Too Many Variations

If you get into the details of the late 80s and early 90s, and microvariations - this isn't nearly as bad (in my opinion). In the early 90s though, you had Upper Deck using different hologram stickers on their sets creating a microvariation for those sets. Include that the sets in the early 90s also had French versus English versions, and you have something else to look at as well.  

I did get a few keepers from the 2026 Lot and these early 90s Upper Deck cards. At least looking at French versus English, it's easy to tell on the front of the card, like Luke above. THe Euro-Star Jarmo was a nice surprise to see - but I can see how these end up in bulk buys as the design is very much identical to the base set.

I do try to sort and separate the cards of course by language - I am not a monster - and also log the hologram variations correctly - I know it matters to many on TCDB - but it does make for a slightly more tedious process.

Thankfully it's something we don't see (as much), these days. I am fine with different language sets - I get it, it makes sense, but the microvariations of holograms.....I could have done without those.

Prizms

Definitely winding down on the football cards in the lot, but today, it's all about the Prizm set.

It will only be the big names that resonate with me - plus some Buffalo bias. Peyton is always a good card to get, even just a base card.

I feel like I need to start a Travis Kelce collection from the number of cards of his I have pulled in this lot. Maybe I am just noticing it more given his bigger role in main stream news these days, but either way, I definitely notice it more.

 I actually like the set up of the back of the 2021 Prizm cards, just two fixes - a different picture, and shorten it to at least add a few more stat years and you would have a near perfect back for a football card.

To go with the multiple Kelce cards today, we even get multiple Josh Allen cards too. Wonder if he will be just another quarterback in Buffalo to which hopes are pinned, and then dashed. Unfortunately to date - kind of looking that way, though hopefully I am speaking too soon.

Checking In

With the lot checking in with a small group of 2019-20 Panini Mosaic cards, let's take the first scan to look at a familiar (to me) name.

Jonas Valanciunas is a name that stuck out going through these cards because of his tenure as a Raptor. He started his NBA career with the team back in 2012-13 with the 6' 11" Center taking the court in about 75% of that season for the Raptors.

Funny enough, he was essentially traded to Miami and back to Toronto before this. Well, the 2011 1st Round draft pick of Toronto was traded to Miami in 2009 and then back to Toronto in 2010, before it was then used by the Raptors to select Jonas in the draft.

He played in Toronto until he was traded in February 2019 as part of the trade that saw Marc Gasol come to Toronto from Memphis.

Jonas had a bump in play leaving Toronto as he seemed to excel at the start of his time with Memphis, and for Toronto, he was a solid Center, but never really lit the world on fire. A good hand and a solid career.

We get a former teammate of his as well, from the Toronto days, with DeMar on the back half of the cards for today - nice Raptor connections all around.

Vladdy and a Bo Show

 Always happy pulling baseball from the 2026 Lot - and at this point, it looks like we are getting close to the end of the basketball and football, looking to leave around 3k of baseball and hockey only cards remaining, which should make for a fun end as far as my own keeping and collecting goes, but today, recent baseball to be surveyed.

Vladdy is always a welcome sight, and adding in a few base card additions for the 2024 Topps Chrome base set build is a great pick up too. Bryant is my fave of the quartet.

More keepers today with Bowman cards of the insert variety.

Unfortunately no Jays in the bunch, but happy to get a fix of inserts.

As for how "good" these guys are, I try and give it about 5 years from the release date when it comes to prospects to be able to really comment on how they are doing and where they will end up. It's not the case for everyone (some fizzle quickly, some shoot to the moon just as quickly), but a good time frame to really know their direction.

Cards that hopefully are only making a pit stop here...

Bound to get dupes for some of them, and all good there - but let's adopt these guys out if we can!

Shiny and Inconsistent

Basketball cards with attitude today...

Mason on the SkyBox E-X 2000 set is a fantastic card in hand. The cut our player on a see-through sky background looks amazing in hand. Hadn't seen these cards before and wish there was more than just the one, but a very cool set. If I collected basketball, would need to take a look for this one and, if affordable, look to collect the set.

2019-20 Panini Status tris to draw ALL of the attention with the hyper sparkle design, but I'd take more E-X myself. The scans don't do credit for the level of shine from these sparkly cards, and with the background removed so it's just player focused, it really just becomes background focused.

Then, the backs of those same cards - leave a lot of space wasted. I mean, either do an actual picture or something, but to just let the background used photo be "there" for half the back - I'd rather not.

Speaking of I'd rather not. If I were to make any sports card set, I'd rather not mash together designs that are massively different from one another, slap on numbering so that it runs as a single base set, and make it confusing to try and put together - but that's what Panini does here with Chronicles in 2020-21. I can't even complain about the individual designs - some are good, some not so much, but to just say the cards are all from the same set? I mean, thank goodness we have gotten to the point that the name of the set, or at least enough of the name, is on the back copyright information, so I can figure it out (or use TCDB's search functions with the player name and card number), but it really shouldn't be THAT hard.

Whether I like the Revolution design or not, at least I can look at the cards and say yes - those are all part of the same base set. I know some may argue that Archives sets do the same things and are great. I like the design use, but would still prefer a single year throwback instead of using say three past designs in a single base set.

We end with a Stallion apparently, in Sochan. Sochan spent a few years with San Antonio, but made it out this past year, just in time to join the Knicks and be on the team for their NBA Finals victory. He didn't have any big role in it, but being in his early 20s and on a Championship team - that's going to be a career highlight no matter where the career goes from here.

Continued Panini

 Back to football in the 2026 Lot today, and a number of Panini sets dibbled on today...

I will say, it has been nice to see as many star cards come through this lot as there have been - especially guys like Mahomes - as I am usually expecting the big name guys, and any of their cards, to be out of these lots. I don't care from a value standpoint, but it does make it a bit easier for trade purposes to get some stars in the bunch.

There have been a lot of Mosaic set cards in football come up, and a bit of Select, like we have here today, but very few Phoenix set cards. It's not a set I am familiar with - even though it has apparently been around since 2016. Also had to look into where the set "sits" as far as being low, mid or high end, and appears to be mid-tier (feel free to argue), which makes sense as I expect sets like Score and Prestige are lower end. 

These lots allow me to grow my knowledge a little bit each day when it comes to sets and collecting, especially in areas that are not where my main interest lies, so football, definitely in that realm.

Different Optics

 Panini hits us again with the 2026 Lot today and some 2019-20 Panini Donruss Optics cards from the basketball world, and why not start out with some of the big hitters from the 2010s...

Can't go wrong with a Curry Golden State card to start. too bad there wasn't more from that year though, as we then have to skip ahead a few years...

I definitely like the design from the 2019-2020 set over the later one from 2022-23 which seems a bit too boxy for my liking.

The backs are alright, and thinking back to sets from the mid 90s like Upper Deck and Collector's Choice - not that different actually with the picture, blurb and stats. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but it's an observation!

We actually get a rookie card here, and Dalen ended up with most of the time for a few years, suiting up for the Bulls before spending some games on court for Philly in 2025-26. A decent rookie as far as pulling and where he ended up (so far).