First Card Of The Year

I know it comes as no surprise but my first card purchase of the year is a Griffey card that I picked up on January 2nd. The card is a 1992 Stadium Club Ken Griffey Jr. #603 Member’s Choice parallel from the East Coast National.

I am a sucker for cards that are special editions or from a specific event, toss in that it is from one of my favorite brands (Stadium Club) and my favorite player and this was a complete win for me. This card is from the 1992 National Sports Collectors Convention that was held in Atlanta and contains a gold foil seal stating that. There is text above the National logo that I was unable to read but eventually figured out that it states “A Gloria Rothstein Show”

The cards were in 5-card packs that were wrapped in plastic wrap so they were not even really sealed. The card I picked up was not in a pack but I pulled up this image so you can see how they were handed out.

A Recent Pickup

As an artist I have an appreciation for art cards, I think that card companies have done a wonderful job with artist selections. Companies like Topps, Upper Deck, Rittenhouse, Leaf,  Sportkings/Famous Fabrics and Cryptozoic include a variety of sketch and original art cards so that collectors have many choices.

 

I usually keep my eye on sketch card auctions and will pick some up when the price is right and I recently came across a sketch card that had a price I could not pass up. A 2011 Leaf National Convention Mickey Dolenz sketch card by Kevin-John for the whopping price of .99 cents and free shipping. I wasn’t even going to bid at first but you can’t argue with a sketch card of the Monkees drummer for a buck.

 

I was born in the early-70s so I grew up listening to my brothers play the Monkees on 8-Track and when the band released “Then & Now Best of the Monkees” in 1986 they suddenly became relevant again to the point where Nickelodeon was re-playing their television show in marathon blocks at night so a whole new generation was being introduced to them again.

Sneak Peek At Upper Deck's National VIP Cards

Upper Deck is offering a 6-card VIP set and a wrapper redemption program that offers different cards for each day of the National Convention. There will also a case redemption.

 

The 6-card VIP set is made up of Upper Deck spokesman and Chicago stars.

The wrapper redemption will offer 4 different collections of players depending on the day plus random packs will include autographs.

 

The eligible products are:

5 packs of 2013 SPx Football, Upper Deck Football, Goodwin Champions, 2012-13 SP Authentic Basketball, 2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey or 2 packs of 2012 Fleer Retro Football, 2012-13 Fleer Retro Hockey or 2012-13 Fleer Retro Basketball

Any people who open a 6-box case of any of the Fleer Retro sports products at the Upper Deck will receive this Michael Jordan autograph card.

 

 

UD will also be running an Expired Redemption Raffle. Collectors can bring in up to 5 expired redemption cards, people not attending the convention can send in their cards for a chance to win, to the Upper Deck booth by Saturday August 3^rd before 10:30am to take part. They will be giving away 100 prizes.

Sneak Peek At Sportkings National VIP Cards

ITG/Sportkings will be offering a 9-card VIP set for VIP ticket holders plus three wrapper redemption programs, one for opening a box of Sportkings Series F and one for opening a 16-box case of Sportkings Series F at their booth and one for opening a 10-box case of Horrors of War II.

 

The 9-card VIP set includes a Sportkings Anthology of Chicago Blackhawks hall of Famers like Hull, Mikita and Esposito.

The wrapper redemption program is two levels, if you open a box of Sportkings Series F you will receive a multi-relic memorabilia card and if you open a 16-box case you get a 1/1 “Spectacular” Patch card.

UPDATE 7/28
The redemption for opening a 10-box case of Horrors of War II is quite interesting, when you open the case you will receive a coupon for a custom made 1/1 Art Relic card. After the National you can exchange the coupon for a card to be made specifically for you, you choose a personality that you would like sketched on the card and Famous Fabrics will add an authentic relic from the corresponding conflict. An example card was included in the announcement.

 

Sneak Peek At Press Pass' National VIP Cards

Press Pass will be offering a 5-card VIP set and a wrapper redemption pack. The VIP cards will be available to people with a VIP ticket package and the wrapper redemption Mystery Packs will be available to anyone who buys a box of certain 2013 Press Pass racing product.

 

The VIP set is a 5-card National Fan Following set made up of 5 drivers; Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart.

The wrapper redemption cards are limited to #/10 or less, there are also parallels limited to #/3. There are 50 drivers included on the autograph checklist. The eligible products are 2013 Press Pass Racing, Total Memorabilia, Ignite, Redline and Fanfare.

Sneak Peek At Panini's National VIP Cards

Panini will be offering a 6 card VIP set and a larger National Base set, which will be a multi-sport set that contains 23 rookie cards (including the first Puig MLBPA rookie card) and roughly 50 veterans.

 

The 6-card VIP set is all rookies, so far only the first four cards have been previewed with the final two rookies being announced on the first day of the National Convention. I am guessing Puig will be one of the two players and maybe one of the NBA rookies. Here are the first four cards shown.

 

This is the larger base set with rookies, vets and inserts. I have selected a couple of each group to give an idea instead of posting close to 100 card images

Rookies:

Veterans:

 

Inserts Kings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inserts Team Colors- The entire set is Chicago players from the past and present