Diverse dime boxes

Now that this year's Secret Santa has officially been set in motion, I can start catching up on things that normally would've been covered by now, namely the rest of the haul that I brought home from September's super mega card show.

I do have a few more thank you posts to do, but with the aforementioned Secret Santa, I've got some shopping to do, which means another card show will likely be in my future, and hey, there just so happens to be one in less than two weeks -- and if I do go, I can't imagine that I won't end up bringing anything back for myself, so I'm gonna try and get the last show's stuff taken care of real quick, that way I don't end up having two shows worth of stuff to catch up on. Hopefully the people that I owe public thanks to for items sent my way, won't be upset by having to wait another week or two before I gush over their generosity.

For those that don't remember, and why would you, the end of September show was one of twice a year 190+ table affairs, hence the super mega card show distinction. Oh, as a quick aside, I just saw that the next big one, which is at the end of February BTW, is set to have 240 tables with wares from 130+ dealers! Just goes to show what can happen when shows are promoted by someone who isn't motivated by greed, after all who would've thought that Nashville could hold shows that are now being compared to The National, and according to dealers who have set up at both, The National is losing ground to what's going on here. Oh, sorry, aside #2, I also just read that the September show had the usual array of dealers from various states (midwest to upper east coast), but apparently there was even a guy from California there. California to Nashville is a long way to travel just to try and sell some cards! I wish I would've known what table(s) was his, as I would've tried to buy something from him, but unless you're the sort to talk to every single dealer (I am not), there's really no way to know where everyone is coming from.

Anyhow, I've already mentioned that despite there being a gajillion sellers to choose from, I only ended up buying from four, two of which have already been covered (here and here), so let's move onto the third (even though it was actually the second purchase of the day). There's an older seller who's always there, and who always has a bunch of 3200 ct dime boxes from the three major sports, as well as some higher end vintage and autos. I've bought stuff from him many times over the last couple of years (although I still don't know his name), so I do always stop to check out his wares. He was obviously bringing out the big guns for this bigger show, as in addition to his normal set-up, he also had a dime box of non-sports (3200 ct), as well as a bunch of quarter boxes (or 5/$1) that were separated into baseball, basketball, boxing, football, hockey, and wrestling. Even though I bought from both tiers, I'm just going to focus on the dime boxes today, and save the quarter boxes for Wednesday.

Seeing as how non-sports cards are a bit of a rarity here (despite the bonkers amount of dealers), and don't ask me why, they just are -- so with that in mind I opted to search through the new non-sport dime box first (don't worry, there's some sports further down in the post). I found the three Bart Broder's within the first couple of cards, with my recent propensity for collecting duplicates, I of course had to grab all three. This particular Broder is new to me, given it's subject matter though, it's not too hard to figure out roughly when it would've been made.

As exciting as it was to find a dime box of non-sport cards, I was a little disappointed to see that at least half of the cards in the box were in pretty rough shape, with the bulk of those being from mid 90's DC and Marvel sets. This Deadpool was just about the only one that didn't have any smushed corners, otherwise I probably would've bought just about everything in there.

I was surprised to find these in there, and even though I don't normally go for cards that are this rough, I couldn't leave them sitting there. I'll be hanging on to the Man on the Moon, at least for the moment, but the Monkees are available to whoever wants them.

The one bad thing about dime boxes is, that because everything is only a dime, it can be awfully difficult to say no to things, even things that you normally wouldn't give a second look. Here's a perfect example, did I need expired game cards from the 1992 Winter Olympics? I'm pretty sure that I didn't, but they were only a dime, so...

I don't remember this particular contest, but I do recall quite a few others from the time, as well as a number of the promotions that were linked to that year's Winter Olympics. My favorite was the free plastic hockey stick that one could get if you bought X amount of Wheaties boxes, I think it was two or three. We lived in Beaverton (OR) at the time, and there was an Albertson's not too far away that was participating in the promotion, it was a pretty big deal for me and a lot of the other kids my age (9). The details are a little fuzzy, but basically you just went there and bought a couple of boxes of Wheaties, and they would hand you this beautiful blue and white plastic hockey stick (it came with a puck too) right there in the store, no sending away for anything, no waiting for it to arrive, talk about your instant gratification! This promotion also just so happened to start right around the time that rollerblades were exploding in popularity, so it didn't take long before a lot of us kids were playing roller hockey, even though no one was familiar with hockey in the least. I had two of those sticks, both had been broken and duct taped back together, until my mid teens, but a garage cleaning would eventually see them being thrown away. At this point in my life, it should come as no surprise to hear that I wish that I still had them, as they'd look really great up on the wall... duct tape and all!

There were some A&G mini's in the baseball boxes, but this was the only one from the non-sport box, and in case you can't tell, it's pretty fantastic! I kind of want to talk about the Carpathia some, but this post is getting kind of a long, and I don't even think that I'm to the halfway mark yet, so maybe I'll revisit the topic another day.

