Borg At The Door

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My First COMC Swap

As of the first of September, I have sold 21 cards for a total of just over $72.  I still have 223 for sale in inventory.  (Let me know if you see something you like, but the price is not right.)

So far, this has accounted for a few more of the monster boxes I got in the initial "hoard".  I'll have to count up how many more I have to go.  My original plan was to sell off enough on COMC to equal what I paid for the whole 15 boxes.  I have sold a few chunks here and there that have contributed as well.  

When my sales total got over $50, I started shopping for myself on the site.  I picked out some player collection cards, some set and insert needs, and a few oddballs.  Here is what I basically traded for the cards I sold:

The first two are reprints from the 1987 Hygrade set - they are inserts that have multiple variatoins of the text on the back, namely the stated value of the real card.  Both were the last ones I was missing. 
The mini and the Tejada are from 2003 Topps 205.  Miguel is the blue background variation, and the mini is the "exclusive pose" flavored high number.
Next up, a woody feeling insert from 2003 Topps, and one back-number variation from 1994 Pacific, as well as two inserts from that set.  (Anyone need base cards from this?  I still have a ton.)
And on the bottom row, the last card for Topps Gallery HOF (also 2003).  Every card is one of a pair of subtle variations.  This is the red W one.  Piazza is the last of the scratch-off Predictor cards from 1997 Upper Deck, (now I can start on the prize cards that you got by sending these in) and the final Emperors Of The Zone from 2019 Stadium Club.

I buzzed through a bunch of my vintage baseball guys and landed a few cheap parallels of Lou Piniella as a manager,  one stadium giveaway Cubs Ivan DeJesus (I was at Wrigley for one series of those), a McDonalds Bruce Sutter that I might have already, and an innocent looking '86 Donruss DeCinces that's actually a well cut box bottom card.

Unfortunately, I didn't look close enough to one of the Piniellas and paid $.80 for a regular base card that was supposed to be a gold foil version.  They put a little barcoded slip in with each card like this.  (That's why all my scans have white in the background.)  Makes it easier to put away funky parallels when they're not easy to distinguish (when they're accurate anyway).

I really started to go nuts with Priest Holmes parallels, but stopped after 2000 or so.  I could have tripled my cartful with just his, but I'll wait for the next batch.  I skipped a bunch that I didn't have by putting a limit on what I spent on one card at about $5.  I won't list in detail all these, but I bet there are a few you haven't seen often.  There are no regular base cards except the first one in the middle row - it's a retail flavor of that Collector's Edge set.  The Cheifs card is 2017 or so.

I couldn't believe I found these on there for only a buck or two!  The three character cards from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine are "Tryptichs" from the Skybox Master Series of 1994.  The hologram is the one exchange card from a set of nine that otherwise came from packs of the 1992 Impel Next Gen set.  Now I just have to wait for the other Triptychs (and four Master Series holograms that I just discovered) to show up later.

And to round things out, I snagged this 2008 UD Spectrum of Stars auto of Twisted Sister drummer A.J. Pero a while ago for about $12.  Sadly he passed away in 2015.  I think I'm only missing Vince Neil from these.  

So effectively these were basically free for several of the cards I shipped off to COMC in April.  

I also paid my first month's "storage fees" for card that have been there more than 90 days.  It was a whopping 60¢!  Of course, that's just for the ones that were posted from April.  There are a lot more that have only been up for a few weeks - from the same box I shipped!  But at least I don't fear the storage fees will be a big deal.  Anything priced under 75¢ is exempt.

Until next time...

My Extended Vacation

My silence the last couple weeks was planned.  I left on vacation overnight on Monday the 25th of July for the west coast.  Second year in a row, but this time it wasn't to buy a car.

I've got family that live in the Sierra Foothills.  It was nice reconnecting with them and some other cousins from the Northwest area.

They're up in the Gold Rush country in Calaveras County.  It was over 100° several days.  But I liked that better than 90° and high humidity over here in the East.

They're just down the road from the Big Trees State Park.  Pretty impressive.

Managed to find a few cards in an antique store in one of the little towns we visited.  Ruth and the Cubs were the same price.  There was a whole 16" long box os HOFers and stars.  There are a lot of card shops back near Stockton, but I was too far away.

Saw a lot of stuff about the Gold Rush era and how they lived and got around in the late 1800's.

Including the steam trains that are still running.  They use these in a lot of movies and television shows.  This particular one was in Back to The Future III.  We were also in Columbia Park, which is a period town that is preserved largely as it was and was also used in the movie.

We had a layover in Vegas on the return flight.  I stopped in the Raider Nation store while my uncle played a few machines.

