Finest....Curve Ever

 A whole bunch of pringles to look at today. Scanning, you may not see it but, sitting "flat" on the table, the middle of the cards are raised about half an inch. The cards are in fine shape and not damaged, just classic warping that happens with cards, usually when one side's finish is different than the other, so over time they bend one way or the other.

Well, 1994-95 Finest...at least we have some Leaf content...

Now, there's about 150 traders here I won't scan because the warping does make them excessively hard to scan. If you need/want anything - check out my TCDB trade list, they are all there.

I will go through scanning the few uncorrected error cards as well though, just to show some more of them without too much personal pain in doing it...

I will say, all the cards have the protective film on them, and just a couple have it peeling a bit, but glad they aren't "naked"!

Almost Halfway

 Definitely not a new set to me anymore, but one that, with all of these keepers today, we get almost half way to completing.

2006-07 Upper Deck MVP is chugging along here as I close in on half of the 360 card base set done. I am only showing the keepers today, but have the 150 or so dupes listed at TCDB if you are needing cards from the set. A number of these came in duplicate - just figured I'd go with showing the variety today.

If I were to guess, there's probably the left over / picked over part of a few boxes of the set which made it into this lot, and I am good with that!

You may not get massively different photos on the fronts - very much standard in action skating shots of the featured player, but that's alright.

A shame that the Leafs do seem to be getting skipped over as I would love to have those as well of course, but on the positive side, since I collect Toronto - I do already have most of those, so it helps with the set completion. Then just the usual problem of wanting/needing two of each Leaf so I can have a copy for the set and one for the team collection.

If you collect similarly, do you settle for having one, or two?

One Insert Set Done

 On my continued quest to complete the 2022-23 Tim Hortons base and most insert sets (won't call it a master set as I am not going after the autographs, etc), I was able to complete one of the insert sets at least and get a bit closer on the base set as well...

Yes, the Hockey Triumphs insert set of 18 is now done, and also - a Gold Etchings signting! I need a bunch more though for that one.

As for the base set itself, I am at 99 of 120 cards - so well within reach, I just need to focus on a few trades, but that likely won't happen until after busy season.

That all said - the Flow of Time inserts are on the expensive side, so will have to see about those when I get narrowed down a bit more on the "easier" cards.

A big thanks to TCDB member m_y_t_h for the help today!

Legen....wait for it.....dary

 A mix of hockeyt cards from the COVID lot today.

2006-07 Upper Deck MVP is a set build that is being made by this lot. The way we are going, I could be 60-80% complete on this set by time I am doing going through the lot. Here alone we basically get a Predators base set.

A couple more base sets with assistance in 2008-09 Ultra and of course, I don't have many of them but the Legends Upper Deck set is one I like and now have a handful of base cards for.

1996-97 Summit bugs me - I can't keep straight in my mind the base set, versus metal parallel, versus the premium stock. They are different enough, I just literally don't seem to be able to keep them straight.

Well, if I am going to get dupes of a 1991-92 Score card, a rookie Marchment isn't the worst card to get!

A good mixture of cards today...always a fun go through.

A Couple More Trades

 Just as the title says, today we share a couple more trades with members of the wonderful TCDB community. First up, a trade that adds a couple more cards from the 2022-23 Tim Hortons set I am working on...

These three cards came from member jamestagli. I guess I need to get at least one of each Montreal card to complete the set...though sometimes I wonder if I should just leave them out. :)

The Andre card is great because I remember well the throwback card on the front too.

A second trade, this one with Mathieu Charbonneau who sent me a smattering of Leaf cards.

For my Leaf collection, I'll look for the different hologram variations from the early 90 sets, so we get some of those, including in French. The Leaf Limited Rookie is a one Leaf insert set which is nice too.

We even get a bonus 1991-92 O Pee Chee card on the end of things for a great PWE.

Many thanks to both traders, and all the others I have done trades with recently too!

Special Edition

The COVID lot today brings some basketball cards. Not that it matters too much since basketball isn't my thing, but we are looking at all inserts with some Special Edition cards for the most part, from the mid-90s Upper Deck. 

There are gold versions of these cards, not just the silvers like we have here. The silvers aren't as "rare", but still nice pick ups.

Decent enough names - maybe not all Hall of Fame caliber, but names I remember from the era.

Was never a big fan of Sprewell myself, but here he is too.

Not a big fan of the scans, the cards are better in hand, but not by too much unfortunately. Anyway, if anything here interests you, just let me know!

