An Australian Homer Single Card Post

Today is a single card post.

 

In February 1995 Bart made a long-distance collect call to Australia to see if the water went down the drain clockwise or counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. This leads the Simpsons family on a journey to the Land Down Under so Bart can make an apology and a punishment of a “Booting” in what many rate as one of the Top 10 Simpsons episodes.

The following year Tempo cards, an Australia card company, worked with Fox to release 1996 Tempo The Simpsons Down Under a set based entirely on the episode. Since the product was released only in Australia it didn’t do extremely well in the U.S. but you can still find cards from the set with a complete 100-card base set running $15-20.

My favorite cards from the set are the “Homer As” chase cards which depict Homer as various famous Australians. The card that I most wanted, I actually thought I had it listed on my Top 10 Wanted list (but I was mistaken), is the Homer As Mad Max. After seeing the cards on the internet I initially thought that the cards had a canvas type texture but with the card now in hand I see that it is just a standard glossy coating but I am still happy.

The back includes a write up about the character, since Mad Max is fictional the write up is loosely based on Mel Gibson’s character Maximillian Rockatansky in the original Mad Max trilogy. In place of the trusty sawed-off double barrel shotgun that Max carriers, Homer carries a Squishee-shooter but otherwise they are quite similar. The cards are each #/7000 with mine being #5581/7000.

 

Other characters included in the 7-card Homer As chase card set; an Indigenous Australian, Capt. James Cook, Burke & Willis, Ned Kelly, Dame Edna and Crocodile Dundee.

The Art Gallery: 2012 Unstoppable Cards Night Of The Living Dead Bill

This month’s Art Gallery display is from the 2012 Unstoppable Cards Night of the Living Dead release. The artist is Adam Talley, a comic book artist and illustrator. He has cards included in Marvel sets, DC sets, Star Wars sets, Mars Attacks and smaller oddball sets like Night of the Living Dead and Titanic.

What caught my attention, besides the cartoonish work (which I like), is the subject. This is Bill, the first zombie we see in the movie. He is in my favorite scene, which I talked about in an earlier Art Gallery card of my other Night of the Living Dead sketch card.

Bill here attacks Barbra but her brother Johnny jumps the zombie and while scuffling Johnny falls and slams his head against a grave stone and dies. We later see Johnny, as a zombie, trying to break in to the farm house. But, we can track back every zombie in every movie since 1968 to this one zombie, Bill. He is the dead man who started the destruction of the zed.

I picked up this card for a couple of dollars from the same seller from my other NotLD sketch card, so he bundled the shipping together for another $1. This is one of my favorite sketch sets.

Silver Sig Signed By Sylar Spock

In honor of NBCs attempt at rebuilding the Heroes storyline with the release of the Heroes: Reborn mini-series that began last night I am posting a recent pick up. A very cool Zachary Quinto silver paint pen autograph on his 2008 Topps Heroes Volume 2 foil card. Quitno is an amazing actor and he has such range showing complete evil as Sylar in Heroes to complete logical Spock, a roll worthy of praise by the original Mr. Spock Leonard Nimoy.

He has official cards in Topps, Rittenhouse and Breygent releases with the more common American Horror Story autographs coming in at $50 and his Heroes and Star Trek autos topping $100. While he does sign with his full name on some sets he usually just uses an abbreviated signature (ZQuinto) with the full name autographs running quite a bit more.

I spent more on this card than any other autograph (official or TTM/IP) that I have purchased but I really wanted it so I was able talk myself in to it. I have been picking up many of my recent autographs from a dealer on the East Coast and because of this he was willing to work a deal with me that didn’t break my bank account.

From the Heroes line I am looking to add a Masi Oka, who played Hiro Nakamura, autograph. He was my second favorite character on the show behind Sylar. I was disappointed that NBC did what they could to destroy the show so quickly and I am hoping they can redeem themselves with Reborn, even though Sylar is not in the show and Hiro is only in 3 episodes. 

"Not Me", Damn Right It Isn't Me!

Earlier this week Raz wrote about picking up a Felicia Day autograph from Cryptozoic’s 2012 The Guild release. I am a Day fan (She is at the top of my celebrity crush list) and have one of her autographs but I am always on the lookout to add more so after Raz wrote about his pickup I took a look on the Google machine and came across a most interesting custom card TTM autograph card that was ending soon with an opening bid of only $0.99 plus an insane $5.00 shipping (though if it was a cool card $5.99 for a Felicia Day autograph is a steal).

