Card Show Part Three: the Side Deal

Right around the time I started up the blog, I picked up a couple packs of 1995 Topps Stadium Club.

The vendor tried to sell me the whole box of packs, and offered a really good price - but I passed on the deal.

Fast forward a couple months and I was ready to break up some boxes and do a group trade. I went back to the vendor and asked about the box, hoping to add it in to the break.

Well, of course he didn't bring the box to that show, since no one bought it after bringing it to several shows.

I asked him if he had anything else like it, and he said had a bunch of things and would bring them to the next show.

I ended up missing the next show, didn't see his table the following month... and then I took my road trip after that. I pretty much forgot about the boxes, even though I bought things from the vendor at each show I went to along the way.

The vendor is a Peyton Manning super collector, so I had been picking up a few here and there and set the stack aside.

At the Show on Saturday, I ran into the guy again. He didn't have a table set up,  but he did have some things set aside for me. Amazingly, I had decided to toss the Manning cards into my bag before I left for the show.

Here's the box he saved for me:

Two boxes of 1995 Topps Stadium Club foil packs

one box of 1995 TSC rack packs

one box of 1998 Topps

one box of 1998 UD collector's choice

one box of 1996 Flair

He also included a small stack of Donruss Diamond Kings from the 2000s:

I asked him how much he wanted for the box and I jumped at his offer - always nice when you can find a number that works for both parties!

I'm going to have a blast breaking open these packs -- I might do a slightly modified group trade... if we've traded before and there's a similar gap in your collection, let me know what cards / teams you might be looking for. I'm sure I will have doubles in the 95 stadium Club, and who knows what will happen with the 98 Topps...

Group Trade: The Aftermath!

Daylight Savings has stolen an hour of sleep from me, but that can't stop me from organizing and collating the cards from the big group trade!

The Google Hangout ran into a little technical glitch about an hour in, but the connection was eventually restored after a few false starts, and the last all five boxes were opened on webcam. You can watch it all here. Comments from everyone watching live are also found on that link.

Here is a quick recap:

Boxes opened:
1996 Pinnacle
1999 Fleer Ultra
2002 Topps Gallery
2002 Fleer Greats
2003 Topps Stadium Club

Here's all the cards, unsorted:

Here are the HITS!

Pinnacle Inserts:

The last card shown is a rookie base card, red letters instead of black.

Fleer Ultra Inserts:

1 Gold Medallion per pack, I think my favorite insert was the Jeff Bagwell "THUNDERCLAP" card. So 90s!

2002 Topps Gallery Inserts:

 Top row are base cards, bottom row are the inserts - it was pretty much all base cards in the box. Fortunately, the base cards from that set are awesome!

2002 Fleer Greats:

I did a coin flip on the card featuring Tony Perez and Carl Yazstrezmski - it went to Shane (Red Sox), so I'll throw in something extra into the Reds side of things - some kind of insert...

2003 Topps Stadium Club:

1 gold card per pack, two Beam Team cards, doubles of Jason Giambi's "Stadium Shots" card (thanks Topps) and that was it. Some of the stadium club base cards had some odd residue on them, reminded a bit of soapy buildup on glasses. As a result, I put a little extra into everyone's stacks, just because it seemed like the fair thing to do.


If I have your address already, your package is ready to ship. If not, please e-mail your address to me!

I still need addresses from:
 Play at the Plate

my e-mail is: brian dot d dot oneal at gmail dot com 

Group Trade Boxes Revealed!

Here they are, the boxes we'll be breaking for the big group Trade:

First up, 1996 Pinnacle:

The deal I got on this box that was too good to pass up. Lots of Jeter Inserts in this one, you lucky Yankees fans... this is a nice little appetizer box for the group trade.

1999 Fleer Ultra:

An under-appreciated design, in my opinion, very nice photography and plenty of fun insert sets to chase.

2002 Topps Gallery:

I hope I wasn't being overly selfish on this choice, there weren't many Twins to be found in Topps Gallery in the years prior to 2002. This year features a Joe Mauer Rookie card. This has some nice Gallery-style Reprints of key Topps Issues from the past. A very nice "All-Painted" issue. There is a chance that there will be an auto and or a relic inside this box. The odds say one in two boxes will have an auto, for whatever that's worth... 

