Happy New Year

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Years Eve!

The Top Pickups Of 2015

With the year ending I was doing a mental countdown of my favorite pickups of 2015 and originally I wanted to keep it to a Top 10 and by the time I was ready to write the post I was up to 20 cards so I removed a couple of cards that were not as important to me and ended up using some creative manipulating and finished with my Top 10 list plus 2 Honorable Mentions

1.      Ken Griffey Jr. 1990 Topps Foil Test & 1991 Topps Desert Storm

2.      2010 Topps UFC Ryan Bader Nickname parallel

3.      1977 Topps Carrie Fisher autograph

4.      1988 Score Traded Jay Buhner XRC

5.      2014 Upper Deck Lauren Hill Heroic Inspirations

6.      1988 Topps Brian Bosworth RC

7.      Wrestling Trilogy

8.       Kenny Powers collection and customs

9.     1977 El Paso Sun Kings Kurt Russell custom

10.  2011 Leaf Family Guy LaVar Burton and Alfonso Riebeiro autographs

Honorable Mention

Randy Couture TTM

Macklemore TTM for my nephew

Luke I Am Your Father... Well Sort Of

With the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens it seems like Star Wars cards are all over the place and prices range drastically. Autographs and sketch cards are drawing major attention but if you watch carefully enough you can find a deal.

There are some actors that I would love to get a hold of their autographs but usually prices are pretty insane for some of the main characters in the movies and cartoons but sometimes a gem will fall when it is listed wrong with an incorrect title or listed under the wrong category and so far I have been able to grab three of those falling gems.

Earlier this year I picked up an IP Carrie Fisher and Tom Kane and now I picked up Dave Prowse, the actor who played Darth Vader in Episode III, IV and V. The Carrie Fisher card was listed just as “Fisher”, Tom Kane’s cards can really vary in price and I just got lucky and now the Prowse card was listed as a “Star Wars Card Lot Steve Prowse”.

Prowse played Darth Vader physically in the three movies and was the original voice of Vader before the switch was made to James Earl Jones. Prowse is actually a pretty good signer and has one of the most beautiful autographs from the Star Wars series. The signature is done in beautiful silver ink along the left side of the card.

Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas to all of my readers and I hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday.

The Art Gallery: ACEO Stewie Vader

This month’s Art Gallery display comes from Nicole Falk a freelance illustrator who also works in other mediums too. She has worked mainly with Topps on various sets but most notably a couple of different Star Wars set.

This is an art card, not part of an official set and I am guessing it is a custom card purchase. This is actually my second Family Guy custom sketch card, in 2014 I picked up a Stewie/GPK card by Chenduz. This one combines two of my interest with Family Guy and Star Wars. This specific image comes from Family Guy: It’s A Trap parody of Return Of The Jedi where Stewie’s Darth Vader mask is removed so Chris’ Luke can see his face.

Happy Festivus

A Festivus for the rest of us!

You may now begin the airing of grievances...

A Deserved Second Chance?

Former #1 draft pick Matt Bush is in the news again but this time for something good. Bush has had many legal issues, all connected to alcoholism, and most recently served 3 ½ years in prison after a DUI hit and run where he injured a 72-year old man. Since his release he has stated that he has been sober since March 2012 and is ready to move on to the next chapter in his life.

Bush signed with the Texas Rangers Friday and will be 30-years old when Spring Training rolls around in February. During his fall from grace he has been part of now 4 organizations originally being drafted as a shortstop by the Padres before being converted to a pitcher. In 2009 he was traded by the Padres to the Blue Jays who released him after having a drunken run-in with police. He signed with the Rays in 2011 but released when he was ordered to serve time in prison.

He has not had the best career as a short stop or pitcher but because he has acknowledged his demons, done his time and wants to move forward it makes me want to root for him. As the former 2004 #1 pick he has plenty of cards, including autographs and relics, in various 2004 sets and a couple of 2005 sets but that is all for now. Obviously now would be the time to start picking up his cards if you think he can make it to the big league, but at the age of 30 years old time seems to be against him.

A Custom Christmas Package From Gavin

The other day I received a nice Christmas package from Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown that was tailored to my interests, I would like to thank Gavin for the package I am very grateful.

I will begin with the custom 1987 Topps LaMarr Ho Ho Hoyt Christmas tree ornament. Hoyt has been transformed in to Father Christmas complete with beard and red cap. The card has a hole punch and string and is ready to hang on the Corky family tree.

Next up is a 1947 Goudey Indian Gum Luqaiot card. I will admit I was a bit confused by this one, I have 1933 Goudey Indian Gum cards and I thought this one was from that release but I noticed there was something different. The 1933 Indian Gum cards have green ink on the back, this card is black, and most of the cards that depict a specific warrior have a “Goudey Gum 1933” logo on the front. Additionally the bottom of the back of the cards is different. I didn’t even know that the set had been reprinted by Goudey in 1947, so this was a learning experience for me. The 1933 Luqait is on the bottom for comparison.

This was also a personalized card from Gavin, I lived in the Seattle area for half of my life and Luqaiot was a warrior from the Salishan Tribe in the Pacific Northwest out of the Kittitas Valley in Washington.

Now on to the freaking awesome part of the package, Ken Griffey Jr.

A 2015 BCD Ken Griffey Jr. Cardsphere Heroes #5 (A Green Star- Orange Ink #1/1)

 

The back of the card includes bloggers from the Cardsphere who collect Griffey. What makes this card even cooler to me, above all the coolness it already has, is that I have wanted a Griffey card depicting him in a Seattle Mariners Turn Ahead The Clock jersey. On July 18, 1998 the Mariners wore a “Future” jersey against the Royals, also wearing a “Future” jersey (The Mariners won 8-5). In 1999 Twenty teams, including the Mariners and Royals, wore TATC jerseys.

