May 2017 Trade Recap

It wasn't as many trades as April, but I still pulled off a couple.

First came from Trading Card Database member GoSkins16-0, and was broken up into 2 parts- cards from 2012-13 and a big batch of 1994-95 Flair. 39 cards worth of the latter set!

The two main highlights with this Pat Durham card above, and the only card Chris Childs got in his rookie season, which you have already seen on Nothing but Nets. Durham is one of those rare players, he got only two NBA cards, in 1994-95 Fleer and this card, I now have both!

There were even a couple of the USA Basketball subset, which were short printed to a degree.

Here's another base card, just because I felt like scanning it. You know I favor pinstripe jerseys.

From 2012-13, a season I consider important as it was the season I got back into the NBA- and the last season before Panini started to ditch real cards and just go super high end.
I got a bunch of 2012-13 Panini, my second favorite set of the season, which brings me to one card short, Anthony Davis's rookie card.

I got the last veteran card I needed for Prestige. This set is important as my first cards in my collection of Steph Curry and Kevin Durant came from this set, two of my five favorite players in the NBA today. Lots of other players, too, but those are the big ones. All I have left to chase now are short printed Rookies and second year players that Panini decided to call rookies.

I also got two cards from Past & Present but I didn't get them scanned in time.
Most of what I got, though, were Rookies and 2nd year but labeled as Rookie cards from Panini Marquee. 35 of them to be exact, and one of the retired players included in the set to boot. That year they issued the RC and not really but called RC anyway cards in 5 different styles, in various stages of rareness. (The rarest, of which came one per box and none in this trade, was leather)
Here's an example of each that came in the trade.

 Legend

 Swirlorama (my favorite style)

 Black

 Die Cut

PETG

As you can see from the cards shown, there is some star power present too. Damian Lillard won Rookie of the Year that year, and Isaiah Thomas, the 60th and final pick of the 2011 draft, has since become a superstar with the Celtics. I got TWO of his!

With the PETG plastic cards, they are printed on white plastic card stock but the Rookie word is clear. Very hard to pull a good scan off of.

What's unusual about the Marquee set is that each class of RC or not quite but still called RC are part of the base set, making it the largest set Panini has ever produced for the NBA. The Biyombo card shown here is card #500, for example. The set is 540 cards long, but only has 100 true base cards, unfortunately. Instead of this wasted space on giving multiple cards to people, they should have given all 450 players in the league a card instead.

I got another PWE from Sean Norris, including more Marvel cards and some cards from the Superman III movie set. I know it's a terrible movie, but if I don't have to pay for the cards, I will take them! Although not my first cards from the set, it is the first I've scanned.

 Most of what I got was from Punisher War Journal, but also one card from 1994 Marvel Masterpieces.

 And here's the scan from Superman III.

These are all in really good condition, despite the black borders on front and the red on the back. No chipping on any of the 4 cards I got. Rarity for a 34 year old card.

Sets in my Collection #19 1940 Gum, Inc. Superman

I've written about this set before, as it was one of the first added to my collection after I started Cardboard History, and it was a set I had been wanting for a long time.

As I've mentioned a few times, I'm a lifelong comic reader, having my first DC Comic read to me at 5 days old...31 years later, I'm still reading comics, although drastically fewer than I once did, they still play a big role in my life.

Comic books in their current form debuted only in 1935, although some form of comic book dates back as far as 1796. The company that would become DC Comics was the first to publish new material in 1935, and in 1938's Action Comics #1, Superman would make his debut, changing the world of comics forever. The concept of super-heroes would become the driving force of comics, so much so that other topics have mostly gone by the wayside.

This card set came out in 1940, Superman was still new at this time. This is a 72 card set, and, as far as I know, is the first card set ever based on a comic book. There are still comic-based sets being produced today.

