Instead, I'm going to show you one of the two major purchases I made on Black Friday. After reading this post on Baseball Card Breakdown back in November, I was persuaded to pick up two hobby boxes of 2015 Topps Strata from Blowout Cards. The pair set me back $109.90.
Normally, I avoid these high risk products. However I had recently won some money in Vegas, so I decided to try my luck. Well as you can see from the title of my post... I didn't pull a Mike Trout or Hank Aaron autograph.
This two box break was mediocre at best. See for yourself...
Box 1:
2015 Strata Clearly Authentic Autographed Relic #CAAR-DGO (#'d 17/50)
2015 Strata Autograph #SA-VGA
As you can see, these boxes only contain two cards and at $54.95 per box, and I'm not off to a very good start. Based on what I've seen on eBay and current COMC prices, I'd be lucky to get $20 for the pair. On the other hand, things could have been worse. I could have pulled an Alex Guerrero jersey card and a Yimi Garcia autograph. At least these two guys are mediocre players.
Box 2:
2015 Strata Clearly Authentic Autographed Relic #CAAR-AG
2015 Strata Autograph #SA-CKR (#'d 52/75)
This box was a little nicer. Unfortunately, it didn't contain a Rickey Henderson autographed patch card like Gavin pulled.
That being said... I've been an Adrian Gonzalez fan for years, so this card will go into my collection. Kluber is cool too. Not sure if I have his autograph or not, but he's been one of the best starting pitchers in the American League the past few years.
Just like the first box, this pair isn't worth anywhere near the $54.95 I paid. However that's the risk you take when you bust boxes. I knew the risk going into this purchase and still added them to my cart.
And like I said earlier... it could have been worse. I'll take mediocre over less than mediocre any day of the week.
Happy Monday and sayonara!
A good reminder of the gamble with these types of boxes! But hey, at least you were playing with some house money, right?
ReplyDeleteAt least you didn't get an expired redemption.
ReplyDeleteOuch. Sorry for my role in this debacle. ha. At least all these guys are solid major leaguers.. no flopped prospects or expired redemptions. Definitely worse boxes out there.
ReplyDeleteBig risk for sure....how much would they have been at full retail?
ReplyDeleteThose Gordon and Kluber cards are sweet. I might have to make you a trade offer if you don’t want to keep them. Sorry you didn’t get any big names with the 2 boxes.
ReplyDeleteNot saying another word... okay I will. I'm scared of those things too.
ReplyDeleteI've never taken the plunge on a product like this for myself, but I have bought them for other people. Your results were better than those that I have gifted... even that first very mediocre box.
ReplyDeleteJust an additional gamble on gambling winnings so no loss, right? Usually Vegas wins go right back to the casino 🎰 Nice enough looking cards, too. And a reasonably low # Krueger...
ReplyDeletethe lost collector - i should create a list of all of these reminders for future reference.
ReplyDeletebuckstorecards - very true. that's the worst case scenario
defgav - lol. the blame fall solely on me. as my pops would ask... if you friend jumps off a bridge...
sumomenkoman - according to blowout, $79.95. but they're currently on sale for $69.53
jeremya1um - i'll probably keep the kluber, but the gordon is available
john miller - lol
p-town tom - yeah... i totally realize it could have been worse. lol. that's the scary part
baltmoss68 - love the way you think. i'm gonna go with that.