Thanks, @CardsFromAttic!

Cards From the Attic has been giving away some vintage cards on Twitter and I was the lucky recipient of one lot.  He's definitely worth a follow.  You can also find his website here.

In addition to the vintage, there were extra cards in the envelope.

Thanks for both the contest and the cards!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Thanks, @dubmentality!

When I got home from work Monday, there was a bubble mailer waiting on me.  I'd received everything in transit to me at work that day (I have some things sent there) and knew the bubble mailer was unexpected.  

It was from Joey, who many of you know as @dubmentality on Twitter.  I hoped to meet up with him when he was in town for the Industry Summit, but things just didn't work out.  

Joey has opened a few blasters of Upper Deck Hockey and I mentioned to him that I'm working on the set, complete with inserts.  I think my mind has changed on that, but this is still a win for me.  I will still attempt to put the Canvas set together, and that's what was in the envelope. 

Thank you for the surprise mail, Joey!  You need to let me know what cards you need to finish off your Series 1 set so that I can send some cards your way.  

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Box O' Cards From My Youth - 6

To be honest I had pretty much decided to stop writing much, if anything, on this blog.  It didn't feel that I was getting any response to posts.  The cards from my youth posts have received some interaction so I will continue on with them.

I've already shown some basketball and football Collect-A-Books.  While not into baseball anymore, it was my existence as a kid.  I was going to grow up and be Dale Murphy.  If I wasn't at practice or a game...or outside throwing to my "pitch-back," I was inside sorting and reading the backs of my cards.  It was a great childhood!

I give to you a box of baseball Collect-A-Books, which were by fan and away my favorites.  I believe they were the first sport released, but that was almost 30 years ago and I was a kid.

I was a kid when these were released.  I loved the cartoon player drawings on the back that went along with the player facts.  This alone made the baseball Collect-A-Books far superior to the other sports to me at ten.

The inclusion of legends was another selling point for me.  I was never going to own a Babe Ruth card as a kid and this was as close as I was coming.  It didn't hurt my feelings.  I just loved having this.

Did you have any of these?  How'd you feel about them then and how do you feel about them now?  I think it would be great if items like this were still available.  What say you?

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Thanks, @tradercracks!

After opening five blasters of 2017-18 Parkhurst, I needed one card to complete the set.  I had every card but the Alex DeBrincat went into my collection and not the set.  I was asking on Twitter if anyone had one to trade.  I never had any success and eventually just bought the damn thing on COMC. 

However, Ryan Cracknell (who writes for Beckett) reached out and asked if I needed the red parallel.  Oh, I did...and he sent it my way without asking for anything in return.  I'll have to find him something down the road and I'm very appreciative for his kindness.  If you don't follow him on Twitter, you should. Thanks, tradercracks!

This is just my 3 1/2 DeBrincat card.  So far I have his Young Guns, the Parkhurst base and I'm waiting on the Artifacts redemption to be shipped from Upper Deck. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

COMING SOON: Box From 'Bama

It's been a month since my uncle's unexpected passing.  Since he was the uncle that got me into collecting, I felt it was only right to stop into a card shop when I was in Birmingham for the funeral.  I made the 30 minute trek from where I was staying to Alabaster to visit Sports Nuts Collectibles. 

Curtis' shop isn't your normal shop.  He sells online and is a breaker.  There are also shows in the rotation, as he was headed to Houston the next weekend.  His shop is as much a warehouse as anything else. 

There was still plenty to dig through and I walked out with a case-sized box of goodies.  It was mostly oddball and promo cards but I also picked up three boxes and some random packs. 

Friday on the Condition Sensitive blog, it was mentioned to "enjoy the new cards instead of spending money on new stuff."  That struck a nerve as something I need to do a better job of. 

This box of cards is a good place to start.  My plan is to post short posts, but it should be extremely fun with all of the promo cards and oddballs.  I hope that y'all will enjoy it and hopefully see some things you didn't even know are out there. 

Oh, I guess I need a picture, so here's a shot of the box...

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting! 

Box O' Cards From My Youth - 5

I decided to alter the titles for this series going forward to "from my youth" instead of "from home" to point out that you won't see recent items in them. 

There were three of the 1980s Donruss puzzles in the surviving box.  As a kid, Topps and Donruss were my two preferred brands and I was able to complete multiple puzzles per season.  I probably had more Stan Musials that anyone else, since 1988 was by far and away the year my parents bought me the most Donruss.  It tailed off in later years with new companies producing cards and my collection wasn't concentrated in Topps and Donruss. 

I don't have the dozens of puzzles that I once did, but at least I have one of them. 

Did anyone pop these out, put the puzzle together and mat the puzzle to something?  I didn't, but should have. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Three Scoops

I've collected cards for more than 30 years, but I don't have many "big" cards.  I think it's related to the fact that even as a kid, money burnt a hole in my pocket, as my parents called it.  I've been one to buy cards when I could, instead of saving for high dollar ones.

Before my latest pickup, I had never spent more than $200 on a card.  I spent more than that on this one.

It looks like a T206, but it's actually a T213-1 card.  There is much debate among collectors if the T213-1s should actually be classified as T206 but that change will never happen.  One person that believes they should be is Anson of Pre-War Cards, whose opinion I greatly respect.  If you're interested to read more about that, click on the link below.

LINK:  T213-1 Coupon: If it Looks like a T206 and Smells like a T206…

One of my collecting goals for 2018 was to add one of the two T206ish Scoops Carey cards, SGC graded, to my collection.  The ultimate goal is to have the "rainbow" of all four backs, SGC graded.  If you know me, or read one of my recent posts on my other blog, you know that I love the black borders on the slabs. 

I already have the two easiest and cheapest copies to find, the T206 Piedmont and Old Mill backs.  This T213-1 and the T206 Hindu back are significantly tougher to come by.  When you add that I want it SGC graded, it becomes a challenge. 

Per Vintage Card Prices, the most recently copy of the card (VCP only tracks graded cards, sold on eBay or auction houses) sold in November 2016.  The only other recorded sale was in 2007.  Another number that legitimizes the cards scarcity is that just ten copies of the card have been graded, five each by PSA and SGC (that's if none of them were cracked and cross submitted). 

At the end of the day, I was looking for a 100+ year old card that there are five (or less) copies of.  I thought it would be years before I saw a copy but I was wrong.  Another collector on Net54 owned this copy and was looking to sell. 

The paper loss on the front bothers me but it wasn't enough to keep me from buying.  I knew that it might be years before I'd see a copy of the card for sale again.  If and when I do, there's no guarantee that I will get it.  Given the opportunity I will upgrade this card.  The four other copies are graded 10, 30, 30 and 50 so they all should have better eye appeal. 

Until then, I am more than happy with this purchase.  Although the card cost more than I've ever spent before, I believe that the price was in line with the limited market.  Besides, who knows if I'll even have another opportunity?

LINK (Net54):  Interesting trivia about 1910 COUPON (T213-1) cards...show us some of these rare gems

I mentioned that is my third of the four cards.  Is there a better way to show them than side-by-side?  I think not. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  They put $63 in my Paypal account last month!  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!