I like to finish each year with a countdown of my top 12 cards of that year- one from each month. This year I was mostly on burnout mode because of my Card of the Day project in 2018, basically just going through the motions until about mid-November, when my passion returned (as I'm sure you've been able to tell by how much I've been posting since then) I have even less preconceived plans about what will "win" each month this year than I have in the past couple of years, so this should be fun for me to compose, hopefully for you to read, as well.
January:
2017 Absolute Racing Tools of the Trade Dual Gold
It's hard to argue against a dual relic SN to ten that I pulled from a pack myself, which is not something I do very often! Couple that with the fact that it's got two colors on the sheet metal piece and parts of the Goodyear lettering on the tire, I just can't beat that! 2017 Absolute was also the only hobby box I bought for myself during the entire year...although not the only one I did. I got three for Christmas as well. That's it though, the least I've done in a year since 2008 when I did none.
February:
2015-16 Ultimate Collection Jumbo Materials Patch
I attended my first card show since either 2004 or 2005 in February, that was a thrill for me! This is the marquee card I got, and I actually got two from this same insert set. I had hoped to attend the card shows at least two times a year but it just didn't turn out that way for me, attending each one only once. But the fact that I got to go to two is just so amazing to me, I hope to get back to at least one in 2020.
March:
Hitting 2017 Absolute Racing again, but this time from the Plainville CT card show, not the box. This has a piece of neon yellow sheet metal, and having grown up in the 1990s, there are two things that will ALWAYS catch my eye- holograms and neon. This is my first piece of neon sheet metal, although not my last, as I purchased three pieces from the same seller at the show all at once. As you can tell from the photo, Menard is ecstatic.
April:
Here's a card I got from another blogger, this one coming from Chris of the Collector. It completed my Starting 5 promo set for that year, which is quite an accomplishment because I wasn't collecting NBA at that time, and promos are notoriously hard to find after the fact.
May:
I'd like to show you the favorite card I got in May, which is a Henrik Lundqvist card I got in trade from Kenny/Zippy Zappy. But, I lost the box I put it in and the other cards he traded me, as well as the rest of the Beach Boys box I finally finished opening, so I can't. I've gone nuts looking for them, because I didn't even get a chance to list them in my paper listing yet. Very frustrating, and a sign of how much I was just going through the motions in those months.
What I CAN show is one of his trademark pretty girls he's known for sending. Somehow, I managed not to lose them.
2013 Seven Colors #62
I have no idea who this lady is, I think possibly a musician, but she has a lot of cards issued. Unfortunately, I can't find full checklists so I can't post them on the Database, making them and the Sumo cards Ryan sent me a while back the only part of my collection not properly documented.
June:
2018-19 Panini Threads Dazzle Gold #86
I never pull cards SN to 10 or less...I did it twice in 2019! My brother bought me some cards when we took a one-day-up-and-back trip to Lake George, and I happened to pull this Russell Westbrook card SN 01/10! And it's really cool looking in person, much nicer than it does in scans.
July:
1966 Batman Black Bat #51
I was able to add three 1966 Batman cards in 2019, bringing my total to 4. I need more of them, but they are quite hard for me to find! The Black Bat set was new to me in 2019. I still lack the Blue Bat set totally.
August:
2000-01 Stadium Club #236
August was probably my worst month in the hobby since 2008. I didn't scan even a single card during the entire month, the first time that has happened that I can recall. The one and only highlight of the month is that Ryan / SumoMenkoMan sent me a box of stuff totally at random, and I really like the design of the 2000-01 Stadium Club hockey set- this is only my second or third card from the set- so it got the nod.
September:
2011-12 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Patch
I think we all knew that this was going to be the card. I passed this card by last time I went to the shop it was for sale in in 2017. I didn't get there at all in 2018, and I assumed it would be sold...lost to me forever. When I got back there on September 3rd, it was still there, so I made sure that I would not leave without it- even if it's the most I've paid for a hockey card to date. (tied) This is probably my favorite card of the entire year, to be honest. I can't tell you how many times I had thought about and regretted leaving it behind.
