Just a few from COMC

Probably the smallest COMC order I have made, just like the last one, there were a few cards I could not wait to get in hand. Included in that is the above Josh Norman, my first football non-printing plate 1/1. I instantly liked XR last year and have been working on the rainbow since release, while this Black parallel recently surfaced, I still am on the hunt for the Green #/5.

3 From The 'Bay (aka Joy of a Completed Set)

IT'S DONE! Time to take a big black sharpie, cross off the short prints and toss the 2015 Gypsy Queen wantlist in the bin. A rare 'bay seller with reasonable shipping to Canada and a Hoyt Wilhelm in stock crosses the last one off and finishes the Gypsy Queen run from 2011-2016. 

My kind of Diamond Rings

It hard to believe it's almost 10 year since the Bruins last won the cup, and just as hard to believe that I haven;t picked up more of these cards. This recent lot of 2 brings me up to an unimpressive 4. Gregory Campbell was one of those players that don't show up on the statsheet, but was huge in the Bruins Playoff runs, most famously breaking his leg blocking a shot, then finishing the penalty kill against the Penguins in 2013.

Recent Hockey Pick-ups

I don't buy a ton of hockey anymore, but playoff fever struck and I bit on a few things from different places. They are all thrown together in favor of three smaller posts. The first from the Bay. High on the list of my hockey interests are Pelle Lindbergh and acetate, so when this card came out in the new Upper Deck Ice offering, I watched around and found one cheap from a Canadian seller meaning low shipping and the card came direct to me instead of through a mail forwarding service, so win-win. It didn't scan well (old scanner), but the clear section has a little holographic thing, very cool card.

Cards from Burbank

I sure most of you have seen Burbank Sportscards around the trading card marketplace. They recently listed some stuff I was interested in so I placed an order. It came fast, was well packed and shipping to Canada was very reasonable which gets very high marks from me. On to the cards.

Three more 2011 Gypsy Queen mini photo variations, these bring me up to 24 out of 100.

Recent COMC Order

COMC mailday also means my other online purchases come though the mailbox service, the above Rocket Ismail autograph was liberated and returned to it's rightful home in Canada. This was when the CFL was a big deal with Wayne Gretzky, Bruce McNall and John Candy buying the Argos and signing The Rocket to a big deal. This is from the 1991 All-World set that might beat any junk wax era in terms of production. Oddly the 100 card base set has 10 Rocket Ismal cards, not including the above auto and a Promo card.

An Endangered Species (AKA Zistle Trade)

Taking a break from moping and pouting about my favorite website to post a trade with one of the few die-hards left lurking around. I have a ton of cards that scans just don't do justice, but this is the opposite, they actually look better scanned than in-hand. Not true acetate cards, only the cloudy window is see through, but very cool cards, and the complete team set of 1997 E-X2000.

Zistle Trade #60

My 60th Zistle trade, way more that I thought, as I didn't really keep track for a while. Starting off with an acetate of Greg Maddux from 1994 Studio, the oldest acetate MLB card in my collection.

Acetate Appreciation: 2015 Topps Strata

A fairly new release for the Acetate Apprec series featuring an autograph of the only Rockies player in the set, DJ LeMahieu. Why Topps chose DJ over Nolan Arenado or Cargo I have no idea, but here it is, probably the cheapest auto in the set, so at least it was easy on the wallet for an all autograph set. As you can see by the scan there is not much use of the clear part, just the auto basically. Not a bad card design, but what really bugs me is the clear area is in such a noticeable box, it really takes away from the card. I know Strata is more about the Shadowbox cards, which I have yet to get one of, but I feel Topps really could have done something better here with the base or regular autos.

LCS Trip with a Nice Pull

The standard LCS trip for one-touches and a sampling of packs, spreading it around to a couple sports, a jumbo pack of Bowman Draft, a couple packs of Upper Deck Full Forse Hockey and some Panini Complete Basketball.

