Some Baseball For The Holidays

 Sweet - first baseball cards to show up in the 2026 Lot. I am sure they won't be the last, but even nicer still is the fact that these are cards I don't have in my collection, or even in trade until now.

The Holiday sets are excessive. I mean, there is no real reason for them to exist when they seem very much like a parallel to the flagship set. Doesn't mean I won't want my Blue Jays from the set, but I am not going to go out of my way to collect the 2023 set here unless more show up before these get traded away.

As I say, these work to me, much better, if done as a parallel to the flagship set. The fake snow on the cards here is too much of a design too. I prefer the years where there is accent around the border, but the card is largely left as is.

We do get this though...

A big thumbs up for today as I get a new to my collection Blue Jay card of my favourite current player Vladdy. At least the snow cards are appropriate for getting in the midst of winter!

Going To Prizm

A bit more shiny basketball from the 2026 Lot today - moving from Mosaic yesterday, to some 2023-24 Panini Prizm. 

As we continue to get first impressions of this lot and what to expect, it does at least appear we should be good on getting many of the top stars in base card for as we have seen LeBron, Durant, Irving and others that this doesn't appear to be an issue.

It's probably the usual of rookie cards being a bit under represented as those so far have seem to be a bit amiss.

As for this set and the design - I swear, Panini always uses the same photo front and back on their card and it's so disappointing, but beyond that, I continue to yearn for more stats.

I do give nice marks for being able to sprinkle some past stars in the set - Larry Bird on a 2023-24 base card is very cool to be able to pull.

I am looking forward to the opportunity to trade these in for cards I need, and I am hoping that will be a fairly easy feat with some of these newer sets. Won't be my focus for right now, but happy to do deals if we can make them happen, if anyone wants to reach out if interested.

A New Mosaic

Well, there be basketball cards in this sports card lot. Can't say it's a surprise as I am sure there will be some football and baseball as well.

Hard to complain when the first card out is LeBron in this bunch of 2019-2020 Mosaic. Luka is another good pull too. Compared to many of the other designs Panini has come up with, Mosaic is on the side of being not too offensive.

A bit minimal on stats on the back and we have the write up and a picture with some background to it, those are pluses.

All the cards are in the real base part of the set - there are some rookie cards, NBA Debut cards and Hall of Famer subsets, but none of those in this bunch - maybe later.

Well, I may hid the racing and soccer for now - had those in the last assorted lot, but I'll assume until proven otherwise, we are just dealing with the four major sports....but time will tell.

Big Wrestling Trade

 I do find baseball and hockey card trades are much more common than wrestling card trades, so when I had a chance for a trade of about 100 cards going each way with TCDB member Amagee, I had to jump at it.

I originally bought a hobby box of 2021 NXT's Topps set, and what we have here are almost all the rest of the base cards to the set. A great job of whittling it down to just a handful

It may seem silly, but I swear, the worst thing Karrion Kross did was grow out his hair. He was such a force and so menacing in NXT, unfortunately it didn't seem to carry over to the main roster, and although I do like the direction his character was going before his release, it just didn't seem to be enough to be able to stick around in WWE. I do expect he will be able to make a nice run on the indies like Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder).

One of the insert sets from the same product are the We Are NXT cards which I also got a number of in the trade as seen below...

They work well as a roster insert set, and are again, many of the ones I was missing. I much prefer the rebel, dark black and yellow or gold design than what became NXT 2.0.

We get some Prizm cards too which are a bit more chromage than I think is needed in a card, but wrestling cards I need get a free pass anyway.

If you want different designs which I swear, were inspired by 90s Pacific (and maybe early 2000s), then look no further than some of the offerings here!

I wish they kept the background on these cards for context instead of the blank (though nice and shiny) backgrounds.

I swear, one of these years I should dress up as Miz for Halloween - I could do it....might not want to go around in the trunks though, I am in better shape than I was a couple years ago, but not of similar muscle...but I could pull of the look, I swear....and I have the IC title for it too!

Okay, I do like the Belair card - I mean, if you want to show off how strong she is, just lift them right off the top of the card - very nice job on that one!

Can't keep it to just WWE though, happy to get some 2023 AEW cards as well. I don't get much chance to watch, but do try to keep up with news on AEW, and like seeing who is around, and who left / may be coming to WWE from there.

THe gold parallels are a bit underwhelming with how little gold border on the front, but an insert still so, very nice.

