Wednesday, May 7, 2014

A Pleasant Surprise From My Past

Once upon a time, basketball was my favorite sport to play.  It was my favorite sport to watch on television.  And it was my favorite sport to collect.

But things change.  People change.  I changed.

These days... I rarely pick up a basketball and I never watch any NBA games (except when I attend the occasional Warriors game).  As for collecting... I'll pick up a basketball card every now and then.. but only if the price is right.  It's pretty safe to say that basketball is my least favorite sport to collect.

However I recently took a trip down to Vegas to hang out at my parent's place.  And while I was there... I decided to spend an afternoon flipping through my collection and scanning a bunch of cards for future posts.  Among them were a handful that I had completely forgotten about... including three autographs of this year's MVP... Mr. Kevin Durant:

2007/08 UD Premier Exclusivity Auto #EXKD

Durant has been a star since he arrived on the scene seven seasons ago.  He's already four time scoring champion, five time all-star, and one of the most popular players in the league.

2007/08 UD Artifacts "Autofacts" #AFDU

Which brings up the question... how the heck did I let these cards slip from my memory?  Heck... I'm not even sure how I acquired them.  Did I pull them from packs?  Buy them?  Trade for them?

2007/08 SPx "Super Scripts" #KD

I guess all that really matters is that I now know about them.  And after a quick look on eBay... it's good to know that I have a few extra dollars if I ever need it.  They're easily three of the higher end cards in my collection.

Today's question of the day...


What are some cool, forgotten cards you've stumbled across in your collection?

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

36 comments:

Tony L. said...

HA! Considering that I took about 25 years off from collecting, I've had a lot of these cards pop up. It actually happens more with memorabilia though -- in particular a Brewers yearbook from I think 1983 or 1984 that has something like 8-10 autographs in it. That's probably the coolest one I can recall right now.

Dawgbones said...

Being so new to the hobby, I have no cards that I have forgotten about. I have made a few purchases that I'd like to forget about, but that's a whole different therapy session!!

BobWalkthePlank said...

Holy Cow Fuji! Those are some big cards to find. I'm constantly finding cards that I forgot about. I recently uncovered a box that featured around 50 game used cards. Most of which I will share with my blog friends! Also found a folder that was at my parents house that featured only serial numbered cards. Most of which were numbered less that /100.

CaptKirk42 said...

That happens to me from time to time. A few weeks ago, eek maybe a month or two by now, while making an attempt to complete the 1980 Topps team sets for the Orioles and Expos I had hit sportlots and Ebay for the cards I "needed" it turns out a few of them I already had in boxes or piles other than the ones I was keeping the bulk of that years cards in. So I have some duplicates and some triplicates of some guys. At other times I have also discovered some Autos (on-sticker) and GU stuff I had forgotten about.

Pro Set Cards said...

For me it is my Gordie Howe IP auto on a 91-92 Parkhurst card. I have had it since 1992 and it seems to find its way out of my storage boxes and up on my display shelf every year or two for a few weeks.

arpsmith said...

I recently came across a box of cards that had slipped my mind for some time. It has a decent number of 1958 Topps cards along with some 1960 Topps cards. There are also some football cards from the late 50s. The only downer is that every 1958 card has my uncle's initials (RJS) written in pen on the back.

I also found another box recently that had a sizable number of inserts from the early 2000s, not as exciting as the vintage but still a good find.

defgav said...

I boxed up my collection in mid 93, and maybe a decade later I was leafing through it a bit for a trip down memory lane and came across a Jeter UD minor league "top prospects" card that I never knew I had. That was pretty cool. I bought a few packs of that set back in the day, but he wasn't on my radar.. just another no-name kid.

Other than that, yeah, sometimes I look through my collection and see a card I forgot about acquiring and my face lights up, "oh, yeah, I have this card!"

Mark Hoyle said...

After being out of the collecting biz for about 18 years. I'm finding older stuff I forgot about quite frequently

brian said...

Those are some sweet cards never had an experience like that

Hackenbush said...

I can't think of a card offhand but I did find this missing Blackhawks program signed by Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and others,'http://canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com/2011/10/buried-treasure-part-2-signed.html

The Lost Collector said...

