Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Adding a Mini Jersey set

 2006-07 Upper Deck Mini Jersey set is 130 cards, with the first 100 being the real "pure" base set and the last 30 cards being the rookie card subset. Given the small set, the cards today are enough for me to keep and put aside for a slow build at some point, at least on the pure base set of 100 cards if nothing more.




I believe it is the 2007-08 Mini Jersey cards that I have seen a good share of from the last lot of cards I picked up a few years ago, but this design does feel familiar - so good that they keep the styles somewhat similar year to year I guess.

I like the team colour use, and the way the design lines up with cards side by side, so team cards and colours seem to flow from one card to the next nicely.


A lone Leaf in these cards, but a new card for me, so I'll take it, no problem.

As for the dupes...



Seems many of the cards came in duplicate in this chunk of cards. Works for me as there are a couple cards I know another home for already.

I actually already had the checklist as it was an "insert", and don't need another.

We end with some Spurs and SuperSonics.

A nice step up today from the last few!


Let's end with a completely unrelated review of a couple cards I owned for a while, and are something different than I thought.

So I recently bought a black light off amazon - the excuse being for the kids to play with and for the wife to be disgusted by how stains seem to stay forever, but also so I could check out a few of my cards.

Specifically, 4th Edition Magic The Gathering cards. This set was the first one to have a print run in the US, and the quality of those cards are different, including a different gloss on the cards, much akin to playing cards, which stands out under a black light.

In normal light...


The two cards on the right are "normal" versions, while the two on the left are these alternate ones. Not much difference in the light of day but...


The gloss under a black light makes the card look dark. The bright white on the right is what the "normal" run cards look like. These alternate 4th edition cards are fairly rare, but it doesn't translate into huge dollars - more like maybe double the price - so 50 cent cards instead of a quarter.

Still - very cool to have a couple as I hadn't thought I had any.

Now, if you want to talk odd printing alternatives, we could talk about Summer Magic Revised edition Magic cards, but I don't have any of those, and those are extremely rare. A story for another time though maybe.

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

A Little Bronzer

 Always fun to come across first time sets represented, and here is another one.


1992-93 Fleer basketball has a nice gold border akin to late 90s Topps baseball. I have to say, I like the right side banners for the name, and using the team colours, as well as the fact that the cards semm to be in order of team and alphabetical as far as the base set checklist goes.

You also get a nice Kemp over Ewing shot for the Kemp card.



Good to see coach cards included, always appreciate their getting recognition as I think at times, the talent on the court gets more credit than they should sometimes.

A great example to me in recent years would be Kawhi. I think the coaching in Toronto, and the way he was played, and the role he had with the team, helped make him and the team, champions. It just wasn't repeatable with the Clippers. Partially, that was due to the different talents on the team, but also in how Kawhi was used.


Oh 7th Inning Sketch, how I really don't enjoy you all that much. These cards are minor league and very much look the role...pass.



We end with some more silver Upper Deck football including Air McNair and at least a Bruce Smith card which I can pass along to a Bills collector.

Monday, March 29, 2021

Maybe a "B"

I talked a couple days ago about sets that I am not collecting, but that may show up enough in this lot of cards that they get themselves onto "the list", and today I think we may have one of these, but only time will tell.


1993-94 Pinnacle Canadian is a decent looking set, and of course has the two languages as it is a bilingual set. The black borders is an issue for condition, but it isn't a set that I need to have pristine cards for, so these should do...just have to see if there is enough in quantity for the 500+ card set, so make it worth adding to the list.



I left these as first scanned to show one other quality of these cards...they are darn slippery! I guess the good news is that it has helped to ensure they haven't bricked together over time, but a bit of a pest in scanning as you can see.

Also fun scanning point...bottom row we have Sweeny Todd...ha!


I only have a few cards from this set otherwise, a few Leafs,a nd a few currently in my trade piles, so will probably need a good 100-200 more to make it worth keeping these.

Next up...




A couple usual suspects from what we have been going through recently.

Truth be told, I am likely going to move most of what I don't keep to a certain online pal who may use them in his store...so if there is anything of interest from these, possible they may already be spoken for, but doesn't hurt to ask, just let me know!

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Baby Got Back

 Lo and behold, some more 1998 Sports Illustrated Then and Now cards and as promised, here are the backs which are not your standard backs.



Very unique to have input and and ratings from HOFers on the current players. Not sure if I am more piqued by the 4 or 5 ratings, or if it is the 2 ratings.

Some do make sense though as I never considered Andres to be speedy. As for a 5/5 on the others, there was a time, though I don't think it was too many years, but that I could believe those rating too.