The down side is that it was not a cool card. It was a poorly copy and paste image and when it was printed it was washed out. The autograph is real but the character portrayed on the card is not Felicia Day as Codex from The Guild but instead a cosplayer dressed as Codex, which was pointed out by Felicia Day when she wrote “Not Me” with an arrow pointing at the character. The card eventually sold for the opening $0.99 bid.

I have included an image of Felicia Day as Codex and you can see the differences. While the cosplayer pictured on the custom card does look similar to Felicia Day when you compare the two you can see they are not the same person.

 

I actually found the cosplayer, her name is Ksenia Zaring and the image used for this card is on her DeviantArt page, not sure how the card designer missed this mistake.

You would think once the actress pointed out the person on the card was not her that the seller would not have posted the card to sell. I considered buying the card and maybe cutting out the autograph and making some sort of cut signature card but I wavered and decided in the end to not bid.

R.I.P. Yogi Berra

The baseball world lost a great one yesterday with the passing of Yogi Berra at the age of 90 years old.

He started his playing career in 1943 with the Norfolk Tars after signing with the Yankees but was derailed by WWII. He took part of the D-Day invasion and was later injured during the Allied assault on Marseilles, which earned him a Purple Heart. After leaving the Navy in 1946 he retuned to the minors before being called up by the Yankees in 1947. Over the next 19 seasons he was part of a Yankee Dynasty that won 11 World Series Titles out of 15 World Series trips. He still holds the record for most Series games played, plate appearances, hits and doubles.

After a Hall of Fame career he went on to coach/manage for the Yankees, Mets and Astro taking both the Yankees and the Mets to World Series appearances as manager.

He was a great player and a good sport and while he may be gone his legacy will never leave as long as there is baseball to be played.

His 1948 Bowman #6 rookie card, shown above (I do not own this card) will cost you well over $150 but there are reprint available but there are plenty of relics in the $10-15 range and autographs starting around $30.

 

I end with a classic Yogi-ism "Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours."

Sometimes Prospecting Can Be Bad And Sometimes It Can Be Horrible

Remember this guy?

People were going crazy when this 2010 Bowman Chrome Stephen Strasburg Superfractor sold for $16,403 in May 2010 and it seemed like the hysteria just intensified when Brian Gray paid $25,000 for it in June 2010. When Brian packed it out in one of Leaf’s repack products the card seemed to disappear, well the person who pulled it out of the repack product just put it up for auction using Beckett Auction Services. The auction closed Sunday (9/20) night and after 6 bids it sold for $3,289.

This card lost $21,711 in value in just 5 years, wow talk about a fall from grace.

A Ghost Card Found After A Mail Carrier Lost It

I have complained on my blog about my postal carrier before, she will often place mail in the wrong people’s box and she has a habit of not delivering certified mail to people’s homes instead putting a “Sorry we missed you” card in your mail box expecting you to go to the post office to pick up the letter.

This one takes the cake. As I was closing in on my 500^th Griffey card I came across a 1994 Bowman Griffey for a good price. This was a ghost card so I decided to pick it so I could get it back in to my collection. The card was shipped on June 26^th but it never showed up. I emailed the seller to let him know I didn’t get it but I told him I wasn’t complaining because it is the chance we take when getting a card shipped by PWE, he did his part so I wasn’t asking for my money back or a replacement.

This shows up in my mailbox today. If you notice it has two postmarks nearly 3 months apart as well as a handwritten note about being delivered to the wrong address.

Now I don’t put all the blame on the mail carrier, she just delivered it to the wrong box, but whichever of my neighbors who got this obviously didn’t put it back out to be re-delivered or go that one-step further and walk around the corner to my house and give it to me like I do whenever I get someone else’s mail. My neighborhood is not that large and for someone to hold on to it for 3 months is pretty crappy of the neighbor.

Anyway, I have finally replaced one of my favorite ghost cards so all is well.

