I had forgotten how much I enjoyed trading

 I stopped being an active participant on the Trading Card Database in January 2023. I started participating again in November 2025, and in January 2026 I updated my trade list and turned trading back on. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this. The randomness of not knowing what will be offered to me, the process of pulling them and shipping off my duplicates to send to someone who wants them and is willing to send me cards I want for them. 

It's been so much fun and I didn't really remember how much I enjoyed it, nor did I realize how much I missed it until I started doing it again. 

I had 15 trades going at one time, and they have started arriving. So far I've gotten a trade package every day in the mail this month except February 2nd, and I wonder if some showed up at the box- we didn't check it that day. All but two of my paper listing binders had cards that had to be written into them, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I had to use all the binders like that. It's been a long time. 

Via trading, I completed one major set (1994-95 Upper Deck NBA), completed four Insert sets (1993-94 Hoops David's Best, 1993-94 Ultra All-Rookie Team, 1995-96 Fleer All-Star Weekend and 1995-96 Hoops Slamland) and added an entirely new sport to my collection, getting my first 7 Lacrosse cards. 

Since the trades started rolling in, I've added 245 new NBA cards, 13 NASCAR, 4 NHL, 2 WNBA 5 Non-Sports, 15 MLB (All Non-sports cards from A&G) 4 NCAA basketball, 1 soccer and the 7 Lacrosse cards mentioned earlier. And I'm still waiting on more to arrive, I know for sure my NBA, NASCAR and NHL numbers will be going up. 

I love trading, and I love turning my duplicates into new cards. It's good to be back! 

This photo below shows the first 10 trades that have arrived in February alone. (Two also arrived in January). Some have been large, some have been small. All have been fun, all trades are good trades. 

March trade recap

I completed 7 trades in March, but I just realized that I never wrote up my trade recap! I did the scanning required for it over a week ago, and then never wrote it up. Mental lapse on my part. At least I got it written up in April!

All but one of the trades arrived to me on March 19th, which is my new record for most different packages in one day, which I previously covered in this post about the gifts I received, although I did forget one in that post- Gregory from the new blog Nine Pockets/The Trading Card Database sent me some old hockey Becketts and since they were not cards, they were not tracked in my Excel files I used in creating that post. Sorry!! The trades will be presented in order of my opening them.

The first trade was a single card deal with jddavis on the Trading Card Database. He has a bit of a bad reputation but this trade was fast- I told him I would not be able to send to him for over a week, and he got the card to me before I even sent out to him.

2017 Donruss #166

The very same day, I got a trade with new Database member sumboy11, which saw me get three cards- when I was only expecting one! He is a big Yankees fan and is trying to collect as many Yankees as possible, I know a lot of bloggers have a lot of excess Yankees cards to trade.

2017 Allen & Ginter World's Fair #WF-6

Next came another trade with PapaG321, again of the Database, and I got all car cards...

Lime Rock Dream Machines #165

The cards were all from the Lime Rock Dream Machines set, all from Series 2. I didn't have any from Series 2 before, but I had bought a copy of Series 1 thinking it was a complete set...only to find out when I entered them on the Database that it was only half the set.

He also sent along a cool vintage photograph:

It depicts a 1910s Ford Model T, although the picture itself was taken in the 1960s. I was not expecting the picture so this was a cool bonus!

The next trade...not sure that is going to work out yet. Spazmatastic, of NUTS and the Database, is a heavy smoker, and I am highly allergic to cigarette smell. He sent me some sealed packs to find out if the cigarette smell can penetrate the packs. The answer is yes, somewhat. I'm airing out the cards now hoping the smell will dissipate. IF they do, I will add several cards to my collection, including a Jeff Gordon promo that will complete a 25 card set regional promo for me.

The next trade was the first one that I ever started on Twitter. I'm not a twitter fan- I maintain an account because that's where the athletes and sports teams post, but I really dislike it and don't check it very often. I was checking it one day when I saw @RefsInTheBack put up a post asking if anyone traded for WNBA cards. I had decided recently that I wanted to have more of them in my collection, so we ended up putting together a 150 card trade each way. He went through my tradelist on the Trading Card Database, sent me pictures of his hand-written notes, and then I used the Database trade tools to compose the trade. So, it was kind of my first Twitter trade, and kind of my 100somethingth Database trade.