Surprisingly no card companies jumped on board, now you would expect to see a SSSSSP version included in a Topps set but in 1998-99 they all missed the chance to make a subset or insert with these jerseys so collectors who want them stick to custom cards and now I have one.

The final Griffey custom card is one that I have wanted for a while, Gavin makes some of the coolest custom cards and like me he is a fan of glow in the dark. Using the 1992 Topps design he created a magnet card using an image from the 1992 Simpsons Episode “Homer At The Bat”, one of the best episodes ever. To make it better he used glow in the dark strips as the border so now the card sits proudly over my printer in all of its Simpsons/Glow in the dark glory.

 

Bear Down At The New Mexico Bowl

The University of Arizona football team ended up going 6-6 this year, a huge disappointment after going 10-2 last year and facing Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Even though they had a dismal season they were still invited to the New Mexico Bowl against the 7-5 University of New Mexico, not really sure why they got invited but as a Wildcat fan I am happy to see them in a bowl game. 

 

With the game being played tomorrow I figured this would be an ideal time to post about my recent Ka’Deem Carey pickup, a 2014 Leaf Trinity Pure Glass autograph. Carey hasn’t had the ideal career in his second season with the Chicago Bear, especially after his amazing play in Tucson, but last week he scored his first NFL touchdown against the 49ers.

 

A Return Of The Geek Goddess Felicia Day

It is no secret that I am smitten with Felicia Day and any chance that I have in picking up anything related to her I grab. The most recent pickups are a couple of promo cards for the card games Munchkin and Fluxx.

Lie To Your Own Webcam promo card was released to promote Munchkin The Guild booster pack. The Guild is a web show in which Felicia Day’s Codex is the main character with the story line built around her.

Fluxx is another card game and the expansion pack were released to promote Fluxx Table Top booster. Table Top is a web show created by Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton, who also made apperances in The Guild. Felicia Day makes two appearances in the booster pack while Wil Wheaton makes four appearances in the booster pack.

These promo cards have been on my wish list for a while I just never bought them, I guess making them grey whales but now they are finally in my hands and they are off the list.

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1972 Primrose Superman

 

This month’s VCoM is another traveler from across the pond. In 1972 the Primrose Confectionary Company inserted mini Superman cards in to packs of Superman Sweet Cigarettes. As a child of the ‘70s I remember the fun of “smoking” candy cigarettes and blowing out sugar smoke but I was born in 1972 (and a continent away) so I was a bit too young to pull any of these cool Superman cards. For some reason the cards have a 1967 copyright but they were not inserted in to the candy cigarette packs until 1972 so there is some confusion when it comes to finding them, most people sell them under the 1972 (they are also graded as 1972) but some people still list them under the 1967 copyright date.

The cards are rather small, 1 5/16 x 2 9/16, which is even smaller than early-20^th Century tobacco cards and modern day minis. The cards are printed on a light weight paper which has led to them sometimes being called “paper thin” cards. The cards are brightly illustrated and the set, which contains 50 cards, depicts scenes ranging from Superman fighting aliens and bad guys to saving innocent people and even punching a shark.

This card is #43, Space Nightmare. He is captured by enemy Spacemen in an attempt to have him fight for them against Earth. There are two creases in the upper right corner and the corners are rounded but still a solid card.

An Unforgetable Ending

Going back to a couple of posts from earlier this year here is a quick review.

 

Part I

 

Part II

My nephew was living with me while his father was getting his life back together in Seattle. He shared a love of Macklemore with his dad so I purchased a 2015 Topps Macklemore First Pitch card for him. My nephew eventually returned to Seattle and within a short time someone broke in to his house, stole their electronics and they also stole the cards I gave my nephew including the Macklemore card.

I picked up another First Pitch card and sent it to Macklemore with a letter explaining how my nephew has had a rough life and that I gave him the card and how it was stolen and I asked for an autograph and Macklemore was more than happy to sign under the circumstances.

I gave the card to my ex-wife when the autographed card was returned to me in May and she was supposed to send it to him as a late birthday present. I found out last month that she had not sent the card so I urged her to please do it as a Christmas present and she finally sent it off last week. When he got it we asked that his father FaceTime us so we could see my nephew’s face.

Here he is opening his present with my narration

The look of an 8-year old getting a present

 

The look of an 8-year old opening the present and seeing it is a Macklemore card replacing the one that was stolen

 

The look of an 8-year old when he realizes that the card is signed by Macklemore

 

The look of an 8-year old boy when he finds out that Macklemore signed the card specifically for him

The New Champ Conor McGregor

Last month Holly Holm upset the seemingly unbeatable Rhonda Rousey and this month Conor McGregor took down the equally unbeatable Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. Not only did McGregor beat Aldo but he knocked his ass out in only 13 seconds, the fastest win ever in the UFC.

After McGregor beat Chad Mendes in July his cards jumped in price but now that he took out Jose Aldo in style every MMA collector seems to have jumped on the Notorious train and his card’s prices began their steady climb before Aldo even hit the mat.

I have a couple of cards that I have been watching, specifically from the 2013 and 2014 Bloodline sets and his 2014 Knockout Irish Pride triple relic cards, but I will just wait a little longer. There are some eBay toads that seem to be huffing model plane glue setting opening prices for his base cards at $10-20 each with one seller posting raw copies of the Bio card and the base version of the 2013 Bloodlines for $50 OBO.

These are the cards that I am hunting for so if anyone has any of these and they would like to work out a reasonable deal I would greatly appreciate it.

 

2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines #139 Flag Parallel

 

2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines Bio #BL-CM

 

2014 Topps UFC Bloodlines New Guard #NG-CM

 

2014 Topps UFC Knockout Fighter Relic “Irish Pride”