Card Show Pickups: Graded Junk and A Pair Of Relics

It's been a while since I've been to a local card show.  They usually aren't that good.  But I took shot on the wild side and ventured out this morning to see if I could find anything I had to have.

Turns out, it was a really decent show today.  There were a few vendors I'd never seen before, and a couple were blowing out there stuff because they were exiting the hobby.  Unfortunately, my little boy got sick early into the show and I didn't get too far around the tables.  Fortunately, I hit a few good things while I was there. 

First, I came across a table that had a big pile of graded cards, priced a $1 each, or 6 for $5.  I found 6 that I thought were worth it:

I like the looks of Beckett Graded cards, and I'm always happy to add a nice Gwynn to my collection.  Yes, it's graded 8 and it's 1987 Donruss (which I happen to love), but it was under a buck.

I love this Mike Piazza card.  I have a pretty good sized Piazza collection and had never seen this card. 

 This Bagwell card is really cool in hand.  the foil moves in the light and hypnotizes me.

So this is not only a Graded 1989 Donruss Craig Biggio, it's the SECOND graded 1989 Donruss Craig Biggio I've purchased at a local card show.   Actually, once I took a second to look over the card, I realized it's a REPRINT of a 1989 Donruss Craig Biggio.  And it's graded.  7.5.  Don't judge me, I paid $.83 for it.  And Craig Biggio is a bad ass.

This was the last one I got.  I got it for reasons I can't explain.

I was pretty satisfied with this purchase.  I was also very satisfied with the $2 worth of cards I picked up from a dime box.  I've already sorted them and forgot to take a picture.  But I got several good cards for my sampler album.  You'll just have to trust me on that one.

Finally, I found a couple of cool relics for $2 each:

 It looks like someone mixed in some red with the whites on laundry day.

Baxendale is a former Razorback, so this was a great find for me.

Cleve’s Auction Night: Back In The Saddle Again… Part 1

I’ve been in a bit of a slump at Cleve’s lately.  The Holiday Auction was too rich for my blood and I didn’t see anything I had to have at the auction last Tuesday.   But, I got back on track in a big way this Tuesday night.  Well, let’s not get carried away, it wasn’t that big of a night, but I’ve got good blog material for at least 4 days now thanks to this auction.  I got some good singles, sets and a goodie box that was loaded with little treasures that I can’t wait to show, some of the most interesting bits having nothing to do with baseball cards. 

Ironically, I was just yesterday bemoaning to the lovely wife the fact that with eTopps apparently slipping into the night, I was going to have to find a new source of topics to take it’s place on the blog.   At least temporarily I have plenty to write about from this auction.   I almost have so much, I don’t know where to start.

I guess I’ll start with the singles I picked up:

 Yes, this Duke Snider has seen better days, but I’m pleased with it anyhow, especially for $5.

 

For $2 I couldn’t resist this dual relic Diamond King card of Scott Rolen.  It’s also numbered to #25.

This may have been my only “mistake” of the night.  My hand was a little slow on the draw and I got snared with a $4 bid rather than $3 for this Marshall Faulk/Steven Jackson dual relic.  But it’s numbered to #230 and has a current and perhaps future Hall of Famer on it.

Another $2 purchase.  I’m pretty proud of this one.  Both cards are of Jeff Bagwell, who better get in the HOF next year.  The “Play at the Plate” card has batter’s box dirt in it, and the other card is numbered to 1,000.  Plus they both came in screw down holders which I can always use.

Finally, I picked up an autographed card of Eddie George.  I think this is a rookie card as well.  I’ve always been a fan of Eddie George, so this was a steal at $2.

Not a bad way to start huh?

Here are my self given grades:

Duke Snider 1958 Topps $5=  B-  : I probably should have passed on this given it’s condition, but I wanted to make sure I got a good vintage card, and I don’t have a card of the Duke.  

Scott Rolen Relic #25 $2= B+ :  I hope I can get a good trade out of this.  I don’t care that much about Rolen, but this is a nice card.

Panini Jackson/Faulk Relics $4= B-  :  I spent more than I meant to on this, but it’s still a nice card.  

Jeff Bagwell Lot $2 A :  I love the stadium dirt gimmick, and getting two screwdown holders is a plus.  

Eddie George Auto $2= A+:  This is a steal in my opinion.  I’m sure I could triple my money on it, but it makes a nice addition to my small autograph collection.

Tomorrow, I’ll cover the non-sport treasures that I’m extremely excited about!

Card Shop Auction Night Part 2:

When I got out to my car after the auction and got a chance to see what all I got, this was the first card I pulled out of the first box:

I had no idea there was a card of Bob Saget out there.  Not that I was looking for it, but I was really puzzled to see this.   Of course I was initially familiar with him from Full House with the Olsen twin lizards.   But, a few years ago I was flipping around the tube and paused when I saw him doing a standup comedy routine.  It was one of the foulest things I’ve ever heard.  It was really hard to reconcile that against the character he played on TV.    Not that I watched Full House, but I know enough to know it was a family show.  Once I got over my confusion with his filthy act, I will admit he was really funny.  He’s also been on Entourage quite a bit, and his plays a complete perv very convincingly.

I need to do something fun with this card, but I don’t know what yet. 

I took a second look through the boxes tonight and I am more and more pleased with my purchase.  There weren't any monster cards, but enough decent material for my own collection as well as trades to make it worth the effort.  I mentioned yesterday that I got some basketball cards in my goody boxes from the auction:

There was large chunk of this SP set.  About 80 cards with some dupes, but not many big names.  If anyone is working on this set, I might be able to help you out.

There was a handful of Chris Paul and Vince Carter cards as too.  These will work nicely in my little side basketball collection, unless anyone out there is interested in them. I didn't scan them, but there were several other mid-range stars (Jamal Mashburn, Shawn Kemp, Glenn Robinson, Eddie Jones, and Tracy McGrady) included.

Yesterday, I showed the Mike Piazza and Frank Thomas cards that came in the boxes.  There also were nice lots of Jeff Bagwell and Alfonso Soriano.

I think my best hits were these low numbered Playoff contender cards.  I didn’t even notice them until my 2^nd look through the box.  Again, there aren’t any big names here, but I’m always happy to have some low numbered cards fall into my lap, although the coloring on the corners on some of these looks a little jacked up.

I included a card from 2006 Bowman Chrome in the scan too.  The box had about 40 of the first 55 cards of this set.  I thought maybe the set only went to around 60 based on this, but apparently it’s a pretty big set.  So I won’t be chasing it. 

There were countless other little single nuggets in the boxes, but I’m going to pass on spending too much time on them.  I’m sure I’ll go through the boxes yet again tomorrow and if there is something that looks interesting, I’ll make a note of it.  Again, if anyone is interested in these, let me know!

Finally, there was a box of old Beckett’s that was about to go up for bid, but Cleve decided to just give them away to anyone who wanted them so I snagged a few.  For me, the price index is useless, but I am interested in the articles.  Just like Playboy.