This set was high on my wantlist for many years, and I finally hunted down 3 cards in late 2014. Some of the cards are rare and expensive, I don't think I could afford to complete it. (cheaper than actual Superman comics from 1940, however!) The entire set was reissued in the 1990s, and my local dealer that I got these from has a set of the reprints. I should probably just break down and buy the reprints.

Since I have posted front and back scans of all three cards I have before, I will just post one of each now.

Editorial note: Not really in much of a writing mood, under a lot of stress here...I've alluded to it before, and now in addition I'm worried about family which lives in the direct line of Hurricane Matthew. So I figured it was a good idea to post one of the Sets in My Collection series...this post was written November 19th, 2015, so it's been in the queue for a while.

Finally, some protection for the tall boys

I don't know what the fascination is with these oversize cards. Topps has been cranking them out since the 1960s, and Fleer/Skybox got into them in the 1990s as well. They are nearly impossible to store, and forget sorting them with your other cards of the subject! I've had examples of these tall cards in my collection since 1994 at the latest, which is when they began to issue them for NASCAR and the Superman Platinum Series came out. In that time, I've never really had good storage for them. I've had the majority of the NBA examples in pages but that wasn't good- it led to most of them getting curved or worse. I've since taken them back out, but the damage has been done.

Now, finally, there is a good way to store them. I have been looking for cases to hold these cards for years. I've even contacted the case makers to no avail. I even thought about forming a case myself out of sheet metal, but I didn't want to do that in case humidity caused it to rust or something along those lines.

And then, on my last trip into my local card shop, they were there...right in front of me. They must have just gotten them in because there were only one or two missing off the shelf space. I snapped up 12 of them and I may get some more when I go back again because even though I still have 4 untouched, I don't plan to ever stop collecting cards and surely I will get more of these oversize cards in the future.

As you can see, the NBA takes up the majority of them- three full, and the majority of the 1993-94 and 1994-95 Jam Session cards aren't in there yet. The top row is one for NASCAR, one for Star Wars, one for other assorted cars, and one for everything else. Each of the categories of holders has room to expand because I have only completed two of these oversize sets- 1993-94 and 1995-96 Jam Session, ironically neither of which is shown in the photo. An empty container is on the left.

I spent most of yesterday getting the cards rounded up from the various boxes I had them in before, and then I finally integrated my Michael Jordan tribute sets and Starting Lineup cards into my NBA collection proper. For years I considered them separate collections, but now I have them in my NBA collection- with full paper listings and counted as part of my collection. I suspect there may be more out there in my collection somewhere, for years if it wasn't part of my collection officially I didn't really keep track of it...something I regret now. When I find them I will add them in. With the Starting Lineup cards, I may not actually have them. I know I got some of the figures loose without the card. In retrospect I should have held out and gotten sealed examples. After writing Michael Jordan's name in my paper listing over 300 times yesterday, I won't complain if I don't get any new cards of him for a while.

All told, it added 463 different NBA cards to my collection, which puts me only 264 away from 80,000 different. I probably have that many in my un-opened stash already, but I'm not going to rush it. My birthday is fast approaching, in October, so maybe I will fix it so I hit 80,000 on my birthday...but in all actuality I'll probably hit the mark beforehand. I tried to hit a milestone on my birthday last year, and I couldn't read my own handwriting and my number was off, so I hit the mark a week before. Duh!

I also want to end by saying RIP to Indy driver Justin Wilson. He died yesterday as a result of a freak accident at the Pocono race held this past Sunday. (a piece of another car that crashed in front of him fell out of the sky and hit him on the head) I don't have any cards of him in my collection- I don't know if he even got any. If he did, it would have been one of the Greenlight diecast releases. I have only a handfull of them and none of him. I just wanted to say something in his memory.

