BGS Submission Result Number FORTY-FIVE - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Corey Seager Base Autograph Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2012 Bowman Sterling Corey Seager Autograph

Whether this earns a 9 or 9.5 it is all gravy for me as my good blogger buddy Frankie gave this card to me out of the kindness of his heart last Christmas. If he actually reads this there will be a little something for him in the box I am shipping back to him with his cards from this joint batch. That said I think this card earns a 9.5 but the autograph is giving me slight pause as there is 1 streak in it. Most of the time you can get away with that and still earn a 10 but I shall see what type of grader I get the day he looks at this card. 

And once again let me take the opportunity again to say thank you for the card Frankie.

The gift that keeps on giving.

As stated up above I received this from Frankie as a Christmas last year and knew the minute I looked at it I would be submitting it to BGS for grading as I expected it would gem (Frankie thought the same as well). I also knew going in that the signature was borderline 9/10 as there was a streak in it and depending on the grader is what grade it would receive. It/I got the unlucky inspector as the autograph earned a 9. That though does not diminish the overall 9.5 that it received. Thank you once again goes out to Frankie on this card as it is much appreciated and looks great in its new gold banner case.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Mike Trout Base Autograph Refractor Parallel (101/199) BGS Graded Gem Mint and eBay Bucks Quarterly Purchase

Wife's birthday.
New computer.
Unexpected car repairs.
Daily expenses.
All these things add up but I was able to get most of those items and more on eBay and after all was said and done I had my biggest quarter ever (other than the quarter with Christmas cards being included) for eBay bucks and I knew I wanted a nice piece that was going to have ZERO out of pocket costs. I knew what I was tracking and what I probably would end up at the end of March so for the earliest time ever I locked in a card for acquisition on the 7th of March. Almost a whole month prior to the bucks being available.

I had my eye on a couple of cards but my focus always came back to this particular one. A seller had this on a BIN auction with a best offer option and thankfully this was early March and not mid season as I am sure I would not have been able to score such a deal. The only kicker and what might have driven people away from this card was that the case has a chip on it. I could care less as it does not affect the integrity of the card and if and when I want to change it out I can send it back to Dallas with one of my future grading submissions.

I reached out to the seller and did my quarterly routine of asking if I could lock in the card and take it off the market if we could come to an agreement on price. He said sure and I sent him an offer which I expected him to reject which he did but thankfully his counter was right in the area of what I expected my eBay eBucks total would be by the end of March. I accepted his offer and so the wait began. As I have written before I have done this numerous times in the past but this is the 1st time I've done it weeks before the quarter was to end. Most times it was a week at most but this was a big card for me and I believe the price would and will skyrocket as time goes on. My main fear was that after a while the seller might think he could make more from another buyer and back out of our agreement and considering I was a "non-paying" buyer mid month he could have had eBay cancel the transaction. Thankfully non of that transpired and on the 2nd of April I sent him the full amount paid with eBay bucks and had this in hand 3 days later.

Unlike Kershaw I can only get my hands on so many Trout autographs as his prices are too high but ever quarter I can help subsidize a purchase with eBay bucks and with this one the whole cost was paid with said bucks. I don't foresee another big eBucks total next quarter but whatever I do earn I hope I can score another great card.

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One Hundred and Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Merry Christmas And A Gift From Fellow Blogger Frankie

First off I want to say Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you that has taken the time to visit my little corner in the internet world to read my blog or just look at the pictures. It is appreciated and as I have met many of you in person and have developed friendships from there and then there are those that I have never met and probably never will but we have great internet relationships. Again, Merry Christmas to you all and your loved ones and may this holiday season bring you much happiness and joy. Enjoy it, love it and be safe.

Now for the card(s) of the day. I went to my post office looking for Christmas gifts I had ordered for the family and noticed that there was a package from Frankie aka My Life in the Sports Card Hobby sitting in the box. Hmm.. we hadn't set up a trade recently so I wondered what was in the envelope. Low and behold it was a stack of cards. Frankie had sent me a Christmas care package out of the kindness of his heart. Now I feel bad as I did not send out any packages to any of my good trade partners which he was/is and continues to be a part of.

Obviously with me being a Dodger fan it was all Dodgers which meant all goodies for the collection. Here are the highlights with the final card being a biggie.

Kershaw
Koufax
Yeah, can't go wrong when you get the chance to add more cards of these 2 great southpaws to your collection. Great looking examples of a past great and a current great who is on a Hall of Fame path.

2015 was a bust for Mr. Ryu but I am looking and hoping for a bounce back year in 2016 for our favorite Korean. I love me some chrome and refractors and this card falls in both categories.

... and now the big card of the stack

Yup, Frankie sent me an autograph card of Corey Seager which under the loop looks to be in almost perfect condition other than the auto having a slight streak. Yeah, you know where I am going with this card, straight to BGS and hoping I can add another one of these blue beauties to my gem mint stack.

Once again, thank you to Frankie for being so kind and sending me some great cards.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Corey Seager Base Autograph Gold Refractor Parallel (32/50) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

The pile of Seager autographs in my collection continues to grow with yet another addition and a graded one to boot.

I am convinced that Seager will at least be a call up in September (time of this write was a couple months ago so we all know now how good he has been) but there is a chance it might be sooner if the Dodger offense continues to sputter. His cards have been and continue to be on fire on the eBay market and the aftermarket in general and while deals are getting harder and harder to come by I have been able to grab another with this acquisition.

I already have a couple of the base autographs and 1 refractor of this same card but I wanted a gold one as my final piece from the set as I can never see me picking up the black version (25 copies) or the purple (10 copies) in the future due to the high price already attached to them and the assumption all they will do is go up when he performs well in the bigs.

