Couple more additions including Vikings Hall of Famer Alan Page

These next two cards are from 2009 and 2011 Sp Authentic respectively. The Page card I really like cause heck, its a hall of fame player and a player that I don't think I have any cards of. The horizontal layout for 2009 SPA looks really sweet and the background gives it that extra depth that really looks nice. This was UD at the height of their abilities. I do like the new 2013 UD exquisite although the price tag just doesn't justify getting a box to me. I'll keep enjoying the 2009 SPA and pining for the days when cards looked this nice. My favorite brand now has got to be Topps Chrome as it's a regular release, fairly priced product with tons of parallels and chase cards. The on card autos don't hurt but it does suck to buy a 70 dollar box and have your hit be Dion Jordan or someone who just doesn't sell very well on the secondary market.

A pair of running backs from 2011 SP Authentic added

Yesterday and today brings a pair of SP Authentic base rookies into the fold, Leshoure which is card 89 in the set and Harper, card #9.

Leshoure has some very nice variations including a gold autograph numbered to 15 copies and the base Auto RC Jersey that we've come to expect from this product numbered to 699.

So far I've only added one autograph to my collection this month so, kind of slow for the really cool expensive cards. I've mostly added base cards from 1992 Skybox and some of these base SP Authentic rookies. The JJ Watt, the Cam Newton (which I have now) and the Kaepernick RC are the keys to this set but there are some nice ones to be had like Aldon Smith and Andy Dalton which are some forgotten gems out of the 2011 class.

One thing I've noticed on Ebay is that of the newer products nearly every card that exists has been sold in the last 60 days. This may not be true for really rare cards or items that are more than 5 years old but it's really the biggest source of cards online, forget all the retailers and even Johnny-Come-Latelys like Check Out My Cards .com

Today's add, 2011 Sp Authentic Jarvis Jenkins

I had to look this player up to see where he played and if he was still in the league. He plays DE for the Washington Redskins. He got two sacks last year, and this is his career total. No wonder I've never heard of the guy! This is one of the base cards from the mishmash 2011 Sp/Spx/Threads product and is number 46 in the set. Regardless of the NCAA format this card really pops with the Clemson colors against the light grey background. I can't imagine how cool this set would have been with NFL team colors....

Today's addition 2009 Sp Authentic Wes Welker #23

Today's addition comes from a box break I did in December 2012. I've always loved the SP authentic brand and this was the last year that UD had their football license. All players are shown in team colors. What's interesting about these cards is there is a retail version of SPA, something I wasn't aware of until I put this in my Beckett Organize. The retail version looks similar but has a different player photograph on the front. If I saw SPA at my local walmart or target I'd jump for sure. Retail odds don't tend to bode as well for the "hit collectors" though so this is something to be aware of.

A real blast from the Past 1991 Wild card Draft #119 Brett Favre

Today's card looks rather primitive by today's foil board and autographed card scene. The cardboard is as thin as you can get and could be in no way considered a premium card. This is a collegiate licensed product so Favre is shown here in his Ol' Miss uniform. Initially I thought it was a Falcons uniform with the logo airbrushed off the side. One could see how I might make this mistake but because it's clearly marked as a collegiate licensed product on the back I realized this was not the case. The draw for these cards was the "stripe designation" for the insert cards. Each higher tier of "stripe" on the top was progressively more difficult to get. This might not have been the first insert but I could imagine the Beckett magazine was filled with these cards topping the hot list back in the early 1990's.

Despite the gaudy printing style and general ugliness of the card one can't deny that this is a cool one because it features one of the game's greatest QBs of all time. Would I want to go out and seek the other 3000 or so cards with all the variations and shortprints? I'd say not but I'm content with one of the best cards from the set. It sells any where from 2-5 dollars on Ebay and it's safe to say that it will never lose value. Eventually it might even be viewed as a classic.

Today's card, a super sweet RC year card of Cam Newton Carolina Panthers

        Today's card is 2011 Sp Authentic #94 Cam Newton. This is not officially considered a rookie card as Upper Deck started doing a strange thing with their products in 2011. We're all used to the base cards of veterans, a pack will mostly yield 18th year cards of Peyton Manning, 14th year Tom Brady cards and the like. Well with 2011 Sp authentic (Spx and Threads were also lumped together in this large set) we started to see the era of the base rookie card.  Base cards in 2011 Spx/Sp Authentic/Threads were rookie year cards but not officially considered rookies for some reason. 

         Despite the fact they are not rookies and they don't feature pro uniforms they are still pretty damn cool cards that are well designed and balanced. I pulled this from a pack in 2011 and it's sat in my "to be filed" box until today. Looking in my collections on Beckett this is my second Cam Newton card.

Something old and something new

These two cards are pretty dissimilar in era and production methods. The first one is 1992 Skybox Impact #190 Russell Maryland of the Cowboys dynasty. The cardboard is ultra thin but was just pulled from a pack that my boss gave me from his old stuff laying around. The second one is a really cool Blue Wave Refractor autograph parrallell of Dernard Robinson numbered to 125 copies. Looking at these two cards side by side it's crazy how much card collecting has changed since I started in 1987. The first card came from a .50 cent pack though and the second from a 50 dollar pack. I never would have expected the shift to autographed and memorabilia cards 20 years ago and I never would have believed that packs would be so expensive. That being said I'd much prefer the way things are now.