Saturday, January 30, 2010

Knocked out two more....

cards yesterday. I got a small mail day which consisted of #152 SP from Goodwin and a relic card of someone I completely do not recall at the moment.

I also LOST an auction for a Tiger relic - this card isn't a SP, but people believe it to be and it's driving the cost of the card straight up - that's ok, when 2010's version comes out, this card will drop in price. My goal still is the same for Goodwin - that is, to have the base, sp, and mini set complete by the spring with the relics as close to being done then as well - again, I can already feel I'll be left with several of the SP's that will be a bit of a challenge to acquire, but I'll try anyway.

Ok, more later - gonna try to drop by a card shop today after work and see if they have anything worth picking up.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Ginter...

I'm plucking away at the master Goodwin set at a good pace; I'm not that far from completing the base set, including SP, and not that far from completing the mini-set either. I'm still considering the Gypsy backs as well, but I'm going to move on completing that set at a MUCH slower pace - simply due to lack of the Gypsy's being available - and I'm not paying 5 for a mini-black.

The relic set, as you can see from my checklist, is nearly 50% complete, which is a major accomplishment. I'm plugging away and some of the more difficult relics I've been able to obtain, like Lebron and Jordan. If you look at the short printed relics though, they ARE going to be tough. Some, like Tiger, which isn't a short print, is already tough. But Cody, Molitor, an Dimaggio are going to be near impossibilities. I won't let that stop me though!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Mail day again!

Then again, mail day with me is often as I buy a lot of cards through the mail. Till I get my blog better known, it may be awhile before I start any trading - and I don't know how many people collect what I do - well, obviously lots, but not sure if they collect like I do. Oh well - on to the cards!




These cards did a pretty good job putting a dent on my needs list, which I will update tomorrow - but for now, I'm going to throw these in a box and work on another little project, which I'll tell ya'll about at another time ;)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Another set of T206's and some T213's

Here are a few of my absolute favorite cards!

The cards below are of the famous John McGraw - a player who's abilities as a coach earned him a trip to the Hall of Fame. I believe he's one of the players that could have gone to the Hall as either a coach or a player; now that's pretty damn pimp! And I loved his nickname - Little Napoleon.

The cards below are both T206's, but with exceptionally rare backs. I found them at auction and bid on them without realizing just how difficult the backs were - more specially, the Tolstoi backs are difficult to find on McGraw, but the Cycle 460 backs are exceptionally rare. You can find Cycle 350 backs more commonly, but any Cycle 460 backs do not come up at all - in fact last year, just on Ebay, I recall seeing only 2 or 3 T206's for auction with the Cycle 460 backs - they are just THAT rare.



These next set of cards are some of my personal favorite - they are the T213's - aptly named because they are "coupon" cards - cards you could redeem for cigarettes. These cards were released only in Louisiana, so there's a level of rarity due to it being a regional release. Although these aren't super rare - they CAN be found, they do carrier a bit more of a premium. By the way, see the grades? Some people believe that due to the weather and climate in the south, many examples of these cards are usually found in the lower grade - finding high grade versions are rare - I've seen a few in high grade, but with these cards, they seem to be either very low grade, or very high grade - I don't see any very often that are middle of the road.




A few of my T206's - PSA graded

I LOVE me some T206's - NOT the new stuff - the REAL T206's.

What you see below are the few that I have that are PSA graded. When it comes to vintage material, I MUCH prefer SGC to grade my cards ('Sup Bryan!) The 206's simply look better behind the black background than the clear plastic, which makes it look cheap. Don't even get me started on the Beckett excuse for grading (I personally don't like them).

The cool thing about the cards below is that both the cards have much rarer backs than you would normally find. Not tough, but very much so, uncommon. The Spike Shannon was my very first major 206 purchase - the card has a VERY low pop and I thought was a very cool looking card. The Sharpe has a rarer American Beauty back.



The cards below have mostly Piedmont or Sweet Cap backs.

Mail Day!

I think at this rate, I'm going to have a mail day for Goodwin, Ginter, and T206's for the next month!

I think I need to scale back a little bit, or have better record keeping because of recently, I've accidentally bid, and won, on cards that I didn't need - case in point, the Goodwin auto, Alex Hinshaw...I have 2 now and I'm winning 4 more on Ebay...sigh...STUPID!

Anyway, here's what I got today!









Aw crap, I forgot to edit the pics so there's no white space! Oh well!

Anyways, I think the Delgado is my favorite from the bunch - has a dirt stain on it (at least I HOPE it's a dirt stain!)

