Friday, January 30, 2015

Could this card be worth big money someday?


To answer this posts title is I guess it could if he reaches even half of the hype he is being given right now. The Patriots, even though they are hated by most NFL fans are possibly one of the bigger bandwagon teams due to the success they've had over the last decade. This sweet die cut rookie card of Jimmy, heir apparent to Tom Brady could possibly be a card worth a ton down the road. It's from a popular set, it's shortprinted and is condition sensitive. It's shiny and well designed, much better than most Panini cards with the exception of their super high end (see Flawless and their upcoming Black Gold and Immaculate). Any middle of the road Panini cards look like garbage. This one looks fabulous in person. Just in time for the Superbowl too! 

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Another Clinton Portis card!


      Breaking off from the standard cards I've been adding is a 2009 Bowman Chrome Xfractors card of Clinton Portis numbered to 250 copies. This is my 121st card of Portis. I started collecting him in 2002 but have mostly concentrated on sets. This design is a bit busy for my liking with the stripes going through the design AND the xfractor pattern showing in certain lights but Bowman Chrome has an intense following, mostly for baseball collectors. The seller with the Grant Wistrom 1998 Topps Chrome Refractor rookie had some Broncos cards and this Portis card that I picked up for cheap. Combined shipping is the way to go, especially on individual cards like this that don't sell for very much. If you pay for shipping card by card often you are having to pay too much.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Three more days of cards, another 1998 Topps Chrome Refractor!




Here are a few more additions to my collection. We have a couple of base cards from 2014 Topps Chrome, two stars of the game for sure. The one I was really waiting on was my third 1998 Topps Chrome Refractor RC of Grant Wistrom. Largely forgotten in all but Rams collectors minds he was a member of the 1999 Super Bowl winning team and was also a member of the Seahawks 2005 Super Bowl appearance. He was instrumental in both of those seasons and really was a great player. These old Ram uniforms changed the very next year but as anyone who watches this team knows, they occasionally go to these throwback unis every once in a while. Perhaps one of the ugliest uniforms in football it was apparent why they made the change. The 1998 card is my third of the 165 card set so, I have quite a ways to go. I thought I had tracked down a checklist this week. I hit the BIN on eBay but then was informed that the card was no longer in stock. We'll see if I can find that damn checklist because as I said in an earlier post, I think it's going to be very hard to track down.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Pair of 2014 Topps Chrome defensive base cards



Today and yesterday's cards might be somewhat blase to the high end collector but they are my 12th and 13th base cards to the 2014 Topps Chrome set. One problem I'm noticing on this set is that the player really doesn't jump off the photograph for some reason here. Perhaps the contrast is not set high enough. The design team may have done this on purpose because the rookie cards are immediately apparent, not just from the small RC logo on the card but because each rookie is shown on a green background (presumably the field at the RC premier or training camp) whereas the vets are shown on really dark backgrounds. Generally I like the idea of making the rookie cards immediately noticeable but the vet cards should look cool too and they don't.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Today's card, another 2014 Topps Chrome base


Today's card is a 2014 Topps Chrome base card of which I still have plenty to add. This one is #73 Matthew Stafford. I'm surprised there isn't  shortprint variation of this card as he's a popular player and a playoff quarterback this year. An odd decision by Topps but he does have an autographed card or two in this set so there are plenty of opportunities for collectors to get some great rare cards out of this series from him.

I'm a little upset that the Seahawks won the NFC championship but they played their hearts out and deserved to win it. That game was what playoff football is all about. The Colts and Luck will have to wait another year at least, I just feel bad for collectors that spent such high dollars on his cards this season. They too will have to wait to see if their investment panned out. 

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The next card in my challenge, this one was worth hundreds back in the day!


Today's card is #66 Ryan Leaf. I found this PSA 10 ending very soon on Ebay so I just put in a bid, ended up winning it for 6.85 shipped. I've made the mistake of purchasing cards for big dollars soon after they come out only to have them plummet in value years later. This card can't get any lower (and I need it for my set) and it's somewhat of a conversation piece. Remember that part in the movie "40 Year Old Virgin" where Steve Carell is asked "Why do you have that?" in reference to one of his many obscure toys? I'd say this card falls under that category.

