A card that has been haunting me since 1996 is now in my hands!

Today, finally, a wrong that I made in 1996 has been righted. Back then, I was already collecting for 8 years and should have known better...but, hey, it was 5th grade. I remember it like it was yesterday. I opened a pack of 1995-96 Upper Deck Series II in school. I got the one-per-pack Electric Court card of David Robinson...and I traded it just about instantly. What was I thinking? I don't trade cards that were not duplicates! I never have, I never will...but that day...I did. It was the only time in my life I had a card as part of my collection and then no longer did. Even though it was only part of my collection for a couple of minutes...it's been haunting me ever since.

I realized my mistake shortly after. By then, it was too late. The person I traded it to would not trade it back to me. For 22 years now, I have been after this card. I came up short every time. I've been looking for many years. As near as I can tell, COMC has never even had a copy for sale!

I had actually sort of given up hope that I would ever find it. I figured, a card that's one per pack shouldn't be so hard to find, but it was.

Until today. I got a PWE from Jason German yesterday, who I met through the Trading Card Database, but he also runs the Hoarding Cardboard blog. I didn't open it yesterday, so I could use it for my Card of the Day today. And what a card it was!

There is was...a copy of the only card I ever had and no longer did...I can't say that anymore! This card is now part of my collection again, and this time...there's nothing that could make me trade this card.

I am actually kind of in shock a little bit about finally having this back/again. It's been so long...it doesn't seem real somehow. I am almost afraid I'm going to wake up again and it will have been a dream. (Yes, I have been known to dream about cards)

Provided this is real, and not a dream, don't be too surprised to see this card get the nod as my favorite new addition of January when I do my Top 12 cards of 2018 on December 31st.

That wasn't all Jason sent, however. He knows I have an addiction to serially numbered cards...I really do. He sent along one for me, and even though it's not one of my main sports, I will still gladly add it to my collection!

According to my stats chart, this is the 28th serially numbered NFL card in my collection, but at 35, is far and away the lowest print run. I like the fact that there is a real photo on the card, not a cutout of the player in front of some fake computer generated backdrop. It's also a new set for my collection, which I appreciate.

Jason, I can't thank you enough. I don't know if you knew how much this card means to me, but it really does.

COMC Christmas: Olympics

I have been wanting to increase my Olympic collection, and with the money my brother gave me to spend on COMC at Christmas, I did!
First I hit the relics...

 Max Aaron is alphabetically the first person in my collection.

Covered all three Topps Olympic sets there. Unfortunately none of them say what kind of relic they are. The Kim Rhode is my first relic from the 2012 set, Topps' first modern foray.

Then I tried for autographs, but only added one:

It's a good one though, as Rugby was my "find" of the 2016 Olympics. I really enjoyed it, and I had never seen any before. Carlin Isles was one of only two Rugby players to be included in the 74 card set. The autographs tend to run a little high priced for the Olympic sets, but I got lucky with this one.

Then I went for promos:

The 1984 M&Ms set and 1992 Snickers set were new to my collection. I've completed the 1991 Hall of Fame set, but didn't have any of the prototypes before.

I also picked up this gold hologram, which is an insert from the 1992 Impel set. I don't have a whole lot of that set so I may buy a box at some point...at which time I'm sure I'll end up with another of these. I generally only buy cards I know I won't get elsewhere, but a cheap hologram, I couldn't resist!

The 1992 Olympics are the first I have any memory of, but 1996 is when I really became an Olympic super-fan. I've completed 4 Olympic sets, and I have another I bought as a complete set but am parceling out and pulling cards out of during the Olympics. This will be the second Olympics I do that for. I am quite sure I will complete the 2018 set as well, eventually. It's so small, it's easy to do- even a retail box yields almost two full sets. I constantly bemoan the poor quality of the Olympic sets, and especially the fact that only the USA is covered- but I am glad we have even them. There were no sets issued for any Olympics between 1996 and 2012, and pre-1992 was spotty at best, with most years having no cards whatsoever. One of the biggest shames of sports cards is that there are no cards whatsoever that actually document the Olympics- there should be a set that gives a card to each medalist in each sport. It's NEVER happened in the modern Olympic history, most sets are even released before the Olympic teams are even chosen. I know why it's done that way...but it doesn't mean I have to like it. It also doesn't mean I won't collect what we do get. And it doesn't mean I'm not going to complain every two years. But I still love my Olympic collection.

COMC Christmas: Non-Sports

For Christmas 2017, my brother gave me $100 in COMC. I hit all of my collecting interests, but I spent the majority of the money on non-sports cards...vintage non-Sports. Mostly Pre-War...some of them being Pre-WWI, and one pre-Spanish American War!

