Throwback Thursday #4, 1948 Bowman #22 Earl Shannon

Been busy sorting cards all day, and realized it's getting late, and I have not gotten my throwback Thursday post up, so I better throw one up quick!

This was the first 1948 Bowman card I ever got. I found it in a small shop in Highland, New York in 1998. It was the only time we ever went to that shop, it was there less than a year.

I've had these scans sitting on my hard drive waiting to be a Throwback Thursday post since March 25th, copies of my collection files. Now I can finally delete that dated folder, lol. (that's how I know how long it was!)

Earl Shannon was one of the few players who was still in the league when 1957-58 Topps came out, I also have his card from that set. It will be a Throwback Thursday card some day.

Surprisingly, when I was working on my project of hunting down at least one card from each set, 1948 Bowman was NOT the last set I needed to find- 1985-86 Star was the last one that completed the project. I am working to get that project completed again, I lost my streak of one from each set in 2004-05 when they started doing the $500 (or more) for 5 card packs. I have a page up at the very top of each post where I have a chart of which sets are missing. I took a break from the NBA from 2006-12 so it's just over 80 sets. It was over 100 at this time last year, so I am making progress...when I made the list on Excel in 2013 it was something like 126 sets missing. 

The Force is strong with this RAOK

On Friday, just as we were literally packing the car the head to New Jersey for the NNL East I received a RAOK (or Random Act of Kindness) from Jedi Jeff of 2 x 3 Heroes that was a very pleasant surprise...because even though I knew it was coming, I had totally forgotten about it! (I have about a 1-day memory span for things I don't write down...if that long!) I looked through the cards very quickly and then headed out the door. Now that I am back home, I finally had a chance to scan the cards and post up this post.

Jeff sent me some Topps 1977 Star Wars issues, but I have not actually had a chance to cross check them...surely some upgrades in there, which I will check shortly. (For me, that means sometime in the next month or so)

First up was a big stack of the 2013 Star Wars Illustrated A New Hope set. I didn't scan them now, but I did scan the inserts. (The base cards were already posted to the Database so they went into my "scan after I finish everything else" box)
This is my favorite of the several inserts he sent.

Movie Poster Reimagined #MP-4.

This one surprised me. One of the women who played the Tonnika sisters is notorious for not allowing her face to be used in licensing. Maybe because it's a drawing? I don't know...but it surprised me.

 The package was not exclusively Star Wars...there was also some NBA and NASCAR in there too.

In fact, the NBA portion of the package included two sets missing from my collection. I've mentioned before how one of my main goals is getting at least one card from every set- and two missing sets were knocked off in this package! (See the Sets Missing from my collection page at the top of each and every post)
First out was 2012-13 Panini Contenders.

Next was 2014-15 Donruss. This was a set I really wanted but have not been able to lay my hands on. It was the first 2014-15 set to include in-game action from the 2014-15 season.

This Tayshaun Prince card was my first.

He also sent along a sampling of inserts from Donruss...

and even a serially numbered parallel! This card is actually holofoil, not that it really shows that in the scan. Even better, he also sent the base copy of the same card!

The highlight of the NASCAR cards he sent was this insert parallel from 2009 Stealth. It's a set I've done extensively but he still managed to sent me a card I needed for the retail version of the set.

He also sent me these three pocket schedules from the 2014-15 season. I had not added any of these to my collection since 1997-98, and now I've gotten 4 this season! (My brother got me a Nets one somewhere). These three are card-sized when folded and will be stored with my card collection.

But the star of the package...by far, are these 8 cards from 1978, issued in "Big G" Cereals! I had never heard of these before...did not know they existed at all! They are oversized, and printed on very flimsy card stock. I am presenting all 8 of them below, because they are just that awesome.

Yes, the card is out of focus.

I don't remember the smoke being pink...

Here's the back of one of the cards.

Nearly invulnerable? Really? They go down with one shot!

By the way, what is Crazy Cow? I'm familiar with the others, but not that one. To Wikipedia! What do you know, the article even mentions the cards and shows pictures of the box with them on it. A definite win for the Internet.

Thanks for the great package Jeff!

3 Packs of Dave & Adam's NASCAR Hit Parade 2

A few weeks back I Documented 4 packs of Dave & Adam's Hit Parade series 1. A few days ago the three packs of series 2 I ordered arrived and now I'll show what I got in them- again, I got some great stuff!

This is my favorite card I got out of them...it turned out to be the second card out of the first pack. Autographed relics are not something I have a lot of. I think this may be the ONLY autographed patch in my collection!

This card made a good run as favorite...it goes well with the autographed version I pulled myself.

I pulled two more of the Prized Pieces sheetmetal cards. The Keselowksi has a great pattern. I'm up to 4 of these now.

Each pack contained a copy of this Tony Stewart tire card.

Here are the remaining relics:

And here are the autographs. I got some good ones. (Of course, I consider ALL of them good ones...)

