Mostly Toronto

 With the end of the month, as promised, the start of the cards I got from local collector and blog reader Jeff Scott. In the cards he gave me, there was a package he had ready to mail to me, but since we were meeting, he saved the postage and just included it with the cards when we met. Most were ones for me to keep in my collection on purpose, being Toronto cards for baseball or hockey, but some other stuff as well which I don't keep and instead try to trade away to get him some Bruins cards for his collection.

So, let's see what we have today.

Jeff's given me a number of Halladay cards in prior packages that he sent my way. He's probably given me 30% of the almost 110 different Halladay cards I have now. These ones are all fabulous, but the best he sent it the next one...

I am a sucker for those Masterpieces sets. I first fell in love with the hockey version, and only have one other baseball card from the set, so thrilled to have Halladay and in a classic wind up pose.

We also have a few Leaf additions with only Grabovski being one I already had, so three new ones. 

A few other cards in the bunch without a Toronto connection...

Early 90s McDonald's sets are great, and here we have 1991-92 with Wayne, one of the cards I am missing, so a fabulous addition there. Add on not one, but two Emerald Green parallel cards which are SN to 199 are nice keepers as well.

As I mention, I do also take some of the cards Jeff sends along, and try to turn them around into Bruins, so if any of the following are of interest, just reach out and let's see if we can do something for Jeff!

As you can see, generally Jeff sends along some solid cards with Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, and the Anderson card is still in package.

A great first bunch, and tomorrow, only a few cards, but the rest of the cards that were going to be sent by mail to me...very amazing additions though, as you will see tomorrow!

On a completely separate note - I finally received a Christmas order from 401games which was from Boxing Day. Not their doing - I picked up a couple pre-order items, so had to wait for those to come out. Lots of Magic cards, and I'll share here and there over the next little bit.

This set was recently released, so had to pick up a few packs for the collection.

First few artifacts are mana producers, but Altar Golem is an interesting one. Expensive to cast, but if you can pump out a bunch of small creatures, it could be a big baddie.

These are all from the Conspiracy set which was very much about draft play, so some of the cards have unique abilities with that play structure in mind. Set didn't take off too much, though there was a second Conspiracy set, hasn't been another in a while.

Out With A Whimper

Today marks the last day of going through the 20 in 20 Lot that I picked up in or around August 2020 I believe, and though we go out with a whimper, it was a good run, well worth the money.

Just one keeper from the cards today, and it's a single uncorrected error card, so a good add for me regardless.

The rest include the first baseball Prism cards I believe, to come from the lot, and then a run of basketball we are use to seeing here, and some unneeded hockey inbetween.

The basketball print run cards are still neat - been a while since we saw some, though there were a few earlier on in the lot.

So, to wrap up, let's compare it to the Santa Lot final figures for comparative purposes...

I will say, the Santa Lot paid for itself, whereas this lot won't do it the same way. The 20 in 20 Lot was almost twice as big for just about the same price though, and considering the fact that I had narrowed down what I was collecting, the fact I am keeping about 27% compared to 28% of the Santa Lot is pretty telling.

Though the Toronto cards were on pat given the larger lot, the inserts/parallels, etc were more plentiful, in large part because there was a significant part of the 1992 Topps Gold parallel set here that I kept.

A little more variety in the "other" items, and overall higher mix of the sports I do collect, and I'd put the 20 in 20 Lot as being just as good as the Santa Lot - better from a "keeping/collecting" standpoint, though financially not as rewarding.

That's okay though, I'm not in it for the investing, so yay for this lot and a fun time going through it.

Next up, a shorter go through as I am going to spent the next couple weeks detailing some cards I got from Jeff Scott who is a reader here - and apologies Jeff, you got these to me in December, but I wanted to not only get the 20 in 20 Lot done first, but thought my busy season would be a good time to go through them, because you usually have a bunch of interesting, varied, and awesome stuff to provide for me to keep, and otherwise, trade to turn into Bruins for you.

Let's start that to end February.

Don't Forget The Team!

