Instagram Trade With Trevor - 2011 Orioles-Rays Lineup Card

I completed a trade a while back with my buddy, Trevor where I sent him a few Reds autos and some Reds singles for this lineup card from the Rays-Orioles game from September 3, 2011.  The Orioles lost the game 6-3 due to poor starting pitching from Alfredo Simon.  Nick Markakis hit a 2-run homer that accounted for most of the scoring.

I think it is really cool that Trevor picked up the lineup card.  Even though it is from a game that the O's lost, it still is nice.  I almost forgot the Vlad Guerrero played for the Orioles.  Also, it is kind of weird to see JJ Hardy batting leadoff.  The bench and bullpen were also pretty barren.  I thought about it for a minute then realized that Chris Davis is missing from this lineup card.  He was traded to the Orioles at the trading deadline.  A simple search  brought up the Orioles transactions and I found that Davis was put on the DL with a right shoulder strain on August 16 of that year.  He would come off three days after this game (September 6).  The Orioles ended 2011 strong and caused the Red Sox to miss the playoffs.  The O's would go to the playoffs in two of the next four seasons.

Thanks for the deal, Trevor.  I love the lineup card!

Another Gift From Michael - 2014 Topps Mini Reimold Black Parallel

My friend, Michael, hooked me up again when he picked this Nolan Reimold 2014 Topps Mini black parallel up for me.  It had been offered to my by the same guy a couple times, but he always was catching me at a bad time.  I had been saving up for the National the first time, and the second time, I was trying to recover from the National.

It doesn't matter now, since Michael picked it up.  The card is really nice and is numbered 4/5.  I like these really low numbered cards, especially if I am able to get my hands on them.  I haven't pursued this rainbow too vigorously, since I have been concentrating on Davis, but any Reimold I can get is a good thing.

Thanks so much for not letting this card slip away from me, Michael!

Gift From Brian - 2015 Gypsy Queen Kevin Gausman Auto

A good thing that happened at this past weekend's card show was that I got to talk to my friend, Brian and his dad again.  I had met them at the previous show in July, and chatted with them for quite a while.  Brian and his dad are huge Orioles fans, and I made sure that I thought of them when I was at the National.

Brian surprised me at this show with the above Kevin Gausman auto from 2015 Gypsy Queen.  The card looks really nice, and Gausman's auto is on card.

Thanks so much for the awesome card, Brian!  I really appreciate it and I am glad you and your dad came by my tables again.

COMC Pickups - More 2014 Bowman Chris Davis Parallels

I sold a couple cards on my COMC page recently, so I was able to pick up some Chris Davis Bowman and Bowman Chrome parallels that I hadn't otherwise been able to find on Ebay (and also one other that I saw really cheap).

First is this black paper parallel numbered 16/25.  I had been watching this one of COMC for a while, but I had been hoping I could find a cheaper one on EBay.  No luck there, so COMC was used to knock it off of the list.

Here is Chrome's counterpart to the black paper parallel.  Numbered 9/25, this orange parallel looks really cool in person.  This one had a pretty high price tag for what it was numbered to, but in the end, I pretty much traded some stuff for it, if that's how you look at COMC.

Finally, I had completely overlooked the hometown flags parallel, so I added it to my COMC card and rounded out my order.

I have almost all of the Davis parallels from 2014 Bowman.  The only one I can think of that I need off the top of my head is the 1/1 superfractor from Chrome and the 1/1 white ice from Bowman paper.  I'm probably missing one or two others.  One of these days, I will complete a rainbow.  Fingers crossed.

September 2015 Raleigh Card Show Recap

I don't use my total sales at my only gauge for how successful a card show was for me.  If that were the case, this show would be measured as a failure.  I didn't sell enough to break even at this show, but luckily, I sold some stuff to some of my friends online, and that put me back in the black.  Some other things I was able to take away from this show was that I passed out some more of my blog business cards.  I had a couple guys add me to their Instagram pages for future trades.  I also had a bunch of return customers at this show, meaning that people liked me enough to come back by and say hello.

Another thing I look at is what was I able to find at the show?  Well, I didn't really feel like a lot of things jumped out at me, but when I got home and looked through the cards I got, I was really happy to see what I had.  I also used this show as a kickoff to Christmas shopping for some of my fellow collectors.

The above 1980 Exhibits Jimmie Foxx only set me back $2.00.  It scanned really nice, and looks pretty cool in person.  I have quite a few of these oversized cards, and I don't really know how I want to display or store them.  They are wedged against the side of my desk, behind a case of CD-Rs.  Gotta find a better spot for them, but at least they're safe.

