Going on a short hiatus

Hey guys. Just to let you know, I won't be posting anything for the next two weeks nor will I be able to complete any trades. I will be leaving tomorrow to spend the next two weeks in Ukraine. By the time I get back it'll almost be time for Allen & Ginter to arrive!

Happy collecting!

Post break question

Quick question. After you do a box break where you are keeping the contents do you prefer to leave the cards in the wrappers and in the box? Or do you take them out to sort and store them in a different container?

Card Show report- 2011 Topps Lineage box break

My final goal at the card show was to buy a hobby box of...something..anything really. Something recent at least. I went in thinking maybe a box of Topps Chrome from 2007-2012 but really anything would do if it was the right price. Most of the dealers only had 2013 products and some 2012 products in stock, all of which I have acquired a lot of already, am not collecting or was out of my price range. However the same dealer who I purchased the two packs of '13 S2 from to get the vintage card did have a box of 2010 Topps Chrome on hand for $58. This was a little bit more expensive than it was going for online but only a few dollars. I thought about it...and thought about it some more. And decided to instead purchase the box of 2011 Topps Lineage he had for only $1 more. I could not have made a better choice!

I had not collected any of this set before so it was a completely new product for me. I really like the modern design that is coupled with an excellent checklist of current players and Hall of Famers. I don't know how much attention this set got back in 2011 so here is a sample of the base set.

And now most of the inserts contained in the box.

Topps Giants box topper 

Stand ups

Diamond Anniversary refractor parallels

Platinum Diamond Anniversary parallels

Topps Rookies

1975 minis

Topps 3D

Cloth Stickers

Each Topps Lineage Hobby Box contains one relic and two autos.

1975 mini relic

1952 Autograph (sticker)

Autographed reprint (on-card)

All in all this was an excellent box break. I really like this set. I'm not a big fan of the Topps Archives set and would much prefer that they bring back Lineage in it's place.

Well this wraps up my report on my first ever card show. The next one in Hickory is in October but I will not be able to go. I believe another is scheduled for January so I am looking forward to it with great anticipation!

Card Show report- The Chrome and the (Road) Gray

Continuing on my card show experience:

I found another dealer with a few packs of 2004 Topps Chrome and Bowman Chrome for $1 each. I found this right before I was intending to leave and I had $4 cash left in my wallet so I figured the price was right and grabbed two packs of each. None of the packs were all that spectacular but they did yield one refractor parallel from each set.

One of my goals going into the show was to find a Chipper Jones relic. Chipper's rookie year in 1995 was the same year that I developed my interest in baseball and subsequently baseball cards and he immediately became my favorite player. So as I had yet to acquire a relic of his I figured this would be a good opportunity to find one. The first dealer table I checked out was manned by an obvious die-hard Yankees fan by the name of Frank. He was decked out in Yanks garb and had a very pronounced Bronx accent. Frank had a large box jammed full of relics and autos. While I searched through the box he and I had a good conversation about the state of baseball as well as the hobby. He told me about growing up in the Bronx in the 70's and sitting out in the bleachers for a few games every summer at old Yankee Stadium. 

Near the back of the box I found two cards that really piqued my interest. The first was a dual auto of Brandon Beachy and Julio Teheran. The sticker was $30 and as much as I would have loved to have had it I decided to pass. But right behind it was a 2007 UD Masterpieces Captured on Canvas Chipper Jones jersey relic! Goal completed! The sticker price was $10 and when I handed it to him he looked at it for a second and said "five bucks." Thanks Frank!!

While I was there I bought cards from one other dealer, most of which I will show in another post. He had hobby boxes of 2013 Topps S1 and S2 open to sell loose packs for $2 apiece. On the boxes he had signs that said "Buy two or more packs and get a free gift". So I decided to take advantage and bought two packs of S2. Those were not all that interesting besides a Prince Fielder Cut to the Chase, but the free gift was interesting. He had a stack of plain silver foil packs that each contained one vintage Topps card from the 50s-70s. Here's what I got.

