Secret Santa 2018!

Today is Christmas Eve, and you know what that means...it's time to open up the Blogger Secret Santa present!

Like last year and 2016, I have opened my Secret Santa package on Christmas Eve, and I did again this year...and, I suspect, will do again next year as well!

This year my Secret Santa was Jon of A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts, who not only stepped in to run the show this year with Matt of Bob Walk the Plank's retirement, he also stepped in for me when my original Secret Santa had to drop out for health reasons. (Get well soon!)

John sent me three packages within a package and he did NOT disappoint!

 This is package #1, and let me first apologize for such a lousy picture. I didn't realize it was so blurry, or I would have taken another...Lots of good stuff here! The Crusade Prizms, including several numbered, are all Refractor technology. I didn't open a single pack of that set! The two NASCAR cards are both numbered and feature Acetate technology, which I am a fan of. You see some more clear, shiny and die-cut NBA cards as well. You see a first year 1st Day Issue from Stadium Club, and some of the non-sports cards inserted into Allen & Ginter, something I am always looking for. The Parthenon is my favorite there, I love ancient history as is well documented. However, I think my favorite here may be the Dominique Wilkins Panini Sticker! I didn't collect them for the longest time, and now I really regret it. I got some in 1995-96, and then none again until 2015-16. This is a brand new set for me, although I am not sure yet which season it's from. Panini only put one year in the stats list, and for the NBA that's wrong. I don't know if the stats, which are labeled 1991, are for the 1990-91 season or 1991-92 season. I want to get this posted so I'm not taking the time to check the Database yet. The Paul George card stands as my Card of the Day. I already had the Yuta Tabuse- which in this case works out well, because I can send it to SumoMenkoMan, who's always sending me stuff...a Christmas gift that keeps on giving! I believe that is the first time I've ever gotten a card from 2004-05 R-Class from another collector in the mail or even out of a repack, for some reason it's a mostly forgotten set.

 Here's package #2. More shiny and numbered, and hockey makes an appearance. You cannot possibly go wrong with a serially numbered Dale Earnhardt Jr. card, and a new Hilton Armstrong- a hometown hero. Another 1st Day Issue, this time from 1994-95, and a whole smattering of 2006-07 Topps Turkey Red red parallels! That is a set I don't have much of at all. Funny story on the 1989-90 Hoops 100 promo card, of David Robinson. I remember getting a card from that set (Scottie Pippen) back when I first got into the NBA, in 1996, but I thought someone had taken a highlighter to a regular Hoops card. It wasn't until I realized the number was different that I had something that was NOT a badly damaged card. I needed the Admiral! What might be the most intriguing to me is the Skyforce pack, which is in itself serially numbered! I have seen sets where they said how many cases or boxes were produced, but never a set where the pack itself is SN. I will need to scan that before I open it, which I of course have not gotten to yet.

Package #3 was All Refractors! I am sure Jon has probably seen me mention that these are my favorite parallels in the history of the hobby, and it doesn't get much better than 1990s parallels! The entire top row is 1997-98 Finest, the bordered cards- all but the Starks on the far left- are 1996-97 Finest in row 2. The bottom row of three are two 1994-95 Finests and the Cyrillic variation from 2002-03 Topps Chrome of Igor Rakocevic- a set I'm actually hoping to complete someday. I've already completed the base set, and I have about 40 of the Refractors now. At under 200 cards for the complete set, I think I might be able to do it...someday.

Jon, you really outdid yourself here. This is fantastic stuff all around, and all of it fits absolutely perfectly in my collection!

Furthermore, a round of applause for stepping up and running the show this year!

If anyone wants to see what I sent out...I'm actually embarrassed by how small and uninspiring it is...you can see it here. I sent to Colbey of Cardboard Collections. I found out literally later the same day that I sent that he also was interested in the first Hornets so there may be a Secret Santa Part 2 early in 2019...I know he does not read Cardboard History so it may be a surprise to him, or not, as I'm planning to post a link to this post in the Facebook card group he runs.

Overall, this was a lot of fun again, three years running. I guarantee that next year I will send out a better gift, but I'm not sure if I could get a better gift, because I've been thrilled and totally perfectly happy with everything I've gotten!

Merry Christmas everyone! I will probably have another post up tomorrow, my family always gives me cards- it's all I ever ask for- but only time will tell. My family is very creative and thoughtful with presents, and I pride myself with carrying on that tradition- I look more forward to giving my presents tomorrow than anything I may receive.

How to Tell a Refractor from a basic Chrome/Finest card

I see this question asked all the time, which, being honest, I don't understand because there is NO way to mistake a Refractor from a base card...unless you've never seen either kind before. I decided to take some pictures and a short video to hopefully help anyone who is having trouble telling the difference. Panini's Prizms and Upper Deck's Rainbows use the same technology.
In the second image and the video, the Refractor is on top, while the standard Chrome card is on the bottom. Note how the light refracts from the Refractor, and just reflects from the Chrome card.