This is the second card in the set, 163 more to go. I think the checklist may be one of the hardest cards to track down if I had to guess. The fact that they made a checklist as a refractor card is sort of a strange decision, who honestly would be happy about pulling that from a box of cards? You only get 2 refractors a box in this product so I can see how that one might have made some collectors upset back in 1998 when this product was being furiously ripped in search of the card above and the Peyton Manning.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Challenging set started!


The first card in my challenge set is #77 Ben Coates. This is from the 1998 Topps Chrome Refractor set which could be found at 1:12 packs. Refractor technology was new at the time so at first glance these resemble the base set. If held to certain lights however, the shine of the card does come through. Every time I get one of these cards I'll find another on Ebay. The difficulty of putting this whole set together exists because of the age of the set and the rarity of the cards. It will be easy to find (but not pay for) rookies of Peyton Manning and Randy Moss. It's finding the base cards like these that will be come more difficult as time goes by. I've noticed that with small time cards you don't have sellers that are motivated to put them up or list them individually because there is no profit in them. We'll see how this chase goes along but I've already got the next on enroute. I laughed at how  much I paid for it but I also think it's a cool card, historically at least. You'll see what I mean when it comes in.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

2014 Topps Chrome #105 Julian Edelman


Today's card is probably my first Julian Edelman card. This WR is built in the mold of Wes Welker but at least was drafted in the seventh round. The Patriots seem to have a knack for developing players that would have fell by the wayside on other teams. 2013 was a great year for Edelman as he made 105 grabs, an astonishing number for a seventh round draft pick. When your team has a great quarterback they can make any wideout look like Jerry Rice. 

Card ramblings: Don't know if anyone heard about that shop owner in Akron OH that got shot and killed in what looks to be another burglary; the shop had several since 2011. This is a sad state of affairs when someone with such a kind heart in such an innocent setting (a card store is the last place I'd think of violence) gets murdered for a little bit of money. I sure hope they find the asshole that did this and puts him on death row. You can read the story here 

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Today's card, 2014 Topps Chrome Giovani Bernard #63A


Today I'm adding a base card from 2014 Topps Chrome, this is actually my first base card from the set that I'm adding. The rest have been inserts, a printing plate 1/1 and some low level autographs. Bernard certainly looked promising last year but has been overshadowed in 2014 by rookie phenom Jeremy Hill. Bernard's cards have softened in value quite a bit as a result. The door was opened as usual by injury to the second year running back and Cincinnati discovered just how good Hill was. It didn't help in the playoffs though, the Bengals are the first team in NFL history to get bounced out of the first round four years running. I don't know if people remember just how bad the Bengals were before Marvin Lewis took over, some might think his job is on the hot seat at this point because of the lack of playoff wins. It happened to Mike Shanahan because of a similar situation in Denver so I guess anything is possible. If I were a Bengals fan I'm not sure if I'd rather shake things up with a new coaching staff or be in the same situation again. Things could be worse. They could be 4-12 like they were most of the 80's and 90's. 

Monday, January 5, 2015

2014 Topps Chrome RC Refractor


Today's card is #119 Cyrus Kouandjio, the Refractor version. This is one of the cards I pulled in my 3 team case break from a few weeks ago. Not the flashiest of cards in a collector's eyes as we cringe at offensive lineman cards but these need some love too. Even I have my favorite OT card. My 2008 Spx Ryan Clady autographed card is a pretty good one. I know Browns fans love Joe Thomas. It's harder to judge them by stats alone because they don't really have any. the only time you know they are good is if you really really know the game (I don't count myself among one of the real students of the game) or if you know how many Pro Bowls they have gone to. Getting drafted in round 1 or 2 is no indication of talent. Look at Eric Fisher from the Chiefs and Luke Joeckel from the Jaguars from 2013. They haven't panned out very well for their respective teams at all.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