The cards came from four different sets: 2004 Ultra, 2005 Rittenhouse, 2006 Rittenhouse and 2008 Rittenhouse. Only the 2006 and 2008 sets were previously represented in my collection, and the vast majority of the players are new to me as well. Since I have been burned out/busy with my modeling hobby/scatterbrained, I've only looked at and officially added 7 of the 150 to my collection so far.

Rittenhouse really knows/knew how to do team cards the right way! I guess that makes up for using the exact same design two years in a row. I'm not sure if they still do them this good...or even at all.

2005 Rittenhouse #52

The final trade was my second with Karsal, out of Canada, on the Trading Card Database. He sent me 10 cards from the 1968 Brooke Bond History of the Motor Car set, which I did not have any of previously!

1968 Brooke Bond History of the Motor Car #42

The final trade of the month, the only one to not arrive on the 19th, arrived on the 22nd, from Database member cl_kyle. It contained the two missing automotive cards from the 1968 Amoco Winners Circle promo issue. When composing the trade, I totally missed that he had the Parnelli Jones card available.

These un-numbered promos could be used as game pieces to win a brand new 1968 Corvette or Camaro. Obviously I never had the opportunity to do that, because it was before I was born, but I probably would have been unlikely to part with the cards anyway. I mean, I'm the same person who didn't always send in redemption cards because I would have lost the redemption card itself.

April only has three trades so far, and I've done the scanning for two of them so hopefully I will get the trade recap post written before May 20th!

February 2019 Trade Recap

Another good month of trading!

The first trade arrived on February 5th, and was with frequent gifter C2Cigars. This was, in fact, our first actual trade! He sent me most of the cards I needed from his Database set.  I can't scan them, because I don't remember which box I put them into, so here's the scan of myself again (which he sent me more copies of)

(I have a very limited number of copies of my own card available for trade now)
[edit to add: I found the missing cards. But you get me anyway.]

The second trade was with Database member Flyers4Life, arriving on the 8th, which is cool because he had never done a trade before. I was his very first. I included some bonus cards to both welcome him to trading and to the Database, and he sent me 10 cards- when I only expected one! Three of them were new people for my hockey Names Project, including the one card I actually asked for-

Arriving on the same day was a 9 card trade with Database member John5150, and all but one of the cards were from the 2001-02 season, with 4 from Hardcourt, 3 from Topps Chrome, and one from Topps Pristene- a set I have not traded for in years. I am not sure if I've EVER traded for any of that set to be honest. The final card was from the 1999-00 Topps Gallery set.

The third package to arrive on the 8th was a trade from Greg of The Collective Mind, (link takes you to the post about my return package) which was mostly vintage drag racing! While my racing love goes mostly to NASCAR, I love all forms of auto racing and was very happy to add these- I didn't actually have any from the 1973 AHRA set from Fleer before then.

This is #69, Jim Nicoll. Note the El Camino! Based on where it is, it was surely the push car for one of the drag racers. Back in those days they tended to push them to the line instead of drive them. I'm not entirely sure why they did that, but my theory is that it's because racing fuel was too expensive to waste on lining up to wait your turn.

The fifth trade of the month arrived to me on the 9th and was with Database member Wadeol1. It was only his second trade and it was totally lopsided and I'm fine with that. He had three Nets hits I wanted- spotlighted by the autograph below, a player I really became a fan of until the Nets stupidly cut him- so I went big with my offer. I offered 50 cards for the three Nets, and I ended up pulling more than that, and sent them all. I couldn't decide which ones to not send. And I'm totally OK with that!

I never saw Hoops Winter available here so I didn't feel too bad about trading for another, though I did take a risk with the Contenders card- my first from the set- as it just came out recently. It's actually my only card from the set.

February 15th saw the arrival of a very lopsided trade, but this time in my favor. Trading Card Database member gregpaa asked for one moderately hard card to find, and sent me back 16! All of which were people missing from my NBA Names project- and it got me down under 300 people missing from my collection for the first time ever! It also brought the D-League players from 2005-06 Topps Chrome down to just 5 people missing- when I made the chart, those players were almost 1/3rd of it.

 this one's a Refractor

I discovered that whoever had entered the checklist of 2007-08 Topps Chrome onto the Database had put somebody else in place of Wallace. I had to fix most of the parallels, as well, of which there are several.

On February 19th, a trade arrived from Dave Switzer, which focused on this autograph card:

but included a surprise for my error collection as well!

