1999 Skybox E-X Century- The Whole Stinkin' Set Part 4

And we're done...

1999 Skybox E-X Century- The Whole Stinkin' Set Part 3

Yes, I'm still mailing it in with these posts.  Here's part 3 of the 1999 EX Century Set:

1999 Skybox E-X Century- The Whole Stinkin' Set Part 2

Part 2 of the EX Century Set:

1999 Skybox E-X Century- The Whole Stinkin' Set Part 1

I wasn't kidding when I said I would show every single card from my recently completed 1999 Skybox E-X Century Set.  I am doing this for two reasons: 1) I really love this set and think the cards are worthy of display and 2) I am insanely busy at work right now and I need a few more auto pilot posts that don't require a lot of thought on my part.  So here is part one of this set, pages 1-4:

 I wish they could have found a better pose for the Piazza card.

Checklist Chipaway: EX Century- All Done!

Before my little girl learned to talk, when she was done eating she would hold her hands up to us palms up and rotate them left and right.  This means "all done" in baby world.  You can't see it, but I'm holding up my hands and signaling "all done" to 1999 EX Century with this final card:

If you don't believe such an outrageous,  incredible, unbelievable tale, just look on the "completed" tab of my master checklist.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

See, I told you!  In your face!

I'm actually in Toronto right now and the blog is on autopilot for a few days, but when I get back, you are in for quite a treat when I post scans of every single card of this bad ass set. 

Checklist Chipaway: EX Century- One Step Back, Two Steps Forward

I previously thought I was only 3 cards away from completing my 1999 EX Century set.  I got out the album the other day and wanted to verify the accuracy of my checklist.   I was bummed to see that I actually further away than I thought.  Undeterred, I plowed ahead and ordered some of the cards I thought I already had off sportlots.com.  They came in today and after placing them in the album, I double checked and can confirm that I only need card #117, Gabe Kapler to finish.      

Checklist Chipaway: EX Century & GQ

Picked up 3 more EX Centurys this week off sportlots.com.

I am so close, it makes me want to puke.  I just need 2 more:  Corie Koskie and Gabe Kapler.  Surely I'll be able to find those cheap somewhere.

I also knocked off a few more Gypsy Queen inserts, again, courtesy of sportlots.com. 

Speaking of puking, I spent all Sunday doing just that as a result of food poisoning.  I know, it's hard to imagine that something like that could happen to poor little Nappy, especially with my sophisticated eating habits.  But it did happen, and it put me behind a couple of days.  If you are waiting on me for an answer to a trade post, please forgive me.  I think all of my mail has finally gone out, with Cardboard Catastrophes deserving a special apology for my tardiness.  Your cards are on the way, and I'm sorry for the delay!

Checklist Chipaway: EX Century

The master checklist takes a small hit this week with deliveries of a trio of slick 1999 EX Century Cards:

I am now at 95% complete, with 5 cards left to go!
 

On The Third Day of Brycemas..

My Harper Gave To Me:

3 Chunks of Set Fillers

My Super Duper Checklist was shriveling up quite nicely.  That is, until I added the components of Bowman 2011 and Gypsy Queen I want to it.  So I'm back to near 100 sets.  Happily, I was able to deliver some healthy shots to 3 sets I have been working on for a while:  2001 Topps HD, 2005 Gallery Artist Proof, and 1999 EX Century.  These are 3 of my favorite sets, and I have some new found momentum on them thanks to my Harper sale.

I am 8 cards away on EX Century, and 27 away on HD, (only 7 if you discount the final 20 SPs, which I don't).  I still need about 74 more Gallery, but I am content to take my sweet time on it. 

Gwynn Wynn

Man, eBay and PayPal just make it really difficult for a card addict like me to stay in control.   It's too easy to say "yes" to an auction.   My lovely wife may disagree, but I think most of the time I am relatively disciplined on buying cards.  I don’t typically buy expensive items or boxes, and I usually don’t pull the trigger on something that I know is a steal unless it falls under my collecting solar system.  I also don’t buy general “lots” of cards that don’t list specifically what those cards are.

Last week I made a couple of exceptions to my rules.  I bought one rather expensive jersey card and will post about when it arrives.  I also bought this:

A lot of 200 Tony Gwynn cards.  I stared and stared at this auction as the time to bid ticked away.  I don’t need 200 Tony Gwynn cards.    I want 200 Tony Gwynn cards, but I don’t need them.  The item description didn’t list the cards either, other than listing some of the brands in the lot,  so I knew it was likely a bunch of junk wax.  But no one had bid, and if I could win with the lowest bid, the cost would wind up being pennies per card.  Not a bad way to build the binder of one of my favorite all time players.  I put in my bid and watched the auction come to a close, alternating from hoping I would win to hoping someone would outbid me.  I wound up winning.

The box arrived yesterday and with a slight sense of dread, I dug in to see what I got, mostly expecting a bunch of this:

Some junk wax, but cards of Tony Gwynn are cards of Tony Gwynn, so no problem.  So that was part of the box, but I was pleasantly surprised by the overall contents.  There were a lot of shiny cards:

A few Topps Finest, as well as the Super Cool Plastic EX cards, one which I already had (1999), and one which I didn't (1998).  Maybe I should try to build the 98 set once 99 is done. 



And there were several of hologram/sportflics type cards that I dig:

I love those SPX hologram cards.  And these are my first UC3 cards.  The little pinwheels in the background of the Cyclone Squad card spin around when you move the card.  I'm sure I looked like an imbecile watching them spin 'round and 'round as I drooled over this card last night. 

I’m glad to say that I didn’t already have at least 50% of what was in the box.  My Tony Gwynn collection is now my largest single player collection, surpassing Darryl Strawberry.    

Mail Time- Paper or Plastic?

This week it’s plastic, as I received a good chunk of needed cards to complete one of my top 5 important sets to build, 1999 E-X Century.  Last summer when I was starting to get back into the hobby and see what all I had that I had forgotten about, I came across a Vlad Guerrero 1999 EX Century card that I do not ever remember buying.  It was a clear plastic card with some designs tinted inside the card, and some opaque designs and the photo layered on top.  I loved the look and the craft of the card, so I bought a few commons on sportsbuy.com and sportlots.com, and really became hooked on the set.  I recently found some of the bigger stars cheap on COMC and grabbed a bunch, which arrive last week. 

The Griffey card is beyond cool.  I wish the Piazza had been a better pose, but it's cool as well.  This pushes the completion % for this awesome set to 75% with 30 cards to go.  Most of the ones I still need are commons, so I think I’ll be able to finish the set this summer.  Buckle up for that adventure readers!  I have listed the cards that I still need at the top of my blog, I have several extras that I will post as trade bait.