The epic Fuji contest is back!!

Do you remember Fujis summer contest from last year?

The contest with all the cool prizes and interesting questions?

Well its back!!

Follow that link, answer the questions and win some cards!!

Mailday from COMC

I've been very quiet the last few weeks with this blog. I don't really have any major reasons for not updating this thing, I mean I have been fairly busy with job hunting and family stuff but there has been plenty of time to work on the blog.
I don't want to call it writers block, since I have plenty to say. Its just that when I sit down to write about the hobby or about my latest pickups something always pops up and distracts me! Most recently its been LA Noire on the Xbox 360, which is a fantastic game!
Also Blogger has not been helping with my lack of posts. Is anyone else having BIG problems? I remember a few weeks back when Blogger went down and I couldn't look at my blog or anyone else's. I also read, when the blogs came back up, that a lot of bloggers had lost entire posts? I've not really had that problem. However, my auto save function has taken a kick in balls. This is actually the third time in as many days I've tried to finish this post. On each occasion I would get so far and save but when I return to finish it off half of my post would be missing. What a pain. So this time I'm going to try and get it all typed up and posted in one go, which is easier said than done since I'm posting this from work and my customers seem hell bent on interrupting me at every opportunity!

Anyway on to the good stuff!

I picked up all of the following cards from COMC during the last few weeks. One or two of them have actually been sat in my account since before Christmas just waiting for me to get them sent to me.
As usual all the following pics are taken directly from COMC.

2010 Topps 206 Mini auto in a Polar Bear frame. I was very pleased to able to land this card since these mini autos from this set are proving tough to hunt down, except for the Piedmont frame which appears to come out of every single hobby box! I'm now looking for the Old Mill frame which seems to be extremely rare, I've only seen one listed on eBay since the product has been released.


Next up as an 2007 Exquisite Imagery numbered 04/25. What can be said about Exquisite that I haven't said before? The cards are beautiful! The only issue I have with the product is the thickness and its not even a direct problem with Exquisite. The problem is I have trouble finding the appropriate sized top loaders for the card to fit into. At least now COMC offer top loaders with all cards for a small fee.

Yet another Exquisite! Only this time its a dual auto numbered out of 40. The other guy on the card is Jeff Baker. Hes pictured in his Rockies uniform but is now with the Cubs. Interesting fact about Baker, he was born in Germany. Maybe its not that interesting but its the best thing I can find about the guy!

Topps Co-Signers. What a nightmare of a set! There's tons of variations of this auto and I have a few of them. I cant remember what this is numbered out of because I'm in work and the card is at home. I'm looking for a couple more of his autos from this set so if you have any then please let me know.

2010 Topps Chrome Red Refractor /25! I never thought I'd get my hands on this card. I first saw it on COMC for a price of $4.99. I went straight to the checkout to pick it up but it said 'Sold out'. Damn. Then about a day later the card was re listed under a newer price of $14.99 but I managed to snag it for around $11. I only wish I was just a bit quicker when I saw the original listing.

That's all for now, still plenty more cards to show off plus I still need to get my Topps Giants want list together.

A little bit of vintage from the bay

Every once in a while eBay UK can really throw up a few nice surprises. And by nice surprises I mean vintage!

Theres always someone selling vintage on the site but most is either overpriced or set as a BIN, which I dont normally like to hit if I think I can get it cheaper if it were to come to auction.

This past week a couple of nice cards came up at auction and I had my eye set on three of them. The type of cards on offer were Topps from the 50's, 60's and 70's and also a bunch of 1955 Bowman. All were starting off at just 99p. So I added the ones I wanted to my watch list and kept my eye on them.


Out of the three cards that I went for I managed to win two, at what I consider an absolute steal!


First the card that I lost out on was a 1962 Topps Whitey Ford. I put a bid in during the last 30 seconds but was outbid with less than 5 left.

The first card that I did win is from one of the greatest sets ever, 1952 Topps.

Gene Woodling was an outfielder for the New York Yankees. According to Wikipedia he spent 49-54 there before spending time with the Indians, Senators, Mets. He ended his career as a coach for the Orioles. He had a fairly good career, an all-star in '59 and also won an incredible 6 World Series, 5 with the Yankees and one with the O's as part of the coaching staff.

The card is in great shape for its age. Sure the corners are rounded and there's a slight indentation just below his ear but its still in a perfectly collectible condition.

