Flea Market Finds #169: Cheap Wax, Dime Cards, and A Piece of the Past

Not sure about you, but Mother Nature has been messing with us here in the Bay Area the past week or so.  One week it's freezing.  The next week it's hot.  Yesterday it rained.  Whatever she decides... I just hope it stays cool for another three or four months.  

Temperatures rose into the low 80's last week.  Luckily it cooled off in time for the weekend and the De Anza Flea Market.  When I arrived there on Saturday at around 7:15am... there were already people parked and walking around.  People are catching on to the "early bird catches the worm" philosophy.  The only downside is that half of the vendors aren't completely set up, so you either miss out on some stuff or you have to go back and see what you missed.

All of my purchases took place within the first hour... which is normal.  That being said, one of my best deals was found on the last row of the day.  But let's check out the other stuff first...

Purchase #1:  Japanese Postcards Book  $2

There's a longtime vendor on the first row that sells used books for great prices.  Back when I taught fifth and sixth grade, I filled out my classroom library with their books.  In recent years, I've purchased a Wayne Gretzky signed autobiography and Michael Jordan's first Sport Illustrated cover from them.

This time around... I found this cool book of postcards.  There are twenty-our perforated postcards inside.  Here's my favorite:

Here's a look at the back:

No way I could pass up twenty-four postcards for two bucks.

Purchase #2:  Handful of Matchbooks  $1

A few booths down was a guy who brought a bin filled with matchbooks.  The San Francisco Giants one caught my eye, so I asked him how much he wanted.  He told me I could pick twenty-five for $5.  After I told him, I really only wanted the two Giants matchbooks, he told me I could have them for a buck and I could grab a handful as a bonus (no cherry picking).

I lucked out, because there are a few that are from places I've been to in the past:  Coco's, the Crow's Nest, Alpha Beta, and Harrah's (South Shore Lake Tahoe).

Purchase #3:  Pair of 1990 SI for Kids Magazines  $20

Whenever I hit up De Anza, I always make time to hang out with some of my friends who set up on a regular basis.  I've been waiting to see Tony, because he opens up a lot of blasters and I was hoping he'd sell me an Update Skenes rookie for my set build.  Unfortunately he didn't have one.

But he did have two copies of Sports Illustrated for Kids (October 1990) that he thought I might be interested in.

Here's the 9-card sheet in that month's issue:

Most of you know how much I enjoy collecting SI for Kids cards, but this sheet was actually only the appetizer.  The main thing I wanted from this issue was this four card panel of McDonald's Michael Jordans:

You might notice that the numbering is a little weird.  That's because the other four cards in the set were on another panel.  I had hoped to find it in the other issue, but they were duplicates.

Honestly... I wasn't too disappointed.  I kept one of the magazines intact and I cut the cards out of the other one.

Purchase #4:  1989 Pro Set Football Series 2 Wax Box $22

A few vendors down from my friends was a guy with a bunch of toys, magazines, and movies laid out on a table.  Underneath a stack of comics, I noticed this box.  The guy was asking $25 which I was willing to pay.  However I didn't have a five dollar bill, so I gave him a twenty and a ten.  He didn't have change and I only had 2 one dollar bills, so he took $22 instead.

This product is loaded with some hall of fame rookie cards like Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, and Deion Sanders.  But I'm equally excited at trying to build the announcer set.

Purchase #5:  Auto Relic of a Hall of Famer  $10

2012 Topps Triple Threads #TTAR-206 (#'d 10/18)

I struck out on the next three rows, but as I turned the corner on the final row, I found this shiny card sitting on a table in a penny sleeve next to the box it was pulled from.  I'm no longer actively chasing sticker-graphs, but when they pop up at a flea market for the right price, I'll pick them up.  Not gonna lie... in this era where most vendors think every card they own is worth stupid money... I was pretty shocked to hear him say he only wanted ten bucks.

I pulled out that ten dollar bill I had originally given to the 1989 Pro Set guy immediately before he could change his mind.

Purchase #6:  Dime Cards  $2

A lady who was selling some crafts had given her teenage son part of a table and he put out a few boxes of cards with a sign "10 for a dollar".  I picked out twenty... highlighted by the nine cards above and this card of my favorite football player in the 90's:

2022 Panini Legacy Decade of Dominance #DD-7

That's wraps up another trip to the flea market.  The next one is two Saturdays from now and I'm planning on being out there... as long as Mother Nature cooperates.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Buybacks, Reprints, and Cancelled Stamps Oh My!

Summer break is coming to an end... and the start of a new school year is just around the corner.  Earlier in the week, I was up in Lake Tahoe for a family reunion... and more importantly to visit where we spread my mother's ashes two years ago.  I'm not sure about the afterlife, but I'd like to think she wakes up to this wonderful view every morning.

Now that we're all caught up with what's going on in my life... let's check out some new additions to my collection.  Today's post focuses on buybacks, reprints, and cancelled stamps sent to me by Reader X (Xavier Higgins), AJ (The Lost Collector), and Bo (Baseball Cards Come to Life!).

Let's kick things off with some buybacks.  I've always had mixed emotions on these.  Back in 1991, I pulled one out of a pack of Topps and was pretty excited to own an original league leaders card from the early 70's.  The only problem was it was unstamped... so there's no actual proof it was a buyback.

These days Topps stamps their buybacks.  The issue I have with modern day buybacks is I have almost zero interest in pulling a buyback of a card issued only a few years ago of a guy I don't collect.  On the other hand... I'm all about these vintage buybacks that Reader X sent my way:

1967 Topps #385

1968 Topps #580

Jim Fregosi is a member of the Angels Hall of Fame, but I didn't really start watching baseball as a serious fan until the tail end of his career.  I mostly remember him for managing the Philadelphia Phillies in the 90's.