October:
1887 Allen & Ginter Arms of All Nations
I got a lot of REALLY great cards in October. For new cards, it was one of the best months of the year. Getting my oldest card, a full 131 years old, that can't be topped so it gets the nod.
November:
1972-73 Topps #87
In November, I found out I was losing my favorite place for vintage cards, where I've gotten all sorts of great oddballs and hockey since 2014, due to the owner pulling the lease to put in "upscale coffee shops". Well, I went and got as much as I could afford, which was a lot of Rangers cards, and a partial set of 1972-73 Topps, which I suspect was complete at one point, but had gotten picked over over the years. I chose this card, instead of the many Rangers I got, because it has such a cool, unique photo on it. (and it does have a bit of a Rangers tie in- the photo was taken at Madison Square Garden.) This is a really unusual and creative photo for 1972-73...about 95% of the set are posed photos, not even action photos, which makes this stand out even more.
December:
2019-20 Upper Deck UD Exclusives #86
Although I got a lot of great cards in December, including my COMC order that had been building since August of 2018, a card I pulled had to get the top spot. I have been a fan of the UD Exclusives parallel since it was introduced in 1998-99 for the NBA, and as I would come to find out, the NHL as well...although it would be years until I learned about that sport, which has now taken firm control of the #1 spot in my collection...not in card totals but in interest. The UD Exclusives are always SN, usually to 100, although some sets to 500. They are not common pulls, and since I began collecting the NHL, this is only the second one that I've pulled from a pack, following one from 2010-11, which I pulled from a single pack I found somewhere. In the grand scheme of things, these are my third-favorite parallel concept, but are de-facto #1 since the first two are no longer issued in my sports, or at all. (Refractors, which sort of live on in Prizms from Panini for NBA and NASCAR, but not quite, and Ultra Gold Medallions). The fact that I pulled a Ranger, a player from my team, makes it so much more special. I pulled this on Christmas day, and I got the base version as well. My brother's Christmas Present to me was $100 on COMC, and a good portion of that was spent on other UD Exclusives issues, including a full page from the 2017-18 set...I'll post about them when they arrive, and my recap of the cards I actually got on Christmas will be coming soon...hopefully by this weekend....but next year, nonetheless!
I ended 2019 on a high note, Cardboard History wise, and 2020 is going to be starting out much the same way, as I have almost 30 posts in the queue waiting for their time in the sun...
I had to make a trip to the local vintage dealer to try and find some stuff to fulfill some trades...and I am not sure yet how successful that was, waiting to hear back from a potential trade partner, and I forgot to look for what I specifically went to look for to send off to Bo Rosny...blame it on sleep deprivation or just stupidity, or maybe I was distracted by the 9 classic cars I saw, highlighted by a 1952 Studebaker. I am very sure, however, that I found some great stuff for me.
These three 1966 Batman cards were right on the front counter when I got there...I only had one card from the Black Bat set before, so these are my first two Red Bat cards, and my second black bat! These cards were on my radar for quite a long time and I was thrilled to finally find one a couple years ago...I'm sure I posted about it. Now I've quadrupled my collection. As you may recall, I had my first DC Comic read to me at 5 days old, and I've been in the hobby ever since. So these are right up my alley...None are in perfect shape but they are good enough for me, I am happy and won't need to look for an upgrade.
What I really didn't expect to do today was buy these Rangers cards. This is the same dealer I visited on my first day collecting the sport, where I got the really high quality 1957-58 card I've shown a few times. He always had more vintage Rangers but I never wanted to pony up the money and pay for them.
The 1960-61 Harry Howell is in a bit of rough shape, but the Langlois and McKenney from 1963-64 are pretty much pack fresh! I've been putting off buying these now since 2017, and I couldn't do it any longer. I have not bought any cards for myself in person since March, but I couldn't not get these. The dealer is a friend but he's also in business and was talking about selling them to a guy who comes in looking for Rangers stuff...he had noticeably gotten binders of Rangers ranging from 1972-73 to the mid-90s out, before I got there, so I decided that I would be unhappy at myself if I let them get away...so I didn't. I just mentioned last week that the 1965-66 set is my favorite from the 1960s and that I didn't have any...well, he had one. But it had tape residue on the front, so I left that one behind, and another from the 1966-67 set that had some discoloration I couldn't identify. I may lose out on getting the complete Rangers team sets of the 1970s and early/mid 80s, but I won't lose out on the 60s and even 50s cards!
