February Card Show

Yes, I know it is almost April. Sue me. I've been busy.  Work has continued to fill my days, despite the precipitous drop in oil and natural gas prices recently. Spring has sprung in Oklahoma, lawn mowing season has opened, and the list of honey-dews awaits.  But, I figure I need to get this, and another post, done before the April card show.

So, without further ado:

 I picked up 45 cards for my 1972 set, many of which were high numbers.  I like the In Action cards above.  They are among some of the In Action cards that actually show action.  Don't believe me?  Look at the Thurman Munson In Action card.  I suppose it was ground breaking in it's time.  But, I cannot escape the notion that Topps was just padding out the 1972 set with whatever ideas popped into their head.  I mean, just look at the ROY award card above?  Does anyone really like them. I sure don't.  They are boring. But, alas, they are part of the set and I am set collector.

I managed to find six 1956 cards I needed in a discount bin, including the three team cards above. I've been negligent in working on the team cards in the 1956 set.  I've either been working on the high value cards or finding commons for $4 or less.  There is a vast swath of mid-value cards I have been ignoring.

I ran through my money pretty quickly.  1972 high numbers will do that to you.  However, as I was getting ready to leave I saw these on the high-end vintage dealers table.  A complete set of the 1976 Isaly's discs for only $15. I ran to a nearby ATM and got more money, so I could get them.  Impulsive, to be sure.  But I figured why not. My late father-in-law used to manage Isaly's stores in central Ohio.  Isaly's doesn't exist anymore, but it's legacy lives on as part of the Unilever brand of products.  Specifically, the Klondike Bar was created and sold by the Isaly Dairy Company of Ohio.  So, what would you do for a Klondike Bar? Or Isaly's discs?

What I am listening to: In Bloom by Sturgill Simpson (Note this is a cover of the Nirvana original)

Fleer Autograph Project - Part 50 Revisited

I suppose this is how things work sometimes.  After not seeing any signed 1963 Fleer Bill White cards in the two years I've been working on this project, a second one pops up mere weeks after I pulled the trigger on one I found that wasn't a particularly clean copy.

This is a much nicer, visually interesting version. So, I bought it and, upon receiving it, popped it out of the PSA slab and put it in the appropriate Ultrapro sheet.  The copy I bought previously will eventually go up on EBay.  If anyone is interested in it, let me know.

What I am listening to:  You're No Good by Linda Ronstadt

Fleer Autograph Project - Part 51

  I've been trying to broaden my search for autographed 1963 Fleer cards.  I've had decent luck with organized signings and TTM, however I have most of the living players (Rich Rollins and Willie Mays are the only living players I don't have.  EBay is a decent resource, but most of the signed cards out there I already have.  So, every few weeks I sit down and do a general Google search for these cards.

This Leon Wagner came from Hall of Fame Memorabilia, based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (although this card shipped from California.)   Wagner passed away in 2004 and represents the 13th deceased player featured in the 1963 Fleer set for which I have an autograph.


What I am Listening to: Embraceable You by Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow

Alternate Collection Update

About three and a half years ago, San Jose Fuji asked if the sportscard bloggers collected anything other than sportscards.

This post was my answer.
Update #1
Update #2

Since then, there has been a few changes.  We sold the grey thoroughbred in the 6th picture in the first post, leased out the pony in the next picture down to a friend to use as a lesson horse, and sold the Welsh Pony three more pictures down.  Additionally, we lost Star, one of the barn cats in Update #2 to a predator.

Last weekend, we drove up to Wichita and bought Traeh, a 4 year old Irish Sport Horse.

Traeh is going to be my wife's up and coming show horse. Her main show mount, Clyde, is pushing 20 years old, which is roughly 63 in human years.  He is still healthy and loves to compete, but we cannot ask him to do higher level competing without risking injury. So, she'll still do lower level events with him and start bringing Traeh along over the next few years.

What I am listening to:  If Wishes Were Horses by Star Anna

Fleer Autograph Project - Part Never Gonna Happen

I watch EBay rather closely as part of my project to get an autographed 1963 Fleer set. This popped up other day.

Yeah. That doesn't fit into my middle class budget. Not by a long shot.

What I am listening to:  Turtles All the Way Down by Sturgill Simpson
For context, see here.

Stickers

I try to remain focused with my collecting.  Because I am mostly a vintage collector, I try to preserve my cash because bargains are few and far between.  However, I do try to leave a little room for serendipity.  One such serendi[pitous diversion was the 1974-75 Loblaw's hockey sticker album a couple years ago.  You can read more about this set here. Along the way, I picked up the Acme SuperSaver version of the book and mostly completed that.  I still needed about a half dozen stickers to finish it.

I keep two EBay searches active in order to keep an eye on what is out there and be ready, should I decide to finish the second book. But, I've been generally focusing on other areas of my collection over the last year.  However, recently I saw an auction for what was clearly these hockey stickers, but was mistitled as being from 1972.  The lot consisted of 75 - 8 sticker panels and 50 - 7 stamp panels (I am not aware of 7 stamp panels ever being issued, so I have to assume it had one stamp removed. I haven't really looked into who was missing from the panels to see what the deal was.)  The lot also claimed to include around a thousand loose single stickers.

I ended up winning at the starting price, which meant I got all these stickers for about $20 delivered.

For context, around same time someone auctioned a lot of 134 (correctly identified) panels with a final price of $260 or $2 each panel.  So, conservatively, I won my lot for less than a tenth of what it should have gone for. I figured that the lot would mainly be devoid of stars, but I was wrong.  The Bobby Orr sticker can sell individually for up to $25. I felt lucky when I won a panel including Orr for around $15.    As it turned out this lot had 6 Bobby Orr individual stickers and 2 complete panels that included Orr.

There were precious few Flyers stickers. Oddly few. Until I looked at the return address.

I did manage to complete the ACME album with stickers from this group.  But that wasn't all.  The lot also included football stickers!

So, naturally, I went out and found the corresponding album, which was distributed by Sunoco and DX gas stations.  I'll probably do research on this sticker set and post about it in the future.

Now I have a larger task ahead of me.  The album includes 144 stickers. However, it covers all 28 26 teams, with 32 24 player stickers per team.  That adds up to 896 624 stickers.  So, this will probably end up being a long term project. I haven't really done any research on how much the stickers cost yet. I don't expect them to be expensive, since the album in pristine condition only cost $15.  But, we'll see.

P.S. I also found another Loblaw's hockey sticker album for fairly cheap. It is coming from Canada, so it will be a while before it arrives, but, I'll get to work on that (again) too.

Added in Edit:  There were only 26 NFL teams in 1972, so I have updated the math.

Joy of a Completed Set - 1975 Topps

A quick trip to sportlots.com and my 1975 Topps set is now complete with these four cards.

Yeah, I got lazy and didn't bother to make sure I had a good quality scan. I just threw this wonky scan out there.  No attention to detail or respect for craft. What can I say. Life is busy and I have little free time to do a respectable job.

 The same seller had some 1979 Topps cards, but only one that I needed:

 

It is a bit diamond cut, but that doesn't bother me.  My main criteria are sharp corners, smooth edges, and border all the way around.  The corners on this are a little more worn than I would normally go for if I was buying in person. But, this is plenty fine. It isn't like 1979 is that valuable of a set.

This leaves me three cards to go to finish 1979, all commons.  I believe a trip to COMC is in the cards soon, to pick up the three remaining 1979s as well as some inserts for the various modern sets I am working on intermittently.

What I am listening to: Losing My Religion by R.E.M.