Collecting by Opportunity

I consider myself a collector by opportunity. I have so many sets I'm working on, so many concepts I'm working on, that there is ALWAYS something to collect. So I like to sort by lowest price and pick off as many cards as I can before I run out of money.  

                                             

This card is from 1948-49 Bowman, and is the only card Howie Dallmar ever got. 

From 1953-54 Parkhurst, my 3rd oldest hockey card.

1994-95 Service Line, an NBA set I didn't know existed. The fact that it was only available in Europe is no excuse! 

A standalone inset from 1995 Upper Deck

I've always rooted for Bobby Dotter...mostly because he was car #08. So when I saw this autograph I had to get it.

One of the earliest relic cards ever made. This single card insert is from 1996 Pinnacle. 

Searching by SN -> lowest price is one of my favorite things to do so you will see a lot of them in this post, and they will appear in chronological order of release. 

Autographs are usually more expensive so I don't get as many of them but I still will when I can. 

This is a parallel of an insert, an Emerald Proof, with green foil. Each driver in the insert got three cards, and you could fit them together to make a larger image. 

I have no idea where this card came from.

The other side has a tire from Harvick.

I probably could have put the eTopps cards in the promo thread.

Red flag! 

My favorite autograph insert ever. I would really love to complete this set of any other, but I don't think it will ever happen. I lack some of the biggest names, like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, still. I pulled the Dale Jr. from this set from a single pack purchase, still my favorite pull ever. 

I had no idea this was going to look so cool when I got it. The relic piece appeared black on COMC, but it's actually shiny chrome. 

A fairly generic insert card, which I got because it's one of only 2 Chicago Stags cards ever released. 

Raced used, SN and shows the car...doesn't get much better than that. 

When I was searching SN by lowest price, this card of Damir Markota came up, and since I knew he was somebody missing from my collection, it was an easy choice to add this one to my account. 

I really like how the background for the material is black, which shows off the holes in the jersey better. Believe it or not but this is a base card from this set.

I liked this card so much I bought two copies! 

Loved the Platinum parallels in Press Pass. 

It's hard to see but this card is numbered to 25 copies. Look on his left sleeve.

I really like the 2013-14 Contenders set.

I now have two of the many parallels of this card. I guess I'm building a rainbow. Being more than happy to collect cards of prospects that didn't "make it" opens up some nice cards. 

Green Flag prizm parallel, this is both race used and numbered. 

I wish Compendium was actually available to buy in packs.

Not the greatest photo, but a 29 cent addition to my set build.

I am working on this set slowly but surely. 

This is a Fast Break parallel. 

This is a Fast Break Parallel  of the Retro Series insert. It's kind of jarring to see this technology used on a Buffalo Braves card, but that's actually what drew me to it in the first place.

When I got this card, I thought it was my first of him, but I was mistaken. 

This card, besides being SN 01/25, holds a little more meaning than that. When I began collecting hockey officially, it was the end of the 2016-17 season. 2017-18 was my first full season, and the very first card I pulled out of the first pack of my first season was the base version of this card. 

I don't remember how much I paid for this but knowing me it wasn't much. Nice patch. 

Green parallel and SN5, and a car photo. Win all around!

Two big pieces of sheet metal here. 

My only card of him.

Erik Jones must not be too popular because his relics are not too expensive.

Never been a huge fan of Wally's but a great shot of the 1997 car there. 

Super sparkly, the scan doesn't do it justice.

My love of the UD Exclusives parallel is well known. I'll get any that I can afford.

Action Packed should be embossed...not just a photo with a filter run over it. 

I was inspired to add a card of her to my collection after hearing how she was helping to free a man wrongly convicted for murder.

My only hat headband relic

When I first got into the sport Rusty was a favorite of mine and I am glad to add this autograph to my collection.

and finally my first card of Cody Ware. 
 

Some interesting COMC additions that don't fit the other posts

Some cards, they don't fit a specific quest. But they must join the collection all the same.  I'll start with NASCAR, cover the NBA and end with Non-Sports and other sports.

Would you look at the size of that patch? it's now one of my largest! It's part of the Shell from Shell/Pennzoil logo.

 This one completes the insert set for me! To the Maxx was a special series of Racing Champions cars and cards, and I loved them when new. I could never find this Mark Martin though, and while I was able to eventually get the car- it was the Premier version, which came with a different card. I finally hunted it down on COMC.

 A few years back a friend gave me a winning set of 2000 Cup Chase, but it wasn't the Champion set, so I needed this tire card to complete the insert set. Found it on there, and added it. Interestingly, it uses the design of a 2001 insert despite being from the 2000 set.

 The Element of the Race set from 2009 Element features pieces of actual race used flag. I now have a yellow flag of Dale Jr. that I pulled from my box, and this JPM from COMC. I'd like to get at least one example of each flag color, but they are not all that common to come across.