Hey, look, I added a new Cal Ripken to my collection!  This is a 2015 National exclusive from the Leaf VIP party.  Apparently, my VIP pass didn't get me in.  That may have been because we were starving at the end, and went to eat some Chicago pizza.

This card, which it's hard to tell, is an acetate.  I really love these cards, and am so happy I was able to get this for $2.00.

I found a nice surprise in a bargain bin for relics and autos at the same place I got the acetate Ripken.  This Tyler Wilson Team USA card cost me only $3.00 and is the first card I have seen of him.  He has been shaky so far, but I see a lot of promise in this kid.  I hope he can harness his talent and become a successful MLB pitcher.  I needed to find some new Orioles to get behind, and I feel like Wilson may be the guy I can start to PC.  It is also kind of cool starting a PC from nothing.  I mean, there are NO base cards or anything laying around in my collection.  I owned nothing of him, and now we start with this really cool relic auto.

I probably had this 1965 Topps Embossed Brooks Robinson somewhere, but for the price of $1.00, I added this one.  It'll go in my Brooks box, and if I have another, I will likely see it when I look in there.  Regardless, these are pretty cool cards.  They don't hold up all that great over the years, but they still are a cool look at early insert cards from Topps.

This is another card that I might have in my collection somewhere.  I picked it up anyway for $8.00 because the guy was nice enough to point it out to me and it is also ORANGE!  I figured that he was having as rough a show as I was, so I went ahead and bought it.  The card is numbered 70/99 and looks pretty awesome.

I had a few people offer up this Chris Davis relic card from 2015 Allen & Ginter, but I held out.  I hoped that I could find one cheaper, and I did.  I got this in a bulk relic deal, and am really pleased that I finally knocked it off the list.

Another part of the bulk relic deal was a card I didn't expect to find, and had I not had my glasses on, I may have missed it.  This is a 2002 US SPX Team USA Winning Materials dual relic of Adam Everett and Brian Roberts.

I actually met a couple kids at the show today who knew Roberts's dad.  That was a cool story to hear.  My Roberts PC has been mothballed, so I will have to dig it out, and add this card to it.  I don't anticipate too many more cards being added to it, so I probably ought to add him to my spreadsheet and go for a few rainbows.

So, in all, while my sales were the worst I have had, I would still call this a successful card show.  I didn't blow my budget, I made a few new friends, kept some returning customers, and added some cool cards to the collection.  Not too bad for two days work.

Ebay Pickup - 2015 Ginter X Chris Davis

Chris Davis's days as an Oriole are coming to a close.  Barring a mirable, he will most likely sign elsewhere in the offseason.  So, I am enjoying him as an Oriole while I can and am picking up as much of his stuff as I am able.  I will not part with my Davis PC when/if he leaves, but I don't think I will pursue his stuff with other teams with as much vigor as I have his Orioles stuff.

I got this 2015 Ginter X black parallel off of Ebay for $3.00 recently, and like the Apollo Creed, it looks really awesome.  I honestly don't know why they haven't done different color parallels for Ginter until now.  Imagine what some other colors would look like.  They would be pretty appealing, I think.

Jonathan Schoop Pickups From an Instagram Trade

I was browsing Instagram recently when I saw that a guy had a collection of Jonathan Schoop cards posted for a really good price.  He wanted $30 for three cards, with one that really caught my eye. The above 2015 Topps 2014 Post Season patch is just a really cool card.  The relic cards themselves are tough to pull, so a patch card is doubly so.  I bought one at The National for $25, so getting this, plus extras for $30 was a no-brainer.

The patch card is numbered 41/100, and is really sharp.  I'm holding out hope that the O's can pull out a miracle this season.  Hey, stranger things have happened, right?

This is my first and only Sepia parallel from 2015 Chrome.  I was glad that he had this, because I always enjoy the Sepia parallels.  I hate that they are not numbered this year, but oh well, they're still nice.

Finally, another awesome card was this 2015 Topps Chrome gold parallel numbered 38/50.  I don't know if I am going to pursue the Schoop rainbow, but if I do, I have a good head start.  Again, I wish Chris Davis was in 2015 Chrome, but oh well.  Schoop is a heck of a player, and I am glad to add these to my collection.

The guy I got all of these from is lukescards13, and according to him, I was his very first Instagram deal.  I was happy to help him with a positive experience, and I hope that he continues collecting.