VIDEO on YouTube (in case the embed feature doesn't work)

 the arrows on the right side point to the refraction

When scanned, the Refractor appears to be glowing from within- these are my scans of the exact same cards shown in the images:

And the Refractor:

As you can see, there is a world of difference, and it's impossible to mistake them. Hopefully this will help anyone who is struggling to identify my all-time favorite Parallel concept in cardboard history.

COMC Christmas : NBA

Naturally, with the NBA being the largest portion of my collection, I got quite a few cards with the Christmas money my brother gave me...42 showed up in the box, a total coincidence to it being Elton's number. Actually, a few of the cards I had purchased before Christmas, but hadn't shipped. However, I can't remember when I purchased all of them so I am including them here anyway.

Speaking of Elton...

I added six new of him, including three numbered and one jersey (which is also counted as part of the numbered.) The 2012-13 Elite Status parallel is SN 01/24, my first non-1/1 of him to be SN 1 of something. The 2002-03 Fleer Tradition Crystal is one I had purchased before Christmas and I think the 2013-14 Pinnacle Museum Collection was as well. that is one  of only a very few card to show him in a Hawks jersey.

I also added some to one of my other favorite players, Muggsy Bogues.

I had been wanting Muggsy's autograph for a long time, and this was the most expensive card I bought in this wave. I actually went over 5 dollars for this one, a major rarity for me. The Light Blue Prizm is die cut and SN, and the color goes well with the Hornets colors. the 2013-14 Prizm set is my favorite of the brand, but good luck finding any unopened these days with the rise of Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 1994-95 Stadium Club is the Super Teams Finals card, my first from the parallel, and the 1995-96 is a Members Only, my first from THAT parallel as well. To this day I wonder why I never joined the Stadium Club membership and got all those Members Only cards new.

What I really hit the hardest, though...was Refractors. I have gone on about how much I love the Refractor parallel concept in the past. It's my favorite parallel of all time, and I've never met a Refractor I didn't like.

Note that there are three Atomic/Xfractors in there as well. The Rik Smits from 1996-97 Bowman's Best completed the rainbow for me, which was only three cards, but still. Only my second Jim Loscutoff, after the 1981 TCMA card.

If you want to see any of these closer, let me know in the comments and I will edit in a individual scan. They are all on my website in the proper year albums and on the Trading Card Database as well.

And of course I found some other fun cards I wanted to add to my collection as well:

 With this I now have three of the five Rusty LaRue cards ever made. All I need are the Platinum Medallion (maybe someday) and the Masterpiece (1/1, not likely) to have them all.

 I got this the same time I got the Elton from the same parallel. It's really understated and fairly low numbered, 199 copies produced, and I will pick them up when I find them for a good price- not easy.

 I now have two of the patch cards from this insert parallel (level 2). It was only a 12 card set but I am missing Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade so completing it does not seem likely. Still, I'm always going to add a patch card when I can. This appears to be from the M in Kaman. Could be from the N, too, I suppose.

 I really like the etched cards of Black Diamond. The 2003-04 set is a favorite of mine, but I like the 2004-05 set as well, which is the set this one comes from. The base cards have a blue color scheme, and you can get parallels with different colors...I had a red from my box when it was new, and scroll on to see a green. But the Gemography autographs had team color, so this Bernard Robinson has orange etched foil! Since the Bobcats became the Hornets Part II they no longer wear orange- actually, they had switched to a bland dark blue while still the Bobcats- nobody in the NBA wears orange anymore. A shame.

 I'm not a huge fan of Josh Howard- never have been, likely never will be- and I constantly, semi-jestingly comment "He's still playing?" whenever he comes up in a highlight or, like last week, trade, as the Mavs traded him off to the Nuggets. However, green is my favorite color and I love SN cards, and this one is clearly numbered to only 25 copies. Not really much question that I would add it to my order. And even though he's not a favorite, it's not like I've never purchased cards of him before. In trying to document the history of the sport, all people who are part of it are part of my collection. He's never been my least favorite player in the league, either.

 This is a cool card...SN 12 of 15, with a patch and an autograph on a clear panel. Unfortunately, it's bent, but it allowed it to come down into my price range. If you look really close you can see the cardboard surrounding the clear panel- the weakest part on any card like this- has a noticable bend on the top right of the panel, going to the top of the card. I don't care. I would rather have a damaged card than no card.

