My new job... sports card appraiser?

Sadly, no, but I was recently asked to evaluate a small collection of cards for an upcoming sale.

As a few of you know, I have three different blogs; one of which is a non-card blog. And as I've probably mentioned on there a few times now, my mom volunteers at multiple places that are somewhat of the retail-ish variety. The above shoebox full of cards was recently donated for a rummage sale (it's not really a rummage sale, but I can't think of a better way to describe it at the moment). Seeing as how no one there knew anything about sports cards, my mom, the volunteer (though she's risen to more than that at this particular place), volunteered my services, as a longtime collector, in trying to help them come up with a reasonable price for the entire box... which they gladly accepted.

There was one small catch though, the box was donated one day before the sale that it needed to be in was happening, which meant that I only had a couple of hours the night before to go through it and try to come up with some figures that they could look at, and then choose a price that they'd be happy with. Now, this probably wouldn't have been much of an issue had it been one of those disappointing boxes full of nothing but late 80's/early 90's beaters that you often hear about other collectors and shop owners being expected to appraise, but it wasn't. Its contents were a little bit better than that, though still not one of those boxes of untouched tobacco cards that pop up from time to time. That sort of box will have to wait for another day (fingers, and toes, crossed).

I started by sorting everything by sport, and year. And as you can see, pretty much everything was of the early to mid 70's variety. As mentioned, this was kind of thrust upon me at the very last moment, so I wasn't able to get very many pictures before the sun went down (the lighting in my house isn't conducive to photos). Had I had more time, I would've at least moved the best card from each pile to the top to make this one photo a little more impressive.

We're a few weeks removed from this sale, so I can't remember all of the numbers at this point, but I believe that there ended up be around 425-475 cards in the box. About half of them were in P-G condition, and the other half was EX- to EX+. It was kind of odd how that worked. Trying to come up with a price was a bit tricky, as I didn't want to price too low and have some asshole flipper come along and profit from them (as opposed to the cause which the sale was for), but also didn't want to price it too high and scare away any and all interested parties. There were a couple of notable cards, which are usually what are gonna move a lot like this, so I based the price mostly on what someone would've had to pay at a show or online to get them; then tacked on an additional lower sum for the remaining cards. And despite the lack of time, I wrote out a page that could be taped to the box which contained a breakdown of the card totals by year (and sport, of course), and also highlighted the notable cards (and their condition) that were in the box.

This is the first time that I've ever been asked to do something like this, and even though it would've been nice to have a bit more time, it was a fun experience; one that I wouldn't mind doing again. And I heard after the fact that the folks who run the sale were very pleased with my efforts (the spreadsheet went over especially well), and I've since been asked if I wanted to assess another lot of items. And thankfully, this time I'll have a couple of months to work on it. I, of course, said yes. This lot isn't sports or trading card related, so when I eventually get around to blogging about it, it'll be over on the non-card blog (sorry for the tease, but I'd like to generate more traffic towards that blog too).

But wait... there's more! Just doing this thing for these people would've been rewarding unto itself, but from the outset, it was made clear that I could pull out, and buy, any singles that I might want. I can imagine that some (or a lot of) current collectors would take advantage of such an offer by plucking out all of the key cards (which would all be conveniently priced lower than they should've been as well), thus rendering the lot as a whole considerably less desirable. That ain't my way though. I already had at least one copy of each of the better cards in there, and while I wouldn't have minded getting more of each of them, I would want them for cheaper than I priced them at. Heck, I would've bought the whole box if it had been one of those ones you hear about people finding at a garage sale for $5-10, but again, I was trying to make sure that these people got what they were worth, so it was a bit more than $5-10. All that being said, I did end up buying five cards, only one of which might've been considered a key card.

I haven't put much effort into doing so in recent years, but I'd still like to acquire all of the '71 action cards at some point. This got me one card closer.

There was more '73 Topps in this lot than anything else. It's also where the bulk of the best cards were hiding. Despite being Willie Mays, I don't think anyone could argue that this particular copy would be overly desirable to the casual collector. And aside form a few weirdo's, it most certainly wouldn't be of much interest to the seasoned collector (or those suffering from gradeitis). It wasn't until my brief foray into the Twitter a few years back that I came to develop a small appreciation for miscut cards. Slightly miscut still doesn't do anything for me, but cards of this nature, are, to some degree. I still won't go out of my way to find them, but this one felt like a must have. I found an uncut sheet online, which was able satisfy my curiosity as to whose partially shown underneath. It's Billy Parker. This particular card has been a longtime want, and while I'd still like to get a decent looking copy at some point, this one is pretty nifty in the meantime.