Collecting Movie Props Can Be An Expensive Hobby

In 1983 Return of the Jedi came out and every boy in their tweens/teens had a new love, Princess Leia. Sure she was pretty in Episode IV and V but in Episode VI she was captured by Jabba the Hutt and we were introduced to Slave Leia.

The image of Princess Leia in her gold bikini imprinted a fantasy for every breathing boy, even making it in to pop culture when Racheal wore a Slave Leia costume for Ross in a 1996 Friends episode, though Racheal mistakenly wore her hair in the cinnamon bun hairstyle of Episode IV Princess Leia (I am willing to forgive her for this error). The costume is now a major staple for cosplay characters at almost every comic book and sci-fi convention.

Now comes the time for one lucky fan to own the actual costume worn by Carrie Fisher. In an upcoming Hollywood auction by Profiles In History Auction House fans can bid on this costume. The costume is expected to hit $80,000-120,000, I think I will have to pass but thanks anyway.

Insert Stupid Hand Joke Here

The New York Daily News was able to catch a photo of the damage to Jason Pierre-Paul’s hand that he damaged in a firework accident over the Fourth of July and they posted it online today.

With damage like this do you think that Jason Pierre-Paul will get back to football this season?

Index finger amputated completely, thumb partially amputated, multiple skin grafts to the four remaining fingers and palm, surgery to repair bone in his middle finger (currently in a cast) and thumb.

I think that he is done for the season but with his rehab and protective gear for his hand he will be able to return next season. Since he has not signed franchise player tender with the Giants ($14.8 million) he will be a free agent when he returns next season.

Looking at a record of his twenty-five highest single cards sales this year twenty-one of them came after his injury so obviously collectors have reason to believe he will be back.

Just Some Clear Guys

At this past National Convention in Chicago Leaf had a cool wrapper redemption program, a collection of 21 acetate cards with some of the biggest names in sports past, present and future and one shoe salesman who once scored four touchdowns in a single game.

I will admit I got a little caught up in the set and started bidding on some cards, ending up buying two of one card…whoops. I still have a couple of cards I want to add to my collection; Frank Thomas and Mike Tyson.

Here is what I picked up so far:

 

 

 

 

Here is the complete 21-card checklist

Al Bundy

Amari Cooper

Cal Ripken Jr.

Connor McDavid

Cristiano Ronaldo

Damian Lillard

Duke Johnson

Frank Thomas

Jameis Winston

Kevin White

Kyle Schwarber

Lionel Messi

Magic Johnson

Marcus Mariota

Mario Lemieux

Melvin Gordon

Mike Tyson

Neymar

Nolan Patrick

Pete Rose

Todd Gurley

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1968 A & BC Superman In The Jungle Awesome Apparition

This month’s VCoM comes from the U.K. in the form of the 1968 A & BC Superman In The Jungle release. In the 1960s Superman was the top guy in the super hero world and there were multiple Superman sets being released around the world. Topps even tossed their hat in the ringer and worked with A & BC to release a “Test” set in the U.S. before the regular release in the U.K. Topps never moved on past the test set but A & BC moved on with their set, which is the set from which my card comes.

The set contains a 66-card checklist with each card depicting a beautifully colored Superman in various African environments like the jungle, rivers and lakes. He fights snakes, rhinos, leopards and even a fire breathing dragon. The set war marginally popular and Topps even included a “Test” Jungle card in their recent 75^th Anniversary release.

The card cost $8.25, which is on the low end for these cards, and is graded a PSA 5. I would love to add more cards from the set to my collection as well as some cards from Topps Test set as long as the price is right. I wish there were subgrades so I could see where the problem is that caused this card to be a mid-grade. Besides the back being cut off-center (top to bottom) this card is in beautiful condition with squared corners and edges, smooth surface and bright colors.

My Pretty!

Have you ever had a card that you wanted to bad that you stopped working on your collection for the sole purpose of finding this one card?

My Ryan Bader collection has been put on hold while I am on the search for this card:

A 2010 Topps UFC #32 Ryan Bader "Darth" Nickname parallel

There were 25 cards in the Nickname parallel subset and they were exactly the same as the fighter’s base card version in the set but instead of the fighters name it had their nickname. There are 250 of each fighter’s nickname cards.