Bit of an orange theme going on in this post, totally unplanned, really, other than I saw the cards and felt that I needed them. I'm a fan of DeMarcus. He has a bad rap and, being honest, he brought some of that on himself in the past. However, he's genuinely trying to be a better person, and from what I've read about him off the court, he IS a good person already. The charity stuff he's done, totally behind the scenes, you wouldn't do that if you weren't a good person. Unfortunately, the NBA refs don't seem to care, and will give him a T for breathing in their general direction. The Kings traded him to the Pelicans during the 2016-17 season and in New Orleans he was finally having a chance to show how good he could be...he was voted to become an All-Star starter this year...which makes it all the more devastating that he suffered a very bad knee injury and will miss the remainder of this season and possibly even the start of 2018-19. It's been a rough couple of weeks for the NBA- 7 season ending injuries, and least two that WILL keep a player out for the start of next year, and one that might have even been career ending- so bad that NBA TV blurred the replay because it was so gruesome. I don't know what's going on in the NBA right now to cause this, but there's starting to be a feeling of just hoping you can get through a game with no major injuries. I kind of got sidetracked there. This card is SN to only 60 copies, and is only my third card from the 16-17 Totally Certified set, and first parallel.

I still have two more posts to show everything from this Christmas present, stay tuned!

Just because! (A mixture of everything)

While most of my posts about my biggest COMC order have covered various specific projects I've been working on, there were some cards I purchased just because...mostly because they were cheap, and I didn't have them. A few of them I purchased for the simple fact that they were the cheapest cards available in hockey...would have done that for NBA and NASCAR as well but I already had the cheapest cards available.

This post will be a mixture of NBA, NHL, NASCAR

...Struggling not to hum the "And the Rest" line from the Gilligan's Island theme...

When I found out in December of 2016 that father/son NBA duo Stan and Kevin Love were actually distant cousins, I had to get the first card shown here, as it shows both of them. While I was at it, I picked up Stan's 1972-73 Topps card, which completes my Topps flagship collection of his...a grand total of 2 cards. He only has one more from his playing career but it's a regional oddball promo and COMC has never even had one for sale, let alone currently available.

2015-16 Upper Deck Foil. Chosen for the picture.

 2007-08 Topps Chrome. Hill had been missing from my collection. This card has been waiting for me since November 2016.

2006-07 Topps Chrome 1996-97 Throwback. A 10 card partial parallel, this is my second. I fully expect to complete the series via COMC at some point in the not too distant future.

I just wanted to see what the blue holofoil looked like in person.

A player I needed for my collection. He actually got a card in the original Bread for Health set, a vintage oddball set not in my collection that I would love to add one day. He passed away at age 87 just three months after this card was issued.

 I thought this would complete my set but I'm still missing Galen Young.

Slowly working on getting all the Action Packed promos. Note that this car appears to be missing the spoiler.

 I had no idea this card, from 1994 Action Packed (perhaps my favorite NASCAR set) existed, until I saw it for sale on COMC. Not many cards depicting a Legends car. It is the only card she ever got.

I had the gold foil version so I had to get the red one too.

 Members Only parallel. Kicking myself for not joining the Topps club back in the day.

 I wanted an NHL refractor, so I bought the cheapest two on COMC.

 Green has always been my favorite color, and I didn't have any of the green parallels from 2011 Element. Now I've got two!

Completed 2013-14 Hoops! Interestingly, I purchased this card on COMC from someone I'm friends with on Facebook.

I really have no idea what this is but I HAD to have it!

I didn't have any of the hobby version of the 2007-08 Ultra set so I got the cheapest one.

This was the next to last card I added to the order, chosen because the Bullets jersey shown here is rare on cards, and I will probably use it for my impending Uniform History post.

Thought this was a neat photo.

This completes the 1996 SI for Kids set.

 Although the above two stickers use the exact same design, they are from two different years. Once again they combine two teams onto one card meaning I can't count this as a Nets card. The Hawks I can due the other sticker being the NBA logo.

 1994-95 Fleer European, my first card from the set.

 First card of Honka, I thought he had a funny name.

 Purchased because it was the cheapest NHL card on COMC.

My first eTopps card of any sort, although the Greg Oden card got posted first. This was the first card out of the COMC order, and coincidentally the last to be posted, and you are stuck with a picture instead of a scan because of that stinking holder Topps has it in. How I loathe them. The 2003 eTopps set was the only set Topps ever did for NASCAR, and I didn't know it existed until I saw it listed on the Trading Card Database. I had to get one. I wanted to get one that had been removed from the holder but Biffle was cheaper so I went that way. The cards, clearly, are printed with Refractor technology. It is not serially numbered. 

And now, finally, the largest COMC order I've ever made has now been fully documented on Cardboard History. It took me a lot longer than I expected...I began posting them in August, and it's now November 1st. My original plan was to post these daily while I was in Lake George, so I could keep the blog going while I was away from my scanner for 11 days. Instead, it took me into 4 months. That means I'm actually going to have to start writing posts again, as I wrote these all in August! I already have 15 cards waiting at COMC for the next order...I may not do such a breakdown like I did here, but then again...I might...because I sure did enjoy this whole process.