Canary

 At my local card show, I have come to know a few guys (customers, not dealers) that are looking for the same kinds of stuff that I am.  Of course the "stuff" I refer to is cheap boxes that are not just absolute junk.  These guys are my natural competitors, as we would all love to be left alone with these cheapie boxes to take all the good stuff for ourselves.  But in practice, that rarely happens.  Once a good spot is found by one of us, the others usually gravitate to that table, and a polite competition ensues.

Basically, it might go like this.  Say there are 4 dime boxes at the good spot.  The guy who found them tries not to call attention to them, but a few other guys soon show up.  The original guy has claim to whichever box he is currently in, but the others are fair game.  Once the boxes are all taken, any additional customers are on the outside looking in.  Everyone is courteous, always asking 'Are you done with that box' or letting the others know when a box is available.  But we are all looking through the cards pretty quickly, trying to find the diamonds so we can move on to the next section.

I call these other collectors my canaries.  Like a canary in the coal mine.  In a coal mine, toxic gasses would kill a canary before they would do the same to the miners, so you would always keep your eye on the canary.  This isn't the same at all, since watching MY canaries leads me to good things, while you would watch the canary in the coal mine to avoid bad things.  But I like the general idea, so in my mind, these guys are canaries.  Always keep your eye on the canary!

OK, big lead up for a little post!  At the last show I made it to, there were some canaries.  And the usual stuff happened.  There wasn't a ton of cheap boxes there, so we all finished our canary dance pretty early, which was good, because I had my son's soccer game I had to get to.  I was walking for the door, when I saw a couple of canaries huddled around a dealer I had never seen before.  I hurried right over and was fortunate to find an available box.

I had only 15 minutes, so I was flipping through the cards as fast as I could.  Man, I wish I had been the one to find this table, because the stacks that my canaries had out were looking very nice!  Unfortunately, I ran out of time, but I pulled 76 dime cards before I had to leave.  I am only scanning a few below, but I was very happy with what I found:

Hopkins RC, Canseco Box Bottom, Springer RC, 2 Prizm Griffeys, 2006 Bowman Futures Votto, Littlefield (not the reverse negative, but I still thought it was fun), 2nd year Betts and off-cut Mattingly RC.  Just fun stuff!

It's not the 92 Bowman Rivera, but COMC still lists this as a Rivera RC.  Not sure why, but it is sure cool!  There were 2 copies of this card in the box, but I only grabbed one since I didn't know exactly what it was.  And a 74 Mays for a dime???  Wow!

A graded Fred Lynn RC!  For a dime!!  Made me feel good.

And the card of the box for me...

Kershaw Stadium Club RC!!

The whole canary thing sounds pretty goofy, now that I write it down.  Anyone else got any card show canaries?

Flash Freebie #7 - Vintage-ish or modern

 Making a twist to this flash freebie, so read before you comment!

Rules:

1. First to leave a comment stating whether they want the vintage-ish card or the modern card gets the card of their choice.  If you try to claim both cards, your comment will not be eligible for the win!

2. If you have ever picked a Flash freebie from me, you are no longer eligible.  One per person! The eligibility is reset!  Anyone can pick, even if they have received a flash freebie before.

3. When you claim it, send me your mailing address in an email.  My email address can be found in my profile on the sidebar.

The chosen card will go out 'as is', and in a simple PWE.  If condition is a concern, look closely before claiming.

The seventh flash freebie:

Modern:2020 Leaf Draft Fernando Tatis Jr

Vintage-ish:1974 Topps Johnny Bench - Soft corners and a light crease through the middle of the card from top to bottom.  The crease is tough to see in the scan.

I plan on doing several of these kinds of 'pick one' flash freebies.  The unpicked cards will go into a pot that I may do something with down the road.

Flash Freebie #6 - Vintage-ish or modern

  Making a twist to this flash freebie, so read before you comment!

Rules:

1. First to leave a comment stating whether they want the vintage-ish card or the modern card gets the card of their choice.  If you try to claim both cards, your comment will not be eligible for the win!

2. If you have ever picked a Flash freebie from me, you are no longer eligible.  One per person! The eligibility is reset!  Anyone can pick, even if they have received a flash freebie before.

3. When you claim it, send me your mailing address in an email.  My email address can be found in my profile on the sidebar.

The chosen card will go out 'as is', and in a simple PWE.  If condition is a concern, look closely before claiming.