With 250 Ryan Bader nickname cards out there it is not seriously rare but they just do not show up. There was one sold late last year for just under $8, I lost out by.50 cents, and this year a guy posted one for $19.99, which I was not willing to pay. He posted it three times and I was hoping he would drop it to a more realistic $10, which I was willing to pay ,but no luck.

Time Will Pass But We Will Never Forget

-Photograph by Shane Psaltis

It's Time For Some Football

A couple of new Seahawks cards I recently picked up just in time for the season opener tonight.

1983 Topps Jim Zorn, the Seahawks first quarterback ever. The card is a bit worn but the autograph is a nice addition.

 

1984 Topps Dave Krieg RC. Krieg was signed by the Seahawks in 1980 but he didn't have a rookie card until 1984. He eventually replaced Zorn as the starting QB taking the team to the AFC Championship in 1983.

 

A 2013 Crusade and 2014 Crusade pair. I am not a huge fan of most of Panini’s football cards but I do love the Crusade sets.

Closing out with a 2014 Panini Black Gold Marshawn Lynch. This shadow box card is extremely cool. I picked it up because I love the 3D look and can anyone really have enough Lynch cards?

Rex Chapman, Not Apple Store Friendly

In local news former Phoenix Suns player Rex Chapman was sentenced to probation, 750 community service hours and $15,128.30 plus an additional $10,000 in restitution following his trial today were he pleaded guilty to four felony charges of shoplifting from a local Apple Store.

He was accused of stealing $14,000 worth of Apple products from the Scottsdale Apple Store over a period of 7 thefts, he would use the store’s “Self-checkout” and would leave without paying and he would then sell the items for cash at a pawn shop. In an interview with Sports Illustrated he claims he does not remember doing it because he is addicted to pain killers.

I felt it is appropriate to skip the jail jumpsuit relic and go with a piece of evidence. Damn Chappy, drugs sure can be a bitch.

It Can't Be A True Bust Without A Huge Flameout

This past weekend we saw NFL teams make their final player cuts to get down to the 53-player roster. There were plenty that were expected, a couple that were not and some fan favorites possibly ending their careers with last day cuts.

Even with the cutting of some of players like Reggie Wayne, Matt Cassel (who just resigned with the Bills), Tim Tebow, Montee Ball and Devon Still I think the one that will sting the player the most will be Trent Richardson.

Richardson came out of Alabama rushing for 1,679 yards with another 338 yards receiving not to mention two National Championships in three years. He was ranked as the #1 Running Back going in to the 2012 NFL Draft, seeming almost a lock in the stacked draft.

He was taken in the #3 pick by Cleveland and had a solid first season but after that the wheels came off of the train. He spent a little over one season with Cleveland before getting traded to Indianapolis where he played nearly two season. After being suspended for the AFC Champisonship game he was released by the Colts after the season and picked up by the Oakland Raiders. He struggled and didn’t even make it to the final round of cuts, instead the Raiders cut their ties leaving Richardson as a Free Agent heading in to the 2015 NFL season.

On the positive side any Richardson collectors have their choice of his cards for an amazing deal. There are currently 288 Richardson autographs listed with a total of 10 bids, all under $5, so now would be the time to purchase considering if he does get picked up by another team those prices will rise.

I had high hopes for him and I thought his move to Indy would help him break out of his rut, boy was I wrong. He seems to have problems seeing the holes and making the necessary cuts.

 

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day

 

Oh wait… not that type of labor.

How about this

Happy Labor Day

 

Oh and apparently today is the last day of the year when it is fashionable to wear seersucker or white shoes. So Ryan is cool today but starting tomorrow he is out of fashion.

 

Wait, If I Squint I Can See It

Only in this hobby can a company get away with creating a memorabilia card with no relic and somebody turning around and spending $100 on a memorabilia card without a relic in it.

Normally I am not a fan of manufactured relics but I am a fan of the Cryptozoic Totally Fabric relic cards because they are based on comics, even though I am not willing to pay the prices that people are asking for the DC versions, but you have to admit including a piece of Wonder Woman’s invisible plane is a stretch.

Around 13 years ago I pulled a 2002 Fleer Showcase Baseball’s Best Vladimir Guerrero bat relic card where the bat piece fell out before it was packed out leaving just an empty hole in the card for me when I pulled it from the pack. A Guerrero fan bought it from me, I think I got about $5 for it, but maybe I should have held up and sold it as an invisible bat card.

