Show stuff - prices out of whack?

Recent card show finds...

This was a in a 50 cent box.  Maybe it's not even worth that.  But I had a moment where I just thought it would be fun to own a graded Nolan Ryan!

Some more...

These 4 were in quarter boxes (top 2) and 50 cent boxes (bottom 2).  Wonderful deals, especially with that Ichiro being numbered /46.  Cards of pitchers hitting have become a lot more common lately, but that Koufax is a gem to me.  Maybe I need a refractor of that...

When I was looking that Koufax up, I found this 'card'.  I didn't know these existed, but I really like that one!!

If anyone wants to send me this Koufax, or the Hank Aaron, Mark McGwire or any other nice looking card from this 'oversized' parallel set, go for it!

The Papa Vlad card above got me thinking about how I now have more Vlad Jr cards in my collection than Vlad Sr.  Possible post about that in the future.  But it also got me thinking about how out of whack the hobby pricing can be.  That Vlad above is numbered /10000, which is high today, but those are hard to find now.  I got it for 50 cents.  On COMC.com, there are 8 of them, starting at $2.64.  And I grabbed a Vlad Jr. card that really doesn't do much for me for comparison:

Now, this is the current market, but in my tiny, old man mind, there is no way in the world that these two cards should be similar prices.  I'd sure love to find trading partners who would trade me for my extra Vlad Jrs, and give me sweet stuff like that Rooke Diamond Kings card in return!

Custom coolness from Gavin

 I'm sure everyone who reads this blog also reads Baseball Card Breakdown by Gavin, but if not, he's a much better blogger than me, so check it out!  As everyone who does read him knows, he's also much more creative than me, with his many hand made customs as evidence.

We recently worked out a quick and easy (in person!!!) swap where I ended up with a whopping seven of Gavin's creations!

And while my scanner and camera pretty much fail to capture the excellence of these cards, I hope you can at least get a sense of the kind of work he does:

Go out and compare those to the originals.  A few of these just don't show well at all, especially top right and bottom middle, which are clear cut acetate-like cards!  I also LOVE the attention to detail Gavin put into the bottom middle card, adding a perfectly positioned 'top' to McGwire's bat that sticks out the top of the card.  Just great.

A couple more picture attempts here, which also pretty much fail:

Excellent shiny and tons of fun!  The acetate card shows a lot better here, I like the texture to the clear section.

And to top it off, the last of the seven was a bobble-head like creation!

And another angle...

So awesome and hilarious!  It reminded me of a stand up thing one of my old co-workers made of me, playing on the company softball team many years ago:

Gavin, thanks a bunch for the trade!!

I went to spring training and all I got was a Yankee

 Yep, I went to spring training for a couple of days in the Phoenix area.  It was my brother's way of helping me get away from my recent stress, I think.  He insisted on paying for most everything, which both was great, and kind of stunk.  I think you know what I mean.  

We saw the Mariners-White Sox and Giants-Rockies.  Not the most exciting teams, but we just wanted to see some ball.  Got to watch some batting practice up close, Julio Rodriguez mostly.

It was a great time.  One of the things my brother insisted on buying was a couple of packs of the new Topps flagship.  Since I don't buy packs, it was my first close up look.  I guess I agree with the majority of people I have heard, that the new design is kinda cool.  Mostly I just like that it is different, and not so boring as the last few years.

I didn't get much in my packs, but it is strange to me that I finally, after so many years of hearing about him, now have a Jasson Dominguez RC!!  Lol!

Unpacking finds

 Unpacking all my cards and slowly reorganizing them has been kind of fun.  I've poked my nose in corners of my collections that I haven't been in for a while.  I have found cards I thought I had lost, and cards that I don't really need.  I am sure anyone who has collected knows those feelings.

***Skip this part if you just want to see the cards, just scroll down to the break!!!

The reason I have had to do all that packing and organizing is that I sold my house, and moved into an apartment.  For the last 2 1/2 years, my wife and I have been slowly figuring out how to divorce.  The two huge factors that made it hard for us (and made it take so long) were the kids and money.

