Forget the Dime Box #2 - Quarter Box Finds

OK, so in yesterdays post, I teased a mislabeled box at a card show.  Here are some relics and autos I grabbed from it as a teaser:

Here's the story:

One of the dealers I frequent at our monthly show had quarter boxes out.  Not only is this dealer (I'll call him cooldealer) a good guy with great prices, but I'm a sucker for the cheap stuff, so I wandered over and started perusing the boxes with a couple of other regulars.

A minute after I got there, another dealer (I'll call him psychodealer) a few tables down made a little grab for business.  He does this all the time, calling over to people he knows and saying things like "I got some great stuff today", and "come on over, I have something for you".  He had enticed me to come over the show before by telling me he had a dime box that he had put some extra good cards in.  "Better than a normal dime box", was how he put it.  So I had gone over and pulled out about 20 cards.  When I took them up to pay, psychodealer grabbed them and went through them.  He pulled out 4 of them and said he couldn't let me have them for dimes but quoted a much higher price.  I didn't want the hassle, so I put back the non-dime cards, paid and left.  But it left a sour taste in my mouth.

So when psychodealer called out and tried to get some of us to come look at his stuff, I told the story to cooldealer.  I told him that I wouldn't probably look at the pushy guys cards again and he said he would feel the same way.  So I continued with the quarter boxes...

At first I only found a couple of cards I liked and was on the verge of leaving for some dime boxes on the other side of the show.  But then I started finding good stuff.  Or at least interesting stuff to me.  The stack of cards I wanted was growing high!  I put a cool card on the stack and cooldealer made a slightly confused look.  I didn't think much of it.  I put a few more on the stack and he came over and looked at my stack and another guys.  He mumbled something about "these aren't all my quarter stuff", and wandered off.  I was thinking, is he serious?  and, why doesn't he pull the box then?  I stopped and went over to talk to him.  I asked if they were really higher end cards and he said that some of them looked like stuff he would have asked more for.  I told him to grab the box and re-sort.  He was hesitant, and I realized that the story I told about psychodealer renegotiating on the fly might have something to do with it.  That made me feel like crap!  I told him that didn't apply here, this was an honest mistake!

So I pushed a little harder and he agreed to pull stuff out of the box.  I was really glad.  He's a good dealer and I hated to see him feel crappy.  I pulled out some of the cards I had pulled, the really obvious stuff and took it to him.  He tried to refuse, but I told him I still had more that should come out.  We settled on him taking back some cards, but me keeping some for quarters.  I could tell he felt good about it.

I gave him a few extra dollars and will be giving him my business every show.  I turned out good, but it was very uncomfortable for me while it happened.

So here are some examples of the kind of stuff I got.  They aren't really all that awesome, but some are right up my alley!

I don't know what this is exactly.  It is thick, printed on glass and has a white film on the back that looks like you can peel it off.  Anyone know?  I got a few other great basketball cards, but I put them away and am too lazy to get them out for scanning.

The Bradshaw is a little dinged up but is cool.  Maybe it would have been in the quarter box legitimately?  The Harrison #d /88 is really nice in person.

 I didn't have a Ray Lewis RC.  This one is kind of ugly, in my opinion.  But for a quarter, I'm glad I grabbed it.

The Tulo is probably my favorite from the haul.  The scratchy look is all on the plastic case.  The Votto probably isn't a real RC, but it is a cool mini, and Votto is underrated in the hobby.

I love the Avant SP's from Fleer Showcase.  They're beautiful and cool to feel.  A refractor RC of Longoria!  Totally cool.

I got about 20 cards I think were great deals.  And I did the right thing, at least I think I did.  Its a win-win.

Forget the Dime Box - Quarter Box Finds

Recently I posted a couple of Dime Box Finds posts.  Don't worry, you can expect more of those soon.

But today its quarter box time!  Yes indeed, I am a High Roller!!  Here's today's quarter box finds!

I'm most happy with the Aaron.  It's not mint by any means, but it's a 43 year old card of Hammerin Hank Aaron!  Quarter well spent.

The Neil Ramirez, I don't know anything about. I remember seeing something about a Heritage minors set, and other stuff about tinted SP cards.  So I gambled two bits on this.  Anyone care to give more info on that?

As for the early Cabrera, the Jeter reprint and the DiMaggio Triple Threads, they're just icing on the cake.

More quarter box stuff next, along with a story of mislabeled cards at a card show.  Stay tuned!

More Dime Box Finds

More fun for cheap, AKA my collecting wheelhouse, AKA dime boxes!

Today we have 2 TCMA issues from the 70's.

On the left, one of the All Time Greats (in the 'my favorite goofy looking players' collection), The Sphinx, Don Mossi!!  And on the right, one of those 'one name wonders', Rocky!  Usually when you can get away with only one name its because you are famous.  So I figured this was Rock Colavito or someone I'd heard of.  Nope, its Rocky Nelson, AKA Glen Richard Nelson.  He had a 12 year career mostly in the 50's.  He never played more than 98 major league games in a season, had 31 career HR and a .249 batting average.  On the plus side, he won a World Series with the Pirates in 1960 and was a major success as a minor league player.  For example, in 1958, he had a line of  43 HR, 120 RBI, .326 BA for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Plus, you know his mother loved him.