A Better Smattering

 With the hockey from the COVID lot lately, I had a handful of baseball cards this time, which hopefully goes better than the Canadian hockey cards yesterday.

As it is, a hockey card was able to sneak in here as the Stadium Club offer card isn't the baseball version, but is that from the hockey world. I do have one, so, not for keeps.

Jays content, even if copy number....a handful....is nice. Early Olerud is always great!

Ee then have a run of base card keepers which is a nice change. I am slowly collecting 1993 Studio, 1993 Upper Deck, and 1987 Donruss, so amazing to get these all to hit needs.

Last up...my Killebrew puzzle is all done, so a piece for trade.

A successful "pack" of cards if I do say so myself!

Canadian Pass

Some cards from the COVID lot today, and we are looking at a couple Canadian hockey teams. THere do seem to be some team "chunks" in the lot, and I won't complain about that. I mean, already ran into one for the Leafs and Jays, so, all worked out well for me there. 

SOme Sens content up first. Heatley being in a few here is no surprise. A shame that none of these hit my collection including nothing for my set builds, but that be the breaks.

The other Canadian team is that one from Montreal I enjoy despising. In this case I happily share that none of these are keepers either. 2006-07 Upper Deck flagship is not in my collecting pile of sets, though for a moment, I thought it was.

On the other hand, 2008-09 Upper Deck Black Diamond is in my slow build set list, however, I happen to already have both of these.

Just no luck for me on the sets today....

My Hero

 basecardhero was a first time trade partner on TCDB, and true to his name, the first part of the trade...some baseball base cards I need...

Still not really looking at the 1982 Topps base cards as an active set to go after, but more than happy to have someone offer them up.

We get some Leaf base set completion success as these provide the last 1994-95 Select and 1996-97 Summit base cards to finish off those Leaf team sets - woo hoo.

Even is a Sharks uniform, that does count as the last Leaf team card for the base set.

I also received my 40 card purchase from www.baseballcardstore.ca, most of which was Bruins cards for a certain someone, but with the Timmies set work I have been doing, it made me pick up some past year base cards I was missing still. 

Now, for the current year, I kinda goofed and forgot to mark these ones below off as not being needed as I got them in trade, but at least I will keep the Nylander regardless.

Do check out the online store as, all in with shipping, you pay about 20 cents to a quarter a card, and to finish off sets or get cards that are harder than through trade, it's a great optin.

Gold or Numbered

Maybe not all of the cards in the PWE, but my recent trade with Matt9975 provided some highlights which are serial numbered, or golden, so let's take a peek. 

Sure, I do still need some rather base of base cards like the O Pee Chee Iorg,, but plenty of parallels that I need too - like a Gold Rush Castillo, Topps Gold Manny Lee, and vintage stock, serial numbered to 99 Panik. The SN 1000 Batista is a nice "base" card as well.

For what it's worth, the Kapanen is a puzzle back parallel, and hockey Topps Chrome anything are lacking in my collection, so nice to add any there too. Still, love adding any Wendel card I can - even if the photo itself is on other cards I already have.

Again with this smattering, my lack of focus means lots of adds, but no completion for Toronto team sets. Maybe next year, or later this one, I'll focus more on completing rather than just collecting.

bustedfare Trade

Another day, another great TCDB trade, this one with busterfare. As it has just turned out, I'd say most of the recent trades have been adding Leafs to the collection - I have a nice pile I need to go through and "put away" soon. This trade continues that for the most part. 

I swear, I am going to end up with 100 1990 Donruss Diamond King cards for my collection by time I collect one of each variation between border, dot variation, and error cards. That's why the few more here - just more variations of each.

As for the Leafs, most are from the late 2000s and early 2010s. 

In logging these, I thought I was closer to have the base sets for 2009-10 O Pee Chee and 2011-12 Score completed, but the sets are big enough, I still have a handful of cards left to go in each. The last two in the bunch are glossy parallels, though you can't really tell in a scan.

The team checklist card at least is a one and done Leaf insert, so at least that's successfully received and complete!

Not a bad way to start "March Break" - kids may have the week off, but with work, not me!

Frenchified

 So today, sharing a trade with TCDB member Gaetan Menard who is from the neighbouring province of Quebec. Now, I may not be a big fan of Quebec (though I do have strong ancestry from the province), I can appreciate the opportunity to get some French version hockey cards that I have been missing. Given the official second language of our country, I will accept French sports cards to the extent they otherwise fit - so in this case, we are generally speaking of some 90s hockey cards.

