Flea Market Finds #184: Sheets, Sets, and a SLU

After over a month away from the local flea market, I made my out to the Branham Flea Market on Saturday for my first haul of 2026.  Not sure if it was the cold weather or the holiday weekend, but there were less vendors than usual.  However I did manage to make a few purchases from a pair of card dealers.

The first one is a regular that I've bought from on numerous occasions.  He's located on the very first row and is usually my first stop of the day.  This time around he had a table filled with uncut sheets.

Purchase #1a:  Uncut Mother's Cookies Sheets  $15

There were some cool oddball sets from the early 90's, but I was mainly drawn to his Mother's Cookies team sets.  He had five different 1985 sets which featured the cards handed out at the stadiums.  I was tempted to buy them all, but I didn't want to blow most of my cash on my first purchase.  So I grabbed my two favorite teams:

1985 Mother's Cookies Oakland A's

1985 Mother's Cookies San Diego Padres

I'm not sure how these uncut sheets were distributed, but I've written about the SGA sets from the 80's and 90's a few times on this blog.  Each year my brother would take me to a handful of Giants and A's games and I'd always try to circle the Mother's Cookies Players Card Day on the calendar.

The guy had the Giants sheet too, but I picked my favorite team over childhood memories.

Purchase #1b:  Hockey Autographs $2

The vendor also brought out a box of oddballs for me to check out and there were two 9-pocket pages with these signed hockey cards.  Not sure how legit these are, the price was right, so I took a chance on them.  I was mainly drawn to the Pavel Bure cards, but there are some other notable names in the lot.

The guy was still setting up, so I told him I'd come back a little later.  On the second row, I found the other card guy.  Remember the guy I bought the 70's Laughlin and 80's Traded sets from last year?  Well before he left for Arkansas, he sold his remaining inventory to this vendor.  I've seen him set up a few times, but his prices were always too high.  This time around he was more reasonable...

Purchase #2a:  1985 Donruss Factory Set $15

His first table was filled with 800ct. boxes filled with cards from the 80's and 90's.  His asking price of $15 for this factory set was reasonable, so I started digging through his stuff.

I opened the set while I was there and noticed that one of the packs had been opened:

I still decided to buy it.  Unfortunately when I got home, I discovered that it was missing the Roger Clemens rookie.  I've added it to my saved eBay searches.  My hopes is to find a clean copy for under $10 delivered.

Next to his sets, he had a bunch of wax boxes with packs that had already been opened.  I found one I was interested in...

Purchase #2b:  1996 Sky Motion Football  $5

As you can see, none of these packs were sealed.  But within the box, there was a nice starter set that included a few big names:

1996 Skybox Sky Motion #SM17

1996 Skybox Sky Motion #SM15

1996 Skybox Sky Motion #SM48

There were 37 different cards for my set build... leaving me needing only 23 singles to complete the set.  I immediately went over to Sportlots and crossed off 16 more:

Considering I have already invested over $25 into this set build, I'm already regretting my decision to build this set.

At least there were two of the Hobby Exclusive Gold parallels included in the box:

1996 Skybox Sky Motion Gold #SM32

1996 Skybox Sky Motion Gold #SM32

These were inserted into every other box and can be quite elusive when seeking specific players.

At the other end of his tables, the vendor had a bunch of knick-knacks including programs, photos, card sheets, and smaller card sets.  I bought a few more items...

Purchase #2c:  1982 Cracker Jack Sheets  $8

1982 Cracker Jack AL Sheet

1982 Cracker Jack NL Sheet

This is a set that I've been looking for on eBay for a few years.  I like the Cracker Jack border paired with the 1978 and 1979 Topps card designs.  Plus each sheet features eight hall of famers.

I didn't want to spend more than $10 for the pair... and thanks to this vendor I didn't have to.

In the same stack as these uncut sheets, I also found this cool Upper Deck SGA sheet from the 90's...

Purchase #2d:  1993 Upper Deck Billy Martin Tribute Sheet  $2

Billy Ball played a big role in my childhood and Oakland A's fanfare, so I'm always looking to add new Billy Martin items to my collection.  Upper Deck made a bunch of these tribute sheets in the 90's.  I have a few sitting in my collection and one of them is framed and hanging up in my office.

