So You Don't Have To Experiment #1b- Worm Food II

Last year I buried junk wax era cards and it got me wondering what modern chrome style cards would look like after one year underground. I am following the same exact experiment with the hole in the same location (southeast wall) with one card at 3-inches down and one card at 6-inches down. 

For this experiment I am using a 2017 Panini Prizm Eddie Lacy and a 2013 Topps Chrome Richard Sherman. I was not too worried about using the same cards this time because the Chrome and Prizm cards use the same technology even with a couple of years difference. I just wanted to use each company to see how their technology would do underground. 

The Prizm Eddie Lacy is at 3-inches down and the Topps Chrome Richard Sherman is 6-inches down. This is the last view of the guys until my 47^th birthday next year, May 30, 2019.

So You Don't Have To Experiment #1- Worm Food Follow Up

Last year I came up with the idea of doing a segment called “So You Don’t Have To” experiments with the intention of doing various things with my collection to show what would happen. My first experiment was suggested by Fuji, bury junk wax era cards in dirt to see how they would fair.

I buried three 1990 Bowman Mike Boddicker card in my yard on my 45th birthday last year and left them underground for one year. Over the past 365 days the temperatures hit a low of 14 degrees and a high of 104 degrees, we had rain (the backyard did get flooded at times), snow, hail and plenty of sunshine. There were three major brush fires during that time and smoke and ash was around, not that I would think that would do anything additional to the cards.

Today is my 46th birthday, so like Geraldo Rivera and Al Capone’s vault, I went digging to see what treasure would be awaiting me. 

The cards were placed at 3 inches deep and 6 inches deep, so I slowly removed the dirt, stopping to take a picture when I saw the first bit of cardboard gold, a small piece of blue as I closed in on the 3-inch part of the hole (Inside the red square in the image below).

What I found (or lack of what I found) was a complete surprise. In the end I found less than 10 small pieces of the card with the largest being about 1.5 inches long. This was in the 3-inch deep portion of the hole, I found nothing of the other two cards that were buried 6-inches down.

Turn in tomorrow for a continuation of this experiment.

Some Unique AI Pickups

A couple of unusual additions to my Allen Iverson collection. A 2000 Stadion Cards from the Czech Republic and a pair of 2003 Upper Deck Lego cards. 

The Stadion cards were part of a multi-national/multi-sport set out of the Czech Republic and was made up mostly of soccer (football) and hockey stars but they got in a couple of NBA players like Shaq, Kobe and Iverson. There are also cards from tennis, racing and cycling, an interesting idea for a set.

The Lego cards came from Upper Deck and I do not know exactly how they were distributed, I would expect as part of a promotion with Lego. The set is made up of 24 base cards as well as a 24 card Gold parallel, which have different images than the base set. 

   

Memorial Day, A Day To Honor True Heroes

Today we honor all of the men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country. Since 1775 over 1.34 million U.S. soldiers have died during war and another 1.5 million were wounded. They have given all to ensure that the rest of us have our freedom, for this we thank you and your families.

Sorry R2

I really hope this doesn’t become a regular type of post, but this is one of those instant regret purchases. 

I got caught up in a sentimental Star Wars moment and ended up bidding on this 2017 Topps Star Wars 40th Anniversary Buyback card, winning with a bid of $3.25. Not a break the bank type of purchase but as soon as I bid I had that little voice in the back of my mind question it but I have never retracted a bid, and if I did it would only be if I typed in a wrong amount. I also didn’t cancel the sale because I made the bid so I made the payment, my second guessing shouldn't affect a seller. At least the card does fit in my collection so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

It Will Get There On Time, It Will Get There Safe But It Will Smell Like Soap

I have had mail days where the packages came boxed up like Fort Knox and not long ago I saw someone post about getting a mail day where it was a card wrapped in the order printout from eBay and that was it, probably one of the worst shipping ideas I have ever heard of before.

