Lost & Found: Trades and a RAOK

The white boxes I use to store my collection are great. They've kept my cards safe and secure now since the mid-1990s...I would never, ever store my cards in anything else.

However....they all tend to look exactly alike. Sometimes, when you're frantically trying to find something so you can scan it and post it, you accidentally check a box you already checked, or you don't check one because you thought you already did.

That's exactly what happened here, both instances, for me! I've mentioned that I lost some cards that I had gotten in trade with Kenny / Zippy Zappy and as a Random act of Kindness from Corky. In both instances, I looked at the boxes the cards were in, but I apparently didn't open them. Because, when I was not frantically trying to find them so I could post about them, but just going through boxes randomly, there they were...two separate boxes, containing the cards that had been missing for 11 months (Kenny) and 3 months (Corky) respectively.

Obviously, since you are reading this, I've found the cards! And while the focal point is the cards from my fellow bloggers, that's not ALL that was contained in these boxes...

I'll start with the package from Kenny, since he's waited the longest. The majority of the trade was based around the 2018-19 Panini Stickers NHL set. He needed some of the dupes I had, I needed some he had, and I so I sent him what I had, which was 6 stickers if my memory is correct...which at this late date I can't guarantee. In return, he sent me something like 60 in return as well as some other cards I didn't expect...including 2 new Hendrik Lundqvist cards I needed!

from 2016-17 SP Authentic and 2015-16 UD Portfolio, respectively.

Here are some sort-of-random stickers as an example:

Tuukka gets the scan and post nod because he is the lowest numbered sticker, so he was on top.

The caricature cards they did are just so bizarre I have to show them.

 Both Mikas!

Love the team logo cards!

Even some of the All-Stars!

And playoff cards, which, while they didn't say anything about it, I think are short printed.

That's a pretty decent cross-exam of what he sent. Of course, he also sent me the Japanese singers in their underwear who have consistently been in the top 5 most viewed albums on Cardboard History Gallery, day in and day out.

Puzzling, isn't it?

Also in the box was remainder of the box of Beach Boys cards I bought, which is one of the six sets I completed in 2019 including:
base...

parallel...

insert...

insert parallel...

..and even one of the two relics in the box.!

Beyond that was the majority of a huge trade with Trading Card Database member MrDonnee, who is always a VERY generous trading partner. He always, always, offers more than double the number of cards he asks for. There are three sets from 2004-05 with more than a full page's worth alone, example shown of two of them, 2004-05 Hoops and 2004-05 Upper Deck. The other is 2004-05 Bowman Chrome and I just didn't feel like scanning any Chrome cards right now.

I really liked the 2004-05 Hoops set since it was a throwback to the 1994-95 set, which as you may recall, is one of my favorite sets ever. I don't know if I'll ever complete the 2004-05 set, since I have about 2 of the SN rookies at the tail end of the set, but this trade got me a LOT closer, adding 20 of the missing veteran base cards! I like the 2004-05 UD set as well, but it doesn't resonate with me as much as the Hoops set does. And I "only" added 11 cards from that set in this trade.

Moving on to the second box, almost the entire contents of this was from Corky. He had gotten some of the Big 3 cards, and offered me his dupes. I gladly accepted them! The Big 3 league is comprised mostly of retired or can't find a contract and want to show what they are still capable of players, and it's mostly made up of guys who played near the end of my first NBA era, although there is at least one player who's heyday was before I even started watching in 1996! If they had made a set for their first three seasons it would have been more 1990s guys, but I'm just glad they made a set! I have been politely requesting cards be issued since the series started, and have been ignored every time. Not even a reply when these came out of "hey, check these out!"...they cost themselves me buying a box, because Corky sent me almost the entire set. (97 of 100 cards) I only need to find Mario Chalmers, Glen Davis, and Favorite Photos #92. None are on COMC right now but I will keep checking. The other portion of the box was part of one of the gifts from Shane, the 1995-96 Stadium Club Members Only set, and a handful of the Topps inserts from 1976-77 hockey.

The set is filled with guys I've been rooting for for years...

And some who aren't guys at all! The Big3 league is actually the first professional basketball league in the world that has women coaching men.

And RIP to Andre Emmett, who was murdered last year during a robbery, while walking down the street in the city he lived in. He became the first person active in the Big3 to lose his life while active.

I chose a Ranger to show from both sets...shocker, right?

Thanks to everyone who either traded with me or just outright sent me the cards that appear in this post.