The second card that I picked up was the card I wanted the most out of the ones I had been looking at. Its not often a vintage HOF'er is listed in the UK and when they are its usually at a ridiculous price or is damaged.

This one is also from an iconic set, 1955 Bowman.

Phil Rizzuto, Hall of Fame Shortstop for the Yankees.

He was known alot more for his defense rather than his offense. He was 5 time all star and also captured 7 World series championships. He also spent two years in the Navy during World War 2. He was elected to the Hall in 1994 by the Veterans committee.

The card is in great condition. Like the '52 the corners are rounded. There was also some slight paper loss. You can see on the pic above some of the paper loss on the border, right above Rizzuto's head. The second bit of paper loss is on the back and covers the 'ST' in the word BEST. All in all its really nice.

As much as I like these cards I would still rather trade them for something that I could use and appreciate more.

Any vintage or Yankees fans out there want to trade?

Been a while

Its been a long, long time since I last posted. I haven't lost interest in this hobby, infact its probably become much more obsessive for me because its been difficult to dedicate the time to it. So any spare time that I have managed to grab has been used to scour eBay, COMC and all the blogs and forums that I frequent.

There has been two main reasons for not blogging and for not participating on the forums. Firstly my Grandfather was taken into hospital in February and hes still there. Hes improving greatly but unfortunately hes suffering with both dementia and Parkinson's so its taking its toll on my family.

Secondly both my wife and I were informed in March that our jobs were being moved to India and that we were being made redundant. Yay. So I've been spending time updating my CV, practising interview techniques and also looking for a job. We both have until July and then its time to find a new job. Thankfully though, we're expecting a nice payout from the company so at least we'll be OK until we land a new job. I hope to find a job before I leave my current position so I can use my redundancy money on something useful such as cards and more cards.

Anyway in the brief moments that I spent on eBay I did manage to pick up three new cards.



First of all I picked up the above 2007 Upper Deck Lind RC Green predictor edition. I picked up really cheap on the bay but I dont know much about it. I understand that they are fairly rare and were only part of a redemption set, other than that I know nothing about it. It is exactly the same as the base version apart from the obvious green borders and embossed 'predictor edition' on the front of the card. Still its a nice addition to the collection.




Next is this 2010 Topps Black numbered 23/58. I have been after one of these for about a year and now I finally own one! I honestly didnt think this card would ever arrive. I won it back in the beginning of March and it didnt show up until today, after almost a month and half. I always give a card 4 weeks or so from the time I paid until I expect it to arrive. After the 4 weeks had passed I contacted the seller expecting to be told that the card was shipped and its probably lost. But to my surprise the seller messaged me back apologising that they had forgotten to send it and they would get it out to me ASAP. I did not expect to see it and was going to start a chargeback on Monday but the seller was telling truth and I now finally have this card in hand. Now do I leave feedback for the seller? I'll need to think about that one.

The last card I got as a birthday gift from my mother. She had no clue what I wanted and just said to pick a card on eBay and she'd get it for me. Well the first card that I saw was for the above 2011 Heritage stamp card numbered out of 62. It was a BIN with a price slightly higher than the completed auctions for the same card although the seller was offering free worldwide shipping so taking that into account it actually worked out cheaper than most of the completed listings. This marks my first Lind of 2011. Its actually a pretty cool looking card. The borders are very bright in person and the stamps are placed behind plastic to stop any wear and tear. I believe each player in the Heritage stamp set has two different cards two different cards so I'll need to keep my open for the other one.

That's it for now. I hope to post again very soon.

Still kicking

Just a quick update to show that I'm still keeping the blog active.
I haven't been able to blog due to some family problems this past few months.
I have a few packages that I also need to send out. They have been waiting on my table since the middle of February but I just haven't had the time to get to the post office. Luckily they aren't trades otherwise I'm sure I would have pissed a few people off by now!
I hope that I'm able to be much more active in the next month or so. At least I hope to be able to respond to some emails that I have gotten and even log into some of the forums.

2011 Topps retail box break part 2

Heres the second part of my break, for the first part follow this link.


I'll do a full recap at the end of this post of everything that I pulled.

This is the Topps 60 insert set. I pulled a Strasburg and a Heyward. Really nice looking cards. At the top of each card its says a little bit about what the player has achieved. For example the Heyward says 'Walks by a 2010 rookie', then on the back of the card it gives the top ten players who would qualify for most walks.