But before Saturday, I had never seen this sheet before.  It was passed out on August 15, 1993 at the Oakland Coliseum.  Fans who attended that game were treated to this sheet as well as Kirby Puckett's career day at the plate.  He went 5 for 5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI's as the Twins destroyed the A's 12 to 5.

Purchase #2e:  1983 Stuart Montreal Expos Set  $5

Among the card sheets, programs, and photos, there were also a few sets I was interested in.  The first one that caught my eye was this Montreal Expos oddball set:

Based on what I found online, Stuart was a company that made snacks in Canada.  Based on a TCDB photo, these appeared to be inserted into boxes of snack cakes back in 1983.

The set features all of the early 80's Expos you're familiar with, including these three hall of famers:

1983 Stuart Montreal Expos #4

1983 Stuart Montreal Expos #8

1983 Stuart Montreal Expos #9

I'm happy to add this to my Montreal Expos PC.  And I'm happy to add the next set to my Green Bay Packers PC...

Purchase #2f:  1997 Playoff Packer Super Sunday Set  $5

When the Packers beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, it was the first time celebrating a Super Bowl victory.  Sure I had watched and rooted for teams every year leading up to this one, but they were never my own team.  I was very happy to find this set for a reasonable price.

Purchase #3:  Hot Wheels 2020 GR Toyota Supra  $8

After walking around the rest of the flea market, I didn't see any other deals on cards.  But I saw a guy with a bunch of diecast vehicles.  I asked if he had any GR Supras and he started digging through his boxes.  He found this one:

2024 Hot Wheels Green and Gold #3

I've been trying to track down all of the MK5 Supra die cast cars and this is one of the ones I needed.  I normally wouldn't pay this much for a non-premium Hot Wheel, but the guy did take the time to look for it.

Freebie #1:  1992 Tom Seaver Opened Kenner SLU

When I was done walking the entire flea market, I went back to the guy with the Mother's Cookies sheets.  We were talking about cards and stuff when he pulled this out of a box:

He told me I could have it for free, since the packaging was less than pristine.  The poster and figure are pretty cool:

1992 Kenner SLU Figure & Poster #NNO

But this was the thing I was excited about the most:

1992 Kenner SLU #NNO

He started pulling out other items from the box.  I wasn't really interested in any of it, but I felt obligated to buy something since he gave me this SLU.  So I bought this...

Purchase #4:  2016 Panini NFL Sticker Collection Album  $1

Out of the 485 stickers in the set, this album is only missing 16 of them.  I originally planned on tracking them down, but after wasting so much money trying to build that 1996 Skybox SkyMotion set... I'll probably just leave it as it is.

Well that wraps up my first flea market trip of 2026.  Although I wouldn't call any of these purchases "stellar deals", I am pretty excited about the oddball sets and uncut sheets.

Here is today's question of the day...

Do you collect uncut sheets?

If so...

Do you have any personal favorites in your collection?

Although I love these Mother's Cookies and Cracker Jack sheets, my favorite uncut sheets to collect are Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine cards.

Okay... this post has dragged on long enough.  I appreciate those who stuck it out.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #183: Binders & Sets

Saturday's trip to Branham Flea Market was cancelled due to poor weather.  On the surface that kind of sucks, because I potentially missed out on some flea market finds.  However it was kind of a blessing, because I'm already two weeks behind in recapping my trip to the De Anza Flea Market.  

So let's get it started...

Purchase #1:  1990 Leaf Baseball Set  $20

I've had strong ties to the 1990 Leaf baseball set dating back to my early college years when I was working at the LCS.  While there, I built two complete sets that I still own thirty-plus years later.

Not sure what the deal is, but I've been stumbling across a significant amount of these cards in recent months.  Back in August, I picked up a Series 1 set, because it was super cheap.  Two weeks later, I found the Frank Thomas rookie card (from Series 2) sitting in a box I purchased. 

This time around I found a guy with a bunch of Junk Wax Era sets.  One of them was the 1990 Leaf set pictured above.  I obviously don't need another one, but for $20 the price was right.

Side note... this purchase is the perfect time to share my OCD issues.  Whenever I buy a set, I obviously go through it to make sure it's complete.  If I know I'll be holding onto it, I give it a brand new home with new semi-rigid holders like shown above.

By the way... if you're a fan of 1990 Leaf like myself... I encourage you to check out a recent post on Card Boredom that takes a deep dive into David's wallet card which is a 1990 Leaf Sammy Sosa.  It's very informative and super interesting.

