COMC Bonanza Part 3: New Sets & People

Here is the third part of the COMC Bonanza, which highlights the new sets and people I added to my collection with this order.

As I talked about recently, all the main sets for the NBA and NASCAR are now in my collection, but there are still some non-sports and peripheral sets that I am lacking for my collection.

The first cards I purchased as part of this Spring Cleaning sale were three 1975 Donruss Truckin' cards, which actually came from The Shlabotnik Report, which is where I learned about the sale in the first place! I had wanted some cards from this set for a while, and it's only a 44 card set so completing it is not something that's outside the realm of possibility- some day.

This one is a bit of an oddball- and also fairly rare. It's pretty large, too- it's a Carvel Disk from 1975-76!

It's round, and the back is blank. I remember reading about these back in the day in Beckett but I had never seen one before. As I recall these are not actually licensed by the NBA, which is why it says only Detroit, not Detroit Pistons. Either way, I counted it as part of my collection, despite the fact that it's not truly a card or fully licensed.

This one doesn't look too unusual or special, does it?

Until you turn it over, and it's in Portuguese!

More on these two cards in a future post.  Two I say, there's one that's even more visually different not shown!

I could have shown this one with the relics and autos etc. but chose to show it here, because it's the first from the set and the person in my collection.

In 2014 Panini issued a country music set but they packed it poorly- it was hobby only and about $100 for about 20 cards. I passed on it, especially as it didn't have most of my favorites. It seems like it was a failure because they did not do any more music sets. What a shock, when you price it that high for very few cards in return, it's almost likely they wanted it to fail. I have been listening to country music almost exclusively since 2006. The scan doesn't really show it well (it's set too far back) But the large purple stripe with white thread border is raised over the white and brown that border it (and all the stripes on the left).

I worked on getting as many NASCAR people missing from my collection as I could. There were about 30, and I have it down to 17 now. There were simply no cards available of the others on COMC when I was making my purchases.
Here they are, in no real order:

 Always happy to add a Busch North card to my collection.

 Check out the letting on the tire! I'm not sure where it comes from on the tire, but it's pretty cool. I am seriously considering trying to chase this relic set- I have quite a few already and they don't seem to sell for very much.

 Even the parallels are pretty cheap. This is Timmy Hill, which is not really easy to read on the card.

John King won the Daytona race and then disappeared. What's up with that?

 A trio of NASCAR's Rookie of the Year winners, these three cards will allow me to do a post I've wanted to do since I began the blog. Stay tuned! All three of these guys have no other cards that this one and it's only parallel.

 Another Busch North card, always a good thing.

 A trio of crew members who only ever got these one cards (and parallels)

And now with all the above I am down to - I think- only 17 people who have gotten NASCAR cards that are not in my collection. Now that I've completed the sets missing from my collection, this will be my main goal. 

I only got one new NBA player, but he was historically significant. 

 Sim Bhullar, although born in Canada, was the first NBA player ever of Indian descent. He only got into three games, and only scored 2 points, but that counts.

The list of NBA people missing from my collection is over 400 so it will be much harder to track them all down.

Only one more post in this series...

COMC Bonanza Part 2: Relics, Autos and SNs

OK, I went with the title for this post. It just fits, and it's what this series is going to be called now.

While I mostly went after sets that were close to completion, I didn't JUST go after sets that were close. I went after other stuff too...including some autos, relics and SN...some of which will be saved for part 3 of the series. Looks like this is going to get me 4 posts based on the Bonanza and contribute to some other posts later on down the line. It's amazing what one little package and one big sale can do!

I know I am one of those people that gripe about the hobby being "hit" driven...yes, I have been in the hobby since before there were autographs, relics, serial numbering, even parallels, and it was better before all that stuff. (Well, maybe not parallels, which I love, but...) But I still love to get those kinds of cards, and I rarely turn them down, especially when they are under $1.00 as several of these were.

So now, here's a look at some of the autographed, relic and serial numbered cards I got from the COMC Bonanza.

 I honestly have no idea what this card is. I never saw it before, but it came up in a search of SN NASCAR, and it looks incredible, so I got it. I think it was a single-card insert in 1995 Finish Line, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Here's the back. Of all 144 cards I got, this one is the most visually stunning. Scans don't do it justice. The entire card, both front and back, is gold foil and embossed.

