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.