Retro Box Break: 1999 Collector's Edge Triumph Football

This box was the last unopened package from the basketball (storage) hoard.  Everything else was already opened when I got it all, except for that hideous box of 1999 UD hoops.  I figured there wasn't much of anything that could come out of it to make it worth selling, so I opened it and started the set myself.

They did that dumb thing that Topps likes to do - offer BONUS packs that are no different than the rest of the box.  Just say 11 packs please.  And it gets even dumber....

So when you actually open the box, there are eight packs stacked in pairs.  Not ten ~ eight.

So when you pull them out, there is a cardboard cover that says your bonus pack is underneath.

Well, which one is the bonus pack?  There are three of them.  It does make 10+1=11.  Dumb.

First card ripped - Robert Smith of the Vikings.

And the rest of the first pack.  Deion, Shannon Sharpe, and the ever-present Tim Couch in this year's stuff.  First insert - Heir Supply Kevin Faulk.

One of the later ones was a Vikings Hot Pack.  Three in one shot.  Randle was a total nut.  Love that guy.

After all is said and done, I got two of the Heir Supply inserts.  (I had a couple more of most of these in my extras, so got a little farther along on a lot of them.).

Some nice names on the Future Fantasy Teams.  All these inserts are very shiny in real life, but the rainbow effect is enhanced by the photos.

Only one regular Fantasy Team.  Mr. Smith.

These Pack Warriors are cool, and it's always nice to get Rice.

And don't you know, I got lucky enough to pull and autograph from the last pack or so.  I'm pretty sure ol' Brock is doing better at announcing than he did as a starter.  But very decent signature, and just cool to pull something of a hit at all.

Collation was pretty decent.  I think the handful of dupes I ended up with were all from my previous stock.   Had two extra Deions, but nothing else excessive.  Even had a double of at least one insert.  Let me know if you have any for trade.

I have yet to put this list on my wants page, but they are in the TCDB (under LoQtus).  Thanks for tuning in!  (Update: Needs are on my site now too)

Getting There Is Half The Battle - And Less Now

Attended the National Battlefield Card Classic in Gettysburg over Memorial Day weekend.  Held at the All-Star Sports Complex near the Eisenhower hotel, it is now only 15 minutes from my house, making it the most convenient show venue.  

Unfortunately, it was steadily showering when I got there, and I had to walk close to a quarter mile from where I parked to the entrance.  So standing in line was a little damp.  The show was pretty much 50/50 sports vs. Pokémon/MagicTG, but that's par for the course these days.  Those gaming cards sure are colorful, but they all look the same to me.

The other "as usual" was that the majority of my days' haul was the same things I usually find at shows now - namely player collection singles from the most current sets, and base, parallels and hits from my two modern football PC guys: Jayden Daniels and Jordan Addison.  An addition that I can make to that list now is Angela's guys: Brett Favre, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning & John Riggins.  

Here's what I got, but not in the order I got it: 

Some parallel '25 Ginter action with both the silver and Chrome Bo, silver Torre, X black Fisk, and mini Sutter.  This kind of stuff is hard to track, even when I try to make lists.  I don't put it on their web page, because it would make the listings way too long, but only having odd lists of certain years and certain sets isn't much help either.

Found a couple of the Manning boys, including a really fancy Topps Chrome Fortune 15 Peyton.  These were all in a quarter box, I believe.

As were most of these Brett Favres.  The first two are numbered, so they may have been a buck a shot.

The Modern Artist (blue) is /99 on the back.

The Resurgence is /275 on the top left corner of the front.

And finally, the first purchase I made was this Jordan Addison Flawless Collegiate Gold patch auto /10 for $40.  It was marked something like $175 on the sticker underneath.  The dealer said he was surprised it had not sold in four shows up until then.  I'm glad I got the markdown.  It still showed the three digit price on COMC, which is what I gauge prices with.

The Phoenix Rookie Rising Jayden Daniels is a regular mainstream insert....

The middle card is something else.  I asked the dealer what it actually was and he wasn't sure.  (It was the dealer's young son and he said Dad handled all the buying.)  They were priced at $25 and $15 or so, but I asked the Dad if he'd take $30 for the pair and he did.  I managed to find out later what the middle one is.

It's a custom from a WhatNot user (who's a Giants fan...??) and sells them for exactly what I got mine for.  I think it was worth it for a nice looking and unique addition to my collection, whether it's official or not.

That's really all I came up with.  There were only a few vintage dealers at the show, and they seemed rather overpriced, so I didn't look for my '61 set build at all.  I'll wait for the bigger shows in the fall.  Thanks for stopping by!

Fuji Sticks It To Me

Another quick loot post, this time from my west coast man Mark at Chronicles Of Fuji.  He texted me a while back and became the first blogger to send me stuff at the new Hivemind Headquarters.

A very Washington centric payload, and a lot of them were very fancy!

OK, the Action Packeds aren't that fancy, but they're still cooler than regular cards.  Contrast them with the two more current autographs, though.  Sweet!

 Not one, not two, but three encased Topps Pristine 'Skins!  You don't see those, or any other encased cards very often!