Redskins Pickups in Honor of NFC East Champs

Wow, no one was more surprised by the Redskins winning the division than Redskins fans. Yeah, it was a terrible division, but it still counts. The incredibly young O-Line played well, Jordan Reed stayed healthy and Kirk Cousins stopped throwing interceptions for now. The above Jordan Reed is from 2013 Elite, a really nice acetate card that is pretty much all clear other than the photo, a card I have had for a while but never scanned until now. With one game left Reed has 83 catches for 907 yards and 11 touchdowns, one of the best years ever for a Redskins Tight End.

Acetate Appreciation: 1998 Upper Deck Amazing Greats

These seemed pretty hard to find for cards limited to 2,000 copies, but were worth the search. Nice looking cards, a little busy but not over the top. Fairly large set for inserts at 30 cards they also come in a die-cut version limited to 25.

 All I can think of when I see this is the Orioles "This is Birdland" gif.

Acetate Appreciation: 2011-12 UD Black Diamond Bruins Championship Rings

Just in time for the start of the NHL season, a card from a set that I have wanted since they came out. I think these Stanley Cup Championship Rings were one per case in 2011-12 Upper Deck Black Diamond and were always out of my price range when I did see them. Then a random search on the Bay turn this up, from a Canadian seller for about $10 shipped. It more than I wanted to spend on a Shawn Thornton card, but impulse got the better of me and I hit buy it now.

Acetate Appreciation: 1995 Stadium Club - Clear Cut

A rare case of a card that scans better than it looks in real life. The weird bluey-greenish-teal dominates the card while the color wheel thing in middle doesn't really add much either. Stadium Club is usually know for quality stuff, but this one leaves a lot to be desired.

Emptying the Need to Scan Box

I can't remember who had it first, but it was love at first sight. David Paveloff, cult hero.

COMRedskins

Working my way through a large boc from COMC.com that also included a pile of mailbox service cards. Starting with Sean Taylor, I try to add a Taylor card whenever I can, this one numbered to 150 from 2005 Leaf Certified Materials, a set that really suffered from parallel overload.

Acetate Appreciation: 1996 Leaf Studio - Stained Glass Stars

The stained glass look is a pretty obvious use of clear cards and has been done a few times, but this might be my favorite so far. Inserted into packs of 1996 Leaf Studio, the checklist is a little limited with only 12 cards from 7 teams, including 3 Indians, but the design is outstanding. The die-cut is limited to the top, meaning they still fit in pages and penny sleeves and the design is simple enough not to get messy. Scans really do not to justice to how nice these are in person.

Breaking the Seal on 2015 Topps

This weekend looks like the soonest that I will physically get my hands on any 2015 Topps, but I have started with a few saved searches and made one purchase so far. I really can't explain why I am drawn to more obscure players, but the only player I really wanted to collect out of 2015 Topps was Tommy Kahnle. When one of his acetate cards popped up with a reasonable "buy it now" price, I couldn't pass it up.

A Rule V pick-up from the Yankees, Kahnle stuck with the Rockies all season and lead the team with 68 2/3 innings out of the bull-pen, and had a 2.62 ERA from from April until the end of July before a few roughs outing and a trip to DL left him with a 4.19 mark on the year.

My Black Friday COMC Rundown

While I definitely did not go overboard this year, I picked up a few cool things worthy of showing off. Starting with a card bought a few days before, a 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Chris Cooley, while not a fan of relics, I was sold on this card mostly because of the "21" Sean Taylor patch on the photo and Cooley being one of the last Redskins I actually liked from when the team was just not very good, and not the hot stinking dumpster fire it is now.

Acetate Appreciation: 2000 Stadium Club Chrome - Clear Shots

 From the same set that had the acetate "Eyes of the Game" inserts is the "Clear Shots" inserts from 2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome. A 10 card set with both hitters and pitchers all in posed shots. Not a very imaginative way to used the acetate stock, but not the worst I have seen. This post is almost as boring as the photos on the cards as there is not really much to say about these other than they exist.