Purchase #2:  Deadpool Comics  $5

Not many comic book fans among my readers, but I assure you there are more cards down below.  So just scroll down...

Deadpool #1 (2023)

Deadpool: Nerdy 30 (2021)

Deadpool #1 (2020)

Before I get into the final five purchases, I wanted to mention that there was a card show at a nearby mall the day of the De Anza Flea Market.  In other words, the regulars who usually set up at the flea market opted to set up at the show.  I also feel like a lot of the collectors I compete with out here were at the card show too.

I was pretty happy about that, because I came across a guy with a bunch of cards.  Normally fresh inventory like this would attract a ton of collectors and vendors.  But an hour into my walk, I was able to pick through this guy's boxes without any competition.  Here's my haul broken down into five parts...

Purchase #3a:  Football Relics  $30

The first box I flipped through was a box of $5 autographs, relics, and inserts.  

As soon as I saw the Favre jersey cards, I asked if he'd give me a discount if I purchased a stack.

After some haggling, we settled on $3 each if I purchased 10 or more cards.

Purchase #3b:  Dollar Box  $10

He also had a box of dollar rookie cards, autos, relics, and inserts.  I was stoked to find another Favre jersey card for my collection:

2003 Fleer Mystique Shining Stars Jerseys #SS-BF

I rounded out the stack with these nine cards:

I also found this really cool insert sitting in the box:

1999 Donruss Preferred QBC Passing Grade #10

If you're not familiar with this insert set, each card contains two parts.  There's a sleeve:

And a football that slides into the sleeve:

I asked if he'd take $10 for these eleven cards and he accepted.

He also had about twenty binders with basketball cards.  He told me they were $10 each except for the Warriors one.  He wanted $30 for that, because it contained a bunch of memorabilia cards and autographs.

Well I pulled that one out first.  Then I found another one full of Jordans, Kobes, and Lebrons.

I didn't have the time to scan everything, but here's a peek into each binder...

Purchase #3c:  Golden State Warriors Binder  $30

I didn't end up counting, but there were around seventy-five memorabilia cards and autographs.  Obviously there weren't any high-end Curry relics, but I did find a couple of cool cards:

2012-13 Elite Court Kings White Canvas Autographs #40 (#'d 01/99)

2013-14 Panini Innovation Foundations Ink #96

The Bogut went into my Prime # PC and the Sleepy Floyd was added to my Golden State Warriors PC.  There was also a nice stack of Curry base cards and low-end inserts.

Although I was excited about this binder, I was way more excited about this one...

Purchase #3d:  Jordan, Kobe, & Lebron Binder  $10

Back in the 90's, I was a huge Jordan collector.  I kept most of the nicer inserts from back then, but sold off his base cards when I left the hobby in the early 2000's.  Adding them back into my collection has been a challenge due to his popularity.

That's why I was super excited to buy several hundred Jordans for less than a nickel each.  Granted... the majority were part of the 2007-08 Fleer Michael Jordan box set:

But there were some base cards, subset cards, and low-end inserts as well:

Here are five of my favorites:

1991-92 Upper Deck #44

1991-92 Upper Deck Award Winners #AW1

1991-92 Upper Deck Award Winners #AW4

1992-93 Stadium Club #1

1992-93 Topps Archives #52

The second half of the binder contained Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and a ton of other 90's stars and rookie cards.

I was especially happy to add these three Kobe cards to his Topps base card run:

2004-05 Topps #8

2005-06 Topps #69

2006-07 Topps #8

I'm down to only needing four more to complete the run.  The good news is I have his rookie card and the overpriced 2008-09 card.  I just need four from the late 90's and early 2000's.  The bad news is his base cards can sometimes be hard to find in bargain bins, so I'll have to be patient with this project.

Purchase #3e:  Non-Sports Factory Set  $10

2004 Upper Deck History of the United States Set

The last thing I grabbed off this guy's table was this factory set filled with cards featuring U.S. Presidents, states, and historical events from our country's history.  There are a few cards from this set that I have been meaning to add to my collection, so I was happy to find a complete set for a decent price.

Well that wraps up my latest run to the flea market.  This may or may not have been the final one of 2025.  I'll leave that up to Mother Nature.  Regardless I've purchased some awesome stuff this year at the flea market.  In fact, it's arguably my best year.  I have always wanted to do a Top 10 list of favorite flea market finds and this might just be the year I do it.  We'll see.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!