But the coolest thing Fuji included was this vintage stamp album.  I've seen these before, and have several of the four-stamp panels that includes 'Skins guys, but this was even better than all of those....

It included all the stamps!  Can't say the application was the best, but they're all in there!

Thanks to Fuji for all the additions to the 'Skins collection.

Stealth Michigan Trip Loot

As you may have read here, I surprised SR75 with a weekend visit right after Christmas.  I worked it out with his girlfriend (as well as my vintage supplier Marv) to see them in Michigan.  She kept it a secret from him until we showed up at a card shop in Brighton.  I found a few more Jayden Daniels cards, as well as a few other singles at that shop.  I didn't scan those, but I will show you what I found at the mall show the next day.

First items were these two Topps Super 70's autographs.  Both are PC guys.  Everything I got from this show was in these big thick magnetic holders.

Continuing the baseball PC theme, I found this Panini Three and Two bat relic numbered 9/20 from another dealer who priced it according to comps of similar ones /75.  Was a fair price.  I usually don't go for non-logo stuff like this, but this one looks pretty good despite that.

Just like most shows I go to these days, Jayden Daniels is who I found next.  I have a printout of what I have of his, but I think I'm going to have to put it on a page on this blog, since I didn't have my printed lists with me on this trip at all.   I hope $20 isn't overpaying for this one.

And finally, this dealer said to make offers and he would make end-of-show deals on everything in his case.  I've seen the red & green Optic before, and it was priced about the same.  I came in at $25, and he said yes and that he had this really cool Inception too that he'd throw in for $5 more.  Sold!

That's it for today.  Stay tuned for some customs from Gavin at BBC Breakdown, and my haul from Marv, including killing most of my 1963 Topps set build, and starting another year. 

Two Boxes of 2025 Allen & Ginter: Diminishing Returns

I almost didn't do it.  As you probably already know, Allen & Ginter is the only new product I buy almost every year - including flagship Topps.  This year, I heard ahead of time that there would only be two "hits" per box.  (Not that "hits" are why I buy ANY product in the first place.)  And that the price would be higher, but you wouldn't get as much out of a box as before.  

So I considered just looking for a base/SP/main inserts set on eBay for less than I'd probably invest in boxes and singles to complete that much.  Hopefully I'd find second copies of my PC guys in base and inserts and maybe luck out and get a "hit" from one of them as well.  Boxes were going for $169 on most major dealer sites. 

But I didn't....

I found boxes at Bergen County Cards in New Jersey for $139 each.  That was only $10 more than last year, so I got two.  Unfortunately, they're sold out right now.

 
Let's tear in!

Have to go straight to the first pack, since there are no box toppers, N43s, or buybacks any more.  Take off points for that at the jump... 

 

First card was a musician dude (no idea).  First card I actually saw was the back of Eddie Murray's Sweet Victory insert.  Nice to start with the Orioles at least.  Forgive the warm incandescent lighting in my new card room.  Nothing is going to look white even though most of this stuff is.

So I tore through the packs and sifted out the base, minis, inserts, and shiny parallels.  (Shiny is getting to be a much bigger thing with Ginter.  Can't say I'm overjoyed about it.)  I won't go through every pack, but will just hit the highlights.  Above are all the base minis, A&G backs, black borders, (most of which will be trade bait) then a new N222, a Light the Night insert, and a chrome Matty mini. (Spoken for.) 

The other insert minis from the first box.  Birds and fish have been done before.  Trust me, I researched it a while ago.  Several states elected Cardinals, so these aren't dupes.

A closer look at the N222 and Chrome Matty.  I wish the 222's had retired players too.

Only pulled one Filigree this time.  Don't know this guy either.

And the Chromes and Silvers are at least one per pack now.  I'm already working on two sets of the Silvers from previous years, so I'm not keeping these.  Just need Bo, Torre, Campaneris, Fisk, Sutter, and Mussina in all forms.  Above are all the Chrome Chromes I pulled.

First hit came about halfway through.  Pretty decent player and non-white swatch.  

Second one was a really nice framed mini auto /25.  But I'm not a Survivor fan, or MTV watcher, so Ms. Fitgerald is not familiar to me.

On to Box #2.
Here are the minis for this box.   Beaches are another well-worn subject.  The Ginter Creative Team is phoning this one in for the most part so far.

 Got three filigrees this time, and two HOF'ers.  That's better.

First hit was a Bellinger bat piece.  This one will go to my Pirate/Yankee friend most likely.

The other hit was the prize of the break...

 

 
BOOM!  Double Rip Card!  And with one of my PC guys on the back!

 And it's #1!

Well, if you've seen my posts on how to deal with Rip Cards, you will know that the above images are AFTER I extracted the minis inside.  Don't use the tabs, slice them along the edges.

These are what I got.  A stained glass Oriole (who I don't know either), and an extended series Yordan #372.

And that's about it.  Pretty standard A&G fare, but missing a few things from years past.  I like the base design just fine, but the reduction in extra stuff just leaves the whole thing a bit lacking.  I'll finish the base, SP's and two regular inserts, but that's about all.