Every 60s hockey card in my collection has come from this same dealer, although I've added 50s from a card show. The Howell is my first card from the 1960-61 set.
I had to add a comic, as well. Once I saw the cover, how could I not?
I have not read it yet but I know this is going to be great...of course there is a pretty high odds of this image not appearing anywhere in the book, too. I don't care. Charlton comics have their own certain charm to them. This is only the third classic comic I've added in 2019. I'm not building up my old car fund like I had hoped, but at least it's easy to keep up with new additions, lol.
While I missed getting pictures of most of the old cars I saw, I did manage to find this 1981 Ford LTD in the parking lot where I went.
Although I've never been in an LTD sedan, we had several LTD wagons when I was a little kid, so I have good memories of the LTD model.
And, edit to add- I heard back from my trade partner while I was composing this post, and he's happy with what I picked up, so the trip was mostly successful...if only I had remembered to grab something for Bo. I guess I'll have to go back next week.
Fair warning: there's not a lot of cards in this post. There are some, later on. It's also likely to run long. Text in blue (and all photo captions) written after the show.
As I've mentioned a few times, I'm not the healthiest of people. I never have been, having multiple ailments (None are communicable, keep trading with me!) but in 2013 I was hit pretty hard by diabetes, which I didn't know I had. I literally came 5 minutes short of dying. (and keep in mind, there is some health stuff I'm choosing not to post about)
While I've been physically limited in what I can do for a while, (some days are better than others, of course) this did a real number on me. One thing it did was take away things I WAS able to do previously. I still don't have the stamina fully back yet; I've been told I may NEVER have it back.
The heat takes more out of me that it did before. An example, last year I walked around for 45 minutes at a car show, in August. It was about 90 degrees...and afterwords, I couldn't really walk for 4 days. I only wish I was exaggerating. I was so bad after that that I couldn't even make my own lunch in the microwave.
It took more than that away from me. I had to stop collecting 1/64 NASCAR diecasts. That was #1 for me for many many years. But the money to pay for the medicine which keeps me alive, which costs at the very least $500 a month, sometimes more (it fluctuates constantly) had to come from somewhere, and it had to come from the diecast collection.
It cost me the ability to sit Indian style. I used to sit like that all the time- I used to prefer sitting on the floor to the couch or any chair. Now, trying to sit like that causes me intense pain that lasts for several days, and getting up off the floor is almost impossible due to the pain it puts me in.
I'm not sure if it's related or not, but since I got sick (when I say that, I refer to the diabetes) I've had to totally give up milk and it's looking like I may have to give up cheese soon. Cheese is my favorite food and has been for years, so this is a grievous diagnosis for me. There is a direct correlation between it and my being nauseous all the time. (I'm lactose intolerant, apparently)
I've found work-arounds for some/most of the above that I've lost. Even if I have not done that, I've made peace with it and accept that it's not possible to be part of my life going forward.
The one thing that it took away, and that I miss the most...is Lake George. Lake George, NY, is my absolute favorite place in the world. I had been to it every year of my life, sometimes more than once a year. In fact, more than once I've spent an entire month there with my family, although it's been more than a decade now since we could afford to do that.
Lake George is on the very edge of where we could drive to and back home in one day, or at least, it used to be before my health and my mom's health had major issues in 2013 and 2014 respectively. We were both hit pretty hard in back to back years...and it cost us our ability to travel.
It doesn't help that our Jeep is pretty much officially dead. It last moved under it's own power in October 2015, and it's looking like it might never again. It's from 1994, and we've had it since 2003, but it's made it very hard on us not working constantly. (Even when we do get it "fixed", it usually lasts for only a few months before breaking down again). We can't really trust it to go father than we can walk home from. That's basically to the post office and McDonald's and back.
