State Of The Collective Part 3: Distributions And ... Sales?

I briefly mentioned at the end of my last post that I have been trying to move two large batches of cards out of HiveMind Headquarters.  

The first was documented here and the major revenue has come from a COMC shipment, including a $350 graded Michael Jordan PSA 7, and a few unopened box and set sales.  There are still some sets left (of early 90's Classic 4-Sport and mid-90's basketball series) and a lot of bulk singles (a little baseball and football and a whole lot of basketball, all through the 90's decade).

That pile is on the second floor of my house.

 

The second is a stockpile of complete sets - factory and hand collated, and including traded/update sets in many cases - of baseball, primarily from 1988 thru 1990, with a few older single sets, plus Topps football sets from '87 thru '89.  The itemized list is below

1984 Topps set - verified and sold.
1985 Topps - no Gooden.  I have an agent hunting that one down.
1986 Topps - 2 hand collated sets, unverified.
1987 Donruss set - factory sealed.
1987 Fleer set - factory seal broken but set intact.
1987 Topps set - hand collated, unverified.
1988 Donruss - 10 sets, selling well
1988 Fleer - 10 sets and 10 Updates, selling well
1988 Score - 6 cases (8 sets each)!  10 Rookie & Traded sets
1988 Topps - 10 hand collated, 10 Traded sets, and 2 unopened wax boxes
1989 Bowman - 10 hand collated sets
1989 Donruss - 10 factory sets, 10 Traded sets
1989 Fleer - 10 factory sealed sets, 10 Update sets
1989 Score - 10 factory sealed sets, 9 Update sets
1989 Topps - 10 hand collated sets, 10 Traded sets, and 4 wax boxes
1989 Upper Deck factory sealed sets - sold first
1990 Donruss - 10 factory sets
1990 Fleer - 6 factory sets
1990 Score - 10 factory sets
1990 Topps - 9 hand collated sets

1987 Topps football - 10 hand collated sets
1988 Topps football - 10 hand collated sets
1989 Topps football - 9 factory sealed sets - sold in one purchase

Not everything is currently listed, but you can see what I have available by searching for my seller name qaplagca (https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fss=1&_saslop=1&_sasl=qaplagca&LH_SpecificSeller=1)

Those are all still stacked in my living room on the ground floor as they were when they arrived.  My house is now officially full of cardboard, since my collection and tradeables fill the middle floor and these two hoards occupy the other two.

I'm amazed that sales have been so steady since I started listing things after New Year's.  1988 sets are the most popular so far - especially Fleer and Donruss.  I would have never though that was possible.  Not sure what the draw is except that I think I'm about the only seller that pairs the Fleer base set with the Update.  Plus, I assess what each item has actually sold for and set my prices accordingly.  A lot of these are bringing less than $10 each after eBay fees and me paying for shipping.  But it all adds up.  The original owner said just get what you can for them, and the revenue is already approaching what I thought the whole shebang would go for. 

It's a lot of work though.  Every day or two, a couple more sets sell.  So then I pull them from the boxes, and cut a bubble envelope flat and wrap it around the set.  Then I cover that in brown bag paper and print the label sticker.  I've had a couple orders of multiple sets - one was all nine '89 football sets, and another was three '88 Donruss sets.  Had to find the right size boxes for those.

Most sets are listed individually, but I did also offer a couple bundles of all the sets for a particular year.  I will probably do the same for the Traded/Updates.

I'm just glad the stuff is moving.  I was afraid I had burdened myself with a whole pile of unmovable merchandise for the next ten years.  Though at some point, I will take what's left of both batches to the local dealers I know to get rid of them.  

For the longest time, I thought the worst thing I could try to do was sell something, even if it is cards that I know so much about.  The one time I set up at a show, I didn't sell a damn thing.  So this has been a revelation.

I'm also doing halfway decent in my COMC sales as well.  Half of my total revenue was from the first batch above, but I had sent two submissions of my own stuff before that (and took back a portion of the first one that didn't sell).  Here's my progress:

Excluding the graded card sale, I'm averaging around $4 a sale.  And they're constantly trickling in all the time.  I put up 20% discounts on Thursdays that run through the next two weekends every few weeks.  The best part is I've exchanged 186 extra cards for 672 cards that I wanted for myself.  I had $400 store credit at one point until I put in another order.  (I paid the owner of the basketball stuff from my own fundage.)

I'm going to take a week off from work since I didn't really get a break during the holidays.  That way I can catch up on managing all this, plus my TCDB trades, and clearing off all the incoming singles I have for my sets and other collections.  And maybe thin out some of my total collection to make room for the stuff I don't have boxes or space for .

But that about wraps it up for what's happening at HiveMind Headquarters.  Stay tuned for the previous 200+ card COMC order, and other recent activities.

What's The Story With This Guy?

I finally finished entering all my recent baseball extras into the TCDB.  (Ok, full disclosure, I still have a couple piles of recently processed dupes that I have to sort yet, but the majority is DONE!)