I suspect that stop is what led to the rest of my time off...

About three days after I came back, I was home from work and had gone to the grocery store (masked).  I put everything away and went to lay down.  About 6 pm, I tried to get up, but the room was spinning so hard I couldn't walk.  I struggled to move downstairs to try to eat something, but it just wasn't getting any better.  Sparing you the gory details, I got sick a few times and finally called for an ambulance about 10 o'clock.  

They gave me something for the dizziness and sent me for a CT scan. I had told them I hadn't been tested for COVID in a while and had just traveled.  It turned out positive.  I stayed overnight for observation and felt a lot better after a couple days.  I've been home on ten day quarantine ever since.  Today is the last day.  I just did a home test and it came out negative.👍

The upside of my quarantine is that I finally had a chance to binge watch Star Trek: Discovery so I can then get on board with ST: Strange New Worlds.  I'm on Season 2.  I have the first two seasons on Blu-Ray disc.  For the seasons after that, I'll use Paramount streaming.

Have just now started reading blogs again.  I had a trade or two in the works, but I won't start handling too many cards until next week when I'm free & clear of the virus.

I'm pretty sure all of my submitted cards are now on sale on COMC.  I've sold 18 cards so far for a total of about $66, and I spent last night picking out cards I need that they can ship me.  It went up to the wire (August 11 deadline) for them to get everything up, even though the last bunch was from the same sets that went up earlier.  I really don't understand their process. But for now, I'll just see how much I can move before they start charging me for storage.

I am not looking forward to getting up early Monday morning....

Impulse Engines Are Back Online

 Well, the ol' Collective drive system is still leaking plasma, but hasn't completely ceased running yet.  I've managed to go the entirety of September with one total post.  Like I said last time, it's not that my collecting interest is waning, it's just that my work schedule has been so random, and I've fallen into the routine of waking up, working, coming home (in the middle or at the end), and turning on "the news" (PTI) and whatever follows, and going to bed, repeating the same the rest of the week.  Hasn't been all dull and routine, with some side work here and there and keeping in touch with friends.

The purchases that I mentioned previously are all in now.  I have only put away a small fraction of the earliest ones, so I recorded the rest to show here.  It's a lot, so I'll at least finish the month with a few posts before it's all gone, even if they're the "Looky what I got" type that seems to be falling out of fashion lately.

I'll jump right in and show what seems to be the most anticipated one from my preview.

This came out of the package and I thought, "Did I get the wrong shipment?"

But when I opened it...

Ah Ha!  The 1976 Star Trek set!

I was very thankful for this purchase, not only because it was a great example of the set, but the price was a lot lower than a few previous efforts.  I had tried to submit offers to other eBay sellers, but was ignored multiple times.  One seller had it for $140.  I think I offered like $115, and didn't get any answer either time I tried.  No rejection, no counter offer, and no notice that the seller was away. Just crickets.  If you're not willing to deal with offers that aren't your full price, then don't put the option in your auctions, people!

This set is fully documented on the Database at the link above, so I won't scan and show my whole set, but here are some of my favorites.

Card #1, the shot of the Enterprise from the show opening sequence.  Each card has the little yellow Enterprise by the caption.  Guess they could've had a little figure corresponding to the subject that represented the crew, aliens, or other things kinda like '73 and '04 Topps baseball.

City On The Edge Of Forever - starring a young Joan Collins - was written by Harlan Ellison.  Regarded as one of (if not the) best episodes of any in the three seasons.

Parallel Spock from the Mirror, Mirror episode, one of my personal favorites.  Even as a conquerer, Spock has the cooler head and does what's right.  And the goatee just works...

The rare appearance for the "space suits" in what is my #1 episode, The Tholian Web.  The suspense just keeps building in this one.  The captain is surely lost and the rest of the ship is about to fall to hostile aliens.  Very well done show.

Here's the back of one of the cards.  Nice that they include the show title where appropriate on the bottom right.  Just wish the numbers were a skosh bigger.

Now that I have the set, I just need to find a good deal on the 22 stickers!

And just because I downloaded it to put on the outside of the binder, here's what a wax box looks like...

Found On The Side Of A Transwarp Conduit

Well, the ol' Borg cube has almost crashed and burned, but is still sputtering along at half impulse power.  Between the beginning of the school year adding volume and chaos to my job, and the pandemic allowing me to flex my schedule to avoid crowding the office (and waking up early), as well as the start of football (and subsequently fantasy) season, plus playoff 8-ball tournaments out of town (and 9-ball in the same place next weekend), my blogging time and energy have been diverted in several directions.  

