Precious Metal Gems

It would be accurate to say that I was most into cards in the late '90s. My collection right now is certainly better than it was then due to having some disposable income and the wonders of blog-to-blog trading, but in terms of my love for the hobby, the late '90s take the cake.

The one thing I missed out where crazy insert, like the ones going for big money nowadays that aged extremely well. Probably the most high-end cards I bought were Fleer Ultra, and I did pull some nice cards out of those. I remember pulling a few 1:36 cards and being pretty excited. This one comes to mind:

Image from COMC

Definitely not a valuable card, but it was a decent insert at the time in a set that would be considered fairly tough.

What I did miss out on were the big time cards - notably inserts and parallels - that have absolutely skyrocketed in value since the late '90s. In fact, a Michael Jordan 1997-98 Precious Metal Gems card just sold for....$350,100! Read about it here if you missed it.

Image from Sports Collectors Daily

But I didn't completely miss the boat. In fact, around this time, I bought a Tino Martinez Precious Metal Gem of my own. I probably got it on the internet/message board for $20-25, but I don't remember the exact transaction. Still, it's not a card that pops up often, and it would cost me a lot more if I wanted it today.

Sure, I missed the boat on life-changing cards in the late '90s, but at least I was smart enough to grab one of my favorite player at the time. It's one of my most prized Tino cards, and is easily one of my rarest and most high-end cards.

A rare easy Twitter trade

I tend to not trade on Twitter very much. While I (sometimes) enjoy discussing and viewing cards on the site, trading just hasn't been something I've found very satisfying. Via retweets and whatever other algorithms Twitter users, it exposes me to many more collectors. Sometimes this is a good thing, often times it is not.

I've had countless interactions that go something like this:

"Yo, whatchu want for X card?" or "No thanks. What else u got?" or "I PC Harper, Trout, Judge, Bellinger, Lindor,  and Vlad Jr."

Many conversations aren't even worth the effort. Other people collect differently than me, and that's fine. But I feel like many can't grasp that I just don't have a buttload of sick hitz and mOjO laying around to swap.

Anyhow, I'm thankful for nice, easy, and efficient transactions like the one below. I posted a few cards I pulled from my Heritage blaster, and a follower by the name of Thomas was interested in an Edwin Diaz SP I pulled. He offered up a Stanton Stadium Club insert, and a quick PWE trade was agreed upon.

So simple! No annoying back and forth. We each got something we wanted.

Thomas was also kind enough to send a card of $70-million-man Aaron Hicks.

Will this make me trade more on Twitter? Unlikely. But it's nice to know there are collectors like Thomas who can make trading so simple.

A Series "Once" Trade

Back when 2019 Topps Series Once came out, I showed my spoils of two blasters. Amongst those, my two manurelics(?) were of Nationals, Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. Go figure!

After posting them on Twitter, Cubs fan Once A Cub reached our and mentioned that he also has a Nationals collection, and offered to swap my manurelics for an Andy Pettitte he pulled. Worth it to me! So we made a quick trade, and I was happy when this arrived:

What neither of us realized at the time of the trade was that the Pettitte was a stamped version, numbered to 150.

He also sent a few other Series One inserts. I always laugh when I see images of the Niekros as Yankees. They were so old!

Thanks for the quick trade, Once a Cub National!

A quick gasp of air

I'm at one of those times in my work life where I'm just under water each day. The unread emails mount up quicker than I can reply. My usual routine is getting to the office early, grabbing my coffee, and before even opening Outlook, I go to my blogroll and start reading through what I missed in the last day. It doesn't take too long, and it's my time.

If time permits, I'll bang out a blogpost, then I'll start my day.

Time hasn't permitted over the past three weeks. Last week I was in Los Angeles on a business trip, and this week has been a madhouse. I should actually be doing work tonight at home to get ahead, but I'm choosing not to. Instead, I'll show off a card, one that just came today, actually:

I've never formally decided to go after the 2012 Bowman Draft Ty Hensley Rainbow. I'm not even sure what I still need. But I know I've put a major dent in it over the past month, and I know the Superfractor is readily available on COMC (side note: I hate how I can't even make an offer on COMC unless I have enough site credit).