A real 1980's football card, not some insert


I have a large lot (thousands of cards) to add and it's fun to add just one daily to my Beckett organize and find out a little about the card if I can. This one is a 1982 Topps Dennis Thurman #326 of the Dallas Cowboys. This is a RC card so I was curious as to what the highest valued card of his was on Ebay. The most paid for one of his cards was 80.00 plus shipping for a 1984 Topps card graded a PSA 10. I can see why someone paid that much as this is a great set with tons of followers. Getting a blazing grade on a mid 80's card, an era when people weren't really thinking about cards as an investment had to be really tough. According to the PSA population report there are only 8 graded in PSA 10 condition. What's even more interesting is that he had been in the league for 4 years before getting a regular issue RC card. He only has 18 cards in total including police sets and special issue oddball cards. In today's collecting world a non-drafted free agent may have more cards in one set than most players of yesteryear had in their whole career.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

A 1985 insert from 2014 Topps Chrome


My addition today hearkens back to the vintage days even though it's a new insert. The 1985 Topps Chrome RC set features 40 cards found every 1:6 packs (so you'll get 4 of these cards per box). The set checklist includes guys like Beckham and Jeremy Hill so all the top rookies are represented. The improvement over the real 1985 set is that the chrome stock is not very prone to damage or chipping so the black border that was an issue in the real 1985 set is not a problem at all for these cards. You can also pull these refractor parallels. Additionally hobby boxes offer the chance for the elusive superfractor versions:

REFRACTOR PARALLEL CARDS: Base Refractor #/99, Gold Refactor #/75, Pulsar Refractor Die-Cut #/50, SuperFractor 1/1 (Hobby) (from Cardboard Connection.com)

These cards are a great additional set to chase from what is my favorite product of the year. Right now it's pretty easy to purchase the full set online; expect to pay around 15.00 to 20.00 based on past sales.



Friday, January 2, 2015

Couple cool cards today


Yesterday's add (this 2013 Topps Chrome Montee Ball RC Auto) is pretty cool although I vastly overpaid for it. Impulse buys can sometimes be bad for your wallet and this is a prime example. On the other hand I did want to support my local shop so I don't really mind. That and it's a good card if you're a die-hard Broncos fan. I enjoy the fact that it's an on card autograph, the design is great and these were numbered to 600 copies, even for the base versions. Regardless of that I'd rather focus on cards that matter, cards that will have long term value. I get tired of (and I'm sure if you collect new cards you come across this all the time) spending money on cards that fluctuate so much that they are worth pennies on the dollar weeks after getting them. 

The next addition was a card I pulled last year from a 2 box break of 2013 Finest, this is a Camo Refractor parallel of Vernon Davis that's numbered to just 10 copies. I couldn't find any quick pictures on Ebay to upload (a testament to how rare the card is) so I snapped a quick photo of it.



I don't mind collecting the other cards in the set but after looking long and hard at other blogs and sports cards posts I really want to add the 1998 Topps Chrome Refractor Peyton Manning card to my collection. There are many worthless cards in that set (any rookie not named Peyton Manning or Randy Moss) but it will be a great challenge to do. The refractors were seeded at 1:12 packs and so you can imagine how difficult it would have been to pull a gem mint Manning. Prices tend to go anywhere from 150 (for raw ungraded versions) to around 450 for a BGS 9.5. I figure I'll save up for the Manning first and get the other cards later. Usually I do it the other way around when building sets. (cheapest to most difficult) The Manning will gain small value every year in my estimation, if somehow they win the SuperBowl this card could get more attention and gain more value. The next few weeks are pretty important in how this card will be priced in the short term. Over the long term nothing he does on the field will affect the overall importance of this card. I'd like to see if I have the patience to save up for the card instead of using my collecting budget on cool (but worthless in the long term) short printed cards from recent products.


I won't rest until this card is mine....