I can't remember how old I was, maybe 7 or 8, but somewhere around there my grandpa gave me a stack of cards (bound by a couple of rubber bands no less) that was made up of '73 Topps baseball and football cards. They were the first vintage cards that I can recall seeing, and were most definitely the first that I ever owned. Because of this early exposure, I have an affinity for both designs, but the football one has held a bit more sway. I've thought about trying to build the set a few times over the years, even more so recently as I've been jonesing to work on one of the 70's football sets, but after looking through the small stack that was in this lot, I realized that while I love the design, many of the photos don't do a lot for me. 

Joe Namath's card was another longtime want, if only because of his silly Joe cap. Of the five cards I took out, it's the only one that I considered a key card in the lot. That being said, it does have a few minor indents on the back, and a scratch on the front that doesn't show in the scan. I won't feel any need to ever upgrade it though. And I was surprised that I didn't already have the Alzado in my small collection of his. Prior to checking, I would've put money down on my already having at least one copy. I guess it was good thing then that there was no one around to bet with.

Bo sent me a copy of this card a few years back, but I couldn't resist adding another one to the collection. One can never have too many Rick Hunter's.

As mentioned, I did pay the going rate for all of these, and perhaps even a little more for the Mays, as I really wanted that one.

I didn't go to the actual sale. I used to really enjoy such events, but with such a large percentage of people engaged in the #FlipLife these days, I find myself rarely wanting to be amonsgt their ilk (at some point in the near future I'm going to be doing a hatepiece on their sort). I did, however, get one item from it...

This thing really pops when photographed on a red cooler.

My mom found this in a box of free stuff, and even though it was most likely made for Poker players, she still thought it would be appropriate for me, and my activities, as well. And she was right, of course. I believe that it was meant to be stuck on one's vehicle, but I'm not of the put's crap on the back of the car sort, so I'll have to find somewhere else to display it. It's pretty neat though, especially for a freebie.

Christmas Catch-Up: Part 3

Today's card could've only come from one person, right?

I don't know which would be the bigger giveaway though, the fact that it's a 2003 Topps Retired Autograph, or it's Christmas-y overlay.

Obviously this came from our resident mad scientist, Gavin, whose creations have included both Baseball Card Breakdown, and 1991 MusiCards Blog.

I hadn't been expecting anything from Gavin, so just seeing an envelope from him was surprise enough, let alone what was inside! Given all of the other Gavin related posts that were popping up right around Christmas, I thought that said envelope might be related to those, but nope, it was Boog!

This is my second Boog autograph, and honestly, is by far the superior of the two (my other one is from 2012 Golden Age). It's also the first time that I've seen a Topps Retired card of any kind in person. Now that I have, it's not hard to see why Gavin likes them so much. I think too that I've only become aware of these cards because of Gavin, and I can't help but think that I'm not the only one.

As great as this card is, and as nice of a gift as it was, I'm afraid that I don't have a lot to say about it. I suspect that my fellow bloggers know all about that, I can say that it's cool as shit fifty times, but no matter how true it may be, that doesn't make for much of a post. I can say that it does look pretty neat in with my Boog pages, though the page that it's now on still needs to be filled out a bit.

Thanks again for the card, Gavin; it's arrival was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of this past holiday season.

*********************Bonus Content!************************

My mom and I did the same thing this Christmas as we did last year, where instead of buying presents, we just went halfsies on a Newspapers.com subscription (during Black Friday when they offer their lowest rates of the year). It's a good arrangement, that works out well for both of us. That being said, she did end up getting me one physical item, that being this book.

I had a Smithsonian book of some sort many (many) years ago, which wasn't very good. It was basically just pictures of items in the museum with a very brief two-line write-up under each one. Much more effort was put into this one, as there's plenty of meat (i.e. stories) behind the items being shown. It'll probably be a few months before I get to this book, but in the meantime, I took a bunch of pictures to give y'all a feel for what's inside:

I'm happy to say that I'm officially caught-up with all things Christmas. And I hadn't planned it this way, but these led right up to a bit of milestone for this blog, which will be the subject of the next post...

