Thank You

It is with a heavy heart that I am posting this, but after 10 years I have decided to stop blogging.

Mainly because my health is deteriorating, and I am having difficulties keeping up with posts. For years I had the time and ability to sit down and write a post daily, then after the pain gradually got worse, I would sit down every couple of days and write 4 or 5 posts. In the past 6 months my pain and depression has intensified, and good days are less frequent so writing multiple posts and saving as drafts has become a godsend for me. There are 40 posts in my Draft folder right now.

In addition to my health, I have become disillusioned with collecting. I no longer feel the excitement that I once did, and it has become more of a chore. Get a card, scan the card, write a blog post, add it to the TCDB database, put away in to collection… repeat.

I honestly do not know what this means for me. I do not read the forums or hobby news, I have not been on TCDB for days and my card purchases are few and far between. My one enjoyment is reading other people’s blogs, it is my nightly routine. 

I will still answer emails, I will still respond on people’s blogs and I will still be on Twitter. I may even post from time to time. Who knows, I may feel different in a couple of months.

Vintage Card Of The Month- 1910 T51 Murad Colgate

This month’s Vintage Card of the Month is the Colgate Raiders football team from the 1910 T51 Murad College Series. This is my 4^th card from the set, and 3^rd football card, and is a wonderful action illustration. I prefer the action shots over the portrait illustrations that are used in the set. 

It surprises me how well the colors and illustrations have held up for over a century, sure there is a crease in the upper right corner and the back has adhesive stickers, but will a 1991 Topps card look as good in 2091?

If I add other T51 Murad cards I am shooting for a baseball action illustration, basketball and hockey cards.

When An RC Is Not An RC

The 2019 NFL Draft is not for a couple of weeks, but during the NFL Combine (1/26-3/4/2019) Panini took a bunch of photos of the potential rookies to release as Panini Instant Football cards. Seems like a logical financial choice, make some quick cash of players prior to the draft. But then, they went and Paninied it up and added the RC logo. 

Here is the actual NFL description of when a card should include an RC logo: "A NFL player is designated a rookie at the time they declare their eligibility for the official NFL Draft and are pictured in their NFL uniform. Thus any football rookie cards that are produced prior to this point, including cards which depict the player in their NCAA uniforms, are not considered official rookie cards."

Yes Murray has declared for the draft, part I, but he is not in a NFL uniform (or any NFL logos or team names), part II. Thus, this is not considered an official rookie card.

The checklist is only 8 players, and they will all most likely go in the First Round of the NFL Draft, but (as Devil’s advocate) what if one of them didn’t get drafted and ended up going to the AAF or XFL? They now have an official NFL RC even though they never spent a day in the league. 

Hey Panini, when can I expect my NFL rookie card?

Toro Pride- Scott Lydy

Another Mountain View Toro I’ve added to my collection is Scott Lydy. He graduated a year before I moved to Mesa, but I did go to school with D.J., his younger brother. Scott got called up to the A’s in May 1993, but he only spent the season in the majors. He was back in AAA in 1994 and spent the rest of his career in the minors. 

I picked up this 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection for pocket change. I really liked Pinnacle’s Dufex treatment, these are sharp cards. What is sad is that by the time this card was released in 1994 Scott was already back in AAA.

Suns Autotastic

A trifecta of Phoenix Suns autographs was part of my COMC order. Believe it or not, I do not have a lot of Suns autographs, so I looked to rectify that with a group of my favorite Suns players, all on-card autos too. 

2013-14 Panini Preferred Cedric Ceballos

2014-15 Panini Gala Larry Nance

2014-15 Panini Luxe Xavier McDaniel. The X-Man played for both the Suns and the Sonics during his career, so I am the lucky collector that has his cards with my two favorite teams.  

Monday Question Day- Count 'Em Up?

Today is question day:

How do you track your wants?

I have a master Wants List Word document that lists every card that I want to add to my collection, currently sitting at 1,459 cards. I have it broken up by sport and non-sport and then my PC collection is listed individually under the respective sport. Here are my current counts.

Griffey- 1,236 cards on my wants list

Ryan Bader- 81 cards on my wants list not counting #1/1 (188 with #1/1)

Allen Iverson- 45 cards on my wants list

Buhner- 41 cards on my wants list

Gary Payton- 17 cards on my wants list

Steve Largent- 5 cards on my wants list

Edgar Martinez- 4 cards on my wants list

The Art Gallery- 2015 Island Dreams Prohibition Pretties Flapper

This month’s Art Gallery display is from j(ay), also known as 10^th-letter,who is one of my favorite sketch card artists out there. He has cards in many major lines including Topps, Upper Deck, Breygent and Cult Stuff, but in the last few years has cut down to doing work mainly for Unstoppable Cards and 5finity. 

The card is from the 2015 Island Dreams Prohibition Pretties release, a set based on the 1920s with lots of gangsters and flappers. This card depicts a flapper from the era in j(ay)’s typical style. The filigree is a bit smeared in the background which I am guessing is the reason the card was cheaper than most of his sketch cards.

Would You Buy This Card?

As a vintage collector there is so much damage that I am willing to overlook, creases and paper tears add a story to the card. Then there are cards like this 1895 May Cut Plug N300 card. The 1895 May Cut Plug cards are some of the earliest baseball cards and are highly collectible with even the lowest grades selling for a couple hundred.

This seller has posted a number of these cards over the past year, and the cards are in probably the worst condition that a card can be and still be considered a card. They look like they have had either water or fire damage and the seller has submitted the cards but they each have been returned due to the fragility of the card.

Would you buy this card for $65?

EDIT: I made a mistake and said that they were football cards, the 1895 May Cut Plug cards were college baseball not football. The 1894 May Cut Plug are football cards.

Monday Question Day- I HATE That Year?

Today is question day:

Most collectors have a year they hate collecting for their PC, what year bothers you?

Mine is 2011 for Ryan Bader. There are 128 individual cards over 3 sets, of which 61 are #1/1 cards/printing plates. For comparison, Bader only has 334 total cards so the 128 from 2011 are over 1/3 of all his cards.

Sellers Schilling Sales Sucks

I have been looking to pick up a 2008 UD Piece of History Superman Cape for quite a few years. It is a piece of the cape that Christopher Reeve wore during the filming of Superman III. Usually the cards go for $25-30 range and every time I have bid, I always end up losing by $1 or 2 in the last seconds

This auction showed up 2 weeks ago with a reserve. I bid, but my $26 bid didn’t top the reserve, so the card was reposted. The second auction ended at $25 and change, again, didn’t hit the reserve so it was put up a third time. Suddenly today, someone with 0 feedback bids enough to top the reserve. Of course, the bidder with 0 feedback has 100% bidding with this seller so there is no question about shilling. I called him out, he responded claiming innocence and saying I shouldn’t accuse him without proof.

What are the chances this card shows up for auction in 2 weeks by either this same seller (oh… the buyer fell through) or from the 0 feedback buyer?

The guy is a new seller, but he jumped right in to shitty selling tactics.