Anyhow, the Ty Hensley above is the orange refractor autograph. It's lovely. Here's what I have for 2012 Bowman Draft. Maybe without doing any research, Zippy Zappy can eyeball this and tell me what I still need.

2012 Bowman Draft #BDPP19
2012 Bowman Draft Black Printing Plate #BDPP19 (1/1) 
2012 Bowman Draft Cyan Printing Plate #BDPP19 (1/1) 
2012 Bowman Draft Ice #BDPP19
2012 Bowman Draft Orange #BDPP19 (075/250) 
2012 Bowman Draft Blue Ice #BDPP19
2012 Bowman Draft Purple Ice #BDPP19 (8/10)
2012 Bowman Draft Red Ice #BDPP19 (01/25) 
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft #BDPP19
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft Refractor #BDPP19
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft Refractor Blue #BDPP19 (151/250)
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft Refractor Gold #BDPP19 (02/50)
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft Refractor Orange #BDPP19 (25/25)
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft Refractor Red #BDPP19 (3/5)
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft AUTOGRAPH #BCA-TH 
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft AUTOGRAPH Refractor #BCA-TH
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft AUTOGRAPH Refractor Blue #BCA-TH (010/150)
2012 Bowman Chrome Draft AUTOGRAPH Refractor Orange #BCA-TH (09/25)

Either way, I think I'm close.

Time to go back to drowning. Hope you're all well.

Circa March, 2019

I came home from a work trip last week to find a PWE from one of NJ's newest and Finest, PK Steinberg from Baseball Every Night. I think he mailed out around 30 PWEs last week, and I'm thankful to be on the receiving end of one of them.

While two cards were from 2019 Topps, my favorite was this oldie but goodie from 1997 Circa:

This definitely looks like 1995 Fleer's older brother, but I didn't mind these at all. I had some basketball cards from this set as well, which had the same design.

The two 2019s were one of the Gleyber inserts, as well as a base card of $70 million dollar man Aaron Hicks.

PK, thanks for thinking of me!

In da Club(house)

Just a quick post today. I haven't picked up any Heritage yet, but got two in from 2018 Heritage Minors. My wife actually went to Target yesterday and I sent her photos of 2019 Heritage blasters, but they (unsurprisingly) didn't have any. My closest Target is turning into a real nightmare when it comes to finding new cards.

I guess that's why eBay exists! I had a little bit of money leftover on a gift card, so I found two cards of up and coming Yankees prospects. This is my second card of top prospect Estevan Florial, and my first relic.

Thairo Estrada, a favorite of Zippy Zappy, was on his way to the Majors before suffering a gunshot wound. He's back and healthy this year, and I hope to see him continue his path towards the bigs.

Two nice cards, 1/4 of the price of a blaster, and probably better than I'd pull on my own. Solid W for me.

I should go to the LCS more

I live about 15 minutes away from a small shop called Skybox Cards. It's been there 30 years.

I should go there more, but I always make an excuse not to. That I'm too busy or have something going on. However, on Saturday I found myself with about an hour of free time, so I hopped in the car and made the drive.

The store is like many you've been in, overcrowded shelves, boxes, memorabilia everywhere. While the actual space to maneuver is narrow, the store is actually very charming.

I asked the owner if he had any new Yanks I could thumb through, and he handed me a loose stack. I I stood at the counter and eventually pulled out eight cards, including these. I didn't ask for a price - I figured he'd be fair and I decided to support the local business. I was glad to pick up a few Stantons as well, as I feel like he's going to have a huge year. It happens all the time in NY, where a player has a terrific second year after adjusting in year one.

While there, I saw a father come in with his daughter and inquire about a stack of cards he had. I definitely eavesdropped, trying to see if he pulled out some big-time cards, or what most of us expected...overproduced cards.

It was the latter. I don't think he was disappointed, as I think he came into possession of them through a family member. I believe the best card was a Bo Jackson RC. But I can't imagine how many times the shop owner has had that discussion with people who wander into the store.

I also tried my luck with a jumbo pack of 2019 Topps, as the box looked fresh and I figured I might be able to luck into one of the three hits. As expected, I did not.

All in all, I was charged $20 for the jumbo and the eight cards. Not bad at all.