Today was a mail day where I am pretty sure the sender walked through their kitchen for packaging material ideas. A brown paper bag, a box from a bar of soap, a bit of bubble wrap and a Ziploc bag plus a copious amount of eBay box tape. I can’t complain, outside of the soap smell, because the cards were safely secured, just some unique options.  

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1950s Parkhurst Wrestling Togo Brothers

This month’s VCoM are two cards from the 1954-55 & 1955-56 Parkhurst Wrestling sets and both cards are two of the three Togo Brothers.

The first card is the 1954-55 Parkie and it shows Ko Togo (L) and Tosh Togo (R) from a promotional shot. This card has a “Lucky Premium” back instead of the regular 1954-55 back. These backs were instant win cards of sorts and offered mail-away offers where you had to send in the card plus the cost (I am guessing for shipping and handling) and you got the item on the card back. My card is for the Cinderella watch but some of the other items were a flash camera with a 50mm lens ($3.75), a high powered giant field glass ($2.00) and a Hopalong Cassidy boy’s wrist watch ($5.95). When the cards were redeemed for the item they were kept by the company so cards with the Lucky Premium back are not as common as the regular cards.

The second card is the 1955-56 Parkie and shows Tosh Togo (L w/ hammer) and Ko Togo (R w/block). This was a time when wrestling was real but the three were more than wrestlers. Previously I had talked about Tosh Togo (The Great Togo, aka Harold Sakata) being a weightlifter but the other two were master martial artists so they often did other events where they showed off their skills, and I am figuring that this cinder block break was at one of those events.

There were three Togo brothers though none of them were actually related. There was Tosh Togo (Toshiyuki/Harold Sakata), Ko Togo (Kokichi Endo) and Mas Togo (Mas Oyama). Ko Togo and Mas Togo do not have their own cards in either set and I haven’t been able to find any cards featuring Mas at all.

I did come across a picture of the three “brothers” together.

Monday Question Day- Are We Missing Out?

Do you feel like you are missing out on collecting if you are a fan of a newer team?

In my lifetime expansion in sports has been a regular occurrence and with expansion comes a whole new group of fans. These are fans that get to be there from the start, but vintage collecting is out the window. There are baseball teams over a century old, hockey teams too, football has teams going back to the 20s and basketball from the 1950s but the teams I collect are newer in comparison.

I think I have compensated by picking up vintage cards of players I like but I still feel like I am limited.

The Art Gallery- 2009 ACEO Lois As Princess Leia

This month’s Art Gallery display comes from an artist that has done so many prominent sets and is considered one of the top artists in the sketch card world, Brian Kong. The card is of Lois from Family Guy as Princess Leia and is a PSC (Personal Sketch Card) from 2009, probably a commission since it is on Brian’s personal sketch card blank.

If you haven’t guessed I am a Family Guy fan, it is one show that my son and I enjoy watching together and we probably have more inside jokes based on Family Guy references then a father and son should have. My favorite episodes were the three based on the original Star Wars Trilogy; Blue Harvest, Something…Something…Something Dark Side and It’s a Trap!. There are official sketches based on those episodes that were packed out in the 2011 Leaf Family Guy release but they are quite expensive so I look for other options and this is my second ACEO Family Guy Star Wars sketch card, the first being Stewie as Darth Vader from Nicole Falk that I picked up in 2015.

The Mariners Loose Cano For Half The Season

The tweet from Rosenthal says it all, Robinson Cano has been suspended 80 games for testing positive to a diuretic, Furosemide, prior to the season.

Cano admitted that he took the diuretic because it was prescribed by a licensed doctor while he was at his home in the Dominican Republic during the off season. The problem is that Furosemide is used as a masking agent for steroids and the MLB drug policy requires the MLB to prove that is was being used with the intended use of steroids, so this doesn’t look good. Cano has agreed to the punishment and will not appeal the suspension, which will cost him $11.85 million in lost salary as well as being ineligible for the All-Star game and any post season playoff games.

Damn it! damn it! damn it!