I'm on a forum....

that I frequent that has everything to do with Pre-War cards. I've learned about 90% of what I know about vintage cards from this forum: Net54. You can find the link to the right.

It's so strange to collect vintage and modern day stuff because I have access to different venue's when buying cards.

Ebay for both new and modern and then several other auction sites for the higher end stuff. In other words, you won't find Jeter or Pujols cards on those auction sites: they're just too new. Oh, and still alive.

Take a look at this poll: (from Net54) (click on it to blow it up)



You can see the age bracket for a small control group and it's actually not that surprising.

I fall right smack in the middle of that category while another 25% fall into the younger category; 50% comprise of individuals older than my bracket - the generation that made a bit more money and got out of the dot-com boom before it went bust.

The point of this post? I'm super glad that the more mature group maintains a level of integrity for our hobby and the younger group is learning to keep that belief moving forward.

Rock on!

There's a challenge when....

collecting vintage material. The new stuff is relatively easy and for the equivalent of what I'm willing to pay for a vintage card, I can easily obtain three or four dozen modern cards.

Case in point:


This is not the exact card I'm bidding on (the picture is courtesy of Mile High Auctions) and I normally don't let on what I'm bidding on, but this is a case in which I simply don't win.

The higher I bid on Cobb's cards (E90's, T206's - pretty much anything vintage), the higher the card sells for, so obviously there are a few select collectors out there that want the card more than I do. I've looked on VCP a few times and I can only gather the fact that the cards are a good investment and have continued to go up. As long as there's a demand, the price will always keep up.

So, needless to say, I think this is my "white whale." Since I started collecting vintage last year, I've always wanted to pick up an original Ty Cobb and I'll continue to make that attempt.

After Cobb, it's Lajoie, then Johnson, and so forth.

Ok, more later!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Ok, so I figured out the scanner and now...

I'm tired and I'm hungry.

Went to Target today and picked up a few packs:



The SP was mostly junk - but I did really like the Matt Ryan - the Bo Jackson was sweet - he was one of my favorites growing up!


I hit the T206, and yet again, got screwed. I'm not sure why I keep buying Topps stuff - I clearly do not carry the mojo hand with their product!

And lastly, one of my favorites, although I'll never complete a set (I mostly like to pick these up at random just for fun) 2009 Bowman Draft Picks



Sorry about the scans - still working on trying to figure out the scanner - but I'll get it right sooner or later.

I was going to post a lot of my vintage stuff up, but as I said, I'm tired and hungry and Call of Duty is calling for me at the moment. Oh, and I've updated my want list a bit more, so check that out. I'll make some time tomorrow and add a bit more!

Ok, I got a scanner...

and I'm doing the software and driver install at the moment. As I'm sure you all know, this could take anywhere between 4 to 5 years...so...... hehehe In the meantime, I'm going to update my wants/needs list located on the right sidebar.

Then I'll be a scanning fool! :)

Hmmm.....just bought a MJ Goodwin...but...

I watch Ebay and a few other sources to pick up cards for my set. I noticed a couple of days ago that someone had posted up a Michael Jordan Relic card from Goodwin. After thinking about it awhile and doing some research, I found out that this card was a short print. Score!

I bought at a very reasonable price (at least I think so):



Not the EXACT card I picked up, but pretty much the same thing.

After looking at the checklist site, I found out that several cards were short printed, the Jordan being one of them. There are a total of about 9 short print relic cards, most of them are obtainable. With the exception of three that have me a little bit worried.

Buffalo Bill Cody with a print run of only 5 (I have NO idea how I'm going to get this card!)


Paul Molitor with a print run of only 15!



And Lyndon B. Johnson, another print run of only 5!



Another short print relic that's on Ebay now is Joe Dimaggio. When it comes to classic players, I'm against anything chopped up - would have much rather owned the actually jersey than a part of it.

I've bid the card up already, but have failed to meet his reserve price. I'm only guessing that the reserve is fairly high and that's ok - I'll pass on it. I'm only willing to pay a certain amount for modern day cards and that's a strict rule I'll keep up with.

Now, if it was a vintage card, well, that's different. In fact, I'm eyeing a few vintage Cobb's and Johnson's right now that I'm pretty excited about. I'll keep ya'll up-to-date on whether or not I pull the trigger on those!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Well, that was a fail!

I got home, got ready to scan a bunch of cards as I had a huge mail-day; then I came to find out that my GF took her scanner back to her house, which left me with trying to take pics with my camera phone = epic fail!