Not only is it off-center, it's also crooked! That's not a bad scan- the card is really at an angle, but it's perfectly square, not diamond cut. Cool, two errors on one card is pretty rare. 

The second trade to arrive on the 19th was with Database member Dan Sorek, and we swapped duplicates of our cards from the C2 Cigars Trading Card Database set.

The third trade to arrive that day- actually, they all arrived together, but the third I opened- was from Database member FiresNBeers, and included 6 cards, even though I was only expecting 4. 

It was mostly Non-Sports cards from Allen & Ginter, something I really love to get but don't really chase as much as I should. Every one of them in my collection has come from a blogger or the Database. 

On February 22nd I got a quick trade with Database member mrrosado. I sent him my empty Card Savers (I was planning to throw them out) and he sent me two cards, one I was expecting-

 and one I was not, this Babe Ruth reprint. I don't know where it is from- it's probably unlicensed- but the quality of the card itself is high.

The Jay Cutler autograph is IP and he said he's not sure it's legit, it came in a lot he purchased. Remember when I said I'd take anything in trade? Well, here's proof. I actually have a small collection of Cutler cards already, he's diabetic and Chuck- C2Cigars- has sent me a few cards of him. I think this is # 4 or 5 in my collection, which is a lot for a football player. 

On February 22nd, a trade arrived from mrmike, a 1-card each way trade. But, I can't show it because it's very NSFW. Full frontal nudity...Even though I'm not a huge fan of the model (Jenny McCarthy) it was the only card on his tradelist that fit into my collection. 

The final trade of the month arrived from Database member PapaG321, and it was also the largest trade of the month- 50 cards arrived to me, and they were ALL NHL players I needed for my Names project! The eras covered a wide variety but the vast majority are early 1990s. 

The biggest name in the bunch is probably Dave Keon, from the 1991 Ultimate Original Six set,

 although I'm more familiar with a few other people, but not from their playing days- also included are my first cards of:

 current Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen and

NHL Network broadcaster Stu Grimson. Also included was my first card of current Flyers head coach Scott Gordon, but I have not gotten him scanned yet and can't push this post back any further. 

Overall, February saw 12 trades for 146 new cards added to my collection, another really fantastic month of trading! I don't know if it is my all-time record, but it's the most trades I've completed in a single month since at least 2009, which is the farthest back I can research using my feedback forms on currently active websites. March has been fairly slow by comparison- we are on the 14th as I finish typing this post up, and I just mailed out my first on Tuesday. I did mail 5 of them, all at one time though to 5 different people, and one Database member has specifically stated to wait until I receive before I send, so I will have enough for a post next month. When they arrive, it will push me past 100 documented trades on the Database- while not a specifically set goal for the year, it's nonetheless something I was specifically working for, and would have been the goal of the year if I didn't specifically have no goals.

January 2019 Trade Recap

I was pretty active in trading in January, pulling off 7 trades that netted me exactly 200 cards...from a certain point of view.

One of the only things that even came close to a goal for me in 2019 was learning how to propose a trade on the Trading Card Database. I did that, proposing 4, and all were completely successful.

The first to arrive was from Database member BeChristensen and yielded 13 cards, of which I was only expecting 10.
Included was also the last two cards I needed to complete the 1990-91 Fleer All-Stars insert, and my 92,000th NBA card.

Miller was #92,000.

The second trade to arrive was also with a Database member, Karsal, and that reached me on January 13th- we actually began talking the trade on December 31st, but since the cards arrived to me in January (slowed down by Customs as he is in Canada) it counts for January. This was 6 cards.

The third trade to arrive was the first one I proposed- both Karsal's and BeChristensen's were proposed to me. It was also a large trade, as I took in 27 cards from AirPete, who, by the way, has joined the world of blogging (Pete's Card Habit) I specifically targeted cards I needed, and I was able to add 4 new sets and 5 new people to my collection. Once again, I traded for or bought a new card, and it came back to bite me- less than a week after the trade arrived, I bought a single pack of 2018-19 Donruss and got both the Nets rookies I had traded for. I make it a habit to not buy or trade for brand new stuff, but I did it here because  I didn't expect to get to the store and get any Donruss. Then, my brother treated me to a mall trip, and I got one pack (granted, a fatpack) and got the same two cards. It's almost laughable. That's not on Pete, our trade was excellent. I'm just chiding myself for doing something I said I would not do anymore. I ended up taking every Nets card I needed that Pete had available, and I think every Knicks card as well.

