Just Passin' the Time

I was rummaging around in my box of cool cards looking for stuff I'd want to get rid of maybe and just passing the time till Christmas really. 

Now I'm a player collector I have no reservations about that.  I love me Robin Yount, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, and yes still Brett Favre.  I'm also a team collector.  Being a Wisconsin boy I like to collect the Brewers and Packers.  Not necessarily team sets but unusual cards ect.  I just happened upon this card not to long ago on ebay.

This is the cyan printing plate for Brad Nelson's card fromt the 2009 T 206 collection.  I feel like I stole this card when I got it.  I literally only paid 5 bucks for this 1 of 1.  Yes it's Brad Nelson, yes it's the brewers but hey cool is cool.

Next my rummaging brought me to these two cards.

These numbered cards are actually entry cards from the 2007 Topps Baseball for the Home Run Derby Contest.  The grand prize was for a game used jersey from the game.  You don't see too many of these.  I pulled these from a couple wax boxes I bought cheap long after the contest was over.  If you can't tell who they are it's Paul Konerko and Carlos Beltran both numbered to 999.

Then I found one of my most favorite pulls EVER!!

I'm not a huge Yaz fan, but this card is Awesome.  I pulled this from a pack of Leaf Century way back in 2005 and after I saw it I knew this would be in my collection forever.  It's got a 70 year old baseball centennial stamp and a piece of pants with a seam and all numbered to 39!! I know all those Red Sox Fans are Jealous!  The guides put it at 40 bucks but I've never seen one on ebay.

Next  I pulled out some pulls from this years Upper Deck baseball. I can't remember which if any series it came out of but since this is Upper Deck 20th anniversay they are doing lots of stuff to celebrate.  From a huge insert set that many claim has some of the worst cards ever made in it to these buyback cards.

I also got a Mark McGwire that I posted on ebay and I was shocked that it went for over 40 bucks!! But I haven't seen the insert ratio of these cards if they inserted the whole set or just select cards.  They can't be too rare I pulled 3.  The two I still have are the Upshaw and Chris Bosio that's in my Brewers collection.

And lastly but not leastly and hopefully one of this years HOF inductee's the Hawk!!

Like I said before sometimes cards are cool enough that you just have to keep them.  I only wish that the jersey had some color in it.  Another great pull from 2005.  This is from the Donruss Classics.

Well that's all I got.  Until next time keep collecting.

CB

2009 Red Hot Rookie Redemptions Come In !!!!!

Well it only takes about 9 months for Topps to fufill there redemptions and this time it's still no different but I have to say I'm super pleased with what I got. Series 1 had WBC redemptions and of the 3 I pulled they were all the SAME!! Lame. But in Series 2 I pulled 3 different redemptions 2, 3, and 6. At first I played with trying to sell them on ebay even before they were announced. Seems a lot of the time people will pay more not knowing what they might get. And I always get tired of waiting for the cards to come. But after Topps announced that #2 would be Gordon Beckham and that 1 in 10 would be an auto variant I had to redeem and boy am I Glad I did. Because here is what I got by certified mail today!!! I live in Alaska so I know that others had already gotten there's and gone live on ebay. This card is already being bid up to over 100 buck and the cheapest buy it now was 149, with others asking as much as 250!! crazy. I think I might have to hold onto this one. Plus I also got my other 2 redemptions a couple of days ago. One Andrew McCutchen and Neftali Feliz. Check them out pretty sweet.

I'm still waiting for my 1 of 1 sketch card I redeemed in March and Topps sent out an email telling me that they got the cards in and they should be sending them out soon. Only to look online to see that they have been delayed again!! Ah Topps, at least your not Donruss only took a year to get my last redemption from them. Maybe Panini will do a better job or just do away with redemtions all together.

You know I actually like the fact that Topps did a Auto Variant again this year. It might even be nice if they did a relic variant too, maybe numbered, as well, that would be really sweet.

Well I should be getting a box of 2009 Upper Deck football soon in the mail and I'll do a box break when I get it in. Until then keep collecting.

2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Box Break

So as promised for the one reader who I know is all excited about me doing a box break from a product over a year old. Here he go. I got the box off of eBay for about 50 bucks not too bad seeing as this was going for close to double that and according to Tuff Stuff boxes still are worth about 110.

Pretty uneventful pulls I got the 2 relics. A Johnny Damon Bat card and a Carlos Marmol Jersey. ho hum. Not bad cards just nothing specatcular.