22 New Sets added to my collection in one day- a new record!

While I am a set builder primarily, I know that there are many sets that are too rare or too expensive for me to ever have any hope of completing without winning the lottery, but getting at least one example from as many different sets as possible is much more within reach. Usually I can only get one or two at a time, sometimes 5 or so. But this past weekend, I got 22 new sets in one day, by far my personal record! It could only come in non-sports. There aren't that many NASCAR sets not yet in my collection, and the NBA sets I'm missing, while larger in scope than 22, tend to be the high-end, expensive sets, so it is highly unlikely that I could get 22 of them in one day.

But non-sports...the world of non-sports cards is various and expansive. There are literally thousands of sets, covering just about as many topics, and a rich history that goes back to 1879 in the USA, possibly earlier in Europe. (My oldest is, I believe, 1910, but I one of the 22 I got this day may be older...read on). Unlike the NBA and NASCAR, I don't know much about non-sports cards, comparatively. There are some areas I'm fairly knowledgeable on, like Star Wars and DC Comics. But other areas I know very little about, even subjects like history and automotive, there are so many sets that I've simply never seen or even heard of, and then there's the estoric stuff, that I love but know even less about. And that doesn't even take into account the vintage issues, the cigarette card era, etc. The more I learn, the more I enjoy, and there is more I don't know than what I do. But I love learning about them, and the best way is to add those cards to my collection!

I will show each of the 22 sets, and start with the ones I need help with.
This one is the one that intrigues me the most. It's clearly very old, but I don't know how old. The texture of the card tells me that it's 1920s or older. I don't know what exactly is going on on the card front, or what it says. I see a small 1883 at the very bottom, but I don't think that is the copyright, I think that it is actually part of the coat of arms of the company that issued the card. But I could be wrong...I really have no clue. Also, the front and back of the card are 180°, which is highly unusual...although perhaps not in Belgium?

I got 8 of the cards from this next set, which is quite clearly from Germany. The subject is military history, and while all the cards I got are WWI topics, the dealer had others as well. None cover WWII or later. I know cards were quite popular in Germany before WWII, and I wonder if these date to that time? I have no clue, but I'd love to find out. I got cards numbered as high as 264. They are small, and very flimsy. The writing style looks old but I don't know if it really is. Some are yellowed, some are not.

I don't know what country it was issued in, when it was issued, or the while checklist.

This set is from 1976, and I have it tentatively labeled "Car Fax" but I don't know more than that. The dealer had others from the set but this is the only one that was even marginally interesting.

Now, we get into the sets I can ID.
Pre-War, Arm & Hammer issued cards, including 10 series of Useful Birds of America, between 1915 and 1938. This is my first from any of the series. Series Six was issued in 1933. Considering how few early cards I have, quite surprisingly this is not my first set from 1933!

Next up comes Wings Series C. Wings Cigarettes issued several sets of plane cards, two in 1940, one in 1941 and this series, from 1942. They all use the same design. I have cards now from 3 of the four sets, missing only 1940 Series A.

Bowman issued several very important sets, including the first NBA set. Until this weekend I had only their NBA set in my collection. Three of the 22 new sets came from Bowman. (The basketball set was actually pre-NBA, but it's just easier to call it NBA as the league shown would merge with another to create the NBA)
This is a large set, 180 cards.

There were several sets issued of automotive license plates, mostly in the 1930s. This set was issued by Topps in 1950, and I got two of them.

The presidents of the US are popular card subjects, although more in the past than today. Bowman issued this set of 36 cards in 1952, and I got 19 of them! They are mostly all in poor shape, but they are mine, and that's all that matters!

The third and final Bowman set, from 1954, is US Navy Victories. This was a 48 card set, but I only got this one.

For a long time I've wanted the Topps Flags set from 1957...and this isn't that one. But it's close! Actually, I didn't know this one existed until I added them to my collection. I got 6 of them. From what I've gathered, it's from 1963 and called Flags Midgees. I have not been able to find a full checklist yet.

Brooke Bond is still issuing cards in the vintage style, or at least they were until recently. I had never heard of them until I saw some getting posted to the Database, but they do a wide range of mostly historical subjects. I hadn't had any, but I got two sets this weekend- and as it turned out, both were issued in 1969.
This one is a 50 card set of various famous people, although to be honest, I hadn't heard of this person before I got the card.