 

So, all in all, another great round of packs. I hope they keep doing more of them. Always a good day when you can add more than one Cup champion's autographs in one day (Kurt Busch 2004, Kevin Harvick 2014)



I missed Throwback Thursday, so say hello to Flashback Friday!

Which is really just Throwback Thursday on a different day, hah!

I didn't get a chance to do my weekly Throwback Thursday post, because I spent all day prepping and posting my 1969-70 and 70-71 Topps NBA cards to the Database. I actually only worked on posting the 1970-71 cards yesterday, I have a lot more of them than I do 1969-70, but it also makes sense because the 1970-71 set is 175 cards while the 1969-70 set is only 99 cards. I have not been able to complete either of them, and I don't ever expect to, as some of the cards are pricey. The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pete Maravich rookies are likely forever going to be out of my price range.

I was able to move the 1970-71 set from 30% posted to more than 75%. I forgot to look at the percentage of posting of the 1969-70 set, but I think it was around 47%. It's now over 60%.

So since I've spent the first paragraph talking about the 1969-70 and 70-71 Topps sets, I guess you can imagine what today's Throwback Thursday Flashback Friday cards will be. Yes, two today to make up for yesterday's miss.

I chose both of these cards because they are both cards that show actual jerseys- not edited, or worn backwards. As you can see on the backs of both cards, Topps didn't always have very high quality at this time period, as both show printing flaws. I have to wonder if that led to the brown cardboard style they would use beginning in 1971 through 1990 or so. (I actually prefer that to glossy white cardboard most of the time)

I keep hoping that at some point the (Houston) Rockets would do a throwback to their early days in San Diego, green and yellow are two of my favorite colors.

Stay tuned, hopefully next Thursday I will actually be on time!

Easter Memory

As I've mentioned before, my family usually gives me cards on all gift giving occasions. Easter is no exception, and there is one card I specifically remember getting as an Easter gift, back when the card was new. I actually received a pack and pulled it. I don't remember what else was in that pack...and in fact, pulling this card is the only memory I have of Easter 1998.

1997-98 Bowman's Best Atomic Refractor #20

The scan does not do it justice. Atomic Refractors are incredible to view in hand, but they don't scan all that well.

Still, it's a great memory that has stuck with me all these years- and unfortunately I have very few memories of 1998.

My Mom comes through again this year- after I posted my Page showing the people missing from my collection, it showed 80 NASCAR people. When I woke up today, it was still at 80. Now, though...now it's at 41! And it would have been one less if I hadn't messed up and included somebody as missing that I actually already had.

That's a pretty big deal to me- in all the NASCAR cards ever issued, from 1972-2015, there have only been cards of 41 different people that I have not been able to hunt down.

Throwback Thursday #2: 1933 Useful Birds of America 6th Series #15 Junco

Almost missed my second Throwback Thursday post! I forgot what day it was. (*smacks self upside head)

Today I move way back, to pre-World War II, to 1933, with my first posting of one of the Church & Dwight (Arm & Hammer) Useful Birds of America cards. I have been a bird watcher my entire life, and I was able to get my hands on some of these cards for the first time recently. I love them. They did 10 series from 1915-1938 (I think) and my goal is to complete them all. They are fairly common and inexpensive so I should be able to given enough time.

The sixth series was the first one I found cards from, although this was not the first card I found- it is my favorite of the ones  I have so far. Juncos are a common sight in my back yard.

In reality, though, you really can't see their eyes, which is why I've called them "the little eyeless birds" since I was a little kid.
Here's a photo of one I took in 2009.

Thanks for reading!

I hate to spend money on a card I already have, but....

Sometimes I will make an exception! I have recently discovered an excellent vintage dealer- more on that topic in the (hopefully) near future. But today I want to show three upgrades I made recently.

I truly do hate to spend money on something I already have, but sometimes...sometimes it's well worth it.

It doesn't hurt that I was given all three of the cards that needed upgrading and all three upgrades cost me a quarter each :)

I don't think I need to tell you which one is the upgrade, do I? :)

There are others....these were just the three most dramatic.

I was also able to replace most of the Star Wars cards that got damaged in the flood back on February 5th. Not quite all, but the ones with the worst damage got replaced, so that is a good thing. I was also able to replace/upgrade several that I had acquired over the years that were in poor shape, including one that was one of the originals my brother gave me in 1988 that kickstarted my collection, but was apparently chewed on by our dog when it was new, or it may have been me chewing on it when I as a baby. Who knows? (And no, that is not an April Fool's joke!)

So, now that I have replacements, anyone want a small stack of slightly water logged Star Wars cards? I plan to keep the chewed on card that's not shown and the Chewbacca card shown in this post, but the rest are just going to languish in my duplicates-too damaged to trade box. I think there are cards from all 5 original series from 1977, but I would have to double check. None of the are in great shape, but hey, the price is right! The ones I'm offering up here are not as bad a shape as these shown for the most part, but a couple of them are.