I have not felt comfortable with my ability to travel since I got sick in 2013. The farthest we've traveled is an hour and a half, to the NNL East in New Jersey. I was able to do that trip with no problem, but Lake George is double that.
I didn't feel safe being that far from home. It's probably more mentally based than reality based- but at home, if my number gets low, I've got plenty of things to choose from to fix it. When my number gets low, I can tell by shaking. My body will start to shake, starting with my left shoulder and moving to my other shoulder and both legs, usually. I'm afraid that if my number got low while riding in the car, I wouldn't feel it, and a low number is actually MORE dangerous than a high number.
But I think I'm in enough control now that I won't have to worry. In fact, no matter what I do, my number is usually too high anyway.
To be honest, I'm still a little worried, but...we have gone back to Lake George! I'm writing this up well in advance but I have felt ready to go back since roughly May of this year. My favorite day of the year is always the day of the Adirondack Nationals, the best car show I know of! It's held at the Fort William Henry grounds- an actual fort from the French and Indian War of the mid-1700s, at least the grounds. The Fort itself is a recreation of the original- with original artifacts on display- after it was burned during the war. (The area also played a major role in the American Revolution).
We found a place that is affordable, a little out of town. The place we had been staying since 1987 unfortunately went out of business in 2014. It was right on the lake.
Normally most places jack up the prices for the car show, but this place doesn't. I don't plan to post this until we get back home, but I've known we were going to go back since late July. I have to say, August has been dragging. The Olympics helped quite a bit, but since the Olympics ended, it's been about a week...but it's dragged on like it was an entire year.
I'm back home now, and this trip was everything I'd hoping it would be. Just about perfect. It was brutally hot on Thursday through Saturday, but I still went to the car show both Friday and Saturday, and I would say I saw about 80% of the show. Much more than I expected to do be able to do. I'm in a lot of pain, I knew that I would be. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY! It still feels "wrong" to drive past the street we used to stay on- every year from 1987-2012, it was really home away from home. The heat was tough and took a lot out of me. I am curious to see how long it will be before I'm not in constant pain from the show. (I'm in constant pain 24/7/365, but I'm referring specifically to pain caused by walking at the show). I really don't know. I am hoping to go to another car show this coming weekend, so it's possible I could be facing 4 weeks or more of pain caused by walking this show, if it works out where I can visit 3 car shows in three weeks.
I have Adirondack Nationals photos on my website HERE. I went in 1988 and 1989, then missed it until 2001, we then went to the car show every year from 2001-2012. (The pictures get better as you go along, generally)
I ended up taking 1379 photos and videos on the trip, including my favorite video I've ever taken.
I will post some of my favorite car show pictures below. Before that, though, are some of my favorite photos from the area taken on this trip. It's my favorite place in the world, and even though when I'm typing this up in August, still more than a week before we are even going to leave, I am already filled with more joy for the impending trip than I've felt in years. Literally! I'm not a happy person- it's hard to be happy when you feel terrible all the time. But Lake George...any trip to Lake George makes me happy. Getting there was just as incredible though as I thought it would be. I really can't put into words what it meant to me. As somebody who likes to write a LOT and has a fairly large lexicon, that is not something that happens all that often. Gotta say, the emotional impact almost overwhelmed me at times.
The two large boats in the background seemed to have a drag race, going side by side up the Lake until they made the bend. There are 5 large boats on Lake George. the Mohican, launched in 1908, was the only one I did not see this trip. The Minne Ha-Ha (launched 1969) and the Lac Du Saint Sacremont (launched either 1990 or 1991- I saw her maiden sail but don't remember for sure) are run by the Lake George Steamboat Company. The Sacrament is the ship on the right here. The Horicon (foreground) has been on the Lake my whole life but I don't know when she was launched. The Adirondack (on the left) was launched circa 2007. The latter two are run by Shoreline Cruises, but I don't know about them as much. The Minne Ha-Ha is the star of the Lake and the video below features her prominently. She is not in this photo, but she had just come in for a landing after a cruise. I was able to capture 4 of her songs on the Calliope and all 4 of the big ships that I saw this trip.