Needless to say, I'll pick up a scanner and start posting up more pics as soon as I can!

In regards to the T206's and the T213's

I don't have a real want list per se; if it's nice, I'll trade, bid, or outright buy it. My fascination with the vintage cards is very simple; the newer cards are just too flashy, over-stated, and some are downright obnoxious.

The vintage cards are pure class in their own right. I've purchased several cards based on pure aesthetics with no real regard to grade - in fact I've bought several in raw condition.

So if you have any vintage cards you want to trade for modern day cards, I'm all ears (would trade my Pujol's rookies all day long for some T206's or T213's).

Ok, more later :)

Just a sampling of my vintage

Here's a small sampling of my vintage stuff - I have much more, but do not have the scans on this comp. I'll post those later when I get home. And I'll post some of my new acquisitions as them come along. In fact, I have a 34 item mail-day waiting to happen, including an autographed bat from.....(keep reading and you'll find out!)







Free cards give-away.....

The problem with buying random packs on occasion is that I end up with a lot of cards that I don't know what to do with.

With that said, if you have a favorite team, shoot me an email with your address and I'll place your name on my sidebar and your team and whenever I grab enough cards, I'll mail them out to you - this includes all sports!

Bids bids bids

I bid on Ebay - a lot.

How many? I have 203 active bids. THAT much.

hehehehe

I only bid on Ebay because I did some math and financially speaking, when it comes to the newer stuff, your odds are better in simply purchasing the cards you need. Also, it's better off bidding on lots when you start a collection as it knocks out a significant number of cards almost immediately.

For example, the Goodwin Champions set that I'm building, I am 88% complete on the base set and 84% complete on the mini's. I'm around 40% complete on the relics and about 2% on the autos. My strategy is to finish the base, mini's and relics, the move onto the auto's.

I'm about the same with AG as well - only difference is I'm 100% on the base, but the various inserts make it a pain in my ass. So I've decided to focus on the mini's, of which I am only 34% complete, and the relics - about 30% there.

So when you see my list, you'll see what I need.

Posting some pics

I'll post some pics later of what I have in terms of Vintage stuff. As for the newer stuff, I'll post those as I get them; by the way, I'll have a list up very soon of my needs from both Goodwin and Ginter.

At this rate, I probably will NOT be trying to complete a 2010 set till my '09 sets are complete. Which means the next time I pick up new Goodwin and Ginter cards, it will most likely be 2011.

As for the T206's - I'm always picking those up.

Incidentally, I also chase T213's. For those of you that do not know what those are, they are identical to the T206's with two differences - the front font on a T213 is blue, as opposed to black, and the back reads more like a coupon for cigarettes, not advertisements.

Here's a pic:


As you can see, it's not a Piedmont, Polar Bear, Sweet Cap, or the other relatively easy backs. I think it's a Southern connection thing for me as to why I'm so attracted to these cards.

One more thing

I forgot to mention, but all the cards I show here, will be up for trade - everyone of them unless I end the post with, "sorry, not for trade."

I'm really not interested in selling cards - but would LOVE to trade them for ones I need. And no, I don't believe in "book value." In other words, if you have a card "worth" $2 that I need and I have a card "worth" $50 that you need, odds are, I'll do the trade because I need the card.

Hello!

I've decided to start a blog of my own - primarily to help me do ONE thing - COMPLETE SETS!

I'm working, and have been working, on three sets and once I've completed them, I'll move onto another set; but there's a catch!

You see, I'm a completest. As in, a complete set to me includes all known variations, all relics, all autos, all mini's, all printing plates - EVERYTHING. I'm a bit anal retentive and I do not consider a set to be complete unless it's the ultimate master set.

The sets I'm currently working on is 2009 Allen & Ginter, 2009 Goodwin Champions, and 1910 to 1911 T206 tobacco card set. What some may think would take only a few months to accomplish - I predict to complete both these master sets would take about 2 years.

I kid you not.

Actually, the '09 Goodwin and Ginter, about 2 years.

The T206 - I'm giving myself about 20 years to complete that set. If you were to complete the set just on names, the set is approximately 520 cards or so (minus the big four of Plank, Wagner, Magie, and one other card). Again, because I want to complete a MASTER set, including the variations, some have estimated the set to be a total of over 6,900 cards.

Thus, the nickname, "The Monster."

Ok, that's it for now.

By the way, I buy packs of cards on occasion, and at random, just for fun, so I'll post those here too.

C-ya!