Dom Grady Where Are You?

With today’s announcement that the New England Patriots Tom Brady has been cleared of the accusations connected to “Deflategate” and his four game suspension has been removed the Patriots waived free agent rookie QB Dom Grady who was expected to start in Tom Brady’s absence.  

The undrafted Dom Grady came out of nowhere with his pinpoint accuracy that normally only comes from years as a Hall of Fame level Quarterback was truly a freak of nature but with his talents no longer needed in New England he seems to have just disappeared. Apparently calls to his cell phone from the Jets, Eagles and Redskins have gone unanswered leaving one perplexed GM to say “It is as if this man was the figment of someone’s imagination, like he never existed and he has disappeared as quickly as he appeared”

Ripping Some Retail: 2015 Panini Prizm Baseball

In the last year I have made some changes to the way I collect and I now rarely open boxes and packs, I just found it easier to purchase the singles that I wanted because I have very little luck opening packs but occasionally I still get that itch so when I do I will grab a rack pack/hanger box to ease the pack opening pain I feel.

I picked up a 2015 Prizm Baseball value pack the other day while I was at Target. It contained three packs of 4 cards each plus a pack of 3 Red, White and Blue Prizm cards for $10. I just had an urge to open something and for some reason I am drawn to Prizm and I like the Red, White and Blue Prizm cards so I figured why not.

Here are the highlights:

Starting with some young guys Dee Gordon and Xander Bogaerts
Both are having a solid season and after leading the MLB in stolen bases last year Gordon is currently #2 on the list this season.

Michael Taylor is another young guy in the league. While he isn’t really a huge threat he does have the longest homerun of the 2015 MLB season at 493 feet last Saturday which is pretty impressive.

Now to the old guy of the pack, Kirby Puckett. A Hall of Famer who had to retire at the age of 36 due to loss of vision in his right eye. Figure if he was to play for 4 more years and hit a minimum of 175 hits per season he would have topped 3,000 hits but being a First Ballot Selection in to the HoF is proof enough that he was damn good.

 

On to the Prizm refractors:
Mike Moustakas Prizm

Jose Bautista, Rickey Henderson and Anthony Rendon Red, White and Blue Prizm

An Ichiro Purple Prizm #78/99

A Nick Swisher USA Baseball insert

A Bobby Witt Baseball Signatures autograph

I cannot really complain about the pack, I got a nice selection of players both retired and young with the Ichiro and Rickey Henderson Prizm cards topping the list for me. Panini does not include hit ratios so I don’t know if the autograph was expected or if I just happen to beat out a pack searcher.

I don’t care that the Ichiro says Miami on the card, this one is going in to my Mariners Ichiro collection.

Sorry But No Joe In The Hall

Over the years people in and outside of baseball have called for Joe Jackson to be removed from the ineligible list. Shoeless Joe was given a lifetime ban from then-MLB Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis in 1921 along with seven other players from the 1919 Chicago White Sox team after reportedly taking bribes to throw the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Even though there was no proof that he had taken any money, this was even supported by the players who did take the bribes, nor did he intentionally muff any plays during the Series he was still grouped in with the rest due to having "knowledge" of the illegal bribes.

 

When Rob Manfred took over the MLB Commissioner position in January the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum in South Carolina sent a number of requests asking that the new Commissioner reconsider now that it has been 94 years since the ban was imposed and 63 years since Jackson died. Apparently the Commissioner did take the situation in to consideration but ultimately decided to decline the request in an announcement finally released this morning by the museum.

Had Shoeless Joe been removed from the ineligible list it is almost certain that he would have been inducted in to the MLB Hall of Fame not to mention the windfall that Topps would have received from being able to include him in official MLB releases.

Even though he has been banned from the MLB meaning he can not appear in an MLB official card set there are plenty of Joe Jackson cards for collectors. Panini included him in the Diamond Kings, Golden Age, Classics and National Treasures releases. Donruss, Conlon and Pacific included him on a couple of releases between the mid-1990s and 2008 and there are plenty of Upper Deck options to choose from too. His bat relic cards start around $75 while his pre-war vintage cards are going to top $350 all the way up in to the thousands.