I also got 2 black border mini's Oscar Wilde and Chin-Ling Hu (rookie). Two world leaders both asian oddly enough Lee Myung-Bak from South Korea and Samak Sundavaveh from Thailand and one Pinoneers of Flight the Ornithoper. And one code cards the world's greatest victories - Battle of Thermopylae. Yeah 300. That's about it. But I do love the base cards and I'm putting together a set so we'll see how far I get wether or not I break down and buy another box or just do pick lots off of eBay. I haven't looked to see if I got any SP's or not.

CB

A lot of AmazingPacks.com's All Sport $1,000,000 Packs

Howdy All,

We'll I meant to do a box break from a 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Baseball box but I decided to talk about the other box I got in the mail yesterday.

So I was perusing eBay. Because I'm bored and currently between jobs and have a lot of free time and I say this lot from AmazingPacks sold by dailybonus and it was for a lot of 10 $1,000,000 collection packets like the one pictured. Now it was a buy it now for 25 bucks and I kinda laughed because we all see these kinda deals on eBay. Estate sale huge lots who know's what your gonna get!!! I know what i'm going to get nothing!!! At least nothing I want. But I was curious so I went to their website and looked around at all the pretty pictures of jersey and auto cards. I decided to look at what else they had for sale at daily bonus and I say they had the same lot up at a live auction. mmmmmmmmmmm. So I said what the hell bid on one and got a lot for 12 bucks plus 8 bucks shipping so for about 20 bucks I got to see what was going on. Now this is a really good savings because the buy it now price also had a 8 dollar shipping fee. So onto what I got. These packs were multisport (Baseball, Football and Basketball) no hockey. I have to say it was mostly new panini basketball in the packs nobody in particular but I have some scans of my "hits" A bunch or 80's and 90's rookies some stars from that era too. Some older topps. I think the 79 dawson is my favorite. But I also like the 80 schmidt and 85 gwynn. There were some other nice inserts too.

Now for the real "hits" I got a nice 97 Press Pass Auto of John Thomas, A double jersey numbered to 199 from Sweet Shot of Jason Richardson and Mike Dunleavy, A nice clean jersey from topps DDP of Garrett Mills, a PSA graded Gem mint 10 2004 Fleer Tradition Green Roy Williams card, and I think my best pull was my favorite Baseball player of all time a 78 topps Robin Yount. Unfortunatley it wasn't in the best of shape but it'll be added to the rest of the 78's. All in all I figure I got over 30 bucks worth of good stuff and a lot of filler that I'll probably just throw in some random box never to be seen for 20 years. I got my moneys worth only dropping 20 bucks total including shipping. I might even go in for some seconds if I can get a lot cheaper than the last one.

I'll probably be posting my A&G box break later this afternoon seeing as it was fairly unspectacular.

CB

Keeping your card collection safe and valuable

So after getting numerous packages from people I have bought cards from on eBay I thought I'd sit down and write a little bit on protecting and storing your collection and if you sell on eBay how to ensure that what you sell reaches your buyer in the condition you meant it to.

So first we'll start with basic protection, because as with collecting anything, the basic value of that thing is first and foremost based on condition. And decent protection of your card can also help with displaying it as well.

The first most basic line of protection is the penny sleeve. It's called a penny sleeve because it costs about a cent a piece and you usually buy them in packs of 100. You can usually pick these up at any card or collectibles store and you can get great deals on bulk lots on eBay and at TCBullk.com to name a few. I've got a Ultra Pro pack right here but there are lots of other brands all equally as good just make sure they are acid free and archival safe.

The next basic line of defense is to put that card WITH a penny sleeve on it into a top loader of some sort. Here again there are lots of different brands and they make all sorts of thicknesses to accommodate all size cards.

I prefer the rigid toploaders over the semi rigid simply because allow the card to stay flat.

If you have any cards of value this should be the least of your steps in protecting them. Again I'll stress that you should always put your card in a penny sleeve first before putting it in a toploader to protect the card finish and corners.

Now we can take the protection a step farther buy putting that top loader in something to protect the card from spills and moisture, by simply putting it in a resealable team bag.

Since the top of the toploaders is open this helps prevent liquids and other stuff from going down in with the card.

And then you should have a nice packaged card as illustrated by my man Robin Yount here.

Of course this is only the most basic route to protecting your investment and collection. There are lots of other options besides that. Like single and multi screw down holders. Some that have recessed corner areas to protect card corners. These come in a wide range of card thicknesses, as well as holder thicknesses too. I've seen some Lucite ones over an inch thick!! There are holders that use magnets to keep there lids on and mini snaps. There are holders that come with stands for displaying your cards. It's also a good idea to put a team bag around the screwdown to help keep it from getting scratched up.

