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.

Even more random scans

I wasn't going to work for it anymore, but I kind of like my streak of posting at least ten times every month. I looked back at my archive, and I've gotten ten or more posts out every month since 2016. That's pretty amazing considering I spent time without my computer working more than once in that time.

So, you get another random scan post.

This guy's name cracks me up. I pulled this one from a pack myself.

 This one came from Chris/The Collector

 Another from this year's UD I pulled. The photos from this angle are usually pretty interesting, and this one is too.

 SI for kids pushed college way, way too much- usually 2 or 3 per issue. Didn't used to be as bad. But you almost never see a female hockey player on cards.

 I finally finished opening my box of Beach Boys cards, figuring I'd spread out the fun. Well, typical Panini fashion, I ended up three cards short of the set but with a stack of duplicates 40 to 50 cards high, including inserts and even insert parallels. It's amazing how Panini can manage to get it wrong so often. Luckily, HutNut on the Database had the three cards I needed and is sending them to me at some point.

 This is a base card. Image is from, obviously, the Pet Sounds album cover photo shoot.

 My local dollar tree still has 2017-18 Panini Stickers for both my sports. My mom brings home packs from time to time, as I am no longer buying new cards it's my only way to get new stuff. This one needed a back scan on the Database, so I rush scanned it. I think only a couple cards need back scans now, but I don't have any of them.

 I got this entire 44 sticker set from Dave & Adam's as a bonus gift several years ago, just finally getting some scanned. I have seen the movie but I don't remember much of it.

 I'm getting into the original box I set aside of stuff already on the Database when I sorted my collection out to prioritize what needed to be done on there. This is one of the first cards I was given in 2015 that put the thoughts of hockey originally in my head.

The cards I set aside to do later were the ones already on the Database, and all the 1980s Fleer cards were already done, so I hadn't scanned any in a few years. Now that I'm done posting everything I have on there, I'm scanning everything I had set aside, so that leads to some 1980s and 90s cards getting scanned. More to come in the next post.

August 2017 Trade Recap

Hopefully I will get this one up much sooner than I got July's up. August started out well, with more cards rolling in fast and frequently, many of which I didn't even expect.

The first official trade arrived to me on August 5th, and it turned out to be a huge one...and involved two other bloggers and a trade made on the Trading Card Database! Tyler of Rekindling the Cardboard Flame won a contest on Baseball Card Breakdown, and traded me the cards he didn't want. I sent him a box of SuperSonics and some other stuff he didn't know was coming. Luckily, he didn't mind my sending him less than he sent me, because he sent me exactly 333 cards! Also luckily, I can only mail on Saturdays, and I got in the trade you will see below this, which included a spare Sonic that I also got in the package for Tyler. The rare 4-person trade, essentially.

The cards from Tyler were mostly non-sports cards...

10 base cards from the Captain America movie, including this manufactured patch (which I actually like)

 A whole bunch of the 2014 Panini Country Music cards. Panini really missed the mark with this set. They marketed it as a super-high end hit based set, with the boxes going for more than $120 when they came out. Even though I listen to country music almost exclusively, I didn't do any of the set. It was also hobby only, no retail presence whatsoever. The boxes now go for about $20 and I will probably pick up one some day. I'm kind of hoping it will drop even further, but if they are $20 during this year's Black Friday sales at D&A I will probably get one.  (Knowing my luck, I will probably get autographs from Florida-Georgia Line, which besides having no singing talent, have no writing talent either as both were auto-penned) Another problem they had is that the checklist was...how shall I put this...weak. I have listened to country music almost exclusively since 2006, and about 1/3rd of the set are people I've never even heard of. Very little star power, even less of a presence for the long-time, well known people. Alabama, Neil McCoy, Joe Diffie and LeeAnn Rimes are about the only names active in the 90s or before. No Brooks & Dunn (my favorites), no Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, etc. Not that there aren't some talented people and people who I enjoy listening to in the set...it's just something that could have been so much better. Which probably explains why they only did one of the sets.

Not only were there base cards, there were inserts and even green foil parallels of the inserts in the box.

