It's been a while

For 2015 I want to be posting more regularly.  Wanted to give a broad overview of my pickups over the past few months.

July was nice, landing a couple of nice vintage cards, 1 an upgrade and the other a variation of what I currently had.  A 1935 Goudey 4-in-1 #9F courtesy of Kevin Savage auctions.  Probably overpaid for it considerably, as it graded only a SGC 20, but I like the card for what it is.

Also found my upgrade to the 1939 Exhibit Salutation "Very Truly Yours" from a deal on the Blowout forums, then sold my older version for $5 less than the price that I bought my upgrade.  Not a bad deal if you ask me!  This graded as an SGC 40, a bit less than I thought it would, but still very pleased with it.


August was fruitful.  Went to a show and sold a few cards for $195, and gambled to win $81 in the same day at the casino upstairs to help fund my biggest purchase to date.  A 1937 O-Pee-Chee beaut graded an SGC 50.  The card is more beautiful in person and is now a huge puzzle piece sealed in my quest for the master vintage set.

After this quite massive purchase I sequestered myself from buying to help recoup my cash pool.  September was slow, with no purchases, but I did submit 3 cards to SGC for grading.



October proved less-profitable, but did get the grades back from SGC, including the blue Batter Up that got an SGC 10 which was expected.  This was also the month that 2014 Panini Classics came out.  I ended up landing the base card, a parallel /149, a Home Run Heroes insert and a couple of triple bat cards featuring famous Tigers and Pirates.

November came to be great, where my long discussions with a dealer and web designer proved fruitful of my first printing plate, and fourth 1/1 for $50.

December had been uneventful, until tonight, where I just agreed to buy the brand new 2014 National Treasures bat /99 from a guy on the Blowout Forums that should be my last pickup of this 2014.





















Happy New Year all, and thanks for the read.

Bats on bats on bats

Over the last month I've focused on tackling some of the bat cards that I avoided in the past.  I like getting the bat cards, although I try not to think about where the bat sliver actually came from.  Glad that I've completed the run of the non-expensive 2012 Panini National Treasures bat cards, so hoping I can acquire some of the higher-end cards paired with other legends of the game.

I was also fortunate to acquire a tough card that rarely comes up with the 2005 SP Legendary Cuts bat /15 for a very decent price.

All below are the cards that I have acquired over the past month.

Been a busy week!

This has been a busy week thus far for my collection. In order of acquired:

Got this card as my first COMC purchase. Got it simply b/c it's numbered to 5, tied for my second lowest numbered card.

Today, came this:

This is an upgrade to my current Exhibit, and bought for the same price. This one is much nicer, so I'll be listing the replaced on eBay sometime soon.

UPDATE::

Got this card from a fellow FCB'er in a trade

Thanks dudes

New pickup: Batter Up v3 + a discovery

Nailed another color variation in the 1934 Batter Up rainbow for a cool $50:

Also was part of a cool discovery that took place on the Net54 forums.  It was thought that cards #1-81 had 6 color variations of each card. It was discovered that cards #40-81 of the set have 4 color variations: magenta, blue, black and brown upon extensive research from ended eBay auction, other collectors' cards, etc.  So that was pretty cool, I've never been part of a discovery before. Which means I only need a browntone card to finish this set, which I've been at for almost a year already.

Well, until next time cronies.

A great moment in the history of my collection

In August after the National and a fantasy football draft with my buddies, my old friend Jordan approached me and told me that he enjoyed reading my blog.  He then explained to me that he writes freelance for a well-known online and print publication in the Jewish community, and told me he would pitch a story tot he editor to see if there would be interest.

Some time later, I get a text from Jordan confirming that there is interest from the editor and they'd like to do the story.  He then told me that they would want to use the setting of a card show as basis for the story.

I was immediately excited, and began thinking of interesting angles that I thought the story could be written in.

---

The show was confirmed, the Westchester County show in January, a reliable and often fortuitous show. I meet Jordan at Grand Central to make our way on Metro North to Westchester. On the way he asks me questions about my collection, my motivation to start it, etc. It was nice to hear someone else express their interest in my collection that wasn't on a forum. He had a real interest in it, and I was proud to talk to him about it.

We get to the show and I immediately go to the SGC table to submit my cards for crossing. After finishing there, we perused the show for Greenbergs. Well, I'm not going to spoil the story, I'll let Jordan's writing tell the story.

Find the link to the story here.

Typecasted: BF3

I'm going to start a new little series for the blog to keep it fresh.  I'm going to pick a card to profile, and talk a little bit about the history of the card and how and when (if I can remember) I got it.

I'll start this edition with a new set I've been particularly fascinated in, trying to acquire and learn about as many examples of this set as I can.

The set is the BF3 mini pennant.  I bought this below at the 2013 National in Chicago.

This is an excerpt from the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards:

"The checklists for these series of felt pennants issued circa 1936-1938 are not complete, and new examples are still being reported. The pennants do not carry any manufacturer's name although packages found with various pieces attribute the issues to Red Ball sales, a gum company in Chicago, and Grandpa Brands Co., Cincinatti another gum company. One pennant was given away with purchase of a stick of gum, and at least one wrapper indicates large format (28''x12'') versions of the Red Ball pennants could be had in a redemption program. The pennants vary in size slightly but generally measure approx. 2-1/2''x4-1/2''and were issued in various styles and colors. Most of the printing is white, although some pennants have been found with other colors of printing, and the same pennant is often found in more than one color combination. The pennants feature both individual players and teams, including some minor league clubs. The pennants were grouped together in the American Card Catalog under the designation of BF3. Advanced collectors have categorized the pennants into a number of basic design types, depending on what elements are included on the pennant. The unnumbered felts are listed alphabetically within type. Gaps have been left in the assigned numbers to accommodate future discoveries." (2011 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, Bob Lemke)

I recently acquired the below pennant to accompany the above:

Should be here tomorrow :)  I've learned from the catalog that there are 12 cataloged types. The yellow/white pictured is a Type 1, and I believe the blue/yellow is from Type 3 (without having the reference next to me).

I'll continue to pick these up as I can find them, as long as they are unique in terms of their color combinations and type.

If any of you have questions about this unique set, ask away and I can do my best to answer.

A great new autograph purchase

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a a poor eBay listing for a Hank Greenberg autograph authenticated by PSA.  Quite possibly the best Greenberg autograph example I own, it only cost me $60.

Here are the pics below.

[new pickup] 2012 Panini National Treasures (again)

Took advantage of a possible bad listing on eBay and picked this short printed bat card up for $20. Unsure if I'm going to go after all of the other bat cards in the set; haven't been "known" to go after color variations, etc.

But who knows. I might take a bit of a break if I don't see anything I absolutely MUST have. Until further notice.

I do however want to post more about what I already have.  OH, and I need to post about my experience with Jordan Teicher.

Definitely more to come.