Here they are, in the order of being scanned (not chronological)

1939 Player's Animals of the Countryside

2001 Inkworks Simpsons Mania Promo

1992 Impel DC Comics Hologram

1911 ATC Sights & Scenes of the World (Pan Handle Back)

1992 CMK Cars of the World

1910 Wills Drednaughts

1924 Player's Natural History

1930 Godfrey Phillips Evolution of the British Navy

1912 Wills Historic Events

1932 Wills Homeland Events

1932 Wills Homeland Events

1932 Wills Homeland Events

1915 Lambert & Butler Aviation

1931 Player's Poultry

1922 Wills Did You Know

1922 Wills Did You Know

1932 Lambert & Butler History of Aviation

1901 Ogden's Imperial or International Interest

1910 ATC Fish Series (Piedmont back)

1909-11 Hassan Animal Series

1909-11 Hassan Animal Series

1895 Arm & Hammer Beautiful Flowers

1910 ATC Flags of the World Silks

1953-54 Topps World on Wheels

1953-54 Topps World on Wheels

1956 Gum, Inc. Adventure

1994 Marvel Universe

1994 Marvel Universe

Some thoughts on the above cards:

• With the exception of 1992 DC, 1910 ATC Fish Series, 1953-54 World on Wheels and 1994 Marvel Universe, all of the other sets are brand new to my collection, although I got more than one card from some of them here.
• Several of the sets are non-sports sets but include some racing cards, which naturally I targeted for my collection. They still count as non-sports since they are just a couple (or less) of sports cards in a non-sport set.
• I know of only three cards that depict an Edsel, and I now have two of them in my collection, as well as one parallel. 
• I mentioned the two World of Wheels cards when I did my Non-Sports countdown, and the Apperson was the first card out of the box when the COMC order arrived, so you will see it again shortly when I post my Card of the Day project for January. 
• I decided to get some of the 1994 Marvel Universe cards I needed after ranking the set 4th in my countdown- I now need 4 left to complete the set. 
• The 1895 Arm & Hammer card is only my third card from the 1800s! Well, third and a half.
• The Parthenon card has a metallic gold border that looks like it came out of the 90s or 00s, not 1910s
• This is my first Silk. It's a somewhat forgotten subsection of non-sports cards that was popular briefly about 100 years ago. 
• The Stoat did not come in a can. 

I'm going to get 4 or 5 posts out of the cards I purchased with the gift my brother gave me, but this is probably my favorite post. I believe it's also the first time I've gotten a squirrel and an Edsel into the same post- two of my absolute favorite subjects! 

Serendipity (A story of my first card hunt of 2018)

I don't really go on card hunts very often anymore. A couple of factors play a role in this- my health being the #1. There are many days where I just don't feel up to going to places. Another factor- we don't have a working car. Our Jeep last moved under it's own power in 2015, which is particularly gut-wrenching for me, but I'll move on. Third is lack of money. The medicine that keeps me alive- and the peripheral stuff related to my health problems- means I don't have as much money to spend on the hobby as I'd like...there are some times of the year where I don't actually purchase anything, which is why I keep a stash of packs. I'm talking entire months where I don't buy anything. (not just cards)

Sometimes, though, I actually do feel up to it, and I hit my favorite local card shops, thanks to my brother letting us borrow his car- or taking me himself. (My health problems prevent me from driving, too)

So it's actually kind of a rarity to go card hunting now. I think in 2017 I went out a grand total of 5 times. For the entire year. Most of what I add to my collection comes via COMC, Dave & Adams, and other collectors (trading or gifting or mutual gifting) and random stuff my mom and brother buy for me. I did pretty good managing my money this month, so on January 20th, I went out card hunting...and something very cool and lucky happened.

First, we went to our old comic shop, which- two locations ago- was a weekly visit. Now, we hardly get any comics, and they have been struggling, (not related) February 28th is expected to be the final day. We went one last time, and it was good. They used to carry trading cards, but have not since the 2012-13 NBA season. They have all kinds of gaming cards but I don't collect them. While taking one last walk through the store, I came across the Metallic Impressions Return of the Jedi set. It was on their table of discounted stuff, and I was happy to have it. I had found the A New Hope set at a local comic con in 2015, and I touch on them and show a photo of the box in this post recapping the comic show. I didn't know they existed at the time they came out, I never heard of Metallic Impressions until the 2000s.

Well, that was good. When we were back in the car I was telling my brother that now I just need the Empire Strikes Back set to have them all...I think, by the title of this post, you can guess what comes next!