There were a whole bunch of Beach Boys cards too, which I am really glad of. This set didn't have much presence here locally, but I've always been a Beach Boys fan, since I was in middle school and discovered them. The late 60s sound is why I don't say I listen to country exclusively, because I will still listen to the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, the Grass Roots, etc, on a fairly regular basis. As it turned out, we discovered we are VERY distant cousins to the Wilsons and Mike Love in late 2016. Incredibly cool for me. This is actually a Surfer parallel, which I believe fell one per pack. It has a gold foil guy on a surfboard on the bottom of the card front...kind of a stealth parallel, which is pretty unusual for Panini. As far as I know these were the only two music themed sets they did, unfortunately. Unlike the Country Music set, they got the Beach Boys set right.

This counts as a basketball card, right?

This is the 2011 set, there is also a soccer themed set from 2006 that was included. I didn't have either set in my collection previously, and now I'm something like 7 cards away from the 100 card 2011 set and about 15 away from the 90 card 2006 set. (it had what I think were short prints). I did add the missing cards to my wantlist on the Trading Card Database if you think you can help me finish the sets. Surprisingly I've never really gotten a lot of Bench Warmer cards...I mean, I am a guy in my 30s who hasn't had a girlfriend in way too long a time, after all.

But it wasn't all non-sports...

There were also a bunch of cards from the 1992 Impel US Olympicards set! Unlike most of Impel's sets, I only had one card from this set before. This card is actually an insert, even though it uses literally the exact same design as the base cards. I now have nearly a half of the 110 card set! We got the Olympic Channel in July, and I've been watching it almost every day since we got it. I have enjoyed swimming, diving, volleyball, track and field, archery, triathlon and more. We REALLY need cards for the non-big 5 sports. I will watch and watch religiously almost all of the Olympic sports. I can't get into soccer or boxing and I will not be supporting the inclusion of skateboarding in 2020, but every other sport...I love them all.

The next trade I mentioned was with Trading Card Database member ntlwhlr and he sent me a bunch of great cards. While it started with 3 cards from 2004-05...

(not shown: 2004-05 Flair Dwyane Wade)
the majority of the package were 1972-73 Topps.

And that's not even all of them! Just the ones I could fit on my scanner tray at one time. Some bigger names too, including Hall of Famers...not all of them were new, and in fact there were even more than one copy of some of them. (One of those was one that I sent to Tyler, hopefully he will show it on his blog because I forgot who it was)
Even better...Jim Ligon might be a One Hit Wonder! The Database shows him having a card from a team issue of the Squires but I'm not sure if it's an actual card or just a photograph. I really need to learn more about team issues of the 60s and 70s. Either way, it's my first card of him! Most of the cards I actually needed were ABA cards, which is great. I love getting new ABA cards.
Not shown: #27 Charlie Davis, #157 NBA Finals Game 4, #179 Mack Calvin, #215 Billy Cunningham (and not counting the duplicates, either). He also sent along two cards from 1970-71 Topps...making what may be the first trade package to ever include them for me. Unfortunately I had both already. (no scans)

The third trade was with frequent trading partner Sahal694 of the Trading Card Database. A few months ago I was the first person he ever traded online with and now we've done 4 or 5 trades. It was an unusual trade in that he sent me a pack of the new 2016-17 Excalibur set, which I was unable to get any of for myself.

 First card from the set in my collection.

 Only real set of the year to include photos of players traded at the Trade Deadline. Prestige might have some, I don't remember. Think they just got a Traded tag though.

 A LeBron Refractor Prizm insert! Not a bad first pack.

He also sent me this Aaron Judge from Topps and a couple of cards from this year's Bunt set. I will accept any sports card in trade. While I don't actively purchase baseball or football too often, I will gladly accept them in trade...anything to make it happen!

I pulled off what was supposed to be a 1 for 1 card trade with Database member Littlegobbler36, but we both sent each other more than one card. The one I asked for was this Michael Waltrip card...

 and he also sent sent the final 4 cards I needed to finish the 1995 Maxx Standups insert!

 

That was a pretty busy month. one of the bigger trading months in a while. And, I'm getting it posted on September 1st, which is a lot better than I had been doing, so I'm happy about that. There may not be a trade recap for September, as I've turned off my tradelist on the Database for a while. There are some things coming up that are going to get all my money, and I honestly can't spare any to pay for the shipping in trades.  

For the next few posts you'll finally get to see all the projects I worked on with my latest COMC order, which I built for 10 months and teased a little while ago when it arrived.