My average is 11 posts a month - roughly three times a week - but August got only 5.  But a sudden positive development ~ many of those posts have triple digit readership.  Not sure if that's a result of recent Twitter promotion for my post on Covid-ized classic cards, or just bots branching out into other words besides "cardboard".  If it is Twitter, thanks to Fuji and any of the rest of you for spreading the word!

I have been very active on a couple different buying sites, though.  I'm awaiting a SportLots order that is just over 300 cards.  That was a binge to beat all binges.  I started with some cheap football and found a seller that had a ton of my want list hits for 25- and 50¢ each, and it just snowballed.  I came into some cash a little while ago, so I turned off any restraint I had this time.

I also have been perusing eBay as well, usually loading up a cartful from a seller that has a few things I'm looking for and then another bunch of singles for a buck a shot - then I end up comparing prices on Sportlots and finding a lot of them cheaper so I only end up with about ¼ of what I started with on the 'Bay.  I did find a bargain and used a rare eBay coupon to knock the price down another 30% on a non-sport set I've been making offers on that go unanswered.

Enough talk,  Here are some quick previews of what I have incoming.  These are just samples of the big batches that are inbound.

 

BBA: My Other Collections - The Obvious One

With a Star Trek themed blog, you would think I would come up with Trek as one of my other hobbies right off the bat, but it took a minute.  I wouldn't consider it a "collection", but I do have a significant pile of "stuff" from when I was watching new shows and going to conventions.  Unfortunately, none of that has happened for years now.  I think I've seen all the new movies, but I'm actually not sure.  Just can't get into them as much as the Roddenberry era...

Anyway, here's my stuff...

This shelf on my bedroom bookcase is all Trek.  From paperbacks to hardcover novels and some other miscellaneous items.

Closer look at the hardcovers and Kirk accessories....

Paperbacks, Fotonovels, and TV Guides.  I finally replaced Fotonovel #11 from eBay after loaning it out years ago and not getting it back.  The TV Guides are probably not a complete collection, but span most of the shows.

And there are some bigger ones down with the comic stuff.  The ones to the left of the black encyclopedia are the old Gold Key comic reprints.  Those are really cool.

Around the hardcover books, some oddball items.  The blueprints set is still wrapped.  The lunchbox is not an original, it's from 2001, but still cool.  The canister had cookies in it.

Probably not the only Trek calendar I've had, but the one I held onto...

A local artsy paper from my hometown in 1993.  Our local comic shop guy commissioned us for a photo shoot in our uniforms and props. 

Left to right: Bill H. and Bill S. from my 1982 journal entries, and me relegated to the background.  The communicator and phaser were very realistic props that Bill S. had purchased at conventions.  Those guys also had Wrath Of Khan style uniforms as well.  More on mine in a bit.

Here's me taking command last summer at the Henry Ford museum exhibit that I posted about. 

These are all still on my walls in the computer room.  The Klingon ships are about 2' x 3' and the TOS cast is 27" x 40" and mounted on foamboard.  (It's falled down a few times so it's kinda beat up.  Sorry, I should have cropped these better.  Got all these at the Baltimore conventions back in the day.

Nametags from some of the conventions I went to.  Mostly in the early 90's in the Baltimore area.  Again, not a complete collection, just the ones I managed to save.  Bonus Air & Space museum ticket too.

As I went along, my tastes for images and wall art became a bit more refined. 

And the Borg theme came through too.  There was some great fine art being generated back then.  I'm sure there still is, but I haven't been to see it for decades.

And of course, if you're going to conventions, ya gotta look the part.  This is my first Next Gen uniform.  We got the nice pins and collar pips too.  I saw some other people with cheesy looking accessories walking around the shows.  Never compared them to the tv show side by side, but ours looked good.

Then I upgraded to the fifth season Captains jacket & tunic.  It's hard to see, but this is what I'm wearing in the newspaper above.  I had a few women come up to me at conventions. . . and tug at the jacket and say "I could make this!".   Ah well, it was cool though.  Tried it on last Halloween.  Unfortunately, neither uniform still fits.

And finally, the pièce de résistance.  This neon sign was custom made for me by a co-worker who also worked for a sign company.  He just wanted to see if he could do it.  Definitely a one-of-a-kind item.

And it still works!  Though strangely, it appears white in the phone camera.  Must be the frequencies or something.

Moving closer, this is what it looks like in reality while in full glow.

So that's all my Trek stuff.  Well, except for the cards from the 90's that you may already have seen.  I didn't get to the point where I made a Borg suit or anything.  But it did cross my mind a few times.  Especially since I have access to electronic parts.  Ah well....I got a Borg blog.  Thanks for reading!