This one was issued by Brooke Bond Canada, and has round corners. I'm not generally a fan of cards with round corners, but it does prevent damaged corners most times. I love space/astronomy, I wish the dealer had more from this set...

In 1969, Man reached the Moon for the first time, and Topps created a set to memorialize that. I got two of them.

In 1974, Wonder Bread issued a set that was half DC Comics, half Warner Brothers cartoons. I got two of the DC half of the set...both are in poor shape.

John Player and Sons is a tobacco company from Great Britain. They sponsored F1 teams and issued cards. I don't know if they still do, this set is from 1975.

A Marvel set, from 1975. Art by Jack Kirby, or a copy of his. I'm not really a Marvel fan, I grew up a DC fan, but I still have several hundred of their cards....and will pick up random cards from their sets if they are cheap enough...all of them in this rundown cost me under $1.

Oddly I missed the 1991 Marvel Universe set when it was new....I have a complete 1990 set, I have some from 1992 and 1993, and I'm 6 cards away from the complete 1994 set...but no 1991. Now I have two!

An automotive set from 1991. I don't know the checklist, meaning how many or what they are. I'd like to.

Another Marvel set, from 1992. The card is actually is printed on a form of foil stock.

Had to censor this one before I could post it based on the Terms of Service, lol.

And last but not least, a set for Popeye...My favorite classic cartoon. I didn't know Popeye had cards issued, even though I was very much active in the hobby in 1994, until 2012. I am not sure if this is an insert or promo. I need to do more research!

The blue border on both front and back is the same color, but I didn't edit it properly.

And that ends my rundown of my new additions. I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed adding them to my collection!
Thanks for reading!

Set Profile: 1940 Gum, Inc. Superman. Or is it 1941?

I'll be honest, while cards are my favorite hobby, they were not my first hobby. That goes to comic books- my brother read me my first comic when I was 5 days old, and I've never stopped. That's 30 years of reading comics (or, in those early days, having them read to me). I am primarily a DC reader, but I did not follow into the "New 52"...but that's a whole other topic that does not really impact this topic at all.

This set is one that I always wanted; I don't know a whole lot about it. In fact, I didn't even know who produced it for many years. I just knew there was a Superman set issued in the Golden Age. (DC's Golden Age is 1935-55). Superman, who is of course the first superhero, was introduced in 1938's Action Comics #1, and this set was issued in 1940- or perhaps 1941. The cards themselves say 1940, but most sources say 1941. I don't know which is accurate, and would welcome clarification. It is not unheard of to prepare (and copyright) a set in one year and issue it in the next.

I was surprised when I finally got some of these that they are original; I expected them to be pastes from comic stories, but they are not! A pleasant surprise. Interestingly, the backs of the cards state the copyright owner as Superman, Inc. I do not know why this is the case, as what is now known as DC Comics was then known as National Periodical Publications. Another mystery of this set.

There were 72 cards issued in the set, and, as far as I know, there would not be another DC Comics related set until 1966...but my knowledge base of non-sports cards is not anywhere near as high as it is for the NBA or NASCAR. I only have three of the cards from the set, shown below.

This was the first card in the set I added to my collection. (All three were added the same day, September 28th, 2014). I sure would not mind having some of those prizes mentioned in the Supermen of America Club on the back!

Come to think of it, I'd love to have one of the wrappers, too. (I'm one of those people who collects empty card boxes and wrappers- all of them, in fact, not just one example!)

I almost did not get this last card- it's in rather poor shape, with several creases. But, I knew I would regret it if I walked away without it. So, I didn't!

As an aside, I'm in the middle of a snowstorm as I type this. We may get more than 10 inches. Having Superman's Heat Vision sure would make clearing the driveway much faster! :) (And yes, I know that Golden Age Superman didn't have heat vision!)