So, we go next to my favorite local place to buy cards. It's an antique mall that has about 60 vendors (wild guess, I've never counted, but it's probably a conservative number) and more than a few have cards, some being only cards. I visit one dealer, who I knew had the 1969-70 and 70-71 Topps shown below, as I saw them in his stash when I visited in December making a last ditch effort to find some Detroit Tigers to send to John Sharp for Secret Santa (which was successful!). But I didn't have my lists, or at least I didn't think I did. I had forgotten that I had typed them up right here on Cardboard History, and were basically in my pocket the whole time. So I get what I got from him- quite a bit, as you shall see below, and go visit my friend, also named Bill. He has all kinds of cool stuff. Basically, if it's Americana, he's got it. All of the Scoop cards I've posted about came from him, the 50s hockey that I have shown and so much more. What do I see on the very first table of his stuff...(He's got dozens)...the Empire Strikes Back set!

 

You just can't beat that luck! Even luckier? Bill said he had others but that they had sold last weekend. He didn't have them the last time I was there, which was only about a month ago. As the old saying goes: I'd rather be lucky than good. And really, luck has played a big role in my collection. Being in the right place at the right time has gotten me literally thousands of cards. Cards I would never have gotten any other way. But there's more! Since I was there last, which, as I say, was only in December...he got a collection with some hockey cards. Vintage hockey cards. Guess who now has a whole stack of vintage hockey to go through? If you answered me, you would be correct!  😀 Although the image shows 60s cards on top, the vast majority of the stacks are 1976-77 Topps. There are a couple of other years mixed in, but not too much. I'm not going to do them all at once, I will spread them out and some will appear in my Cards Every Day project. 

Here are some photos of today's finds...if I took the time to scan them, I wouldn't get the post up anytime soon. There's a lot. And keep reading because the story is not over yet. 

 Here are the 1969-70 and 70-71s I mentioned. The card with the name barely visible is Tom "Satch" Sanders. Some big names here...I was surprised when he told me $10 for all of them. I expected about double that. They are in fantastic condition, too.

 Here's the stacks of the hockey cards I mentioned above. I got those rubber bands off right after taking the photo, and it did damage a few of them. As you can see they aren't in great shape anyway. I'm happy to have them no matter what.

 Some toploadered cards. Golden Seals! I accidentally cut off parts of them in the photo. Now you know why I try to stick to scans, LOL. I couldn't remember if I had the Mashburn Beam Team or not, so I took no chances and got it. It turned out to be the wrong choice, I already had it. Sad thing is? I've written out the needlist for that set and had it out and open, and forgot to look. Duh....I will check and see if it is an upgrade, at some point. It's in perfect shape so it might be, I know not all of my Beam Teams are perfect.

 More vintage NBA, and a couple hockey too. I can't remember the last time I got this many 1972-73s in one day. If you look on the top left you can see the rubber band removed from the smaller stack of hockey cards.

 And more...lots more! I didn't count them yet. There are some numbered cards in here as well, including two numbered to 49- including the light blue Damjan Rudez barely visible in the row of blue and green Prizms. I don't think I added anyone new to my collection in the NBA, but I did in the NHL, 9 new players and two new sets.

 This one might be the rarest find though...a Star promo! I like to get Star team bags only, not individual cards, because I have hope that I will get the team bag and then have duplicates...but yet, I say that, and every time I see a Star card loose that I can afford, I bring it home. Every single time.

 I didn't really look at the stacks of hockey cards too closely, because this was the card on the very bottom of one of them...that's not hockey! Unfortunately it's bent. And scratched. And the corners are shot. But it's still a new card to me, and I'll gladly add it to my collection. 

Then, after getting back home, I dig into that big box of cards Ryan sent me that I showed last time, but it wasn't my only card mail...

I received a very unexpected two-card mailing from Scribbled Ink, who was my Secret Santa sender last month. Very cool, and very surprising! Thank you! I saw a post I had missed when I went to grab the link, about his Merry Off-Season project and I am honored to be on the receiving end of that. Only one of my three sports is in the off-season, but I'm still thrilled to have some new cards to my collection-only my second and third autographs added in 2018, in fact!

Sorry for the glares in the photos. I generally try to make scans for a reason but getting these all scanned would not let this post go up in anything resembling a reasonable time, and since I had to get a thank you in, I had to rely on photos...and I don't have my photo studio set up at the moment, so cell phone photos it is. 

That wasn't all though...While out and about I saw classic cars for the first time in 2018. 

 Nothing says 1990s more than monochromatic bumpers and yellow and purple stripes on a metallic teal car.

 A clean 1983 Lincoln.

Yeah, it doesn't get much better than that. Except...the trip also resulted in KFC...so it did! 

Cars, Cards and Chicken...the three Cs that make a perfect day.