 Team cards! Sure, there is the full team photo where everyone looks the same because the photo is so zoomed out to get all 75 players in (I exaggerate), but why not just use an action shot?

As I continue to slow collect on 1990-91 Topps (which is very much similar looking to O Pee Chee for the same year, just Topps was a smaller set), I get to keep this nice Oilers team card. At least with an action shot, the players are more easily recognizable.

Not sure if I prefer these versus the main players only (where just showcasing a few players like we have seen recently with the Upper Deck Vintage set from 2001-02 for example). I am sure there are people with different preferences.

Also, as you can see, more help on the 1998-99 Pacific Dynagon Ice set, so up to 59% done on that one now.

Though not going to keep them, those 1998 Upper Deck Retro cards are new to me, and the set as a whole. Definitely one I would take a gander at and maybe look to collect if there were more than just two random cards showing up here.

We end with a bunch more basketball, and we have a single day left to go on this lot.

Diamonds, Not Rough

 I could talk about the hockey cards in the pull from the lot today, but will focus elsewhere. That said, here is the one Leaf addition...

The rest of the 2001-02 O Pee Chee base cards...

The last few, and some 1998-99 Upper Deck Black Diamond basketball cards.

A nice design for Black Diamond sets, with the typical fronts which really make the player pop, though the name is much easier to read than in other designs over the years.

The backs are straight forward, and that's not a bad thing. You get a few years stats, a second photo - close up head shot - and a little write up as well.

My biggest per peeve - the names not being capitalized. I am sure it was a style choice, but it is just incorrect and really bugs me.

Still, a good started set maybe for someone wanting to collect the Black Diamond set, but as much as they look pretty nice, not staying with me!

Single

I can't believe how quickly this month has been flying by, but it shouldn't really surprise me I guess. As much as busy seasons are full of work, they still seem to go by quickly. Happily, I still make sure to get a few minutes aside to look at some cards, and share with you...so let's see about that today.

Just a single card I am keeping today - short time Leaf (well, all of about a season and a half) John Cullen ended up back for a second (short) stint in Pittsburgh in 1994-95 once departing the Buds.

An almost Leaf card with Gartner as he did end up with some time in Toronto, just not here/pictured unfortunately.

Also a shame the Score cards here weren't keepers as it is a set I've started collecting, but all dupes unfortunately.

Over Half

Keeping the streak, we have another day of additions to the 1998-99 Pacific Dynagon Ice set. With only 200 cards to the base set, these new additions get completion over 50% which, as these lot pick ups go, is more than enough for me on starting a set.

A shame there were no Leaf pick ups in this bunch, but can't have everything you want in these pick ups I guess.

May not be from the Dynagon Ice set, but this 1999-2000 Upper Deck base card at least provides one Leaf for today.

Some more dupes so I can show off some more backs, including Luc Robitaille with the Kings - always should be considered a King.

Not bad - a full day of hockey as we wind down to about 200 cards or so left in the lot. Should be through by the end of the week or so....

We get to end today with another TCDB trade. With busy season, these are few and further between for the next couple months as I don't have as much time until May to package up trades. Michel St-Pierre made the trade an amazing one as he sent a bunch of really fun stuff.

We start with a whole lot of blue on these Parkie Tall Boys. Sure these cards are just from the mid 90s with a take on the mid 60s, but I always appreciate these retro type sets, it's almost as good as the original thing!

We even get a few Toronto included action shots, and a couple odd ball 90s Pogs of the hockey variety too.

Earlier 80s Leaf cards that were MIA in my collection, but not anymore, and even a couple 1990-91 O Pee CHee cards to work on set help too. It doesn't just need to be Toronto cards to be great help.

Even a bunch of French cards - which makes some good sense because my trade partner here is in Quebec. I hadn't really gone out of my way for the French cards, but when offered, I'll try and finish those team sets off!

More set help with some Stadium Club cards...

and more Toronto team set helpers too, with a few newer cards to end...

Can't go wrong with more Timmies!

I really appreciate the great trade and fantastic cards - absolutely awesome, thank you!