I am unsure why T.C.M.A. made a card of him in 1974.

Both cards have a place in my collection!!

PWE Hockey Anyone?

It seems like Hockey cards have made a big push in the blogging community lately, at least on many of the blogs I frequent.  I don't collect hockey, but from time to time, I end up with a few.  Like these:

The Gretzky is a sample card...

I don't need them!  So I plan to put them in a PWE (keepin it cheap!) and send them off to the first person who comments that they want them.

Any takers?

December Refractor Report

I have done it. 1000 refractors was the goal and here's what I ended up with:

967 Baseball
87 Basketball
81 Football
1135 Total

First, I'd like to thank December's contributors, Wes of JayBarkerFan's Junk who sent me 33 and Michael from The Card Raven who sent the last 6 refractors I added to the project this year.  Thanks guys!!

The support from the blogging community was overwhelming!  This has been a really tough year for me personally, and blogging could easily have been one of the things that got cut.  But the stream of cards coming in trades and just out of the blue, along with the comments, encouragement and even shout outs on some of your blogs was a breath of fresh air and a real motivator.  I'm not one of the 'big' card blogs by any means, but I feel like a member of a community even though I've met only one other blogger in person.  Anyway, it means something to me to be a part of this and it makes a difference in my life.  So thanks for that.

On to the refractor talk!

Of the 1135 refractors:

-2011 Topps Chrome (baseball) had the most with 177.  I thought about trying to put together the 220 card set, but after dupes came out, I only have 128 cards, 92 short.  I might anyway...someday.

-I have 25 Uncirculated refractors (horrible pic, sorry!)

-If you lay them end to end, they would reach almost exactly from my house to my local card shop!  OK, this one is obviously fake.  I don't even have a local card shop!  But they would reach 331 feet, longer than a football field!!

-About 165 are 'x-fractor' types ranging from simple X-fractors to Atomic refractors.

-I'd estimate that about 120-160 are serial #'d.  The lowest I found in a quick search is this 2009 Bowman Chrome Bobby Abreu /25.

I really wanted to show them all in a cool and unique way. I failed. I tried laying them out, but couldn't get a good shot.   So you have to settle for a simple 'in the box' shot: (horrible pic #2, sorry!)

What will I do with them?  This and that.  Some will be liquidated to fund this year's project, still to be unveiled.  Maybe some will make their way into your hands.  I don't know for sure, but its been a fun ride.

Dime Box finds

I grabbed these out of a dime box at last months show.  So what, says you?

Well, these happen to be my first Topps Tiffany cards!  These are 85 Topps Tiffany, of which Topps said it made only 5000 sets.  Pretty rare for those days!!

More Dime Box and Quarter Box finds coming soon...

Stan

There has been a huge number of Earl Weaver/Stan Musial posts, but I need to do another.  And as you can tell from the title, I'll be focusing my attention on Stan the Man. 

Earl Weaver was a great baseball man and he will be missed.  I only know what I have read about him, but he seemed a driven, humorous, abrasive and intelligent man.  He meant a lot to many players (including one of my favorites, Eddie Murray) and his franchise.  I don't want to take anything away from him.

Stan Musial was the complete package.

He was voted the player of the decade of the 40's.

He had 3630 hits, 4th most all time.

He had the respect of the African American players of his time, while they were going through the extremely tough integration process.  Willie Mays said yesterday, "He used to take care of me at All-Star games, 24 of them. He was a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could. Again, a true gentleman on and off the field -- I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever."

Everyone who met him and got to know him seemed to have similar things to say about him.

And he is the undisputed face of the Cardinals franchise.  I took my son to a Cardinals game a few years ago and he got a look at the Cardinals history.  They have a great stadium and really focus on their whole history, not just the current team.  This was a unique chance for my son, because we live in Washington state and he won't likely get to St. Louis anytime soon.  He was a huge Albert Pujols fan at the time.  Nobody compared to Pujols for him.  But by the time we left, after all that he saw and several conversations with St. Louis natives, he understood that even if Pujols had stayed, he'd have had a hard, hard time ever replacing Musial as 'The Man".

R.I.P. Stan.

Here are a few of my most treasured Stan Musial items.

Jaybarkerfans Junk - Twice the Fun

So a few days back, I got a package from Wes at Jaybarkerfans Junk.

If you don't know already, Wes is the MAN!  He has been sending out random PWE bombs all over the place.

In this lovely package, I received three hits.  See the top row below:

What are those other vintag-y cards in the scan then?

Well, 2 days later, I got ANOTHER PWE from Wes!  PWE vintage!!

Thanks a ton Wes!

Return of the King

Super cheesy post title?  Check!

But it is time to return.  To blogging.  I haven't posted since the end of my big December contest.  A lot has happened in that time, some good, most not so good.  Here is what you can expect in the coming days:

1. Refractor Recap - I met my goal of 1000 refractors for the year, now I just need to post all about it
2. Goals for 2013 - I'm a bit late to this party, but I do have a couple things that I want to make public

Short and sweet!