Two more insert sets that I pulled were the Diamond Duos featuring two players on each card and also I pulled a history of Topps card. This card makes note that Topps set the standard size of a card in 1957. Pretty boring actually.

The final inserts that I pulled are probably my favourites out of everything else that I pulled. The top row of cards are vintage reproductions using famous cards from many different brands.

From left to right we have - George Sisler on a 1921 Caramel card, Jackie Robinson on a 1949 Bowman, Jimmie Foxx on a 1935 Diamond Stars and at the end the Babe Ruth RC featuring him as a pitcher in a Sox uni. The card is a 1916 Sporting News.

I love these cards because they showcase some of the designs that were used over the years plus the back gives information on the set.

The bottom set of inserts are the Kimball Champion cards... and their minis! I pulled some nice cards from this set including Ichiro and Jeter. They were very close to being my favourites of the entire box BUT each back is exactly the same! The backs are just a checklist of the set. Theres no stats, no pointless bit of trivia, just a list of players. Boring.

Oh and I pulled this too. A Derek Lee GU jersey. I was not expecting any hits in this box and only bought it for the Giants cards and inserts but this sucker showed up in one of the last packs that I opened so it rounded off the break nicely. Its not a great pull but when you consider it was a retail box and the odds for a GU is 1:96 packs its pretty cool.

All in all at was alot of fun. Everything you've seen is for trade (apart from a few bits and pieces). Here is a full list of everything that I pulled:

Base - 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 39, 40, 43, 44, 49, 54, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 74, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 88, 90, 9192, 93, 95, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 140, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 162, 163, 166, 169, 170, 171, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 182, 189, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, 208, 209, 213, 217, 219, 220, 223, 224, 227, 229, 230, 232, 234, 236, 237, 240, 242, 243, 245, 247, 249, 252, 254, 255, 257, 258, 260, 262, 263, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 275, 276, 277, 279, 281, 282, 283, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 292, 293, 295, 296, 297, 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 316, 318, 322, 324, 325, 326, 327, 329, 330.

The Lost Cards - 1954 Mickey Mantle, 1957 Stan Musial.

Gold Cards /2011 - 77, 181.

Diamond Giveaway x2

60 Years of Topps - Phil Rizzuto, Bo Jackson, Rod Carew, Stan Musial, Ernie Banks, Bernie Williams, Bob Gibson.

60 Years of Topps Original back - Tony Gwynn.

Platinum Diamond Anniversary - 22, 48, 86, 266, 271.

ToppsTown - 24 of them. If you need a list let me know.

Topps 60 - Jason Heyward, Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, Ike Davis, Mat Latos, Josh Hamilton, Neftali Feliz.

Diamond Duos - BW, BY, GT, HHO, TR, VG.

History of Topps - Topps sets the card size standered.

Vintage Reproductions - Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Jimmie Foxx, George Sisler.

Kimball Champion minis - 1 Ubaldo Jimenez, 2 Derek Jeter, 10 Ichiro, 33 Martin Prado, 38 Roy Oswalt, 48 Justin Upton.

Topps 60 GU - Derek Lee.

2011 Topps retail break

Just realised its been over a month since I last posted! I didnt think it was that long, at least it didnt feel like that long.

Anyway, at the beginning of the month I bought on eBay a 24 pack retail box of Topps 2011 Series 1. I would have preferred hobby but this box was pretty good to me and I doubt I would have done any better with a hobby box.

I will split this into two posts.

I wont show what base I got, I'll just focus on the inserts. I'm not going after this set so everything is for trade, if your looking for base send me your wants and I'll take a look for you.

From the left:

The Lost Cards - 1954 Mickey Mantle and a 1957 Stan Musial. There are the normal version and not the original backed.

Gold cards - Numbered out of 2011, Magglio Ordonez Tigers and Tim Hudson Braves.

Diamond Giveaway - Got two of them.

60 Years of Topps - These cards come in original backs and normal versions. These cards explain a little about each set that the card represents. All are normal backs except for the Gwynn.

Platinum Diamond Anniversary - Apologies for the poor picture, its really hard to get a good shot of them because of all the sparkles. Its hard to make the players names so going clockwise from the top right: Barry Zito Giants, Carlos Silva Cubs, Rickie Weeks Brewers, Adam Dunn Nationals, Andrew Cashner Cubs.

So far I really like Topps this year. The base is really well done, especially the team badge in the bottom corner. The badge looks like its a separate part that was added later in production.

Look out for my next post with the rest of the break.