Card of the Day - 2014 Topps : Pee Wee Reese Strata Cut Autograph (1/1)

The hunt is over.
To be exact two different pursuits were satisfied with the acquisition of this plain yet beautiful card.

Since I re-entered the hobby in 2013 I have seen and heard about 1/1 cards. While I can stake my claim to various one of one's in the graded world as I have a few gem mint cards that are the only ones in existence that doesn't mean sometime in the future another person might earn that same grade on the same card. What I am talking about is a card that is serialized 1/1. I have never been lucky enough to pull one out of a pack nor did I ever think I would acquire one as they can go for a pretty penny (or at least the ones I am interested in). So time went on and look at what I found . .

I had a signed ball of Pee Wee but like all others it got sold in the ball purge and he was one of the most important autographs to reacquire but the problem was that there are not that many on card autographs as he passed away before that became the norm. Sure there are authenticated cards with his signature which at one time was where I planned to pick up his autograph again. Then there was the photo option but I didn't really want to go that route. Then the option that became my focus, the cut autograph. It was never really a pursuit but with this acquisition I have my first cut autograph as well. These are usually for big name players from the golden era of baseball that are no longer with us so companies find autographs of said players and cut them down to fit into their cards.

I do love me some thick cards and this is now my second strata autograph. The first was one of Ken Griffey Jr. that I acquired on a trade with Caitlin as seen HERE and I fell in love with them. Well I knew this card existed for some time and even saw it on eBay on a BIN auction with a best offer option attached to it. It sat there for months and I never gave it a second thought as the asking price was way too high for my tastes so I just continued to look for a Pee Wee autograph somewhere else. That search bore no fruit and this card was still on my watch list. Well I had enough in my PP account with a lot of recent comic sales so I had some play money to work with and eBay was running a two day promotion where buyers earned 4x as many eBay bucks during that time.. I decided to send the seller an immensely low ball offer that I assumed he would reject. Hell, I assumed it would auto reject but that didn't happen so I just had to wait to see what his answer or counter would be. I thought I might have a chance of working some deal out as the card was on eBay for at least 7 months. A few hours went by and I received an email from eBay about the card. The seller accepted my offer...

Could . . . not . . . believe . . . it

About 7 days later I received the card and opened it to see this 1 of 1 beauty. I finally got Pee Wee back into the collection and better yet I now owned a one of a kind card. I know some people might not like it as it doesn't include his last name "Reese" but that is fine with me. He is and always will be Pee Wee.

Upon further review I will be submitting this card to BGS for raw grading. While I would love a gem mint grade we all know thick cards are tricky but I am thinking it at least earns a mint 9. What will be interesting is the auto grade. If you look closely at the far right you will see part of his last name. Will BGS downgrade the autograph to a 9 or just focus on the name that is in the middle and give it it's deserved 10 grade? We shall see.

One of freaking one

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.
-Penguin