Last week, Top Shot super collector, Jeffrey Rowe (TS user: @jayaaarrrgh) shared a fascinating project that has taken him the entire NBA season to complete. JR has assembled 10 moments with a serial number from each of the 75 years in the NBA’s history. We wanted to learn more, so we pinged JR for a quick Q&A.
This is the second installment in our community leader summer profiles. You can check out the first installment here.
OTM: Tell us about the origins of the NBA 75 project? When and why did you decide to do it?
JR: An origin story. I’d say the project likely began taking shape well before the 75th season actually began. Soon after I joined Top Shot in early 2021, I started collecting serialized moments of my birthyear, my kids’ birthyears, my brothers’ birthyears, and then a few other “year” serials that held some meaning to me.
Before the beginning of last season, I noticed all sorts of “75th NBA season” videos, interviews, lists of the “top 75 all time” and the like. We got a new RIB set and the Archive set around that time, too, so a bunch of those “Top 75 All Time” guys were in there. Seeing all that stuff got me thinking that with all of the 1900s and 2000s serials I’d started to collect, that perhaps I could do something on Top Shot to celebrate the NBA throughout the course of its existence. Thus, “The NBA @ 75” Showcase series was born.
OTM: Talk about the mechanics of acquiring the 750 moments. Were they all MP purchases? Did friends help? What was the hardest year to complete?
JR: The mechanics to completing a project like this are relatively doable for anyone. 99.8% of these moments were MP purchases on my end. I might have traded for one moment that I ended up using in one of the showcases with a buddy of mine that I introduced to Top Shot. I admittedly added a layer of complexity to my project, as I wanted to include at least 1 NBA All Star in each showcase as well as, where possible, a TSD / 4 badger or non base moment, too. At one point in the season, I was simply buying any of those kinds of moments with serials that were in the range of years to help me have as many options as possible to choose from when building the showcases. It’s very possible that I have 1500 moments in those ranges – I honestly have never counted them. I’m proud to say that most of the showcases ended up including exactly what I was hoping they would.
The hard stuff. The serials 2000 and 2021 were both relatively challenging to complete, likely according to that added complexity mentioned above. For some reason, it was rare to see All Stars / HOFers (or other moments I wanted to include in my project) anywhere near the FMV for other serials in a similar range. I knew I simply had to remain patient and finally completed those 2 years during Finals week to complete my project.
Sure, it took me all season, but I enjoyed it and now I have something I can share with others. Maybe it’ll inspire a few collectors out there to come up with their own collecting project in the near future, too.
OTM: Now that you’ve finished will you do anything else to display or celebrate the collection? Will you hold all of the moments forever?
JR: I haven’t put that much thought into it, though Top Shot appears to wish to celebrate the project. I know in the future, we’ll have all sorts of different ways to display our showcases. I’m an actor and film producer, so I’ve been considering if I can produce a film around Top Shot collecting and if so, would likely include my little showcase project in that film when the time comes. I’ve got to finish 3 other films before I get there, though!
I’m not 100% sure I’ll hold every single one of these common moments forever. I can imagine that I might end up trying to edit certain years with only rares or only All Stars or only a specific player with the exact same year or something along those lines. I definitely won’t be deleting my showcase project ever, though!
OTM: Are there other numerologists in the community we might not be aware of? Do you all help each other? Inspire each other?
JR: There are tons of numerologists in the community. I’ve come across many collections focused on grabbing particular numbers, whether for each player in one specific set or across sets for specific players, etc. For some, it’s the #1 or specific single digit serials, yet for others it’s doubles (11 / 22 / 33 / etc), triples or quadruples (sometimes referred to as “angel numbers”). I’ve heard others collecting their area code, their postal code, or maybe even the last four digits of their ex-girlfriends phone number. We’ve all seen collectors that seem to like to grab all of those 69s and 420s, of course, too, haven’t we? To each, his / her own.
While not numerology focused, we also have collectors that are trying to own a large percentage of the supply of a specific moment. I find that type of collecting strategy appealing / inspiring. Just imagine if every moment had 1 specific collector that was the whale of that moment… and then burned most of the moments to take the supply down under 100 / 50 / 10 / 1. Lots of ways to make things interesting for Top Shot in the near future, without a doubt.
I don’t actually wish to name names here as it can sometimes harm the ability to build / complete the focused number collections. I can definitely share that we all inspire each other to keep doing what we’re doing. I’ve helped many collectors on their journey to completing their number-specific collections and many collectors have helped me, too. “Win-Win” is the way the universe works after all.
OTM: Do you have any similar projects lined up for the future?
JR: Of course, I’ve always got projects lined up for the future. Perhaps none as big and as exciting as this one, but I wouldn’t want to ruin the fun for everyone just yet before I share it publicly!
Big thanks to everyone on Top Shot who collects.