30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Different Point of View

When my life gets hectic and tumultuous... sometimes I like to take a step back and look at things from a different point of view.

Back in December of 1968 the Apollo 8 crew became the first astronauts to reach the moon's gravitational field, orbit it, and successfully return home.  During the mission, William Anders took the famous photograph known as Earthrise which captures Earth and part of the moon's surface from lunar orbit on December 24, 1968.

Twenty-four years later, Space Shots produced a special hologram which they inserted into their 1992 Space Shots Series 3 factory sets and wax boxes that captured part of the famous photograph:

1992 Space Shots Hologram #1

Space Shots also had James Arthur Lovell Jr., the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 8, sign 1,000 of these holograms.

Over the summer, I watched Apollo 13 (one of my favorite movies)for the umpteenth time... and started looking for certified autographs of Lovell (who was played by Tom Hanks in the movie).  I found a few PSA/DNA slabbed copies, but none were within the budget I set aside for his signature.

Fast forward a few months and I stumbled across this hologram on eBay:



I started to do some research and unfortunately, it looks like the only difference between the unsigned holograms and the signed holograms is the signature itself.  That obviously made me worried, because anyone could take an unsigned hologram and forge Lovell's signature.  However after comparing his signature to certified copies, I decided to risk it and ended up winning this card for $89.95 (+ $4.50 shipping and $8.32 in taxes).  After applying my $52.98 eBay Bucks coupon, I ended up paying $49.79 for this card.

Assuming it's authentic, this is a huge addition to my non-sports collection.  When I was a kid, I remember getting so excited to watch shuttle launches.  And even fifty years later, it's still mind-blowing that we managed to send people to the moon.

A few years before Anders photographed the Earth and the moon, the Lunar Orbiter 1 captured this famous photograph:

1967 Henerle #110

This vintage card was generously donated to my collection by Ryan (author of Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko) and after two years it's still one of my favorite non-sports cards.

What about you?

What are some of your favorite non-sports cards?


Well it's time to step back into the real world and move forward one day at a time.  I hope all of you are having a great week.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

14 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Wacky Packages. Especially the vintage! But, I collect all of the new stuff too. I also like those t.v. sets from 1966 IE: Batman, etc.

Jon said...

I. Need. This. Hologram!!!! Minus the scribbling though :)

Hackenbush said...

Great autograph for your collection! I like my Peanuts card sets. If they count I have lots of old non-sports tobacco cards that I love, Speed, Animalloys, etc. Sorry for the long absence. My mom is gone. I'll have my wife write an excuse.😉

Nick Vossbrink said...

I've been picking up 1930s tobacco cards of hollywood actors and actresses. They're a ton of fun and great designs. I need to scan a bunch more since I've added a couple more sets since I first posted about it.

Also my set of Liebig "how it's printed" cards is a particular favorite due to my being a print geek.

Nick said...

The A&G Revolving Door has to be one of my favorite non-sports cards. Also any of the World's Dudes inserts from a couple years back.

GCA said...

I'm with you on the Astronauts/Space stuff. I fully agree with "And even fifty years later, it's still mind-blowing that we managed to send people to the moon."

Also like Charlie's Angels for obvious reasons, and someday want to find a cheap set of those Donruss KISS cards that I remember seeing when they first came out. Have a binder with just hard rock artists and autos too.

Matt said...

Very cool!

Paul said...

Those are really cool!

I'm into some of the old Inkworks sets, specifically for the TV shows Lost & Jericho. I also like any railroad related card sets.

Paul said...

Forgot about Topps Stranger Things, those are my favorite at the moment.

shoeboxlegends said...

That signed hologram is too cool Fuji! I just visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum a couple weeks ago while in DC, and thought it was amazing to see the space suit Neil Armstrong wore on the moon, so these cards really resonated with me.

I don't collect a lot of non-sports but the '66 Topps Batman cards are high up there for me. Also love the Mars Attacks cards from the same era, though they're hard to find and darn pricey when you do!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Anything non-sport Japanese is a hit in my book!

Collecting Cutch said...

I like the old Marvel sets from the 90s, the Dick Tracy movie set (one of my favorite movies as a child), and the Flash & Daredevil TV show sets.

Fuji said...

johnnys trading spot - i really need to go and add me a few vintage wacky packages to my collection. i somehow missed them when i was a kid. those 60's batman cards are awesome. i've picked up a few of my favorites over the years

jon - lol. without the scribbling it should only set you back a few bucks

hackenbush - are there vintage peanuts sets? i know i've seen at least one set from the 90's.

nick vossbrink - i remember those liebig cards. very cool set. i've picked up a few actor and actress tobacco cards too. the ones from england are so affordable. not sure why they aren't worth more

nick - those world's dudes inserts are cool. don't think i even knew that the a&g revolving door card existed

gca - i'm not a big fan of kiss... but i'd love to own a set of those donruss kiss cards too.

matt - thanks

paul - jericho is such an underrated show. wish it wasn't cancelled so soon. i want to know what happened. and i'm a huge fan of stranger things too.

shoeboxlegends - wow that's awesome. i wanna make it out to the smithsonian museum at some point. i heard you can spend an entire week there. i have a few vintage batman cards... but i still need to add at least one vintage mars attacks card to my pc

sumomenkoman - me too buddy! lol. actually most of my non-sport japanese cards have probably been donated to my pc from you.

collecting cutch - i have a project where i'm trying to complete all four series of the marvel impel sets with the holograms. awesome sets. as for the dick tracy cards, i saw a guy with an unopened box either last weekend or at the flea market before that.

Baltmoss68 said...

I love Mars Attacks, any version. Also Dinosaur attacks! So many other non sports to love. Flags, super heroes tv shows, wacky packs, got.... they never use ped’s and never get arrested for domestic violence!!