My days as a wrestling fanatic are long gone, but it was still pretty cool to find some of these 1987 NWA Wonderama cards. I remember seeing ads for this set in the back of magazines, always sold as a complete set BTW, but I had never seen any in person before. It's hard to tell from the crappy scans, but these are basically like mini photos, the image quality is that good.

I was such a big fan of The Powers of Pain when I was a kid, so the group shot featuring part of Paul Jones' Army is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

I don't know if anyone cares, but here's a back just in case.

See, I told you, sports! Another new to me set here, but Sportflix was a brand that I never bought any cards from, no reason why mind you, it just wasn't on my radar. The lenticular action of these backgrounds is pretty nifty, they sure don't scan well though, and the photograph that I used here isn't much better.

You're now looking at the first card from the '86 Topps set that I've ever owned (I've since gotten another one from Robby). I forgot about this one when I went to scan everything, so I've added this photo right before hitting publish. It has a bit of a punky corner, but was still probably a pretty good deal, what with it being The Fridge's rookie and all.

Some random shiny stuff, finding cheap Prism is always a good thing!

T-Mac was hanging out with The Fridge, and as such is a late another addition to the post. As far as base cards go, this one is pretty nice, now if I could just spot a famous person in the background...

I've mentioned many times before that I wasn't a Jordan fan growing up, but for some odd reason I still have an affinity for a number of his early 90's base cards, these two being a couple of my favorites. My fondness for these cards has grown even more since I started created my dozen or so player binders earlier this year, and since I also now enjoy finding as many duplicates of cards that I like, I'm not about to pass up a few more cheap copies of these two.

If memory serves, the 1994-95 Collector's Choice gold signatures averaged about one per box, maybe it's just me, but with those kind of odds, one shouldn't expect to find any in dime boxes -- yet I've done so in the past, and I did it here again. Obviously Clyde wasn't no scrub either, so why he was relegated to such a box, I do not know, I can guarantee you though that he's now in much better place... that being in a binder with other Drexler's! Anybody who's ever tried to scan or photograph these probably already knows that they are difficult to get a decent image of, this photograph isn't too bad, certainly better than the scan...

Wow, that looks terrible!

It's amazing how much difference can be made just by taking the photo at a slight angle. Definitely another one of my favorites from that day. I thought that finding one was pretty fantastic, but then...

... I found four more! Not quite on par with Clyde, but I'm not going to complain any. I've got player pages for Otis Thorpe and Jeff Hornacek, and Scott Skiles and Anthony Peeler will be headed to my team binders, which are basically just where by put all of the neat stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else -- although if I could find a few more interesting cards of Scott Skiles, I would likely start a page for him as well.

Looks like we've reached the end, but not a bad a couple of bucks spent if I do say so myself! They weren't as diverse as these dime boxes, but I did alright with his quarter boxes as well, and as mentioned I'll be taking a look at that stuff next time, so until then!


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

House cleaning

I hate to admit it, but a bout of depression got the better of me last week -- or rather, the low-level depression that I've been keeping at bay for most of the year decided to kick it up a notch, which, in case anybody was wondering, is why there weren't any new blog posts last week, I just didn't have the want to work on any.

And if that wasn't bad enough, I also got hit by a wave of home sickness, which is just stupid on so many different levels. a) After being gone for almost four years, you'd think I'd be past such things by now, b) Old people shouldn't be getting homesick, c) In my heart I know that everything here is better for me than it was back home, and dumbest reason of all, d) The Portland that I'm homesick for, hasn't existed for over twenty years! That's right, I'm longing for a city from another time... wonked up brain chemistry sure is fun, isn't it?

I'm gonna have to try and get over this pretty quick, or least pretend that I'm over it, because with Christmas coming up, as well as my mom's birthday, which is on Christmas, I'd prefer not to ruin her day with my mopiness.

Speaking of birthday's, oh, quick side note, today's post is going to be all over the place... kind of a cornucopia of crap if you will.

Anyway, birthday's... I had one back in July, and I never got around to photographing everything that I was given, so no post was ever done, but I do have a few pictures that have been sitting in a folder since then, including The Simpsons Rad Rollers above.

Does anyone remember Rad Rollers? Released in 1990 to very little fanfare, they wound up sitting in toy aisles -- most notably Kmart toy aisles -- across the country for over a decade, before finally being pulled from the shelves sometime in the early 2000's, in what can only be described as the retail equivalent of a mercy killing.

Even though I never played with them, or even knew anyone who did, I still have a strong affinity for them, if only because they are something from that era that I can still remember quite vividly. I want to say that there were around ten different sets made, ranging in subject matter from Batman to New Kids on the Block.

I already had the Dick Tracy and WWF sets, so The Simpsons was a welcome addition, someday I'll probably look for the rest, the keyword being "someday".

My mom had gone to the estate sale of a couple in Knoxville who had been selling on eBay for almost twenty years, which is where all of this year's presents came from. After seeing the pictures for the sale, I had planned on going too, at least until I realized that this was going to be one of those sales that would require a body to be lined up out front for hours in advance of the opening, which meant that I would've had to be getting up around 1am, drive an hour and a half, and then wait in line for another five hours... that's just too much for this particular fellow.