 2009 Press Pass is my favorite Press Pass flagship, and I'm slowly working towards completing the Platinum set, which is SN to 100 cards. It's 220 cards so I probably won't, but I look every chance I get.

 A four time NASCAR Champion, first ballot Hall of Famer autograph, for under $2? Yes, please!

 Although Chemung is hours away from me, there aren't a lot of NASCAR drivers from New York, so I always rooted for the Bodine brothers. Of the three, Geoff is the second to show up on an autograph in my collection...now to find one of Brett. I got Todd's back around 1999. This photo is from 1995, the card from 2016.

Both pieces of sheet metal are pretty darn cool, AND the SN is 34/49, making this only my third door number SN card in my collection, I believe! With almost 5000 SN cards (yes I'm addicted) that's remarkably rare.

 The 1995-96 Upper Deck Electric Court Gold cards are pretty rare- one per box- and it's a 360 card set. Completing them would be pretty much impossible. Terrence Rencher here brings me to almost completing his entire collection. He has only three NBA cards, the base Upper Deck Card, the Electric Court, and the Electric Court Gold. I actually need the Electric Court, which was one per pack, to have them all.

 I didn't even realize this set HAD a blue parallel until I saw it for sale. Jason Maxiell is somebody I collect because I remember reading in his rookie interview in Beckett that he listed building model cars as his hobby. I do that as well! So I try to pick up cards of him when I can.

 Always liked Baron Davis.

 We really need more team cards! I wish Panini didn't give every photo a yellowish tinge in 2010-11 Donruss, because it pretty much killed what would have been an otherwise great set.

They call this a Scope Prizm. It's really cool looking in hand!

This is actually a parallel of the base card, and features a piece of ball used at the Rookie Photo Shoot...possibly even the same ball used in the photo, since this photo is also from that same shoot. They had more than one ball there, though, so who knows?

 Chub! Lousy Chub night! I got this card pretty much solely because of that part of that one Simpsons episode.

 A color parallel from 2012 Panini Americana. SN as well.

 A holofoil parallel from 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary, showing one of my favorite sets.

 A mini card from 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp. My first card from the set...I had to get this one because of my years of collecting 1/64 cars. These were made specially for the movie, but the wheels and tires on the silver car are taken without modification from a modern Matchbox issue!

 Speaking of 1/64 cars, here's a promo from the 1999 Hot Wheels set. I bought the complete base set at a card show circa 2000 but never got any of the inserts.

Here's a piece of movie-worn leather from Thor Ragnarok, also my first card of the set. Unfortunately UD has been making the Marvel Cinematic sets hobby only lately, which means I can't get any. I've picked up a few off COMC but that's not really very much fun.

 My first card from the Press Pass NHRA set of 2005. I remember seeing blasters of this and not buying it, because it wasn't NASCAR. Now I regret that.

 Don't have many orange Bobcats materials.

 This is great- a piece of Santa hat! And it sticks out really far from the card. Fun, fun card.

 OK, this is not a sports card, but it's in a multi-sport set. I also got the Mini Mono blue back version of the same card.

 Another Santa Hat card, but this one isn't as fun because it doesn't stick up off the card.

 A got a premium relic of him last COMC order, so why not an autograph too?

 If you remember the tire commercial where an archer shot the tire and they drove around afterwords, this is the woman who shot the arrow. Also an Olympian.

 Another relic from an Olympian, even if not an Olympics set.

 Definitely, without question, my first neon pink relic.

 A serially numbered Terry parallel from a Panini promo set I'd never see otherwise.

 Surfing's an Olympic sport now.

 My second card of my first athlete who's last name starts with X. Don't forget, in China, they put surname (last name) first.

 Another Panini promo set I'd never see if not for COMC.

 Ryan Blaney is a great guy. Impossible to not like him. Dressed as Princess Leia/Jabba's Slave outfit for Halloween this year.

 I got this one because I was hoping her surname also started with X, but no such luck, Lin is her family name. Good thing I like the Goodwin Champions set and relic cards anyway, and she's somebody new to my collection, so I'm not unhappy.

This is actually a baseball card...it depicts the car (probably the restoration) that Buddy Baker drove to over 200 miles per hour at Talladega in 1969, the first time that had happened in NASCAR. (it was at a test, but still official). Now, the cars could go up to 225 or more if NASCAR hadn't taken steps to prevent that, but hitting 200 MPH is still a weekly occurrence except for a couple of tracks. In 1969, it was a huge deal. I saw this card get scanned and posted to the Trading Card Database just days after my last shipment, and I went to COMC and bought it instantly. It's been waiting for me since August 2018, but finally is mine!

I thought I had finished posting the COMC Christmas present posts, but I found this one still in my drafts. Oops!