Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Autographs, Relics & "Just had to have thems" from COMC

I still have three posts in the Queue from the COMC Black Friday event, that have been done and ready to go since before Christmas, I just kept coming up with other stuff to post, but I am not ready for the next round of hockey posts so I will see about getting these posted. 

Yeah, I know I consider myself a base card guy first. But sometimes you have to just splurge and have fun.
For me fun is buying a large quantity of cards for the smallest quantity of price possible. That usually leads to me sorting COMC by lowest price first, and picking off the "low-hanging fruit". Several cards you shall see here were purchased for the sole reason that they were cheap (and I didn't have them already). None of these cards cost me more than 3 or 4 dollars, most were much less.

First, some autographs.
 I think this was the cheapest NBA autograph on COMC during the Black Friday event.
 I didn't buy this one on Black Friday but I left it in my cart until I had the Black Friday free shipping deal. This set is usually very high priced, higher priced than the players depicted would normally be, but I pick them up whenever I find them fairly low. I bought this one to celebrate making my first $5 in COMC sales. (Guess where I got the money for this one? 😄) The All-Time Fan Favorites Autographs come from 2005-06 Topps 1952 Style.
 I am a fan of manufactured patches...this one came with a very real autograph as well. And it's real fine, it's serially numbered 409 of 499.
Slowly picking off these autographs from 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary...this is my 4th now. Only a couple more I really want to get, but I might go for the set anyway...or I might not. Depends on how cheap the other ones are, LOL. I think this is one of only two in the autograph set where I have the original card, the other being American Gladiator Jim "Laser" Starr, who I got the card of previously.

Now, relics. I got more of them this time around. No real plan or pattern to that, it's just what I came across and liked.
I chose this one solely because it was the cheapest relic on COMC. That's all I needed. When I was typing it into my collection chart, I accidentally typed "George Lunch"
 This Ndudi Ebi relic is an insert from 2003-04 Topps Jersey Edition. I either didn't know or totally forgot that set even HAD an insert! His name is pronounced "Enjai" but "Nadoodie" is so much more fun to say.
 My first relic of either of the Lopez twins.
 I kind of/sort of consider Jimmer a local guy. Although Glens Falls in 3 hours north of me, I have spent so much time there that I consider that whole area a second home...my September post "Reclaiming my Life" details this more.
 Just a cool relic piece. No, I have not forgotten NASCAR, although NBA is by far at the forefront of my collection right now.
Big patch! SN to 25. Had to get it! My second patch of McCullough. Being a fan of a team with a poor record keeps prices down. Yes, this giant patch with pieces of two letters cost me under $5.

Now, here are some cards I just had to have. Most are serially numbered, but not all are.
 One of the things I really set out to do with this round of COMC purchasing was to get a veteran Refractor from 1998-99 Bowman's Best. All these years, I didn't have any. I pulled Vince Carter when it was new, so that's a good thing...but I wanted a veteran too. The Veterans had gold borders on top and bottom, while the rookies had chrome/silver. I bought this card near the start of my small binge of shopping, and then, by the time I was getting done (IE, running out of money) I couldn't remember if I had purchased a refractor from the set, so I went and bought another. I then thought to look in my purchase history and saw that I had purchased one already. Oops! At least I didn't purchase two copies of the same card.

 There was a 10 card throwback to 1996-97 Topps Chrome in 2006-07 Topps Chrome, all 10 of them being rookies. I did several searches and this one kept popping up, so I took it as a sign, and bought it. Now that I know it's only a 10 card set, and I only need 9 of them, I will have to see if I can pick up the other 9 on the cheap.
 I'm a sucker for Refractors. This is the only Finest set where I have only refractors, no base cards, in my collection. I nabbed the Carl Landry refractor when I was hunting down each set back in June.
 This didn't scan very well, but this is Chris Richard of the T-Wolves.
 I did a search for Nets refractors and when I saw this photo, I had to have it. I believe this was the first year that Refractors were not numbered in Topps Chrome since 2004-05, but I could be wrong. A card that is a refrator and has a great through the glass shot is always a winner in my book.
 I have no memories of Larry Hughes playing for the Knicks! Although I was mostly away from the NBA when this set was issued, I did watch the occasional Knicks or Nets game, so how did I miss that fact? I wish I had never left- I now consider it one of the biggest mistakes of my life- and what's worse, due to 2009-10 being Steph Curry's rookie year, finding packs or boxes from this season (my absolute favorite way to build a set) is nearly impossible.