The kids are an obvious trouble spot.  But I have three pretty great kids.  I have worked really hard to create good relationships with them and to help them be strong human beings.  Two of them are out of the house and on their own, and the youngest is about to turn 17.  They are all doing well, almost shockingly well, with the situation.  We worked hard to help them through it.  I am as happy as I can be with that.

Money is a different story.  I don't make a bad wage, but I am nowhere near wealthy.  Alimony is going to hurt a lot.  Also, over the years, my wife has insisted on several huge financial decisions in our life that cost us huge amounts of money.  These were decisions I disagreed with, but wasn't ready at the time to walk out over.  She also pushed, over the years, to keep too much of our paychecks for today, and not nearly enough for retirement.  So not only will I be living tight from now on, but I don't see a path to a real retirement.

All of those issues are due to my own decision making though, I will own up to the decisions I made, and deal with their consequences.  If you are still young, make good decisions!!  And that's all I hope to write about that!

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So one of the cards I recently found, that I had thought was lost, is a Broder.  Yes, Broders are not the most sought after cards out there, but they are not bad.  But this one always gave me a kick, and I hadn't been able to locate it for the last few years:

Love it!!  Turn your back on crack!!  I will be keeping this card, and putting it somewhere that I won't 'lose' it again.

Then I also found some older non-sports cards that I just don't want.  Don't get me wrong, I love almost anything that is old.  Old coins, stamps, magazines and even small newspaper like things from the early 1800s are all in my collection.

But in the interests of streamlining the 'old non-sports' section of my collection, I am offering these up, one per commenter at first, for free in a PWE.  They are all what we consider these days to be mini sized.

The fronts:

The backs:

And the descriptions:

1932 De Reszke Real Photographs 4th Series, # 19,
1932 De Reszke Real Photographs 4th Series, #23, 
1932 De Reszke Real Photographs 4th Series, #24
1938 Gallaher Garden Flowers - Tobacco [Base] #44
1938 Gallaher British Birds - Tobacco [Base] #6
1938 Gallaher Army Badges - Tobacco [Base] #13
1925 Franklyn Davey - Hunting # 12
1939 John Player & Sons - Animals Of The Countryside #28
1938 John Player & Sons - Aircraft of the Royal Air Force #18
1914-1918 John Player & Sons - Army Corps and Divisional Signs #33
1933 John Player & Sons - Derby and Grand National Winners #45

So anyone want some 85-105 year old non-sports cards?  If so, comment on which one you want (shoot me your address!) and I will send it out.  If they are not all gone by Monday, you can claim another one on Monday, another the next day and so on until they are gone.

Thanks for reading!

Unusual pickups

I am still trying to get back into the swing of things.  Getting my cards unpacked after my recent move has been really slow.  The move didn't keep me from hitting a couple of card shows while all packed up though.  The shows haven't been great lately.  But still worth going to.  As usual, I stay in the cheap boxes mostly.  Here are a few unusual pickups I have made lately.

I finally completed my "Yastrzemski Generations" mini-collection.  Actually, I didn't know that there was such a thing to collect.  I think everyone knows that Carl, AKA 'Yaz' has a grandson currently playing for the Giants.  What I had forgotten, or maybe never knew at all, is that Yaz's son also played pro ball, though never in the majors.  He does, however, have 7 different minor league cards.  Here's mine:

All in the family...

Next, I got my first ever 1971 Topps Supers.  If you haven't seen these, they are over 5 inches tall, and are pretty thick, almost like a jersey card.  Mine are nobodies, Mays and Aaron are probably the big cards in this set.

Here are the backs, true to the 1971 Topps set.

 

And last but not least, I grabbed a bunch of older cards (1958-1967) in a quarter bin.  They were mostly in good condition, but commons.  The exception on condition was this:

A Jim Palmer rookie for a quarter!!!  Heck of a crease, but that's the kind of quarter but I will take all day.