My second 1997-98 Ultra Platinum Medallion. The Platinums are my second favorite parallel concept after only Refractors. I did not have a single 1997-98 Platinum when 2016 began but earlier this year I added Kevin Willis, now Zwikker. He is alphabetically the last person to receive NBA cards, but he never played an NBA game, cut during the pre-season (when this photo was taken). He made it into several sets, it was somewhat of a surprise that he didn't make the team.

1999-00 Autographics is my favorite Autographics set, it's also the easiest one to find. I have more than 30 of them already, including Shaquille O'Neal, one of the big ones in the set. (It was Shaq's first NBA autograph). I dream of someday completing this set, but I know I still have some big ones ahead of me- Charles Barkley, Chris Webber, Allen Iverson, Scottie Pippen all sell for more than I am comfortable paying for a single card. I got 5 more from the COMC sale, and the weird blotch on the Stepania card is actually part of the card, not something on it. (printing flaw)

Some serially numbered Eltons...

 1999-00 Bowman's Best is one of my least favorite sets to scan, but when it's a refractor, it's spectacular!

I am now very close to having all of Elton's rookie cards. Without checking, off the top of my head, I need only Fleer Force, Fleer Mystique, Ultimate Victory and Upper Deck Encore, and I might even have the UV, I would need to check. I know I have A version of it, but it might be a parallel. I don't remember.

Two Jerry Nadeau relics. Jerry is a local driver who I always rooted for.

This is my 4th Under Cover card, and it was only a 12 card set. I might be able to complete this one.

 I never turn down a relic for under $1.

 This guy jumped onto the train tracks to rescue somebody, when a train was in sight. He was successful, I remember seeing his story when it happened. Cool that Topps included him in their 2009 American Heritage Heroes Edition set. He is a true hero, because without his action - at extreme risk to himself- the person would have been killed by the train.

 A cool family photo of the Flocks from 2009 Legends, Bob Tim and Fonty l-r. Their sister Ethel Mobley also raced in NASCAR.

When I was searching for the basic version of this card to complete my set, the Gold and red parallels were also available for about a dollar each, so I got them.

Platinum Medallions from 1999-00 and 2000-01 Ultra! I didn't have a single Platinum from either year. Both are SN to 50.
Now I just need to get one from the two Upper Deck years to have at least one Platinum from each year of issue. For some reason it appears they did not produce Platinums in 2001-02 or 2002-03.

 My first card from this parallel, which is SN 531 of 1199. The green effect on his name looks much nicer in person.

This RadioActive parallel from 2009 Element features glow in the dark printing.

 I love the throwback jersey concept, and this jersey design made my Top 20. This is my first pinstripe relic from this jersey design.

 This one didn't scan well on scanner #3, I plan to rescan it on scanner #4 which wouldn't have the lines on it, but I don't know when I will get that scanner out again and I didn't want to hold up the post. This is the first scan I've posted to Cardboard History that I didn't save- a year and a half in!

I was a big fan of American Gladiators when the show was new. The back of the card says it ran from 1989-96 but I don't think I watched it at the end. I don't know when I stopped watching it but I would guess it was around the time I discovered NASCAR. I didn't know they did a card set until recently when I saw them on the Database. (I am 2 or 3 away from completing it, now) This card comes from 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary, which is one of my favorite non-sport sets. This is my third autograph from the set, and the first one of somebody I've seen doing his thing. (The other two are 1 actor and 1 actress, neither of which I've ever seen in anything, as I rarely watch TV or movies)

This last card was the "big ticket" item that I splurged on. I really debated it, it was the most expensive card I got in this order. I went back and forth if I wanted to spend the $15 for this one card or pick up 15 more $1 cards. (simplifying the numbers, but you get the idea). In the end I decided to go for it.

A sheet metal piece from 1997 ActionVision! These were pretty rare, and it's SN to 375. Ernie Irvan has always been "my driver" since I discovered the sport, and this is my first relic of his. It's also a sheet metal relic, which is my favorite kind of relic, and it's now the second oldest relic in my collection, after a piece of Ken Schrader's tire from 1996. And it's also very much neon, which I love!
In the end, I am VERY glad I got it, because I would really have regretted it if I hadn't. I even broke out scanner #2, which I almost never use anymore, because it's the only one that can handle neons.
It looks even better in person, and it's now one of my favorite cards of his. Buying it was the right choice.

Up next: New sets and people added to my collection