 My first sticker from the 1996-97 set! I bought quite a few stickers in 1995-96, but then didn't get any more after that. Something I now regret...but since 2016-17 I have been collecting them and counting them as part of my collection. The 1996-97 season is my favorite in NBA history, and this was the only set from the season I didn't have in my collection.

I did not get any of the 2017-18 Ascension set until I traded for a bunch from Pete.

The two Nets I mentioned above.

The fourth trade was with Shawn Norris, and gave me 2 cards. Shawn and I have an agreement where he sends me cards in ones or twos and I eventually send him a bubble mailer full. Shawn does not mind taking imperfect cards so I am happy to have someone to send the damaged cards I sometimes end up with who appreciates them. This two-card package from Shawn actually showed up unannounced, as sometimes happens when trading with him. Both this trade and the one with AirPete arrived January 14th.

The 5th trade was another one I proposed, with Database member IfbBirdsCards , and yielded 6 cards, even though I only asked for 4. Ian is, I believe, the youngest member of the Database. It was my first trade with him. The trade arrived January 22nd.

The 6th and final trade was not really a trade in the traditional sense. If you remember back a year or so ago, I gave away a bunch of pages. Well, some of them went to Matthew Prigge, who is a blogger and a Database member, (Summer of '74)  Well, he sent me a large box of cards and since they were a direct result of something I sent to him, I considered it a trade, even though it was more like mutual gifting. Semantics, really. I ended up getting 144 new cards from the box he sent me, here are just a couple samples. It arrived January 23rd.

Two cards from the 1996-97 Ultra set, my favorite NBA set ever. Besides this Gold Medallion there was a base card of Jazz starting center Greg Ostertag. 

 This SN parallel of Dirk is now the lowest condition SN card in my collection, all four corners are rough. He mentioned that most of what he sent me were Goodwill finds so who knows what kind of life it's led? It's got a good home now.

Even some multi-Sport cards, two from the 4th series of SO for Kids cards, both from 2009.

The final trade of the month was the smallest, with Soldan. I was able to complete his 2018 Donruss NASCAR set, but he only had two cards I needed. I was happy to get them, my first two cards from 2018 Allen & Ginter. He had gotten injured and was in the hospital when I sent the request so his trade was the last to arrive, on January 25th.

I've already completed a couple trades in February and have more in progress. I think 2019 might turn out to be my biggest year of trading in a long while. I can't say ever because I've never kept records, and I did so many back in the old Trader Retreat days that I was voted member of the month one time, but this feels like a lot by this time of the year. I only did 27 in all of 2018 and I've already completed 11 in 2019.

December Error additions via trade

I've taken in a few Error cards in trade last month, which is the first time that's ever happened, so I wanted to give them a spotlight. You may recall that I love error cards from my Error Gallery series.

These two football cards were unexpected bonuses from Berton Russell of the Trading Card Database. We completed out first trade that month and I was pleasantly surprised to find these included. Not only are they both off center, by a wide margin, but they have the wrong player's name stamped on in foil! A double error, doesn't get much better than that!

This James Donaldson card from 1990-91 Hoops came to me from Database member Splinter_9.

Note that the other card is ALSO James Donaldson. This was my Card of the Day, and when I posted it, Chuck - C2Cigars- did some research and found out that Hoops printed at least some of the players on 4-card panels of the same player. It's interesting, but this is one of the most common NBA sets, and this is my first off-center example of the set... Although I have not been able to determine what I have to send him back yet, he will be getting a mailer from me sometime in early 2019.

I don't have many NHL errors- I have not even been actively collecting for 2 years yet- but these three are from 2013-14 Upper Deck. I got them in trade from WBaker on the Database, and I doubt he even noticed they were off center. To me, that's even better than the standard cards I was expecting! All three are shifted slightly up, with the Tlusty shifted right due to the horizontal nature of the card front. (the back is shifted up). Most noticeable on the Semin. The foil should go to the bottom of the card.

Right before Christmas I got an unexpected mailing from RJ Smith of the Database, who sent me some cool baseball errors in a Christmas card.

 Five of the 6 were off-center, and this one is clearly missing foil.

That was a very nice unexpected surprise, thank you RJ!