Awesome cards!

I have some GI Joe cards from the early 90s I recently stumbled upon.

Cardhobbyist said...

I can't really stumble on anything since I gave away all the cards I had collected as a kid but I do remember feeling all fuzzy inside when I saw I still had some Upper Deck Looney Tunes cards.

I miss the Sonics, even though I pull for the Heat, the Sonics were my second favorite team when I was young.

Wilson said...

Usually they're non-baseball cards, or baseball oddballs, that I didn't know how to sort appropriately, so they'd just get thrown in a big "deal with this later" pile. I find these piles from time to time going through my stuff. I think the ones that most made me stop and say "cool, I still have these" were McDonalds-issued Rams cards from their first year in St Louis, and some TMNT cartoon and movie cards.

Corky said...

The best Durant cards to have, when he is in his proper Sonics uniform.

Unknown said...

Nice cards Fuji and yes I have forgotten about a card and an auto at my Moms. Last time I was there I forgot I have a Gretzky game film card from Upper Deck SP I believe. The auto is a lithograph of Mickey Mantle that I can't believe I forgot about that I bought when I was around 13-14 yrs old. Don't know how I forgot about that.

Greg Zakwin said...

I would love to unearth three cards like that haha. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I have had the opposite happen where I think I own a card and then realize I don't and my set is further away from completion.

Anonymous said...

When I saw those cards, my first thought was "Kevin Durant was with the Sonics???" and then I thought "Oh.... right."

I'm constantly finding cards I forgot I had... or finding that I need cards that I thought I had. I won't get into details here, because I don't think I've written about it on my own blog yet, but back in the late 1980's/early 1990's I bought some packs of basketball cards just for the heck of it, and they got filed away for 20+ years. Last summer I found them again and found that I had some halfway-decent cards in there, including a pretty good rookie card (no, not the MJ rookie, don't get too excited).

hockey kazi said...

Finding cards I forgot about all the time--with renovations the last few years, my wife "helped" box stuff up---I always find a few surprises what I start going through them

Fuji said...

I sure hope you give your readers the pleasure of seeing it sometime. There were some pretty big names on that roster... Yount, Molitor, Moose, Sutton, Cooper, Gorman, Simmons, and Gantner.

Fuji said...

Lol... haven't we all?

Fuji said...

I wouldn't mind stumbling across either of those finds.

Fuji said...

When you put it that way... I find cards all of the time. I recently found some 1984 Topps cards I purchased off of COMC a long time ago. Before the package arrived, another blogger helped me finish the set.

Fuji said...

Awesome. It's the surprise that keeps surprising.

Fuji said...

Can you really complain about a bunch of autographed 1958 Topps cards? My dream is to stumble upon a box of vintage I've forgotten. Don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. The inserts on the other hand...

Fuji said...

Just another reason to collect cards. The "oh yeah, I have this card" face.

Fuji said...

Awesome. It's a great feeling to find a card you forgot about. Whether it's a vintage Don Mossi or an overproduced Tony Gwynn insert... it still makes me smile.

Fuji said...

Thanks. I had a few baseball autographs that I had forgot about... but nothing compared to these three cards.

Fuji said...

Thanks for sharing. That program is awesome... but the fact that it's from a game you and your father went to makes it 1000x cooler.

Fuji said...

Very cool. I remember busting a few packs when I worked at a card shop back in the day.

Fuji said...

I remember how happy I was when I pulled my first Looney Tunes hologram card. Good times. Hopefully the NBA returns to Seattle sooner than later.

Fuji said...

I have a few of these piles sitting on my desk right now ;-)

Fuji said...

Yeah. Even though I don't watch basketball anymore. I'll still wear my Gary Payton Sonics jersey to bed every now and then.

Fuji said...

Both of those items are awesome! Loved those game film acetate cards. And although I can't stand the Yankees... who doesn't appreciate Mickey. Nice finds.

Fuji said...

That happens to me too. I hate that feeling.

Fuji said...

I'm going to go with a Shaquille O'Neal rookie card! David Robinson? Dennis Rodman?

Fuji said...

Nice. That makes it even more special. Since your wife packed them, it's like busting boxes from the factory. You never know what you're going to find.