Is it wrong to want to show people my Willie....Stargell...what?

A little bit of everything out of the Santa Lot 20 today...

Highlights:

Well here is my Willie Stargell - 2005 Classics, along with Kevin Mitchell. This brings the set up over 25%. The 2007-08 McDonald's Kiprusoff brings the McDonald's set over 20% as well. Making some nice headway on both ends.

In addition to those is another nice Masterpieces Leaf card with Eddie Shack (my second) which is nice because if I do complete the set, I like having a separate set of Leafs to show separately. Not sure what others like to do with their collections, but this is typically what I do - keep the Leafs until I get to the point of trying to complete a set, then I move the Leafs to the set and look for duplicates to show in my Leaf binders.

The rest
Keepers:

A couple adds but nothing specific to say much about

Traders:


Both 1991 Upper Deck and 2007 Topps football are nice in their own ways, but personally - I like the simplicity of the 1991 Upper Deck.

Summary (through 1520 cards):

Specific Accomplishments:
- Completed 2007-08 Upper Deck McDonald's Checklist Subset (6 cards)
	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	ET	Star Wars	Rocky	KISS	Clue
Toronto	30	3
Inserts / Var Kept	70	3
Error	1	1
Keep	404	65
Doubles/Sell	136	8	291	212	225	8	5	2	3	1
Doubles Inserts / Var	11		11	30

Golden treasures and rainbows

Another day, another 20...well, at least March is almost over. April will be crazy busy with tax filing deadlines at the end of the month, but hey, only about 30 days give or take, and then it's over for another year. Some people don't like it, but personally, I enjoy it - and most everything about my "job" which is what makes it not seem like work and makes the days go by quickly.

Just ahead of the 20 though, want to share another Listia pickup. There were a number of 2015-16 O Pee Chee hockey so I picked up a handful and reasonable amounts - the one splurge is the Leaf card below of course.

The rainbow cards scan a nice blue colour I must say...and in hand they have a nice shine to them, pretty decent all around as simple but effective parallels go.

Highlights:

Not a long stay in Toronto for Gamache, but that is part of the interest in collecting any and all Leafs - is the ones that weren't big stars or around long.

Also a couple more 2007-08 Topps Basketball parallels. I like the colour of the Gold parallels better than the copper - maybe not as strong as black used on the base though. Not sure why Haslem is so upset that he feels the need to take the ball and go home, but he sure is fighting for it.

As for Yao Ming - I remember what a big deal he was (no pun intended) when he was drafted. He ended up with a decent career, but I think his size kept him awkward - at least at high fiving after being picked (that still gets good play on lowlight reels).

The rest
Keepers:

Hey another Mike Richards - we've seen a few of these on my posts, well, why stop there as we see another here!

Traders:

Nice action shot on the Olaka...Oloko...Oloka...um, Michael's card there - an obviously I have a few if anyone is interested.

Summary (through 1500 cards):

Specific Accomplishments:
- Completed 2007-08 Upper Deck McDonald's Checklist Subset (6 cards)
	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	ET	Star Wars	Rocky	KISS	Clue
Toronto	29	3
Inserts / Var Kept	69	3
Error	1	1
Keep	402	62
Doubles/Sell	136	8	287	204	224	8	5	2	3	1
Doubles Inserts / Var	11		11	30

One or the other apparently

Only two sets covered by the Santa Lot 20 today - one a keeper, one, not so much....

Highlight:

At least able to get a Leaf out of the pack which is nice - even as a duplicate. I would have liked if the Leafs stuck with Stajan longer - I think he reached higher potential once he left Toronto.

The rest
Keepers:

A few more nice cards - best to me is the Corey Perry.

Traders:

I guess having now over 25% of the 2008-09 O Pee Chee set means more that show up will end up here as duplicates - hopefully not too many more in the near future, rather be further along in the set completion. Similar goes with Ultra basketball 2004-05, except the obvious not keeping a completed set anyway.

Summary (through 1480 cards):

Specific Accomplishments:
- Completed 2007-08 Upper Deck McDonald's Checklist Subset (6 cards)
	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	ET	Star Wars	Rocky	KISS	Clue
Toronto	28	3
Inserts / Var Kept	69	3
Error	1	1
Keep	396	62
Doubles/Sell	132	8	280	204	224	8	5	2	3	1
Doubles Inserts / Var	11		9	30

Highlights are for keeps - that's it...

