Additional Atypical Arrivals

Yep, more incoming cards.  Because this is all I do now.

I'm pretty sure this was one day's mail, and it's TCDB traders, plus my best trader buddy Stuart's latest contributions.

 
Starting on the left, two bonus packs of this year's Topps Big League.  All of which I put on my available list on the Database.  A couple Carlton Fisks and some other 70's player collection oddballs that I'll show better in a moment.  And a '75 mini upgrade for my completed set. All those came from Stuart.  The Upper Deck Updates are a TCDB trade that I didn't mark as received until the next week.  Oops.

Most of the rest is other Database trades, except for the UD XL & Fleer Team Action football from Stuart in the loose stack.  The Fisk Archives and the Priest Holmes parallels are player collection hits.  The rest is set hits except for Bruce Smith and Lavar Arrington, who go to my Washington football horde. Those GameDays are mostly inserts from '93.  The Gus Johnson was apparently still on my wantlist from when I picked it out from another trader who really didn't have anything I could use.  

Here are all of the Burger Chef Discs. 

And the backs....

Full view of the Golden Age Fisk box topper.

And the Fleer football.  I just love these sets.

And that small silvery bundle in the first picture is actually holograms from the Brockum Rock Cards from 1991.

Here's what they all look like.  Completed my set.  🎸

Thanks again to Stuart (he always likes to be mentioned on here) and the TCDB traders.

More Mixed Mailings

Ugh, I'm slackin' again.  It's just a lot right now...

Ideally, I'd be posting almost every Trading Card Database trade I make like a lot of other blogs, but there have been so many lately that by the time I get the incoming ones marked received, moved to the proper collections, then marked off my want list, and then pack up the half dozen new ones going out, it's close to bedtime.

And on top of that, this week I'm having another go-round with a kidney stone.  I think today I might have passed it, so hopefully that's over.  But Monday and Tuesday were kinda rough, although I packed up nine trades last night.

So anyway, I managed to take some pictures of a mailday from a couple weeks ago now.  I didn't get any blockbuster cards, but it's always fascinating (at least to me) the eclectic mix of stuff that TCDB trades bring in.

So four envelopes showed up.  Not sure if it was on a Monday or not - that's usually when I get the most at one time.

Open each to the first layer - two Christmas cards!  They were really just used as containers, and weren't signed or anything, but it's kinda cool.  

I'm thinking I'll have to turn trades off here soon, I haven't even scratched the surface of Christmas shopping etc. yet....

The first card revealed is a 2006 UD Rookie Debut insert of DeShaun Foster.  The trader - tinyzinterfere - listed his address as Israel.  But this envelope showed up with a return address in NYC.  I've seen that before.  Not sure how that works.  But hopefully he and his are not affected by the ugly stuff going on over there.

Opening the greeting cards and paper sleeve reveals the contents of the other packages.  

This is what trader AbeBauman sent me.  A Super Teams Kranepool, a "no hash marks" (the vertical lines in the lower blue band) 1990 Topps football LL card, and a Ginter mini insert.  He also contributed on of the Louis Oliver cards that you'll see in a bit.

CoachMoore sent me a Topps Micro Piniella, completing all the Micros for my player collections, a Gold Medallion Ultra Terry Allen, and a SI for Kids Liut for my casual Capitals collection.  He had a lot of those SI's but this was the only one I could use.  Was glad to get it in such nice condition.  Usually you see those crumpled in dime boxes since they're so flimsy.

A nice group of more Washington football in Pacific Paramount and Collector's Choice Player's Club from Nashino.

And finally, all three Louis Olivers for my co-worker's collection.  Oliver played for the Dolphins most of his career.  My co-worker said Oliver was his favorite Dolphin and off I went.  Messiers Bauman and Moore sent these, including the '94 Select, which is the goofiest photo I think I've seen on a football card.  Has to be pre-game workout.  

So there's another sample mailday from TCDB trades.  

Also shout out to Nachos Grande for a trade on there as well.  Not sure I'll pull off posting about it though...

Semi-Grey Saturday Blowout Deals

Could have made it really click-bait if I'd have written this yesterday - Black Friday - but this is how it works out.

Anyway, I do have some more basically free stuff to offer.  It's a mixture of oddball items from the National that might have value to someone out there. The majority are marketing items from companies who cater to a different type of collector than me.  Links are to the company sites.

I should never take tall, slim pictures for the blog.  They don't fit well.

Anyway, these are the items up for grabs.  I guess I'm taking the first comment to claim an item.

First up, a (Gary) VeeFriends Super Sticker of Bullish Bull.  Um...I got nothin'...

Also a stack of the annual Heritage Auctions cards - still sealed.  

You can have either or both.