1961 Topps #134 Mickey Vernon

Not a particularly valuable card but seeing as I previously owned nothing produced before 1980 it was still a cool thing to get. And an interesting fact, Vernon is the MLB record holder for most double plays participated in by a first baseman.

One last post about the card show will be coming soon.

Card Show report- Reminiscing on the cheap

I have a particular fondness for sets from the mid 1990's as that is when I started collecting. Back when I was in late elementary and middle school I would save up my allowance money for a month or more then beg my mom to take me to my LCS where I would blow everything on packs and the occasional single card. The owner Raymond had a huge cardboard box full of junk wax packs for a quarter apiece. Naturally I thought this was awesome and would usually buy 8-10 packs. Raymond would also throw in a couple more for free if I spent more than $20. Being a young, naive collector I was all about quantity over quality. So when I had to decide between say four packs of UD Collector's Choice with ten cards in each pack and one pack of Topps Finest with six cards in the pack for the same price, I would of course choose the cheaper packs. As a result I feel like I probably missed out on a lot of the better sets of the mid to late 90s. But I really enjoyed my baseball card collecting hobby so I don't regret those decisions. Thanks to the advent of the internet age it is now very easy to acquire older sets if you so desire. Currently I'm working more on catching up on sets from the 2000's that I missed during my time away from the hobby that I have previously written about so I haven't given 90's wax much of a look.

Fast forward to yesterday where I was attending my first ever card show in Hickory, NC. I found one dealer who had a box completely full of baseball, football and basketball packs ranging from early 80's Topps, Score and Donruss to the mid 90s. The majority of the packs were 80's junk wax or 90's sets that I have already mostly completed. However after doing some digging around in the box I found a few packs each of 1995 Topps Finest, 1995 Emotion, 1996 Topps Finest and 1996 Donruss. The first three sold back in the day for $4-6 a pack, and he was selling these at 3 for $1! What a deal! The Donruss certainly wasn't a remarkable series but it was the last baseball set they made as an independant company as well as the last year that Dick Perez produced the Diamond Kings series. As I had not collected much of this set I decided to grab two packs of it as well as three each of both Finest sets and four of the Emotion set. So based on my research and calculations I got 12 packs for $4 when in 95/96 they would have cost me $58. That sounds like a Rickey Henderson quality steal to me!

Here is a sampling of the cards contained in the packs.

Emotion 95

Back in the day I bought a total of one pack from this set and it has ever since been one of my favorites. The photography and editing was well done for the mid-90's but the best part was the double-thick cardboard. The cards have a nicer feel than typical 90's set.

Finest 95

I was a little surprised at the thickness of these cards, or the lack thereof. They feel a little flimsy for what was at the time one of the higher end sets in the hobby. However the protective film on each card does help make up for it. One thing that surprised me was that there were two Albert Belle base cards in one pack. A duplicate...in the same pack!!! I don't think I had EVER had that happen to me before. Topps catches a lot of flack these days for a myriad of things but I can only imagine the hate they would get from collectors if they made a habit of doing that now.

Finest 96

Interesting that they decided to use multiple designs this year. Now you see that David Justice card in the middle? I got three of those...in three packs...and one pack did not contain one. That's right folks! Another case of a duplicate in the same pack! I know these two sets came out 17-18 years ago but what gives, Topps? Duplicates are inevitable when you buy a lot of packs but in the exact same pack? That's no way to treat your customers. Maybe I'm glad I waited nearly two decades to spend money on this set. Ten year old me would have been mighty pissed off about that.

Donruss 96

One of the best things about buying the Donruss packs is that they did yield quite a few HoF/Future HoF players. Though they don't have much monetary value it is always nice for sentimental value to see cards for players that you grew up watching. As an added bonus, all of the inserts in this set were sequentially numbered. The Frank Thomas Round Trippers insert is numbered 2488/5000.

Despite the duplicate annoyance I am really happy I was able to make this purchase. It brought a lot of memories flooding back about standing in the LCS for what seemed like forever trying to decide what to spend my money on. Sadly the LCS closed many years ago and I have to do most of my in-person card shopping at Wal-Mart. At least I have my memories...

Further Card Show reports will be coming in the following days.