 One of my favorite insert sets from Legends, it's only 9 cards- 3 of them are Richard Petty, at that- and these two are the only ones with 50s cars, so I had to get them. It brings me to 4 of the 9 cards in my collection, 3 of which were sourced from COMC. The text on the back of the Chrysler references Tim Flock's 1955 Chrylser, and talks only about his 1955 season which at the time set NASCAR records for most wins and most consecutive wins, however... the car shown is from the 1956 Daytona Beach race, a 1956 Chrysler, which would be near the end of his time with that team. (He left Kiekhaefer 4 races later. He did win the Beach race from the pole as well.) Lee Petty's 1959 Olds from the first Daytona 500 is the second car.
I love team cards, and they are so rare- 2010-11 Donruss was the only set Panini has ever issued them in, and these team photos harken back to the 1970s. Add to that the photo being taken at one of the NBA's special events, in Mexico? Yes! I had to buy this card. This is the red parallel, SN 21 of 25. It was actually the most expensive one in this entire post.
The Simpsons is my all-time favorite TV show. You've probably caught references on the blog before. I've seen every episode, most more than once. Some...probably well past 500 times. If The Simpsons are on, I am usually watching. I even gave up NBA for most of the time they were on the Marathon on FXX beginning on Thanksgiving. I purchased this card while watching the Simpsons in fact. It's a promo from the 1993 Skybox set, one of my all-time favorite sets. You may have noticed that the cards I need to complete the set have been on my Top 10 Most Wanted list on the right side of the blog for some time. While checking to see if any were for sale on COMC (1 out of 3 were) I saw this promo listed and into my order it went.

7 comments:

  1. The Attles is sweet. His playing career is before my time. Remember him as Warriors coach that won it all with Rick Barry

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    1. I was surprised to get it at the price I did. One of the few Hall of Famers in the set, and it only took $5 to add his signature to my collection. When I saw it I knew I couldn't pass up that deal!

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    2. Billy, the main reason you were able to get it so cheap is a fairly easy question to answer...that being because of it's large print run. I'm not looking at the printout I have for these, but I think the Attles is one of the highest at around 400, while a large portion of the others in the set are around 200. So because there are so many of his cards out there, the price is usually considerably lower. But please don't think I'm trying to negate the coolness of the card, because I'm certainly not, it's just a matter of less scarcity. It's funny, you mentioned regret for not being around for Curry's rookie year, I really regret not being around for the 2005 Topps '52 style release. I would have bought so much chasing the Fan Favorites autographs, as they are one of my absolute favorite autograph sets ever. As an aside, prices on these cards has really started increasing over the last year or so.

      And I too got my first three 1998-99 Bowman's best refractors in my recent order.

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    3. Thanks for the info Jon. With these not being SN I didn't take into account the print runs.

      It's weird, I was still fully in the hobby in 2005-06 and I missed the set totally. I didn't find out it's existence until I got one from a repack in 2012. I don't even remember Beckett talking about it but I don't remember exactly when I quit reading Beckett.

      I know there is one in the set I really want- it's the only card issued for the New York Americans, the team that became the Nets. I have not even seen one.

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    4. Even with a larger print run, any time you can get a Hall of Famers autograph that you don't have for five bucks, you're smart to grab it.

      Some great cards in your purchase.

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  2. Maybe it's the scans, but wow - those Bowman Best look really nice.

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    1. They scanned really well, but they actually look better in hand. I love refractors, my all time favorite parallel concept.

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