Bob Bailey is another guy who played a little before my time, so I wasn't familiar with his career.  I was impressed with those eyebrows though.  It's a shame Wally Moon retired before Bailey joined the Dodgers in 1967.  That would have been quite the powerful eyebrow ensemble.

Okay... I can see that at this pace... this post will end up taking four hours to write. (sadly... even after cutting back on my commenting, this post took four hours to write).  I'm gonna have to scale things down for both of our sakes.

1973 Topps #12

1978 Topps #228

I was super excited to see both of these cards in Xavier's package.  I've always associated Don Zimmer with the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, and the Tampa Bay Rays... but never the San Diego Padres.  That being said... this is a very nice addition to my Padres PC.  As for Manny Mota, I'm always excited to add a vintage buyback of a guy often regarded as one of the greatest pinch hitters of all-time.

This was some serious California Love sent to me by Reader X.

AJ also hooked me up with a buyback:

1990 Topps #670

Four out of five times if you asked me if I'd be interested in a 1990 Topps buyback, I'd probably say "not really".  The bottom line is this was the heart of the Junk Wax Era and before the recent hobby boom, you could find boxes of this stuff at the flea market for $5 more often than not.

However if I pulled this Dennis Eckersley out of a pack, I would have been stoked.  Not only is he a hall of famer for my Oakland A's PC... it also features a great action shot.

AJ also sent me this really beautiful card of Rickey Henderson:

At first glance, it looks like his 1999 Stadium Club card.  Topps sure gave Rickey fans a treat when they produced this card twenty-two years ago.  I guess they wanted to give current collectors who weren't collecting back in 1999 a chance to share in the beauty.

Like buybacks... I have mixed emotions about Topps reprinting cards from their past.  In fact, if you've shown off a reprint on your blog, there's a chance I've left my feelings towards them in the comments.

2021 Stadium Club Greats #SCG-8

Generally... I'm not a fan of Topps excessively reprinting base cards and calling them inserts.  It would be cool if they did it on the occasional basis, but these days it seems like they've gone wild over them... which just seems lazy.  That being said... some reprints have a place in my collection.  For example... I enjoy getting my hands on as many 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson and 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn rookie reprints as I can.  This card might not be a rookie card reprint, but it's a nice addition to my Rickey Henderson PC.

Speaking of rookie reprints, Reader X gave me this Reggie Jackson:

2021 Topps Double Headers #TDH-9

Now I'm only two cards away from filling up a 9-pocket page of his reprint rookie cards:

The final segment of today's post involves postage stamps... which I've been collecting off and on for the past fifteen years.  One of these days, I'll go and scan my entire collection... but for now here are some awesome 1972 Olympic stamps that were sent to me by Bo:

Back in July, I wrote about some recent stamp acquisitions and Bo left a comment about a stamp collection he picked up a few years ago.  He asked about what kind of stamps I collected, so I wrote back that I'd be interested in any stamps related to the 1972 Olympics or Japan.  He killed two birds with one stone with all of these.

I wish I could give you more information about these stamps, but honestly... I'm just a novice stamp collector. who enjoys adding the occasional stamp to the collection.

Here's another stamp I recently added to my collection:

I actually considered purchasing a sheet of these when I placed my order from the USPS a few weeks ago, but ended up removing it from my cart at the last second.  Maybe I'll go back and buy a sheet to use for PWE or even for my Stamp PC, but for now this cancelled stamp from AJ's PWE will work just fine.

Getting back to Bo's PWE... he also tossed in this very cool matchbook from Japan:

It's from the Hotel New Grand, which according to their website is Japan's leading hotel.  The ninety-four year old hotel is considered a luxury hotel with fantastic views of the Port of Yokohama.  Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, and General MacArthur are among the famous people who have stayed there over the years.

I wish I could give you more information on this matchbook.  Bo seems to be the resident expert among our cohort of bloggers when it comes to these.  If I had to guess, I'd say it's from the 1950's, 60's, or 70's.  Regardless of its age, it's a fine addition to my Japanese Non-Sports PC.

Thank you Xavier, AJ, and Bo for the buybacks, reprints, and cancelled stamps!

As always, I'd love to hear from the rest of you.  Here are today's questions of the day:

What are your thoughts on collecting buybacks?

How do you feel about Topps and their reprints?

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Here are a few more items that were sent to me from Xavier, AJ, and Bo that didn't really fit into the context of this post, but are still very much appreciated...

Bo must have read about my Surfer PC, because he sent me a small stack of 1994 Generation Extreme cards:

My favorite was this card of Derek Ho, who was a very popular surfer back in the early 90's when I actively followed professional surfing:

1994 Generation Extreme #46

Unfortunately, he passed away last year.  He was only fifty-five years old.  2020 sucked.

AJ sent me a few Kurt Suzuki cards, but this one especially stood out:

2015 Bowman Silver Ice #85

I don't own a lot of non-Oakland Athletic parallels of Kurt Suzuki, so I was very happy to add him to the binder.

As for Xavier... I literally have stacks of cards I still need to write about from the first two care packages he sent my way.  I could have easily picked a card from one of those, but I wanted to show off a card from another package he recently sent me.

It's this really, really shiny box topper:

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen GlassWorks Box Topper #GW-CK

This is the shiniest card in my collection.  Sadly my scanner does not do this card any justice.  Anyone who has ever held one of these inserts can verify that.

I've been wanting to add one of these box toppers to my collection ever since I first laid eyes on them.  Now that I have one... I want more.

One more round of thanks to Bo, AJ, and Xavier.