I have seen the Ronald McDonald figure many times over the years, but I had never seen any of the other characters from the 1976 Remco McDonaldland set before, a set by the way, that was the culmination of the McDonald's five year long ad campaign for it's McDonaldland universe.

This Hamburglar package has definitely seen better days, and even though I'm a dedicated package opener, I will be leaving this one unopened for the time being, as this one of those rare times where I get more enjoyment from the figure still being on card.

I've been showing a lot of California Raisins stuff as of late, so why not a pillow too? Oh, and I have mentioned lately that I'm still single... I just can't imagine why :)

Other birthday presents not shown: a Mr. Peanut promotional plush, a Snoopy wind chime, multiple Happy Meal toys from the early 90's, and a couple packs of cards that may or may not make it on to the blog at some later date.

A couple of months back I picked up this 2013 Golden Age Stanley Livingston auto on eBay for next to nothing, I guess there's not a lot of My Three Sons fans left out there, which is unfortunate, but I did need it for my set so I'm happy to have been able to get it for not very much money. And how great is that signature, it's like a f***ing piece of art!

This really isn't apropos, but it was super cute. Maybe a little over a month ago, before the cold weather started showing up, I went outside through the patio door and noticed that there was something dark on stuck to the side of the laundry room door, which is the only other door on the back of the house. Once I got little closer, it became obvious that it was a toad, maybe two inches in length, who was clinging to the part where the door meets the casing, about five feet up from the sill.

Oh, look his little eyes are closed! You can see the handle and deadbolt, so you can see how high he climbed. It was so difficult for me not to not pick him up, but I didn't want to wake him up, well, that and I didn't fancy the thought of getting peed on at that particular moment (toads pee a lot). We didn't need to use that door on that particular day, so he was able chill for the day, and as expected, he was gone the next morning.

Even with the depression kicking my butt all of last week, I still ended up going to Knoxville, which I was able to justify by telling myself that I was doing a good deed. You see, my mom was lamenting that she needed to go to Target to look for something, a something that wasn't on their website, and if you've ever tried to call a place like Target and ask them if they have something, well, let's just say that you'll never make that same mistake again.

The closest Target is in Knoxville, there's three of them there actually, two of which are about ten minutes apart, and one of those two is only about two miles from McKay's (next post) -- so knowing this, and knowing that my mom did not want to make the trip, I volunteered to go

I really dislike Target, but it's the only retail location that you can find figures from the recent Mego revival, so it's kind of a necessary evil, at least for me. I ended up finding the last figure that I wanted, as well as one that I didn't even know that I wanted...

... pretty cool, huh? Despite the fact that I really wanted them, these were not a good purchase at the time, what with me not technically having any money at the time. Thankfully the collecting gods smiled down on me the next day, by allowing two of my eBay items to sell.

Is anybody getting tired of seeing Classics parallels on here yet? I hope not, because I'm going to have more than a few in my COMC stash that's due to arrive today. These two came from eBay though, I bid on a few more from the same seller, but these were the only two that I won. The Mike Singletary was my first orange (#'d to /25), although Chris just sent me another one, which will be shown sometime in January. And I think the Chris Doleman is only my second blue (#'d to /10) now.

I went to the card show at the end of November, had to find some Secret Santa stuff you know, which I did, but I also found more than a few things for myself as well. I will be getting to that stuff in January, but in the meantime I thought I'd show my one non-sport purchase from that day.

Jim, everybody there's favorite seller, had a really nice looking stack of 1966 Topps Superman, about half of the set actually. He was asking for sixty something bucks for the whole stack, or $2 apiece for individuals. Not wanting to work on the set, I just went through and pulled out a few that I found visually appealing, and he ended up giving me an even better deal, as I got these six for $10.

Even though I don't want to work on the set, it's still kind of an interesting one, especially when you realize that Topps released this set in conjunction with the show's syndication, which was over ten year's after it's debut.

As nice as these cards are, they ended up scanning like hot garbage, putting them in a page only slightly improved the overall result.

Phew, that was one long post, I think I now need another week off! Just kidding, I'll be back on Wednesday.

Before I go though, one more random thing to mention. I don't know how often my fellow bloggers check their stats, namely the keyword search section, you know the part that tells you what phrases people are typing into search engines, which then ultimately leads them to enter your blog. Well, I try to check that part about once a week, but I usually end up forgetting to keep to that schedule, so I guess I should say that I end up checking it out every three or four weeks. Anyway, last week there was two main phrases that were bringing them in, the first one was "secret Santa scam"... WHAT? That's really not cool of Google to have my blog show up amongst those search results, but I guess there's nothing I can really do about it, other than to say that it is kind of sucky.

The other phrase used was "Satchel Paige bobblehead Portland", which is a little more interesting, but at least that one makes sense, since I did do a post with that particular bobblehead in it like two years ago -- makes me wonder why so many people would be looking for that bobblehead though, especially now? Okay, with that mentioned, I'm officially done for the day


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.