Another minty Seager

There was another gem mint copy of this card on eBay as a BIN auction with a best offer attached to it and after 1 offer that the seller declined and with no counter I decided to move on. This one popped up a day or so later with a higher BIN price but like the other he attached a best offer option. I sent over almost (a little lower) the exact same offer as the other one that was declined but this seller didn't even bother to counter as he accepted it within a couple hours after submission.

I am not a real fan of gold parallels but this deal was too good to pass up gold or not. Thanks go out again to the 1st eBay seller for declining my offer as I wouldn't have scored as good of a deal on this one if he accepted my offer. The Penguin struck gold.

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Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Update Nine - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Corey Seager Base Autograph Now Graded and Slabbed a Gem Mint 9.5

Original Submission Post
Beckett Book Value : $30

I should have known better not to submit this one. I pushed my luck and it didn't work out.

I already have a copy of this card in BGS gem mint condition that I submitted in the last batch. I came across another one and said why not have two of Corey? I knew the signature was a tad streaky and that it would probably earn a 9 grade. I thought maybe I can sneak by and they wouldn't notice. Yeah, they did.

All the other sub grades came out great so I now have another gem mint autograph card of Corey but this one has the less attractive autograph grade. The reason this one is posted after the previous Bowman Sterling Corey card from Tuesday is that the other one was the limited refractor and if I had to have one of the two come back not perfect I would have preferred this one over that one. Instead they both came back with a slight imperfection grade. Oh well. I tried and it didn't work out.

BGS Submission Update Eight - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Corey Seager Base Autograph Refractor Parallel (39/199) Now Graded and Slabbed a Gem Mint 9.5

Original Submission Post
Beckett Book Value : $50

Now fiinished with the non gem mint returns I turn my attention to the first of 11 gold banner results. Sadly though this is the first of 3 that even though it earned a gem mint grade it is a disappointment to me.

On the original post I was worried about a potential surface flaw but that did not affect the grade as it earned a 9.5. The only knock on the card were the corners which earned a 9. So why the disappointment with the return grade? The annoying 9 grade on autograph. I think BGS is getting a little too picky on these signatures. I have seen a lot worse autographs than this one earn a 10 and the reason this got a 9 was because where Corey links his C and S the pen streaks just a tad. Barely. BGS still knocks it down a peg and now I have yet another overall gem mint card with a mint autograph grade. The only thing more annoying that this type of 9 on an autograph is what happened to another one of my cards. That one will be shown in a few days.

This is still a great card even with the minor annoyance. I think Corey is going to be a stud when he gets called up. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Stupid 9

Card of the Day - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Corey Seager Base Autograph Refractor Parallel ( 39 / 199 )

Corey and Julio are my favorite prospects within the Dodger organization (a feeling I am sure many others share as well) and I have been trying to get my hands on as many reasonably priced autograph cards of both before they skyrocket if and when they excel in the majors.

I already have the non refractor version of this card and it also graded out to a gem mint 9.5 from my last submission. Well, I still wanted the refractor version and also for it to be in great condition so I could submit it as well and hopefully have another gem mint of Corey.

Book value is $50 for this card with a lot of the sales closing near or over $30 and while that is a good deal I wanted better. I lost out many times as my ceiling was much lower than that but one day I put in a bid for this card and it held as at the end of the day I was the high bid and had this card in hand just a few short days later.

Not sure you can tell but it came in this screw down holder and said holder is thick, thick, thick. Looking at it in person now I can see I made a great purchase as everything looks good and at the bare minimum will grade out to a mint 9 with a good chance a gem mint 9.5. We shall see in a few short weeks.

39 of 199

BGS Submission Update Eight - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Corey Seager Base Autograph Now Graded and Slabbed a Gem Mint 9.5

Original Submission Post
Beckett Book Value : $ 25

Now we get to the real good part of the submissions.

With 5 cards left 4 of them were surprises in the good sense and this is the first of them.

I own(ed) two of these Corey autograph cards as I picked them up months ago on an auction that included both at a discounted price. I thought of submitting one if not both for grading when I acquired them but held off for the time being. I then saw one sell on the bay for almost $50 and thought it might be time to revisit the grading option. Looked at both of them and thought this one was the better of the two. They both seem to have slightly rounded corners but this one less so. I hoped for a gem mint grade but would not be surprised or disappointed by a mint 9. Well, the corners did come back a 9 but surprisingly the other grades came out as 10,10,9.5 and the autograph grade also received a 10.

Did not expect it but I gladly accept yet another gem mint card of Seager. 2 for 2 in this batch for him with this one being more impressive considering my tempered expectations.

Card(s) of the Day - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Corey Seager Base Autographs

I'm seeing double and I couldn't be happier.

I already have a Corey autograph in my collection and also still waiting on a Topps Redemption for another but these blue beauties have always caught my eye and I wanted one. Problem was/is that a lot of other people want them too.

Like a lot of autograph cards I lost out on my fair share of eBay auctions for this card as with a book value of $25 I set my ceiling in the low dougble digits. I never expected to win one but just kept trying in case something slipped through the cracks. One day I saw these two ( it was actually four but two already sold ) on a BIN auction with a best offer option. Decided to throw an offer for both at just a little more than what I was looking to spend for one. Surprisingly within a few minutes the seller accepted and I became the proud owner of 2 autographed Seager cards. They came in a week later and are in great condition.

I really have no need for two Seagers so I am open to trading one if anyone is interested. Contact me if interested.