A 20 year old mystery solved

 I've been working hard on my Recovery project that I detailed a few weeks ago. I'm trying to get it done before Christmas, and as usual I found a bit of a rabbit hole to go down, and ended up solving a mystery that's been befuddling me for 20 years. 

Now, I don't mind mysteries in the hobby. It's part of the fun to figure out something that you come across and can't really identify easily. However, it's very much a frustration when it's something you got new yourself and just didn't remember, and that is the case with these cards. 

These three cards have been that mystery for me. I was thrown a bit by the fact that they are copywritten 1999, and feature 1999 season photos. I thought they were 1999 releases. They are lenticular and the picture moves when you move the card, but that is extremely difficult to capture in a scan.

As it turns out, they are actually from 2000, and were an Avon exclusive. Called the Avon Millennium Series, they came as a set for $9.99 in early 2000, and this is the complete set, something else I was not sure on. 

I ended up solving the mystery via ebay of all places. I had looked in the past with no success, but this time was different. A seller has a set for sale on there, and even better, posted the ad for them! 

This photo, taken from ebay seller treasure23, solved the mystery. 

There's a pretty good chance I have this page, apparently taken from an Avon catalog, somewhere in my storage unit. But possibly not, as I'm loathe to cut up a magazine, even a catalog. (If I do have it, it's likely still in the full catalog). 

I'm really glad to have this mystery finally put to rest. Although I have not really discussed it much on here, the cards that came with 1/64 diecast are a specialty of mine, and these were the only ones in my entire collection that I could not properly identify, so that makes it all the better. 

Goals for 2015 Update: I should have set higher goals

Back at the start of the year, I wrote a Post about my card collecting goals for 2015. I was going to post an update on July 1st, or thereabouts, but I realized that I had already surpassed two of my goals and modified another by the end of May, so that I was going to post about it now.

Goal #1 has changed. I got most of the tradelist posted, and while I still have more to do, I have decided that I'm going to actually give most of the NASCAR duplicates to a good friend of mine, which saves me the trouble of posting them, and repays the kindness he's shown me over time.

The NBA duplicates that I'm sure on are entered, but I'm going to hold off on the new duplicates for a time. I have found more cards that got damaged than I realized- both in the flood on February 5th or otherwise- and I don't want to trade away a needed replacement without realizing it. It will be some time until I am ready to enter them in...talking years here.

All that remains is the non-sports cards, and they are still hanging over my head. I'm not sure exactly what I've entered and what I haven't, so there is some work there ahead of me.

#2. was to get my scans of card backs posted close to or equal to the card fronts on the Database. I accomplished that sometime in May (I forgot to take note of it) but I not only got the backs caught up, I have now surpassed the fronts! This is mainly due to other people posting fronts but not backs of cards.
Here is a screencap that is accurate as I type this but will be outdated within 5 minutes of hitting post.

My third goal was to hit more than 11 Elton Brand cards for the year. I have more than doubled that total...and some of them are quite rare, including 2 numbered to only 10 copies extant. I have a Page where I am posting scans of each and every new Elton card I've gotten in 2015. As of right now I'm at 30 new Eltons for the year. Of those 30, 7 are autographed and 5 are relics, including my first Logoman patch - of any player - and my first autographed relic of Elton. I had only two autographs of him before this year. I cleared my 12th card - and the goal - on February 11th, so it was the first goal of the year to fall. I hope to keep up this increase in my Elton collection- I cleared 400 different NBA cards of him in May- the next goal is 500 different. I expect that shall be my main goal for 2016.

The One of each person/set goal is progressing nicely as well. I'm down to 65 NBA sets missing and 6 NASCAR sets - 7 counting 1972 STP. I've cut the missing NBA people down to 450, and NASCAR has been halved, to only 38 missing people. I need to work more on the NBA people missing...and of course we are only a few months away from the 2015-16 rookie class, which always leads to more people missing as Panini ignores some of them in most sets but puts them in high priced sets I can't afford.

I had one other goal I forgot to write about - I knew I was forgetting something back in January but I remember, and in fact am working on it, right now.

I am working on a total calculation of how many cards in my collection. I know it's not accurate- I know my counts are off- but I am working to correct them. In 2015 I've gotten an accurate count of my other sports and those I am pretty sure on. I know the NBA count is off, possibly by more than 100 cards. I won't know for sure until I finish scanning them all and then resort them by set. I'm sure the NASCAR count is off as well but not by as many.

But what's been the biggest mystery count wise has been the diecast cards. The ones that came with Racing Champions, Action, Winner's Circle, Johnny Lightning, Hot Wheels and other brands of die cast replicas. There is a problem, though. Some are missing. I know I have them, but I don't know where. Surely in one of my storage units, but that's equal to not having them. I know which ones are missing, to an extent. I know which cars I have and therefor which cards I have, but I don't have the cards physically in hand...and there are sure to be ones I've forgotten. Do I count the ones I know I have, but can't currently locate? And do I count the sort-of cards that tend to be in the same vein, but not necessarily cards? I'm specifically talking about the Team Caliber Certificates of Authenticity, the stickers Winner's Circle and Hot Wheels issued, etc. I have yet to decide.

I must decide soon because I project finishing scanning the cards I can find within a week.

I suppose I should start thinking of goals for 2016...I blew past 2015's goals much easier than I expected, and the 500 mark for Elton isn't out of the question for 2015, although extremely unlikely due to lack of funds...and lack of his inclusion in any card set since 2013, despite the fact that he is still in the league. 2016 is also my 20 year anniversary of collecting the NBA, so I want to do something special for that, which I still  have not decided on.