We end with a couple 2024 Panini Prizm cards, including The4 Animal, Batista.

Amazing trade and very much appreciated. I think, if this year is going to be about going through this lot, next year might be about trading up with the traders I have. I really need to knock that number down through a concerted effort, but for now...let's get some more for trade back with the 2026 Lot tomorrow!

Things To Come?

 Whenever starting to go through a new large lot of cards, you always end up with a first impression as to whether it will be a good or bad lot, if it's for you, if the cost was worth it, etc. Day three, and only seeing one set in the cards pulled (and there are more from the set, at a glance of the cards in the boxes, just from the card tops, but not more for now), but I'm going with a solid thumbs up for this purchase.

Newer cards not being cheap, and being done with this bunch and having 93 of the 100 base cards (not including the rookies) is a fantastic start to me. I like this set enough and would never have just bought it in packs, and what's the fun in buying a set, so thumbs up there.

I'll gather that some of the rookies or inserts/parallels may be gone, as usual, with the lot, but time will tell.

Even with this bunch though, there is one parallel card which snuck through. Apparently we are going with Black Rainbow as the name for it. I have heard of worse names, but at least it is clearly labelled on the back, and you can see the black accents in the scan on the Kyrou.

Lots of dupes, so the question might end up being, if there is one or two real base cards missing when all is said and done, or if I end up with a couple complete base cards set for 1-100.

Tomorrow - a trade, and it's not hockey!

Still Alluring

 More 2023-24 Upper Deck Allure from the lot, and we get most of the base cards 31-60 covered here.

I am not the biggest fan of some of the alt uniforms like the Ducks here. Not my favourite colours, let alone the design.

The good of a smaller base set at least is, you do get to cover the top stars (though the argument of an O Pee Chee is that you get to have everyone, though it may not be as exciting to pull journeymen and fourth line guys from packs).

Had not yet shown the backs of the cards which, honestly, leave a bit to be desired. I'd rather a smaller photo and accommodate more stats or at least a write up. As much as the cards look and feel great, it's just a bit of a subpar card when you skimp on the important substance of a base card - I want to know the career of the player, not just a snapshot.

Still, a continued, solid continuation to the set!

New Year - 2026 Card Lot

Oops, I did it again, I bought a big lot, of sports card my friends.

A seller on Kijiji I have bought other lots from, this one is likely about 15,000 cards at a guess, all sports and assorted stuff which may mean a dabbling of non-sports stuff as well. I plan to work through it this year, but given trades I share, it may take two!

These are a lot of fun and as long as it is, I am happy dragging it out, besides, I think this will be my last lot purchase until I can trade or sell off 15k-20k of cards at least, but that's a problem for next year...maybe.

I am not going to set in stone a cards per day or anything like that, but will keep a summary that I update as I go with highlights of accomplishment. Let's see if the $125 I spent on this lot is worth it!

I usually take pictures for this post, but it wasn't as exciting as it was literally 5 card boxes...and if I show those, you might get a hint of what card sets and sports we cover, and not knowing - at least for me - is a great part of the excitement!

We start with a solid bunch of 2023-24 Upper Deck Allure hockey cards. so much so that I have added the set to my slow build list. May just go for the pure base set - the first 100 cards, and skip the additional 50 base cards that are all the rookie cards, but we shall see.

It is crazy to me to think that the average price per card on these packs when you buy them unopened is about $1 a card. I can't imaging paying that, and I know you are paying for the value of a hit, that's not what a base card is worth, but per card, it's what it does cost. I'd much rather buy in bulk like this and hopefully put together a 100 card base set for essentially a dollar when you break down the price I pay by the card.

The shine on these cards make them look fabulous. Nice and thick card stock with a premium feel - fabulous. Today, these are the keepers and the first 30 cards in the base set of which I am only missing one.

The lack of background takes a way a bit from the cards, but I do really like the shine and look to the cards, so happy to chase this one down.

A no longer Leaf, but loved his time as a Leaf, Marner, in duplicate adds my first Toronto cards to the list.

As for dupes, plenty if anyone is looking, and again, these are just for the first 30 base cards - probably won't scan the dupes as I go through the rest of the base cards in this chunk, but roughly one or two dupes for most of the base cards as you can see below...

A very solid start, but then again, it was hockey....I am sure there will be plenty of other sports and not so keepable for me stuff, but let the fun begin (and continue)!