The trade did include some older, English cards and stamps/stickers, which are awesome little pick ups. As I say though, the Frnech Upper Deck and Ultimate hockey cards below, are the bulk of this package, though maybe not the star for me.

It's the SPx sets that win today as we get the pure base sets for both 2007-08 and 2009-10 completed here. SPx sets have a bunch of "special" base numbered cards that I don't count in the sense of pure base cards - like SN or MEM cards, so nice to get those done here.

We also get the second of two Game Day Timmis inserts from the 2019-20 set with what is my 74th Auston card (59 different cards), which isn't too shabby since I may have only pulled a couple and received the rest in trades.

Appreciate the great trade from a fellow Canada! More trading recaps tomorrow.

Wrestling With PWEs

 More PWE goodness, and today we get two different wrestling PWEs.

Yeah, so when it comes to wrestling cards, I decided that I want everything. I think being English language cards is about my only qualification - WWE, WCW, AEW, NWA, ROH, TNA, it doesn't matter, I want one of everything.

Granted, 98% of the cards will be WWE, but that's cool too. Here we get a number of different sets but 2020 Topps Chrome has the most entries with a couple base and refractors - but all of these from TCDB member JeffWestlake who I have had a couple great trades with now.

The 2020 Topps Road to Wrestlemania base set is the one of these most close to completion at almost 85% now. Finn Balor - I do wonder how different the last 5 years would have been without the injury after winning the world title as having to drop it immediately and be injury for a number of months definitely impacted his trajectory on the main roster.

The other small PWE was with Tdorsay...

It was for the 1985 Topps card on the left, but he also threw in the one on the right which is a dupe, but may be a quality improvement, I will have to check.

Love the wrestling card trades guys, many thanks!

Classically Completed

It has been a while since I had traded to complete a set, but that is what we have today. The COVID lot provided most of the 99 card 1991 Classic I set, and I had the rest of the cards on my want list. As it turns out, member flyers4life had all of the cards I needed, and thus, a PWE trade ensued.

I needed all of my Jays in order to have a complete set as well as a complete team set, and then we also have the remaining guys which didn't make it into the COVID lot, or were pulled by someone else - which makes sense for some of them like Griffey Jr. or Frank Thomas.

Is it a favourite set of mine? No. However, having 90% of it handed to me, had to finish this one off. Now, I don't think I will bother with getting one of the certificates which were provided with the sets (only 175,000 were printed.....talk about rare....lol), so we are as done as I plan to ever be on this one!

PWE Applause

Hello again, and welcome back to daily post number 2,633 in a row. I may not be Cal Ripken Jr., but that's one more than has consecutive game streak now. :)

I have a few days of trades to share as, with it being busy season, longer blogs are harder to squeeze in, and I like trying to keep on top of the trades, so we will how this goes. Today with have a trade with TCDB member francoisangers which sent across some Bruins which I won't share, as well as a few keepers below...

I thought I had the 1990-91 O Pee Chee Premier Leafs set of 3 cards, but hand't caught on to the "now with" Leaf Broten, so will now be able to say I have all 4 Leaf cards.

Todd is one of the many error cards from the wonderful 1990-91 Pro Set...set...which I needed for my error binder.

We finish up with newer throwbacks with mid-2000s In The Game products. Not my favourite products, but I can live with keeping the Leafs.

Always appreciate the trade, many thanks francoisangers!

Quality Control

 So, let's share a little problem with 1995-96 Upper Deck hockey providing the back drop. Sometimes when cards are stored for a long time in not so favourable conditions, they can brick and become near impossible to pull apart. That is like a worst case scenario for card collectors.

Sometimes, it's not enough to fully brinck, but instead there may be a bit of stickiness, or an endge where cards fuse, and then the damage may just be a sputtering of small white dots on the card, or tear on that one edge when you pull them apart.

Below are the keepers, and there were about a dozen damaged cards I didn't scan, which I will use for packaging.

I generally don't trade cards with anything that would be visible damage. I think there may be a few white specks on a few of these as I am not perfect, but no tear at all. Besides, for some of these, as you can see, we have up to a dozen copies, so I could spare a couple not being up to snuff.

It's one of the hazards of buying card lots, there can be some damaged cards like this. Not the end of the world if the bulk is big enough and damaged cards make up a small part of it, but worth keeping in mind depending on the years for the lot covered - and in some cases, the specific sets.

What's the worst bricking/sticking you have had to deal with personally?