January 2019 Trade Recap

I was pretty active in trading in January, pulling off 7 trades that netted me exactly 200 cards...from a certain point of view.

One of the only things that even came close to a goal for me in 2019 was learning how to propose a trade on the Trading Card Database. I did that, proposing 4, and all were completely successful.

The first to arrive was from Database member BeChristensen and yielded 13 cards, of which I was only expecting 10.
Included was also the last two cards I needed to complete the 1990-91 Fleer All-Stars insert, and my 92,000th NBA card.

Miller was #92,000.

The second trade to arrive was also with a Database member, Karsal, and that reached me on January 13th- we actually began talking the trade on December 31st, but since the cards arrived to me in January (slowed down by Customs as he is in Canada) it counts for January. This was 6 cards.

The third trade to arrive was the first one I proposed- both Karsal's and BeChristensen's were proposed to me. It was also a large trade, as I took in 27 cards from AirPete, who, by the way, has joined the world of blogging (Pete's Card Habit) I specifically targeted cards I needed, and I was able to add 4 new sets and 5 new people to my collection. Once again, I traded for or bought a new card, and it came back to bite me- less than a week after the trade arrived, I bought a single pack of 2018-19 Donruss and got both the Nets rookies I had traded for. I make it a habit to not buy or trade for brand new stuff, but I did it here because  I didn't expect to get to the store and get any Donruss. Then, my brother treated me to a mall trip, and I got one pack (granted, a fatpack) and got the same two cards. It's almost laughable. That's not on Pete, our trade was excellent. I'm just chiding myself for doing something I said I would not do anymore. I ended up taking every Nets card I needed that Pete had available, and I think every Knicks card as well.

 My first sticker from the 1996-97 set! I bought quite a few stickers in 1995-96, but then didn't get any more after that. Something I now regret...but since 2016-17 I have been collecting them and counting them as part of my collection. The 1996-97 season is my favorite in NBA history, and this was the only set from the season I didn't have in my collection.

I did not get any of the 2017-18 Ascension set until I traded for a bunch from Pete.

The two Nets I mentioned above.

The fourth trade was with Shawn Norris, and gave me 2 cards. Shawn and I have an agreement where he sends me cards in ones or twos and I eventually send him a bubble mailer full. Shawn does not mind taking imperfect cards so I am happy to have someone to send the damaged cards I sometimes end up with who appreciates them. This two-card package from Shawn actually showed up unannounced, as sometimes happens when trading with him. Both this trade and the one with AirPete arrived January 14th.

The 5th trade was another one I proposed, with Database member IfbBirdsCards , and yielded 6 cards, even though I only asked for 4. Ian is, I believe, the youngest member of the Database. It was my first trade with him. The trade arrived January 22nd.

The 6th and final trade was not really a trade in the traditional sense. If you remember back a year or so ago, I gave away a bunch of pages. Well, some of them went to Matthew Prigge, who is a blogger and a Database member, (Summer of '74)  Well, he sent me a large box of cards and since they were a direct result of something I sent to him, I considered it a trade, even though it was more like mutual gifting. Semantics, really. I ended up getting 144 new cards from the box he sent me, here are just a couple samples. It arrived January 23rd.

Two cards from the 1996-97 Ultra set, my favorite NBA set ever. Besides this Gold Medallion there was a base card of Jazz starting center Greg Ostertag. 

 This SN parallel of Dirk is now the lowest condition SN card in my collection, all four corners are rough. He mentioned that most of what he sent me were Goodwill finds so who knows what kind of life it's led? It's got a good home now.

Even some multi-Sport cards, two from the 4th series of SO for Kids cards, both from 2009.

The final trade of the month was the smallest, with Soldan. I was able to complete his 2018 Donruss NASCAR set, but he only had two cards I needed. I was happy to get them, my first two cards from 2018 Allen & Ginter. He had gotten injured and was in the hospital when I sent the request so his trade was the last to arrive, on January 25th.

I've already completed a couple trades in February and have more in progress. I think 2019 might turn out to be my biggest year of trading in a long while. I can't say ever because I've never kept records, and I did so many back in the old Trader Retreat days that I was voted member of the month one time, but this feels like a lot by this time of the year. I only did 27 in all of 2018 and I've already completed 11 in 2019.