A Piece Of The Game commemorative coin with red felt pouch.  This version limited to 5000 copies.  My fellow convention-goer Stuart got one of a smaller production number (gold version?).  The back is just their contact info and a QR code.  They're a memorabilia company.

BCW card frame with the National 2023 label.  Insert your favorite card from the show or scratch off the lettering(?) and enjoy a nice blue frame to show off your favorite cardboard.  There are four big screws in the back to split the frame into front and back halves.

Voucher and sticker, plus information about the TAG grading company.  Voucher is contained in a black framed top loader.  Oh shoot, it says the offer for the free additional grading is only until the end of the show (July '23).  Sorry about that.  But if you're into them, you can have the sticker....

 

Finkelmeier Insurance ad card disguised as a Michael Jordan Fleer rookie. 
I could keep this next to my fake Wayne Gretzky rookie and bogus Jackie Robinson card, but if you're a Jordan hoops collector, this is more for you.

And finally...

Oh never mind.  This $10 discount coupon for the eBay Vault expired in October.  My bad.

And I guess I didn't take a separate pic of the Pristine Auctions can cozy, but that's available too.

If I get a few requests (or even comments at this point) for this stuff, I'll put up some other actual cards to give away before Christmas.

Monday Mega Mail Day

The post office tends to save up packages for Monday deliveries around here.  Which works out for me because I don't tend to plan much for Monday evenings otherwise, (#old guy, #mondayssuck) so it's nice to come home and have some new cards to check off.

Last week on the 6th of November, I got the mother lode.  My constant trade friend in Michigan sent me the latest batch, and it came with several TCDB friends.

Addresses blurred for internet protection.

First up, Stuart's offerings....

About half player collection and half set needs, starting with the Heritage box topper of Vida Blue.  The '72 is a regular Topps for Manny Sanguillen.  I have trouble keeping track of those extra cameo appearances, so I end up searching for extra copies of '70s subset cards years after completing the set and filling in my PC guys' regular issue.  The '75s are all O-Pee-Chee for PCs, but I had most of them already.   The Hernandez is such a cool shot, and I've been able to snag the regular, red foil, and now shiny version of that Heritage card.  The rest are set hits - 2013 Cooperstown, 2006 Heritage, 2005 UD All-Star Classics, 2003 XL Football, and a complete set of the round-corner glossies from 1977-78 Topps hockey.

And now, in no particular order, are the Database trades.  First up, from GoldenEagles555, a few non-uniformed Redskin players, and a couple '97 Stadium Club hits.  That SClub set is one of several that have been pounded by TCDB traders.  I'm so happy to move extra stuff to build sets like that, even though they would be cheap to buy, sending (in as many cases as possible) more cards than I'm getting is just awesome.

And the diversity of some of these trades (and traders) is great too.  Check out that red foil Spider-Man!  And continuing the theme of strong guys in red outfits, Tony Gonzalez Upper Deck rookie, and three Ultras of more Washington players.  Thanks to Hector, aka HDZLV.

Another nice mix from BCMeeker.  I'm down to about a half dozen on this 1990-91 Skybox basketball set.  Stuart started me off with a lot of about 1000 cards that I dug my set out of and then entered the extras for trade, and then I put my remaining wants on the database and two out of every three trades have had some of them in it.

And these two might look familiar.  This happens sometimes when two trades hit at the same time.  But I've killed off so many Washington needs that they've probably surpassed set hits in my trades on the site.  Which is just incredible, because digging out two to ten singles from each product in shops and at shows would take forever, and I know there are tons of collectors who have them and don't need them.  It's a win-win.

More stuff from the sports spectrum from CraigB56.  Late 90's hockey, and one of those Donruss game cards that are pretty easy to come by on TCDB.  The Dotson Score is for the Washington collection, but the Addison is my latest player collection.  The Vikings WR went through the school system that I work for.  I've got a co-worker that coached him in middle school.

The other bubble mailer was from JFCard.  I didn't spread these out too far.  There's the Jordan from the Skybox set, along with an '84 Fleer Update Darling for that set, and a SportFlics Keith Hernandez for his PC.  The stack is mostly 1997-98 Score hockey, a few other newer set hits, pretty much all of the first year Capital O-Pee-Chees for that team binder, and some other odd PC needs.

I got one more package the next day from sfurukawa, which was bigger than any of these.  I just didn't take a picture of it.  It was a 300 count box full of mostly Washington football, but also a complete set of 1988 Sportflics Gamewinners, and a handful of baseball PC cards.  That was an unusual trade where I actually got more volume than I sent - but his end was all 1975 Topps baseball minis.

I combined that shipment into the stacks of all the above inventory and sorted by sport.

Here's a lower angle so you can see the quantities.  Not bad for a week of trading...

