are a couple of huge collectors who have never registered their books here, so these awards really signify very little. I have no goal of having the best set in the world, just the best we can put together with limited resources. There are books available right now that would improve this one, but which are monetarily beyond our means. I have often wished I had unlimited money so that I could buy every upgrade available, but then it would be kinda like playing fantasy baseball with no salary cap. We all have to operate within our own financial restraints, so which upgrades to pursue become a matter of choices and priorities. For us, FF is currently ours. So if you have a book that would be an upgrade for us and are interested in selling, we would love to see if we can make a deal.
2020: 2019 was a pretty good year for this set as, through mostly private deals, we upgraded about 20 issues. As of early 2020, we have finally accumulated 74 9.8s in this set with just 7 9.4s. Of course, the 9.8 run really does not start until issue #32, with several gaps in the upper #30s and #49-52. While we will continue to try to upgrade this set when the opportunity arises, I expect those opportunities to be few and far between. Let me say again, this is not the best FF set around, just the best registered one. While, as of this writing, we only own one single highest graded FF, a number of them have been reputedly off the market for years and never registered (#2, #3, #7, #8, #9, #13, and #18 stand out). Moreover, our #1 9.4 has a purple label. So this is not the best FF collection around, just the best our finances-and, of course, market opportunities this past 20 years-have permitted us to achieve. It is really hard to set any goals for this set going forward, as too many of the books we covet are off the market. And, of course, if they were to all hit the market at once, finances would not allow us to get many. So this set will probably not be a big priority going forward, as most of the easy affordable hunting is done.