Oh. But that's not all.

2002 Fleer Greats:

This box should have some hits  - Autos and Relics - Some historically great players from the past. This is the one that held the process up a few days, but I'm willing to say that it was worth the wait.

and as a bonus, 2003 Topps Stadium Club:

I saved some $$ on 2002 Topps Gallery compared to 2003 or 2000, so I used those savings to add another box. How fun! This is the Relic Edition, it comes with one Relic in the box for sure.

There you have it - five boxes ranging from 1996 to 2003, some low-end, some high-end. We'll see how this one goes and maybe I'll host another one later in the year!

The Break itself with take place on Saturday - should be starting in the evening at some point - let's say 7pm Central Time?

In the Comments below, please feel free to offer any tips on a great break, or any pet peeves you may have about breaks that we can try to avoid...

Group "Trade" - it's Happening!

Hello everyone - Happy Wednesday!

There was a positive response to the idea of trading some freshly busted wax, so I am going to be moving forward with doing a group break of some older boxes (1995-2005).

Today's post is for two things:
First, to sign up for slots (if you haven't already)

Second, to help decide which boxes to break.


Part One, assigning the teams:

•Arizona Diamondbacks :
•Atlanta Braves - John  (Johnny's Trading Spot)
•Baltimore Orioles/Saint Louis Browns
•Boston Red Sox - Shane (Shoebox Legends)
•Chicago White Sox - Jeff (2X3 Heroes)
•Chicago Cubs - Tom (Waiting 'Til Next Year)
•Cinncinnati Reds - Nachos Grande
•Cleveland Indians
•Colorado Rockies - Adam (Infield Fly Rule)
•Detroit Tigers
•Florida Marlins
•Houston Astros
•Kansas City Royals
•Los Angeles Angels
•Los Angeles Dodgers - GCRL
•Milwaukee Brewers/Seattle Pilots - Tony (Off Hiatus)
•Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators - Brian (that's me)
•New York Mets - Dan (Daily Autograph, Keys to the Batters Box)
•New York Yankees - Tim B. (I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning)
•Oakland Athletics
•Philadelphia Phillies
•Pittsburgh Pirates - Matthew Scott (Bob Walk The Plank)
•San Diego Padres
•San Francisco Giants
•Seattle Mariners - Kevin (The Card Papoy)
•St. Louis Cardinals
Tampa Bay Rays
•Texas Rangers
•Toronto Blue Jays - Al Kawamoto
•Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos

okay, so lots of options left, leave a comment below and I will edit the post.

Part two: The boxes!

I think a small break of three boxes would be good to test this out.

Maybe vote for something in each of the categories below? I'll buy boxes no earlier than Friday, so there's some time for discussion and recommendations and nominations for boxes.

One Box of Topps Gallery (Which year?)

One Box of Stadium Club or similar (suggestions?)

One Box of Something Different (previous example was 1998 Pacific Omega - this is kind of a wild card)

So, there we go - sign up if you haven't already, suggest a box, tell your friends...

Overproduction Era Group "Trade" - who's with me?

So, here's an idea.

After looking at several want lists, it seems like a lot of bloggers had a little hiatus in collecting in the mid to late 1990s.

One thing that a lot of people are doing with new releases now are Group Breaks, which seem to reduce the risk of getting cards you don't want and saving everybody some money in the process.

How about a Group Break of some older boxes? The years I would be looking at would be 1995 - 2005.

But here's the catch - I don't really want people's money... I want cards! So, instead of a group break in the traditional sense, you can join by just making a comment or sending me an e-mail. Once the break happens, I will sort the cards by team (including any awesome amazing 90s inserts). I'll send you the cards, and then "payment" would just be a regular trade of cards from you that are either on my wantlists or from other sets in the 1995-2005 era. So in essence, this would be a Group "Trade."

I've mentioned a couple times that I have pretty much nothing in that span of time, so I figure this is a way for me to beef up that inventory.

If there is some interest in the comments below (feel free to recommend specific brands/years/sets), I'll move on to the next step of listing which boxes I will be putting up for a group break trade.

Also, being 100% honest, I've never done a Break before, so advice on how to run that would be great, too!

Oh, edited to add: I will be taking the Twins for sure on these breaks, and any unclaimed teams too.