Unexpected cards from friends and even people I don't know!

Well, I must know them from somewhere, I just don't know who they are. I got a PWE this week that did not have a name on the return address, so I don't know who it is that sent them to me. I suspect it's someone on the Trading Card Database because it was all cards I had on my wantlist, but it might be a fellow blogger as well. I simply don't know!

Whoever it was that sent these to me, thank you very much! If this is a trade I forgot about...entirely possible...please let me know so that I can send your end out.

But that was not all that has shown up expectedly over the past week. In chronological order of receiving them, I got a huge box of vintage hockey from Mark Hoyle.

I have not gone through them all yet, but here are some photos of what I have gone through:

 Only Dionne, Watson and Dornhoefer were in my collection previously.

 Only Neilson, Pelyk and Ullman were in my collection.

In this image, the bottom row were all in my collection, but the top row (and single card middle row) are all new! That's 20 new people for my collection! Thank you so much Mark, and to know that these are cards you got new, and have chosen to gift to me, I'm honored. They will all be a part of my collection for a long time, I can assure you of that!

I'm inadvertently building up a nice vintage Gary Dornhoefer collection. Mark gave me the 1972-73 and 1973-74 cards, as you can see, and I purchased the 1971-72 Topps locally. Somebody- I can't remember if it was Shane of Shoebox Legends, Mark in an earlier mailing, or Bevans on the Trading Card Database, gave me a copy of his 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee card. Being able to track how my vintage collection grows, and who is taking the early lead, is something I was not able to do when I began collecting the NBA in the 1990s, as it predates us having a computer by several years.

I got two packages on the 13th- one of them being my Secret Santa package, which came from Jon, a fill in for somebody who had to drop out. I won't be opening them until Christmas Eve, as is my tradition with the Secret Santa exchanges. What I didn't expect, was a wrapped present from Kin of Bean's Ballcard Blog! I didn't open that yet either. I will probably do that one on the 23rd. For now they are sitting together under my Christmas tree.

I didn't crop this photo like I usually do, because it shows a lot of the tree skirt. I caught a part of my present for my mom in the picture, too.

Jon also included some cards I apparently claimed on a previous post of his. I don't remember so I am sure glad he did!

I have no idea how to document those oversize girly cards.

Then, yesterday, came a totally unexpected package from Ryan of SumoMenkoMan. I never know when something will show up from him, but I know when something does, it will be eclectic, it will include stuff I had no idea existed, and it may not be solely cards...and this is no exception! He somehow managed to get all this into a USPS Priority envelope!

 I have been collecting magazines for most of my life, this is my first that's not in English! I did take a couple years of French in school, maybe it will come back to me...if not, there's always google translate!

 A well-loved 1994 Tuff Stuff. I wasn't collecting stick and ball sports yet at this point, so it's new to me!

 a 32 year old Sumo magazine! It is in English. I will read it eventually- I'm so far behind in my reading.

 A NASCAR promo set I didn't know existed!  We don't have Checkers here. I've never been to one in my life, but I've long been aware of them due to their NASCAR sponsorship.

 Some Civil War cards from...the Colorado National Park system? Huh? I never would have expected a park to issue cards...especially cards that don't have anything to do with the park itself! I'm a huge history buff, though, so I am thrilled to get these. There's no year on them and no numbers so I have no idea when they were issued or if this is all of them or not.

 My first ever Rugby cards! (not counting the ones from the Olympics set, those are Olympic cards, these are true Rugby cards.). I became a fan of the sport during the last Olympics. A lot of fun. The South Sydney Rabbitohs have the best team logo in all of sports. Now that it appears in my collection, it has spawned a post idea. Stay tuned, although I'm guessing the content of the post may be predictable.

 Some Motocross cards! These, I had known existed and actively wanted for a while. There's actually a local guy in the set but he was not present in this pack. I can't remember his name so I had to check the back of each card. I became a fan of Motocross racing in the late 1990s, when I first discovered it, so some of these names are familiar to me- Jeff Ward is the biggest name here. I still watch Motocross when I can, it's not on TV too often, and rarely the outdoor version.

 This set is from Ireland! I didn't know Ireland had cards! It's a mixture of three sports- soccer, hurling and camogie, which is basically women's hurling. I had never even heard of hurling or camogie before yesterday...and I like to think I'm pretty well versed in sports. Always something new to learn! Luckily, the Cúl Heroes website is really good and I was able to easily figure out which card goes to which sport. Even better, they gave a full checklist, with teams, so I will be able to get these posted to the Database.

Yep, you can tell these are definitely NOT American, hah! Respect the referee? as if!

 A pack of boxing cards, the first one I've ever opened (Sort of...I bought a pack so I could post something to every category on the Database, but only the pack itself needed a scan. I popped it open on the seam and pulled out two cards but the rest have yet to be seen). My records show me that I already had a card of Larry Donald, but it's not scanned yet. I had no idea, but a quick check of the Database shows me that he was included in the Impel 1992 Olympic set, which I have, getting in trade from (I think) Ketchupman or possibly Gavin. I have only scanned one or two cards out of that set and his is not one of them.

 Two random hockey singles. Despite the 1990-91 Score set being pretty common, I needed this one. 1984-85 Topps...I think I only have 4 or 5 of them total, so this was definitely new.

 Some stuff I have not opened yet- I have no idea how to open the German stickers, and I have no idea what's going on with that oversized Santoro pack on the right. Like I said...never know what to expect from Ryan!

A whole box of Grape Nuts! Well, just the box- not the contents. There are not many soccer cards in my collection, but there are now four more- three of them being new people for my "Names Project". Altidore was in the 2012 Goodwin Champions set, pretty sure his card came out of the first pack I opened.

I missed photographing a few things as well.

Thank you again Ryan! I wish I had something to send you as a thank you!

Now, backtracking a bit to a few weeks ago. I mentioned this a few times but I didn't post a picture yet and I should have. Shane from Shoebox Legends has been paring down his hockey collection lately, and I am a more than willing recipient of his castoffs! He's sent me several boxes but this last one was the largest yet!

I mean, just look at it! And there's another level below! I've only gone through 4 of the oversize team bags and I've already added over 100 new cards and several new people. I will be moving into some more of these packs shortly but I need to catch up on stuff...you'll be seeing cards from this box popping up in my "New NHL Players" monthly posts well into 2019.

Thank you again everyone! I wish I could find stuff to send you all as a thank you.

Sorry some of the photos are not the greatest. I couldn't wait to scan everything before posting.