On Sunday, the big shops weren't running but it allowed me to get photos of them. I suspect the Mohican may have gone to Dry Dock already.
This is English Brook, which ran behind the motel we stayed at this year. It drains into the Lake.
You can see the rest of the photos from this trip (non-car show) HERE on my website. It also covers the trip up, back, and excursions into Saratoga, Ballston Spa, Warrensburg, Queensbury, Glens Falls, and more. A lot of the pictures are of Fort William Henry which is a reconstruction (with some originality) of a fort from the French and Indian War, originally built in 1755.
Here are some car show photos. I took exactly 700 photos and videos at the car show, and I won't share them all here, but you can see them on my Website. I'm not going to post a whole lot because I am kicking around the idea of an automotive photography blog.
This year was unusual not in that there was a Superbird, it was unusual because there was only one wing car! There are usually at least three on the grounds.
This car was great looking in person, too. Note the Lake in the background.
Looking out on the car show from a cannon port on Fort William Henry
I actually took this GTO photo on my phone (so I could post it to Facebook- it turned out better than the one I took with my camera of the same car!). On Saturday morning, it rained pretty hard for several minutes, and that led to some great photos of the cars with water on them. For some reason I LOVE to see the old cars in the rain. In all the car shows I've gone to, this is only the 4th where it's rained, I think. (I've been going to car shows my whole life...I went to the Adirondack Nationals for the first time in 1988 when I was 4 years old...the same year I began collecting cards. Wouldn't it be something if I got them at the vendor area? My first were car cards, of a sort!)
I ask you to watch this video. It's the very best I've ever taken. I began shooting video in 2005; it is also the longest at 14 minutes long. This is, truly, a perfect representation of everything I love about Lake George. (You will see that the video jumps twice- there was an ant on me, but I thought it was a big black spider)
Now, I said there was not a lot of card content in this post, and that's true. But, we did find out that there was a new semi-card shop that opened in town in early 2016, and of course we made the effort to go to it. I did find some basketball cards in that local store in town, which are good. But I'm not going to show them now. I got some good stuff, of course, but...it pales in comparison to what I found at my favorite comic store, which I have not been to since roughly 2006.
Yes, my first cards from the legendary 1938 Horrors of War set, and my first card from any of the 1966 Batman sets! I have been chasing both of these sets since roughly 2010 when I found out they existed! I've mentioned I wanted both sets in the past on various blogs. (both my own and in comments on others). Now, I have them! Those are the two biggest sets (not in size, but importance) that were missing from my non-sports collection. I got a great batch of comics so I could only afford one of each set, but the store had more...and two of the other Batman sets of different Bat colors. Next time, hopefully, they will still be there. Now that I know that I can physically do the show, which I was not sure on, there WILL be a next time, and I don't think we will be waiting a whole year to go back. In fact, if all goes well, we will be back the end of this month! I am targeting the Concourse D'elegance at the Saratoga Automobile Museum on September 24th/25th as my return trip, although it's not known now if it will actually happen. That's what I HOPE will happen. But, knowing from past experience, it won't. But I'm not going to stop hoping.
I have decided that I am going to make 4 posts about Christmas 2015...I didn't forget! Since I got three kinds of cards on Christmas, I am going to make 3 posts. This one, which will start with the stats, will cover non-sports, which is solely from 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary.
First, the stats....
127 Non-sports
546 NBA
138 NASCAR
2 college basketball
813 total new cards, which is the 7th most I've ever gotten in a single day! (That I have records for anyway, although I believe only my birthday 1997 would possibly make the top 10 that I have no records for)
I got 16 new people (13 NBA, 3 NASCAR), 2 new sets, and completed 2 sets. One of the two sets I completed is also one of the new sets (2008-09 Topps Tipoff- NBA) Here are the highlights of the 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary box, which led to my completing the set...