I've completed 11 trades and have that many still in progress (in transit) for the month of November so far.  And we're not even halfway through!

I also did 11 last month - starting with one on the 11th and the others on the 18th and beyond - after turning them off for August and September to try to recover from the National and Michigan hauls.  (Which I really haven't.)

In October, those trades added 185 baseball, 20 hoops, 73 football, and 5 hockey.  283 total.

And this month has brought 50 baseball, 54 hoops, 416(!) football, and 121 hockey.  641 total.

I bet I've moved a lot more than that to good homes too.  Gotta love Database trading!

Blog Bat Around: No Words.

 

Yes, 'Em Are Nice Cards

In what should be a much larger effort to purge stuff from Hivemind Headquarters, here's a stack of stuff that might be useful for someone.  I get these at the National Convention, but since I'm not into grading or the high end of the market, these are slated for the Recycle Bin unless someone wants them.  Trade me a few cards or some equivalent for the postage if possible.  I'll probably send them even if you don't.

I'll start with the oldest.  The orange book is Heritage Auctions' catalog, but is also a convention program.  Interspersed with the staff biographies and upcoming auction news and items, there is a map of the National floor and lists of the autograph signers and vendors present for the show.

The SMR (hence the title of this post) is the Sports Market Report.  I suppose this might be the precursor to the YouTube influencer videos that report the going rates of various graded star cards.  It's like a Beckett guide for slabs.  Like I said, I have no interest in this information, but a trendier collector might.

This pair is from the oldest show I went to - 2010.

The next year's SMR guide with Ernie Banks.  These generally feature stars from the cities that hosted the show.  A lot of them are Chicago as a result.

2012 brings Barry Larkin (Nachos....?) and two Heritage catalogs.  I'll ship out any combination of the two types of books.  You're not limited to the corresponding pairs.

2013 was the year they brought all those Cracker Jacks from that big find.  No, that's not a real slabbed card - it's just a photo on the cover.  Though they did pass out replica slabs of those things...

2014 was in Cleveland, so Bob Feller is the cover model.  The Heritage book is still about the same size, but they get a bit larger as we go.

Skipped a year, so here's 2016...

Jump to 2019, and Baker Mayfield, plus two Heritage programs.  Chicago again.

The 41st National was in 2021, since they skipped 2020.  Didn't put this together until I was writing this and had already taken the pics.

Didn't go last year, so here's the most recent program.  Not sure if the SMR's are obsolete at this point...

Hit me up if you'd like any of these.  They'll join the water bottles and junk mail if you don't.

2023 Ginter - Box 3: Not A Rainstorm, But It Is A Little Muddy

And now the third and final box of 2023 Allen & Ginter.  If I said I was disappointed in this one, it would make it sound like it was a bad box - it really wasn't.  Though the hits aren't nearly as exciting as the other two rips, I'm never just about the hits.  I ended up with a complete base set (except for Bo Jackson who went to my PC as I mentioned.) and I recognized a lot of them came from this box.  And I got a minimal but beneficial amount of duplicate inserts to trade.

Vladimir Junior leads us off.  Wouldn't have minded an Only In... or an N43 just to mix things up.

This guy's decent, right?  Silver bordered Fiddle-Dee-Dee, or whatever they're called.  (Crappy crop job ~ sorry.)

More cool minis.  I really wish those Rarest of the Diamond ones weren't so rare.  Those are the best insert in the set this year.  I'm not doing the World of Wonders because that concept has been used several times already, but Yosemite is one of the coolest places I've ever been so that one will stay here somewhere.  The food ones are educational since I've never heard of most of the dishes, but unless they were scratch-and-sniff, I'm not really into them.

Here's the rest.  I got three of the nice black minis, including Strasburg.  And like I said, I filled out some more of the inserts.  The hits, however...

Not white swatches at least. 
Craig's kid is neat. 
The auto is apparently the guy who supplies Major League Baseball teams with the mud that the equipment guys rub down the new baseballs with.  I mean, that's a cool thing and would make a great Ginter insert,....but a hit?  *shrug*

So once I sorted out my base set, I stacked 'em up to see how the collation is.  I'd say pretty darn good!  The right hand pile is dupes from all three boxes.

And this is the comparison of short prints to base cards.  

The difference this year is that the SP's start at 301 like they always do, but for 2023, they go all the way to #400.  And there are many players that are duplicated between the base and SP's.  They are different poses/colors, etc. but the same player depicted.  Not sure I mind that, but it'll cause a little confustion for some if they're looking for the SP of a guy and haven't seen the base card.  Now you have to pay close attention to the numbers.

This last box didn't end my Ginter rip with a thud, but it brought it in with a safe, smooth landing.  Looking forward to trading and filling in my insert wants.