And of course the ultimate in card protection would be to get your card graded by a reputable card grading company. I highly recommend and like PSA I've never had a problem with them and I find there grading to be awesome. I've never bought a card that was PSA graded that wasn't what it was graded. Not like some of the other companies I have cards graded from. But that's a whole nother rant. You can find info on PSA at there web site http://www.psacard.com/

You can see from the scans I've tried to include multiple companies that make storage products. There are lots and it all depends on what you like and you can get in your area.

For long term storage I always recommend storing you collection in a box rather than 9 pocket sleeves. For short term and display reasons 9 pockets are great just be careful not to damage your cards putting them in and taking them out.

Now on to eBayers!!!. I've done my far share of selling on eBay but to be honest I'm much more of a buyer. And for a player collector or even someone like me who lives far from a card store it's a great place to buy boxes of cards, lots, and storage supplies. As a seller and buyer I have come to expect some things when I pay $3.00 for shipping a card or cards to my door. First the card or cards should be well protected(see above). I really like having the card in a team bag when it's shipped rather than putting tape over the top of the toploader. This guarantees that the card won't come into contact with the tape and potentially ruin the card. I can say this from experience. Second it should be mailed in some kind of rigid or bubble mailer. If I pay a buck for shipping I don't usually expect a bubble mailer but I do expect the card to be well protected in a toploader. My one pet peeve from sellers and I never do this to my buyers is when I get charged 3 buck for shipping and all the seller does is put it in an envelope with a stamp and send it off. I understand that eBay and Paypal seller fees can get high but any auction house is going to take 10 percent of the sell price, try talking to a real brick and mortar auction house if you don't believe me.

So in conclusion. There are lots of ways to store and protect your collection and investment. You can extreme if you like and have the money to do it but you can easily protect your cards on the cheap too.

I should be posting a box break in the next few days I see online that my next box should be here today. Yeahhhhhh

Until next time I'm the cynicalbuddha

2009 Topps Chrome Football 2 Box Break

Howdy All,

Well as promised I got my 2 boxes of Chrome Football I bought off of ebay from ccardz who i highly recommend. Great service, fast shipping, and great prices and has never disappointed me.

Unlike Topps who seems to be disappointing me at every turn.

So the good the chrome and refactors look so cool and the first box I opened had 2 rookie autos in it.

The Bad I got no rookie auto's in the second box. Boo for you Topps and your misleading " a rookie auto in every box. " And Yes both boxes were still factory sealed. It says right on the box " One Rookie Auto card in every box!!! " not " One rookie auto card on average." They even have and exclamation point at the end of the sentence. I bought two jumbo boxes of update not to long ago and was jipped there too. Got both my autos but not my relics.

Any who, I did get 3 rookie copper refactors numbered to 649 in that box but i don't think that makes up for the non auto.

Here are my two autos. And the 4 copper rookie refactors. To Topps credit all the copper refactors where rookies!! Boy Rey Maualuga looks scary in his photo. I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley or on the football field. I be honest I got more cool stuff out of the retail blaster box I bought from Wally world. And no Blue refractors here either, although they might be a retail exclusive like the xfractors.

So over all I think it's a wash. I did get 2 autos and lots of refractors.

It also seemed like I got lots of doubles in the boxes too. Well

I'm off to do some set building.

Until my box of 2008 Allen and Ginter get here I will remain as cynical as ever.

It's been awhile........

Well the title says it all. It's been awhile since I posted. Since the last post I've been turned down for a new job, went to vegas and had a lovely time playing World Tavern Poker, almost got married, spent a week in Juneau getting my girlfriends car fixed, became unemployed for awhile, and got to buy a shit ton of blaster boxes of cards at Wal-Mart and Fred Meyers, seeing as there is no card store anywhere near me, that's as good as it gets.

I just ordered 2 boxes of topps chrome football because i like it so much and a box of last years allen and ginter because it seems to be on sale all over ebay and it rocks.

Which brings me to my rant for the day. Why is it that card company's today can't make an original product that looks awesome like Allen and Ginter without having to rip off an old design??? Don't get me wrong I like the new Allen and Ginter ect. but let's face it some of the stuff coming out is not that great. I have to say though the mass produced stuff of the early to mid nineties takes the cake like 91 Score and 91 Fleer.

I mean look at this card of CC it's awesome and if you where an autograph collector this would be a great card to get signed.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. I would love to know if anybody out there reads this and if you agree and what are your favorite and least favorite sets of all time. Until next time I remain the Cynicalbuddha. oh and i'll do some box breaks of the stuff I get I love to see what people pull out of there boxes.