Back in January of 2013, I purchased a huge collection at the De Anza Flea Market for $160. You can check out the photos here. I'm not exactly sure if I ever summarized this purchase, but it's one of the best flea market finds I have ever stumbled across.
It was one of those deals that my buddy Mike and I still talk about to this day. Anyways... within the collection were hundreds of slabbed cards. They sat in my garage for about five years... and then a couple of years ago I brought them into my office where they've sat behind some shipping supplies. I've sat down a few times and sifted through them... most recently yesterday.
Here were four that caught my attention:
1989 Donruss #561
At first glance, this is a hall of fame rookie card that received a less-than-desired grade from BGS. However when I looked at it a little more carefully, I noticed that this is actually a buyback from a product I never purchased before: 2001 Donruss Anniversary Originals.
There's no buyback stamp or anything... so the only proof resides in the holder.
Next up a card that fits into two different collections:
2002 Playoff Prime Signatures #107
Chad Hutchinson is a two-sport athlete who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals and played for the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears. More importantly... he attended Stanford University... which I maintain a small PC of.
You'll also notice that this card is serial numbered #1/5... which means it also fits into my Prime #'s PC. And yes... I know that the number "one" isn't a prime number.
I also found this graded Michael Jordan insert:
1990-91 Fleer All-Star #5
Yeah... I know. It's not gem mint, but it still sells for more than you probably think. It doesn't matter, because you should know by now that I rarely flip cards.
Plus I collect Jordan.
The last one is a card I may or may not have shown before. I've definitely pulled it out of the box a few times and admired it.
1998 Bowman Chrome 50th Anniversary Refractor #95
Back in 1998, this would have been a pretty huge pull.
Like the Hutchinson, it's numbered to only 5. Pulling a common would have been a nice pull, but back in 1998 Kaufman was coming off his best season and he was only twenty-five years old. Raider fans were pretty excited about him lining up in the backfield.
That's it for now. I know that most of you aren't into graded cards... but I can't only write about 70's Kellogg's and Topps Project 2020 cards. Well... I guess I could... but I won't..
Happy Monday and sayonara!
13 comments:
Nice. I've no Hutch football cards since he has baseball cards out there too.
I definitely don't mind when you write about graded cards. They are not really my main focus, but I would never turn one away. And those are definitely some interesting ones. Why grade an /5 though?
Anything Jordan is going through the roof. I'll never understand what drives the market on cards. Why has MJ exploded this year instead of last year? Or any other year? Was it the documentary series?
I had always had it in my mind that Biggio was an All-Star at three different positions. Looks like it was only two, catcher and 2nd. But he was pretty studly in his outfield days as well.
That's a lot of slabbed cards! But cool to go back, as I bet you found a few that would bring in some decent change now if you decided to sell at all.
It was absolutely 100% the documentary series that we all watched when we were stuck at home due to a global pandemic. With the money "we" (not me) were saving from never going out, "we" bought Jordan cards and helped bring this hobby back from the brink.
So how did the Donruss buyback program work, if there was no stamp? I mean, if they just put the cards in packs, how does BGS confirm that it's a buyback? Did someone have Beckett watch them rip the pack and then slab it?
Interesting On the buyback. I am super fan of 1989 Donruss. Fourth only to 87T, 87D, and 87F.
I like reading about the flea market since none of our flea markets opened this year at all.
nick vossbrink - lmk if you want a football card of him. i might have some sitting in a box somewhere.
the diamond king - who know? the guy who previously owned this collection had a bunch of random cards graded. the bulk are rookies that i've never even heard of.
commishbob - mj's cards have always been hot... but they jumped up big time after the espn special. i also think it has to do with collectors in other countries outside of canada and the united states. there are a lot of collectors in asian who love mj and kobe.
jay - that documentary definitely helped the basketball hobby. sadly... kobe's untimely death also played a part in regards to his cards. the thing i'm blown away about is the hype over panini prizm. some of the base cards of lebron (and i'm sure other stars) are straight up insane.
the lost collector - most are crap. but yeah, i feel like there are more than a handful of cards in that lot that would fetch $5 to $25. Plus there are rare cards like the Kaufman and jordan that would likely bring in more money than that.
bret alan - honestly have no idea how they ran that program. if you cracked it out of the slab, it's just another 1989 off grade biggio. i'm sure donruss just sent in a bunch of biggio rookie cards and had them grade it... and put 2001 donruss anniversary originals on the label.
sumomenkoman - 89d? interesting. if i stumble across a complete set, it's yours.
runforekelloggs - i know one of my flea markets is open, but it's my least favorite out of the three i usually hit up. the other two i think are still shut down.
That Chad Hutchinson card is sweet. I got his autograph in 2001 after the Cardinals home opener. I was meeting some friends after the game for dinner. It was an afternoon game. The one guy wanted to go change shirts after the game, walked back to his car in a parking garage across the street. Rest of us are sitting on a bench and this guy comes up, starts talking to us about the game, and how it's his first big league opener. I assumed he was a fan. Grabs a bunch of our scorecards and starts signing them. It took five minutes for him to tell us he was Chad Hutchinson.
Like Brett I'm confused about that 1989 Donruss/2001 Donruss Craig Biggio. I kind of understand how the program worked, but I'm confused about why a 1989 Donruss Biggio completely unaltered would have enticed anyone to ever buy that 2001 product in the first place.
I like that MJ
Owned two myself until I traded one away
the snorting bull - lol. that's awesome. glad to hear he's a cool guy who isn't afraid to hang out and mingle with the fans.
sean - i actually have at least one other 1989 buyback card from that product. at least the biggio is a rookie card... the other is a just a base card of a star. puckett maybe? i'd have to dig it out.
sport card collectors - yeah, it's a pretty cool insert.
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