To start off - won a few Leaf cards on Listia which I thought I'd share. They are not in the greatest of conditions - so many I'd like to replace with better quality cards, but I didn't have any of them, so better these than none:

A nice grouping of O Pee Chee cards. Along with these the seller threw in the following:

A very crisp reprint of the Wayne Gretzky rookie card. Again, I don't think I want to keep it long term - probably worth getting rid of along side the Bobby Orr reprint rookie, but luckily much better quality card here, and a good reprint job from the look of the card, and feel.

Santa Lot 20 today is highlighted by the fact that the only highlight is the few cards I am keeping...not a great 20, but not every pack can be a winner...

Highlights:

It would have been interesting if Theodore would have stuck around Montreal - not sure if it would have changed his career staying there for better or worse, but interesting to think how it may have been changed.

The rest
Traders:

I don't mind the Gold Medallion as a parallel, and Kevin Garnett I remember from way back and the commercials with little Garnett (I can't remember if it was animatronics, or whatever, but Garnett was a big deal back in the day - not along the lines of Jordan, but mainstream enough. Also like when the parallels are the same across the different sports.

Until next time!

Summary (through 1460 cards):

Specific Accomplishments:
- Completed 2007-08 Upper Deck McDonald's Checklist Subset (6 cards)
	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	ET	Star Wars	Rocky	KISS	Clue
Toronto	27	3
Inserts / Var Kept	69	3
Error	1	1
Keep	392	62
Doubles/Sell	126	8	271	204	224	8	5	2	3	1
Doubles Inserts / Var	11		9	30

More packs from Hollywood

I took another trip to From Hockey To Hollywood to pick up a few more unopened packs to add to the collection. Given their selection, it will probably be a few more trips before I get through most of their current available "old" stock. The prices may be a little higher than I could find them here or there on Kijiji or otherwise, but for the convenience, and to support the store, I have no problem paying the extra 10-20% on these.

So let's take a look at what we picked up today - all in it cost me $16...


I have a couple cards from this set, but as is a theme here, not a pack I collected when it came out as I was away from the hobby.


They are on the low end of the scale, so I have a number of the years, but somehow didn't have this one.


Not many cards from the set, and can't say I ever opened one of these packs.


Same is true for this one as well.


Now, 1992 Topps, I definitely opened a few back in the day, so seeing the blue package brings some memories back and it's nice to have one of these packs in the collection. It also means I am only missing a 1990 Topps to cover all years 1986 to 1992.


No license for Pinnacle in 2013, but still producing major league cards, and these are cards I don't have any of.


This is my favourite of the bunch because I always found Pacific cards hard to come by, let alone packs. As I have mentioned before, I find them generally quirky, but in a good way, so a nice addition here as well.

I don't have tons of packs, but roughly this brings me to about 170 hockey, 130 baseball, and about 60 Magic boosters.

A good trip to the store if I do say so myself!

Pack Attack Dollarama Style

So I ended up at a Dollarama the other day to pick up a couple things and couldn't help but pick up a 15 card repack just for the fun of it. I took a quick peek and as I am half heartedly trying to get the base set for 2014-15 Upper Deck Artifacts, and I knew I was missing the Lucic card that was on the front of the package, that sealed which one I would get.

First, the duplicated to me were:

OK - duplicates and minor league cards which I don't collect. 1990 Bowman seems to be classic to pull from these repacks.

As for the keepers:

A bit surprised to get a few nice recent cards, including the couple Getzlaf cards. Unfortunately no Leafs, but decent all around - worth the $1 just for the fun of opening it I guess.

Let's see if there's anything of interest today...

First a quick, and not surprising update regarding the Bobby Orr rookie card...I took it to From Hockey to Hollywood and their extremely strong thought is that it is a fake/reprint because the colour is off, and card stock seems off (which I can't say I would have known). So no surprise, and no harm done for the half cent or so the card put me back. I am debating, but don't think it is something I am going to keep in my collection, so if it can be of use to anyone, let me know!

Otherwise - another Santa Lot 20 to go through today...

Highlights:

Another 2007-08 Upper Deck Leaf - one I didn't have previously which is a nice grab out of the 20.

The rest
Keepers:

More cards from sets we've seen, including a Chelios Red Wing card and all around decent player shots, but no stand out photos really in the group.

Traders:

I already have one extra of the Jason Kidd, but at least it a name I recognize, as is Collins - though that is about it for me and my uneducated (re football and basketball) ways.

Summary (through 1440 cards):

Specific Accomplishments:
- Completed 2007-08 Upper Deck McDonald's Checklist Subset (6 cards)
	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	ET	Star Wars	Rocky	KISS	Clue
Toronto	27	3
Inserts / Var Kept	69	3
Error	1	1
Keep	389	62
Doubles/Sell	122	8	264	199	224	8	5	2	3	1
Doubles Inserts / Var	11		8	30