Blogger, blogger, blogger, Mom!

A few weeks have elapsed (unintentionally) in between posts again. Blogging consistently seems to be getting more difficult the longer I go. At my current pace, I'll probably be struggling to get one post done per month by about the middle of next year.

I've seen a lot of folks start posts in recent months by saying that they've been too busy to blog, which is relatable, but in order to switch things up, I'm gonna say that I've been too tired (from being busy) to blog.

Technically, I have had time to blog, but for the last couple of months, and more specifically, the last couple of weeks, I have just been dead-ass tired by the end of the day. Between work and projects around the house, or rather, outside the house, it's been a busy summer. Small example, I've spent pretty much all of my free time from the last two weeks trying to shore up a long section of eroding creek bank by the house. This is something that has been needing attention for years now, but the opportunities to do so haven't been presenting themselves. This is not something that I've ever done before (and I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn recently), so I basically just guessed my way through it. I'm finished now, but not before an incredible amount of digging was needed, and a shit-ton of large stones carried from one spot to another. Oh, and there was the sweltering sun, and the fighting off of mosquitos too. I should know by next summer whether my efforts were worth it or not (after the inevitable winter and spring flooding).

So while there have been hours worth of potential blogging time in the evenings, I'm usually done in by the time I've finished with dinner. I could sit down and blog, or even better, sit down and read, but really, I just wanna sit down and watch a Columbo, and call it a day. Besides, you really don't want me to be blogging when I'm tired. Posts "written" while I'm rested are bad enough, just imagine how bad they'd be with one out of every ten words missing, and more misspellings than you can shake a stick at (see my late night comments on other blogs). There's a brief a lull in the action this week, hence me trying to get this post out, but next week I'll be taking on (not by choice) a multiple week chainsawing project, which is going to require just about as much back-breaking labor as the creek project took. With that in mind, my posts will probably continue to be erratic for the time being. The good news is though, that there are plenty of other blogs out there, blogs who's proprietors are more well-equipped to post on a regular basis than I (and there posts are better), so you should never be want for something to read.

[Side note: Please know that this isn't me complaining about having to all of this hard labor. I'm grateful to be living where I live, and to physically be able to do all of the work that comes with living where I live. It saves money, and keeps me in great shape, or at least the outside of me in great shape. Inside, I'm a hot mess, but that's another story...]

Cosmically speaking, I feel like I've been rewarded for all of my hard work by finding interesting things in my mailbox as of late. Sure, some of those have been small purchases, and therefor are less exciting, but a few haven't been - like this book - which came directly from the author, who, in case some of you don't know, is our very own, Jeff, from Wax Pack Wonders. 

I had planned to dive into this the day it arrived, but remember the whole busy and tired thing? Yeah, so now it's multiple weeks later and I've just started it (last night to be specific). The bad news though is that I'm much too biased to do any sort of proper review, but the good news is, that at least through 73 pages, I'm really liking it (not that I thought I wouldn't, mind you). As someone who tends to ramble, and doesn't know how not to when writing, I'm really impressed with the flow of this book. There is a lot of info in here, but not so much that you have to keep backtracking to figure out who did what to whom. And despite the steady flow of facts, you don't feel like your being bogged down by them (Simon Winchester could learn a thing or two about writing from Jeff). I've already learned more about old North Dakota baseball than I ever would've thought possible, and am thinking that by the time I get done with the book, I'm gonna be the second most knowledgeable (living) person on the subject (ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but not by much 😉). I know that a fair amount of bloggers, and blog readers, are interested in obscure baseball history. If that's you, and you haven't already done so, you might want to give this one a look.

Jeff, sent a long a couple of "bookmarks" (his words) as well, which were in the form of cards for the new Beavers collection. Since all of those cards will eventually be making their way onto the new blog (I've been dropping the ball on that already too), I'm not gonna show them here, as I'm trying not to double-dip, but just know that they were all greatly appreciated. Another trio of "bookmarks" arrived from Jeff last week, and despite wanting to keep the contents of both blogs separate, I've got to show one, if only because of how cool it is...

