Small Business Saturday At Cleve's

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday!  It was nice to get away from work and be totally worthless on my in-laws couch for a few days.  Like many of you, I participated a little in some online Black Friday card deals (COMC.com was my choice of websites), but I also made sure to do my heavy card shopping at Cleve's Collectibles (my LCS) and support my favorite source of cards.

I took my sampler album to the shop today and had Cleve help me fill in some gaps.  I'm very pleased with what I picked up:

1951 Red Backs Page:

I definately should start with this Bob Feller card.  I don't have Fellers in my Sampler Album yet, so I was very interested in buying this card, even with a crease in it.  I also only have one 1951 Topps card and the page looks really empty.  I asked Cleve what he wanted for the Feller.  He looked at it for a moment and said, "No, this is your Christmas present."   Those of you who read this blog will not find that act of generosity from Cleve surprising in the least.  I don't even know what to say anymore other than, "wow!"

With the Feller already gifted to me, I insisted on paying for another 1951 card.  This Duke Snider is a beauty, and now my 1951 page has 3 cards instead of one.

1954 Page:

I absolutely love this card!  Mathews is an all time great, and this card is in fantastic shape.  No creases, the corners are good, and the color is sharp.  This card on it's own would have made the day a success.

I also picked up three more 1954s and completed the page.  I'm really sorry about the crop job on the above image.  Since the 1954 page is done, I'll be putting up a post about it soon.  It's a really good page, and I'm anxious to show it in full.

1955 Page:

My 1955 page is also light, but I picked up 2 more solid cards to get it closer to completion.  Hodges is better than solid I should say.

 I have 6 of 8 slots filled on my 1955 page, but I have a handful of graded 1955 cards in a box.  I'll probably free two of them from their shells and be done with it.  Anyone have good tips for breaking out cards from graded cases?

Finally, Cleve didn't let me leave without one more gift.  This is a playing card of Honus Wagner from the mid 1950s from a company called Brown and Bigelow.  I don't know anything about these other than it's a cool oddball card and the artwork is beautiful.   What can I say?  Thanks again to Cleve for being such a generous man!