The sixth flash freebie:

Modern: 2020 Topps Stickers - Home Run Heroes - Mike Trout, Willson Contreras
Vintage-ish: 1973 Topps #472 Lou Gehrig

I plan on doing several of these kinds of 'pick one' flash freebies.  The unpicked cards will go into a pot that I may do something with down the road.

Flash freebie

 Got this idea from Jon at A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts. Flash freebies!

Rules:

1. First to comment that they want it gets it.

2. If you have ever picked a Flash freebie from me, you are no longer eligible.  One per person!

3. When you claim it, send me your mailing address in an email.  My email address can be found in my profile on the sidebar.

These will go out 'as is', and in a simple PWE.  If condition is a concern, look closely before claiming.

The fifth flash freebie, from one of my all-time favorite insert sets!

1997/98 Topps Rock Stars #16

I have this set completed.  Some of the cards in my set are refractors, but I don't care about the mix and match.  I'll NEVER be able to get the whole set as refractors, but what I have is cool enough for me.  Glad I completed it years ago before the Jordan became completely unattainable!  But I have one Malone in my set, and another in my personal collection.  This third copy is up for grabs!

That said, most of the rest of the cards in this set, I would gladly take a second copy if anyone has any they aren't hanging on to.

I don't know how many of these freebies I will end up doing, this is an experiment for me to see if I can keep myself doing giveaways as long as I can.  But I have to feel good about it, so I will try this method out!

The card is already in an envelope, ready to be mailed.  Just need someone to claim it!

A couple of appreciated deliveries

 After a month or so with no cards in my mailbox, I received unexpected incoming cards on back to back days!  Made my day(s)!

The first cards were from the Nocturnal and Silent Carnivorous Bird, AKA Night Owl.  If I remember correctly, I had commented that I liked both of these cards he sent when he posted them on his blog.  Someone reads my comments?  And then is so generous to send me the cards I comment on?  Wow!  Anyway, here is what he sent...

2021 Topps Stadium Club - Oversized Master Photo Variation Topper - Fernando Tatis Jr.

2021 Topps Stadium Club - Virtual Reality - Mike Trout

Both very cool cards that Night Owl evidently didn't need, neither of them being Dodgers.  I remember commenting about the Tatis, something about comparing the 'Master Photo's from 2021 to the old ones from the early 90s.  Having only seen them in scans on a blog, I assumed that they were similar in size to those older versions.  It appears that I was wrong, as you can see from the side by side scan above, they are wider than a standard card, but also shorter.  Still very cool, but not what I was expecting!

Here is a scan of the Tatis along side one of the original Master Photo's from back in the day.  Mucho smaller!

Then the next day, I got an envelope from Brendan, AKA Elliptical Man.  Another unexpected windfall!  And again, as is common with bloggers, The Semi-Circular One didn't just throw random cards at me, but had paid attention to things I had written in the past and tailored his gift accordingly.

Two very nice DK Metcalf RCs!  I gotta say, I think my daughter likes these more than I do, she is a pretty big DK fan.  She especially liked the one with the Seahawks uniform.

Extremely generous guys, thank you so much!

On a completely unrelated note, this name, Elliptical Man.  Elliptical can refer to the ellipse, a special kind of oval, or a way of writing/communicating that is short and may leave out parts.  I have been using the oval definition in my head, but maybe that was a mistake.  Elliptical Man is pretty terse in his writing style.

Which is it Brendan?????  What's the significance of the name?

Flash freebie 4

  Got this idea from Jon at A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts. Flash freebies!

Rules:

1. First to comment that they want it gets it.

2. If you have ever picked a Flash freebie from me, you are no longer eligible.  One per person!

3. When you claim it, send me your mailing address in an email.  My email address can be found in my profile on the sidebar.

These will go out 'as is', and in a simple PWE.  If condition is a concern, look closely before claiming.

The fourth flash freebie.

1994 Coors Brewing Colorado Silver Bullets - Phil Niekro

Don't know if anyone cares about this kind of card, but hey, COMC has one on sale for $120, LOL!! That COMC seller may be a little off on the value of this card!!   But here you could get it for free, if you are fast enough.

I don't know how many of these I will end up doing, this is an experiment for me to see if I can keep myself doing giveaways as long as I can.  But I have to feel good about it, so I will try this method out!

The card is already in an envelope, ready to be mailed.  Just need someone to claim it!