Do you ever notice that the same guy keeps popping up either when you open packs or buy bulk lots or sort out your monster boxes of extra stuff?  (What? doesn't everyone have multiple monster boxes of trade bait? 😀)

While entering my last box - 2017 thru 2021, this guy kept showing up.  Not only on base cards, which wouldn't be anything special, (since a major percentage of my extras are Topps flagship base,) but in parallels, and even a relic.

This is the Database image, but mine is identical.

I looked up the list of all the Story's I have entered, and here it is:

2016 Topps Heritage - Black Borders (High Numbers) #THC-707 SP
2017 Topps #42
2017 Topps Bunt #49
2018 Stadium Club #299
2018 Stadium Club - Black Foil #299
2018 Topps #230
2018 Topps Big League - Gold #46
2018 Topps Holiday #HMW128
2019 Topps Chrome #183
2019 Topps Update - Gold #US44 AS, SN2019
2020 Topps Heritage - Clubhouse Collection Relics (High Number) CCR-TS
2021 Topps Big League - Souvenirs #13
2021 Topps Heritage #600
2023 Topps Big League #249 SP

Two short prints, two black parallels, and an insert.  And a diverse set list as well, but that's pretty easy to do for anyone with decent talent.

I wish Heritage would stick to colored borders instead of shiny.  It makes so much more sense for a vintage tribute product.

OK, these are actually the base and black foil parallel, but of course, foil comes out black on a scanner. 

Gold parallel

Abominable Snowman encounter?

 

 

And the only 2023 cards I have anywhere in my collection come from two packs of Big League that my buddy Stuart sent randomly.  Which year did he get traded / move to the Sawx?  I don't pay attention any more...

 

So anyway, if you're a Story or Rockies fan and need any of these, hit me up.  Trades are active again on TCDB, or email at the link in the upper right.  I've got a lot of other Rockies available as well.

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.

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.

The First Mile

At some point I promise I'll get back to posting things like the Heritage pairs ('59T/'08Her), trade maildays, and other aspects of my collecting.  But for now, I'm immersed in data entry.  

Tonight, I finished my first full monster box.  I started with a three row with everything from '97 Pinnacle Zenith through '98, '99, and 2000 that you've seen before.  

This five-row box holds the end of Upper Deck 2000 thru 2003 Stadium Club (which is between SP Authentic and SP Legendary Cuts because it fits in the end of the row.)

So here's everything I've entered so far in baseball.

Well, it's probably closer to two full monster boxes, but the rest of it is chunks of sets from several different places, some special stuff, and some football.  Also including a handful of singles I added on to some trades, and a group of oversized cards that have to be stored separately.  And I did enter my box of 2015 Score / 2018 Illusions football.

As you can see, there aren't many big chunks of sets in this box.  Only maybe 2002 UD Vintage (4th row) and 2003 SP Authentic at the very end.  This one probably took around 20 hours total to enter.  That was spread over about six days last week up to tonight.  I took Thursday thru Saturday off.  It sped up Sunday, because I installed the Brave browser and now use it for database work.  I had never heard of it before, but it is based on Chrome and blocks all ads and trackers.  And it's free.  Such a relief to get rid of the pesky ad banner that pops up from the bottom of the TCDB page every time it refreshes or moves to a different page!

The view via Firefox (my default) with the ad you can't deflect...

The same page in Brave - no ads anywhere!

I'm also stopping every now and then to scan a card I'm entering that doesn't have an image in the database site.  It's a very quick process unless it's a shiny card, then that takes some editing.  According to my Recently Added history, I've put up right about 200 images (fronts & backs count separately) since I started scanning things in earnest, beginning in late March.

Just a sampling of the more wacky stuff I have available.  

Only six or seven more five-rows to go in baseball, and nine football after that!  And then I'll go back and do everything before 1997!  

I really will try to post about other things in the meantime.  I just won't want to sit in front of this screen much more though.....

Beef, Beverages, Bologna, and Bargain Ball Cards

Picked up a $5 repack last Thursday night at a grocery store that I never go to.  Either a jersey or autograph was guaranteed in every pack.  I found a pack showing an insert that was on my want lists, and the rest didn't seem like it was all 1990 Pro Set.  So I said "Why not? I haven't opened anything since A&G."  Turns out it was a decent mix, but not real spectacular.  Though spoiler alert: I pulled a double auto!  

 

Never actually heard of this company before...

 

Here are the bulk of the contents in no particular order (since Blogger throws a group of images loaded at the same time in random order and it was such a pain to get pairs of images beside each other that I think I've done permanent damage to my vocal chords yelling at the screen when backspacing stopped working for no reason and the cursor jumps halfway down the page for no reason and.....never mind, just F&#* You HTML.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

       

Hey, whaddya know?  Priest Holmes!   Didn't need it though...

 

'85 Topps are just awkward.  I default to this way since that's how the photos are laid out.  But the backs are vertical and the names are on the wrong end...

This is the insert that was on the front.  Wasn't worth five bucks, but that's all I'm getting out of this pack.  Because....

USA Football??  These guys (weren't) old enough to sign their own contracts probably.  It's definitely up for trade (cheap!) if anyone is inclined.  So is the rest of the pack actually.  These will join the hundreds like them in my football hoard.