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 #162: Some Nice Surprises

Clear skies and fresh air have a way of drawing people out of their homes.  That's why the De Anza Flea Market was packed two weekends ago.  Not exactly a fan of large crowds but if it motivates more vendors to set up in the future... it's something I can live with.

Made a total of eight purchases... which is more than usual.  So let's get to it.

Purchase #1:  2019 Topps Clear Travel Packs  $Free

I'll be teaching summer school again for the first time in four years, so I was looking for some cheap packs for a math lesson involving statistics.  I found a vendor with a bunch of these packs which would totally work.

The purchase involved a storage tub filled with over 200 of these, but I ended up selling the bulk to a friend to help cover the cost of the thirty-six packs I kept.

I kind of regret selling the, because when I got home I discovered these weren't your ordinary 2019 Topps cards.  They're an oddball issue that was distributed at ballparks and airports.  I plan on writing another post about this nice surprise in the near future.

Purchase #2:  New VHS Movies  $1

Stumbled upon a lady with a box filled with brand new VHS tapes.  Believe it or not... I still watch movies on my VHS player.  But I won't be opening these.  Pretty much purchased these for nostalgic purposes and because the price was too good to pass up.

Purchase #3:  1992 Impel Star Trek TNG Master Set $5

The husband of the lady with the VHS tapes had a bunch of non-sports sets.  My cardboard addiction was drawn to the shiny holograms.  Back in the 90's, I was one of those collectors drawn to holograms... especially if they were inserts.

Included in the purchase was also the base set, some promo cards, and a foreign language insert set.

Purchase #4:  1989 World Series Program  $5

I wasn't sure if I had a copy of this program or not... so I picked it up.  With the news of the A's leaving for Sacramento next year... I guess I was feeling extra nostalgic.

Tucked between two pages was a white envelope containing a nice surprise:

You're looking at a 1989 phantom World Series ticket.  The Oakland A's swept the San Francisco Giants that year... so there wasn't a need for a Game 5.  

Purchase #5:  Early 90's Rap Packs  $16 

Discovered this set during the hobby boom... when people were grading anything and everything.  I'm a fan of late 80's and early 90's rap... so the idea of pulling cards of NWA, Naughty by Nature, and Too Short appeals to me.

The vendor had twenty packs left in this box for a buck each.  I bought one to see if they were "bricked" and they weren't.  So I offered up $15 for the remaining 19 packs and he accepted.

Purchase #6:  NSYNC Dolls  $15

Not all of my flea market finds are for me.  My friend is a huge fan of Justin Timberlake, so I asked her if she wanted it and she did.  Made a special trip to the car to drop this off, because I didn't want to be seen carrying it around the remainder of my time there.

Purchase #7:  Steve Carlton Bat Relic $3

2003 SP Legendary Cuts Historic Lumber #B-SC (#'d 005/350)

Ran into a guy who had some monster boxes sitting on his table containing mostly football and basketball cards.  He was one of those guys who looks up singles on eBay and gives you a price.  He couldn't find any listings for this card, so he told me he'd sell it for $10.  I politely passed, so he asked what I was willing to pay.  Three dollars later, the card was in my pocket.

Purchase #8:  Another Toyota Supra  $6.50

2024 Hot Wheels Gran Turismo

There's a regular vendor that specializes in diecast cars.  I'm always searching for MK5 Supras I don't own.  Sometimes he has some, most of the time he doesn't.  This time he did.

It's from the Gran Turismo series that was released about a month ago.  I'm pretty sure these are only a couple of bucks in the store, but like blasters... I never see these at my local Target.

Well that wraps ups another trip to the De Anza Flea Market.  I was pretty happy with the haul.  I'll be heading out to the Branham High School Flea Market on Saturday.  Looks like the weather will be nice again, so hopefully I'll find a few more nice surprises this weekend.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!