Spoiler alert: There's gonna be a Roger Bowman post at some later date on the other blog.

I've thanked him many times via email in recent months, but only one other time publically, so, many thanks to Jeff once again for all of his behind the scenes assistance with the new blog, and for the book, and the cards. I'll probably be playing catch-up for the foreseeable future, and beyond!

Free stuff posts seem to have fallen out of favor this year, but that hasn't stopped, Trevor, from Bump and Run Football Cards, from doing a serious of giving back posts, aka free stuff posts. I claimed two cards from the last one, both from the '89 Pro Set set; Howie Long because I needed him, and Reggie Roby because I didn't think anybody else would be wanting him (I have more than a few copies already). It's kind of interesting to see the size difference between the two cards. Reggie is regular sized, and Howie is plus sized. I don't think I've encountered a Pro Set card as big as Howie before, and am kind of amazed that none of his corners got punked up in the pack. It was a Long miracle?

Thanks to Trevor for the cards, and his willingness to give a little something back to everybody.

I went a couple of years without participating in Matt's Time Travel Trading project over at Diamond Jesters, and now for the second month in a row, I have! I missed out on a copy of this card that Bo had up for trade a few months ago, so I was more than a little happy to see another one pop up for trade on the blogs. I'm like 99% certain that I've never mentioned it before, but Frank Lary is one of my favorite 'players of yore' to collect. He had a solid career, and his cards are relatively cheap, what's not to like?

Thanks to Matt for letting me play along again!

It's not from a fellow blogger, but does fit the theme of a mostly sports card blog, so I thought I'd shoehorn a book in here that my mom recently found for me at a yard sale. 

She actually bought a couple of books for me, including what appears to be a fairly rare old one on local history, but nobody is gonna care about that, or the couple of others, so yeah... sports!

This book was published in 1951, and covers various sports happenings from the previous 100 years. I've got a few pages of the table of contents here, just to give you an idea of the variety.

Things like golf, horse racing, polo, and tennis, don't interest me much, so those stories will be skipped -- I fully expect what's left to be worth the 25¢ price tag though. And who knows, I might even get a blog post out of one of them (possibly the man, boat, and horse story).

On a completely unrelated note: There's been much talk about this whole Topps losing their MLB license thing, and even more recently, Panini losing their NBA deal. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this (and you know what they say about opinions, right?), so I thought I'd add my two penny sleeves to the mix. 

I made the mistake of looking at Twitter (a mistake unto itself) the day the Topps thing happened. In less than a minute of scrolling I saw people saying they were "shook", "numb", and "crying" (yes, crying) over the announcement. And that was enough of Twitter for one day! Personally, I don't really care, it doesn't affect me in the least, and call me an a-hole, but I have no empathy for those that were "shook" (or numb, or crying) over such a trivial thing.

I'm not surprised at all that Topps lost their deal, but given how much money Panini has been raking in worldwide on basketball cards, I would've thought that they could've afforded to pony up a more competitive offer -- apparently I was wrong. I fully expect this Fanatics company, who I had never heard of before last week by the way, to buy Topps in a few years, and everything will pretty much be as it is now, except for maybe us as consumers seeing Topps basketball cards being produced again for the first time in two decades. If Panini can hang on to their NFL contract, I think they'll still be okay, and won't lose as much company value as Topps most certainly will in the coming years. I mean let's be honest, social influencers can keep pushing soccer cards to the moon, but those alone are not gonna sell enough in the U.S. to keep Topps afloat, or at least not Topps in it's current form.

Honestly, I'm kind of hoping that Panini and Topps will let their greed get the better of them, and adopt a scorched earth policy by revving up the printing presses in order to get every last dollar they can, while they still can. New sets are already released on a near weekly basis, so I'm not really sure how these two companies could possibly produce anymore, but if they can, they could in theory, truly flood the market. This would severely devalue all of the modern products, and if luck were on our side, force all of the investors/profit seekers who've jumped into the "hobby" in the last two years to seek out their fortunes elsewhere. I know that this is mostly wishful thinking on my part, but greed knows no limits, so let's wait and see what happens before you start calling me out for my erroneous opinion. Either way though, this will be the last I time I ever mention this subject on here, I've got much more important things to discuss, you know, like dusty old books, and cards from online dime stores, and... VHS tapes!!!