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Wednesday, May 26, 2021

more cool cards

Here are a few more pickups from my last COMC order.


I love these "What If?" cards from Donruss Archives Originals that came out in 2002. Were it not for the Toppsopoly, collectors might've gotten an Ozzie Smith Rated Rookie in 1978 that hypothetically could have looked something like this. Then there's Jim Palmer in what may have been a 1980 Donruss design. I already had the 1984 Rated Rookie of Kirby Puckett, but it's a card I love so much that went ahead and got another one since the price was right. These "official customs" (75 total) were seeded just 1 or 2 per box, so the price isn't right too often, otherwise I'd probably go after the full set.


They did a decent job on the backs too.



Spent $1.64 on this lot of 2013 Topps Wrapper Redemption Blue Slate parallels. Ah, that's a pleasing blue sparkle they've got going on! Love it! No plans to work on a full parallel set, just wanted to grab a few that were priced to move that I could possibly fit into my collection. These guys are Kevin Millwood (birthday buddy), Juan Francisco (no reason to grab him.. maybe Braves trade fodder if Johnny needs it), Carter Capps RC (former Padre I remember hoping would pan out for the team [but didn't]), Barry Zito (who seemed like a decent name to grab for essentially the site minimum).



Here are a couple refractor autos that I bought for the backgrounds rather than the unremarkable college football player featured in the foreground. Those shiny flags look pretty cool and convinced me to throw them in my cart for about a buck each.



One day I decided I really liked the 2012 Topps farewell card for Vladimir Guerrero (though it features a checklist on the back instead of stats) and thought I'd make a half-hearted run at a rainbow. Already had the base card, and my quest pretty much ends here as far as readily available cards go, but maybe I'll save an ebay search for the tougher parallels and try to add to this group. No equivalent of this card was included in Chrome that year, meaning no refractors to chase.

Speaking of Vladdy, I already showed off the big 1998 Topps Super Chrome Jumbo Refractor from this same shipment, but just as an update..

He's up on the wall. I added a blue backing that I think helps it pop. Maybe someday I'll slip it into a better frame, but for now it's what I had available. Works for me!

6 comments:

  1. Love the framed Vlad! Looks amazing, and I'm sure it is an eye-catcher for anyone that walks in the room.

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  2. The Donruss "What If" cards are interesting. I doubt they would have look anything like the 78 and 80 designs though. Both of them are way too colorful and cool looking to be a predecessor to the 81 design.

    I didn't know that the blue slate parallels were wrapper redemptions. I'm guessing a lot of the dealers at the card shows in my area didn't send in their wrappers, because I haven't seen many of these around.

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  3. I don't remember those blue slate wrapper redemptions. They look cool!

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  4. Nicely done with the framing - the blue background was an excellent choice.

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  5. That partial rainbow is pretty cool. Jonathan Franklin was a solid player in college, but like a lot of guys, I don't think his game carried over into the pros very well.

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