The Perfect Card Collecting App

Last week, I talked about how I track my collections, and that got me thinking. We all know that's a dangerous thing, but in this case, perhaps some good might come of it.

What would the perfect iPhone app look like for collectors?

The answer to this question will depend on the collector, I'm sure. There are some things people want that might not be feasible, at least in a budget-friendly way. And in general, a player collector will want to track different things than a set collector or a type collector. A lot of what I talk about below was done for PC software back in the 1990s, so it's not that difficult or processor-intensive.

1. Speed/Flow. It needs to work quickly, but also be very user-friendly, with fast searches and easy inventory management.

2. Comprehensive checklists. Linking with TCDB could allow real-time updating of checklists.

3. Images. Front and back. Viewable outside of just the app or the iPhone itself.

4. Multiple lists. Want list goes to need list. Is it in a type collection, part of a set building project, or a player collection?

5. Notes and additional data. Purchase date, purchase price, notes on condition or serial numbering, grading information, storage location, etc. can be very useful.

6. Import/Export/Cloud Data and Multiple Platforms. Integrating with Google Docs or similar services would make this very feasible. People want backups. Furthermore, a speedy web interface would allow easier editing at home on keyboards or viewing on iPads.

7. Reports. Speaking of viewing - want lists, have lists, values, graphs, charts. Viewable on the phone, exported to Reminders, formatted as PDF or HTML, and/or shareable in some way.

8. Filtering. The filter view is my most important tool when using Google Sheets.

9. Pricing. This is the most challenging thing, but a lot of people want it.

Beckett's app, if you pay $50 a year for the collecting feature, and I'm assuming also pay for the online price guide feature, has a lot of this. It's pretty fast and has a fairly comprehensive checklist. I can't really try it out since there's no trial feature and I'm not paying $7 just to take it for a test drive for a month.

There are database apps out there, but my biggest concern is being able to edit data quickly via web-based spreadsheets or some other easy form. I've poked around Airtable and MobiDB, but haven't really given them too much thought. Airtable is pricey for my needs, thanks to the big type collection.

MobiDB integrates with Google Docs, but it isn't too pretty and it can be a little hard to see long rows on a sheet. I do like the easy searching/filter function, but I haven't tested it with a big spreadsheet.

Really, Google Sheets' only problem is the filtering - if I could easily filter my view, Sheets would be the most useful collecting software out there today. The filtering function is always at the top, though, and that isn't useful when you're 2000 rows below that.

Has anyone found any quality card collecting apps, especially ones that work cross-platform? Is there anything I didn't mention above that you think would be important?

Until next time...

Newish Acquisitions and a bunch of BBM Checklists

I don't have much to say about the cards in this collection other than they're more cards for my Japanese Type Collection, which is moving along pretty nicely right now. A few of these are ones I didn't have listed, and I'll try to note those below.

 The first one is an uncatalogued card from what I think is a four-card set. I know that there is a left-side card for this with another Fighters player and the rest of their pink mascot of the time. I also saw a single Giants card in similar fashion, implying that another card would match. They commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Tokyo Dome, and the backs are essentially identical. Given the other text they either promote or were given away at a sports card show in late 1998, and carry a BBM copyright. I think the big text in black, in the center of the card, says "Pro Baseball Dream Market in Tokyo Dome".

 Promos just keep popping up all over the place. This is from the 2010 cross-brand set Cross Stream.

 Rookie Edition set inserts.

 Here's another "Special Promotion Card" from 2010, with a fancy radial-holographic foil background that you can see in the scan.

 2010 had a lot of promo cards, but I think this year there might be more. All the sets seem to have nine-card promo sets so far, and First Edition had a few different 12-card promo sets.

 Giants set inserts. I discovered a binder that had some team set inserts, which I was glad for because I thought I would be out of luck with the older team inserts.

 Parallels. The 2001 Tigers card really has a purple signature. The other two are silver signatures from 2010.

 Horiuchi comes from another insert set, but Martinez comes from a Yomiuri set that I wasn't sure I'd find!

I found two years of Yomiuri cards plus a few Uehara puzzle cards. I only need one, so I only bought one.

So that's last week's card store purchases, though I have a new batch next to me waiting to be scanned, and at least three new sets get released this week. But I mentioned checklists. Identifying BBM parallels is really tough, and the website isn't much help, but I was looking at some of this year's checklists that get included with unopened boxes. There are details on parallels, and it seems to be complete for each set.

 You can click and enlarge the checklists if you want, of course. The written numbers is the price charged for those players; the rest are 40 yen each now at this store. You can see that every rookie carries a premium, as do many of the foreigners. The "rookie" foreigners are most likely to be more expensive.

[Assume for this paragraph I'm reading my Japanese accurately.] Odds are listed as 1:10 for the Great Hit Makers insert, 1:20 for Wonder Rookies, and the Lightning set is serial numbered to 50 copies. The regular cards with * following their name have three foil signed parallels at 100/50/25 copies, and seem to come 1:7 packs. Rookie cards have a parallel limited to 100 copies. All subsets (except team checklists) have serial-numbered parallels, though the sheet doesn't list quantities.

 The Carp set indicates that some players have a parallel to 100 copies, and the Soul of Carp insert has a parallel to 100 copies.

 The Swallows set has just the base cards and an insert, though the insert has a /100 parallel as well.

 The Eagles 10th Anniversary checklist lists no parallels.

 The Buffaloes 25th Anniversary team set has no regular parallels, but the Strongest Nine Players insert has a parallel to 100 cards. This card lists the odds for the insert set at 1:7.

 The Hawks checklist has no parallels at all. I might have a full type collection for this set; I think I got the memorabilia and autograph a couple weeks ago.

Finally, the Buffaloes regular team set is quite colorful, but there are no parallels mentioned. I know there is a parallel of the insert set because I just bought it.

Given the sporadic availability of information, I hope BBM sticks with the more-detailed checklists in future products. Or at least posts this information on the website!