First off, let me say that I love the concept of the Topps 75th Anniversary set. It looks back at the history of Topps' non-sports cards, reprinting the front of one from 100 different sets, and tells about them on the back. For some reason though it stops at 1995, while Topps has greatly reduced the number of non-sports sets produced in that time, there are still some that I think were worthy of being included. Also, it would have been helpful if Topps had mentioned which card number was being reproduced on the front of the 75th Anniversary card. Also, it's worth noting that Topps has not been producing cards for 75 years. The first cards were released in 1948. The company was founded in 1938, however, and that is why they were celebrating their 75th anniversary in 2013.
This set covered a wide variety of subjects, quite a few of them I would not add to my collection otherwise. But as I consider myself a historian of trading cards (of a sort) I am glad to have them represented, even as a token example, in this set.
Each pack includes a parallel, usually holofoil but one in the box is the sparkle. I really love the look of the sparkle cards. They are serially numbered to 75 and each one sells for over 10 dollars. As I noted, one of my goals for the year is to add one to my collection per month. Their relatively high cost is why I am not planning on chasing the entire set- I'd like to though.
I was quite pleased to complete the set from my box, with a stash of duplicates left over as well.
Here is an example of the holofoil card.
Although it looks like the bottom half of the card is white, it really isn't. I'll provide a photo at the bottom of the post.
Here is the base version. Note the slight differences in the depth and the word Connaught.
Each box promises three autographs and one buyback as the 4 hits. I got exactly that. There are foil and sparkle parallels for the autographs but I was not lucky enough to pull any of them.
Here are the autographs:
First was Julia Nickson. I've never heard of her before, but I'm not much of a movie person. It seems like she might have been the basis for the McBabe character on Simpsons, although that's a pretty obscure character. I believe she is only the second woman to appear in my autograph collection. The other is from the Star Wars Chrome Perspectives set I reviewed earlier in 2015. Interestingly as well, the Rambo set was not one of the 100 selected for the base set.
Next up was Richard Kiel, who I have heard of, but have never seen anything he was in. He passed away between the time when the set was released in 2013 and when I got the box in 2015.
Finally we have Anson Williams, who played Potsie on Happy Days. That is a show I have seen most of, and so somebody I actually know who they are. I can assure you the card has not and will not be sat on.
My buyback could not have been better. It was from Desert Storm, which I consider to be one of the iconic sets in the world of non-sports cards. (It's also a set I've completed, not counting the variations- there are at least 4 versions of each card in series 1). It's just a regular card with a little gold foil Topps 75th logo impressed on it.
This was the Sparkle card I received. Robocop is not one of the card sets I would normally add to my collection, but I did get all three versions from the box- base, holofoil and sparkle. I am only the original card away from the rainbow. It looks cool in the scan, but it looks even nicer in hand. Being serially numbered to 75 and one per box means these parallels are going to be nearly impossible to complete.
Aside from the autographs and buybacks, there are two inserts in the set. The more common is mini-cards. Topps didn't always use the standard size, they also have a smaller size they used...and 8 of them are reproduced in this set. I got 4 of the 8, and I am going to try and complete this insert. (I rarely hunt inserts). One of the cards I did NOT get was the card for 1954's Scoop, a set I have shown several times on here before and is a particular favorite of mine.
Here are all 4 of them.
I have attempted to add cards from 1957's Jets set multiple times, but I keep getting outbid on Ebay.
The second insert is much rarer, falling one per box for me. It's for Topps's various test issues, or other rarities. I have not really explored the checklist all that much so I don't have a good grasp of what is included. I would not mind having more of these as well. (King Kong is actually a movie I have seen, although I don't care for it too much- I was rooting for the monkey)
Here is what the back of one of the cards looks like. It shouldn't be a surprise which one I chose to show :)
The holofoil and sparkle parallels are printed on white stock, not Heritage stock.
Now, here are some more of the base cards. Just a random assortment of cards I've scanned so far, with a bit of a bias towards the cards I have the originals of....or hope to have some day.
Interestingly, I just got this original card in November 2015 when I
added about 30 of the Man on the Moon cards to my collection.
This is the last one I needed to complete the set.
You can see the complete set, both front and back scans, here