I do wonder if they just put their names to it, or asked for the feedback.




Some more 1996 Upper Deck Silver football cards - personal fave of the bunch would be the couple Marcus Allen cards. This is near then end of his career - most of which was with LA, before the final few years in KC.

I still look at this set as an early version of Chrome.

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Add It To The List!

 I figured that, at some point, I would come across a set, or two, or more, that I don't currently collect, that either:

A) Have some really awesome looking cards that are just too good to not keep and want more of, even if there is only a couple.

OR

B) A big enough chunk of a set that I at least like, to want to keep and put on the backburned of sets to actually complete.

The "A"s will be easy to tell as I go. The "B"s are likely something that I notice after the fact when I end up with a big chunk of a set.

Today, we have an A.


These are cards from 1998 Sports Illustrated Then And Now. Hadn't heard of the set before, so totally new to me there. The set as a whole is only 150 cards, and between a nice topic as I am a sucker for older stars on newer cards, and being a Sports Illustrated set, I'm good to get more of these!

Doesn't hurt that we get a Joe Carter in the first bunch too. Apparently Harmon Killebrew rates Joe an above average for power.- yeah, the backs are interesting. Will show those if I get more of these.



Darn - then back into the 90s basketball. Well, darn for me, but I am sure they will end up getting to someone who will enjoy them.




Ah - there Damon. As far as basketball in Toronto goes, Damon was the first player that was really a draw to the sport here in the North. After Damon, the next was Vince Carter of course, but the early days were all about Damon trying to put something together for the purple Raptors.

Friday, March 26, 2021

Silver

 Sometimes sets just bring something specific to memory. Sometimes it has something to do with the sport or collecting, other times, it is completely random.

Today we have a whole bunch of 1996 Upper Deck Silver football. I hadn't heard of the set before getting a few earlier in this lot of cards, and today we have a whole day's worth.

So what does it remind me of? The song Silver by Moist. The song itself was recorded in 1994 I believe, but music wasn't something I got into until 1996 or so, and Moist was a band I heard a bit on MuchMusic, and I picked up a couple of their CDs in the late 90s too.

It has nothing to do with the set, other than the name silver, but sometimes that random way is just how my mind works.


Of course the set itself, scans quite dark due to the light chrome-like fronts. I amguessing this was probably meant to be a slightly upscale set compared to the regular Upper Deck flagship set for the year.


It does let the players stand out tremendously, I have to admit.


I think Kevin Greene appeared just the other day, and here we have him again. Must want to ensure I mention again his importance in wrestling in the 90s with WCW.



Interesting that it seems the players as a whole stand out - maybe they should hav made it solely the player on the card and darken the background and the other players. Small thought.

Either way, a few dupes to go with everything else today, and that wraps it. The set itself is 225. I don't think there will be that much in the lot, but you never know.


Let's end today with a bit of an expensive buy. As I have mentioned here, I am trying to slowly fill as much of my unopened Magic The Gathering Booster collection as I can. There are some packs (more than there were a few months ago), that I just won't put the money out for. I have a hard time spending hundred of dollars on single packs of cards, even for investing/collecting purposes.

I am splurging a little more on the hobby than I did a year ago as we have paid off our mortgage, and so, I feel okay putting a little of the monthly savings into the hobby.

So here we have a few more new packs...


Before these packs, I had every booster set covered from current back to May 2010. With these additions, I pushed it back, and now have everything from July 2006 to current. That Eventide pack is all kinds of awesome freaky!

Overall, I am still missing 23 sets - but if I can pull the somewhat expensive trigger, I can cut out close to half of those....we shall see.

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Cleaned Up

 Sticking with some more basketball first in the ards today, a set from earlier, except these cards are in good condition.


1993-94 Upper Deck base cards here. We saw a bunch earlier which were stuck to each other and the fronts were all damaged on the 200 plus cards unfortunately. These ones look nice and sharp, including the Mailman.


Seeing a lot of Sir Charles in these basketball cards, including the 1994-95Collector's Choice German card here. These backs are pretty nice, just wish they would do full stats, like I appreciate on any cards.



Another couple Mailman cards here as well - he really seems to deliver!

Last up, another new set...


1996 Upper Deck Football. An inoffensive design, even if it is a bit on the excessive side as far as foiling goes. Good use of space on the front.


Solid design for the back as well. Not sure if I'd rather have more picture, or more spaced out stats as some of the stats seem too squeezed.


We get some solid star power out of Dallas to end with Aikman and Irwin - no complaints there!