Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Draft : Corey Seager Base Chrome Black Refractor Parallel (20/35) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

The base version is done and now to get the draft rainbow version done for Corey Seager and this is one of the bigger ones so I am glad I was able to pick it up before it becomes impossible to find.

I was lucky when I acquired the base black version in raw form a couple years ago when the demand was minimal for Seager. I submitted that one to BGS and it came back as gem mint. With a print run of just 15 I knew that was probably my only (real) chance of getting a high score and thankfully it did. This draft version is a bit more "plentiful" as it's print run is 35 but even with 20 more copies out there the demand for Seager cards is much higher today than it was 2 years ago. I hoped to duplicate my luck and pick this one up in raw form and submit it to BGS just like the last black parallel but there was no need as this already came in a BGS gold banner case.

When this post sees the light of day we will be waist deep into the 2016 baseball season but I picked this card up literally 2 days before the season began so this became my last big Seager off season transaction. I expected quite a few bids and I wasn't wrong as there 18 total but mine at the very last second secured it and I needed every bit of my high bid as that is what I won it for.

With this black (#/35), green (#/75) and blue (#/99) all in gem mint grades and in hand I am well on my way to my double Seager rainbow.

So much gold goodness

Twenty

of

Thirty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Draft : Corey Seager Base Chrome Refractor Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

And the Draft version of my Seager rainbow project adds another. At the time of this write up Corey is in a slump and what better time to snag a gem mint graded card on the cheap when just a month prior it was twice as much to pick up.

With my base Bowman Chrome project now complete I am now working hard on getting the Draft version done but unlike the base one I am not as much in a hurry as it was always secondary to the main set. This card could be had for north of $40 at the end of March/beginning of April and for that reason is why I hadn't picked it up prior to now as I kept losing out on auctions as I wasn't going to "spend" that much for it. A month later Corey is batting around .250 and the demand for his cards have dipped some. Enter eBay deals. At the end of this card's auction I won it for more than 50% off its eBay high just a month earlier.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks : Corey Seager Base Orange Refractor Parallel (22/25) BGS Graded Mint 9.0

The journey to acquire the "rainbow" of Corey Seager Bowman Chrome rookie cards continues as I was able to acquire the most limited color up to this day. Punk ass orange.

As I've stated I want(ed) to acquire the rainbow in gem mint form but I know that might and probably won't be feasible considering the print run on some of these colors. Take for instance this orange, it has a print run of just 25 and this particular one is graded a mint 9. The assigned Beckett book value for this card is $100 so I have to chose wisely when it comes to these limited colors. Well if I can't have gem mint then I will accept mint but that is as low as it goes.

The seller of this card was in my own backyard and had it on the bay on a BIN auction but also attached a best offer option to it. The card is only .5 away from earning gem mint status so its as strong as a 9 can be without being gem mint I sent over an offer for less than what the raw cards have recently sold for on eBay to test the waters and get a feel of what the seller was thinking this card was worth to him. Didn't have to wait too long as less than a hour later he accepted the offer. You can't beat that.

If there is ever a gem mint version of this card available I will pursue it but if not I have to accept the fact that my rainbow collection will be a mixture of 9's and 9.5's and really is that all that bad? Nah. Another color down, many more to go.

22 / 25

 Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks : Chris Anderson Base Black Refractor Parallel ( 26 / 35 )

Always on the hunt for the black parallels of Dodger players. As stated in a previous post I was able to acquire two black cards of Dodger players for a grand total of $10. A nice bargain but the purchase of this card trumps both of them.

On the same day that I bought those two I continued to look for some more black chrome and found this Chris Anderson copy from the same set and numbered out of 35 like the others. Chris was the big pick from last year's draft as his prices reflect that. Book for this card sits at $25. Well the seller was only asking $6 on a BIN auction. Post haste I went ahead and purchased this lovely card. All three cards made it to the house on the same day but this one was best of the bunch.

Mr. Anderson

26 of only 35 

BGS Submission Update Thirteen - 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks : Yasiel Puig Base Blue Parallel ( 52 / 99 ) Now Graded and Slabbed a PRISTINE 10 !!!

Original Submission Post
Beckett Book Value : $120

Oh My ....

I have seen it, I have heard about it but till today I have never been lucky enough to have one of my own submitted cards earn the very limited and ever elusive PRISTINE 10 grade from BGS.

It's fitting that one of my most traveled cards earned the highest grade you can get. The only reason I picked up this card now and didn't wait till the off season was because of my negligence on my base set blue Bowman Chrome card of Puig that I submitted that came back a mint 9 because I didn't look at the back and saw that it was severally off centered. So off I went and tried to find myself a copy of the "rarer" draft pick blue Puig which is numbered to only 99 instead of 250 like the base one. Overseas I went as seen HERE to win this card and then I had to wait as it was handled by many people in two different countries. You just never know what can happen when a card is coming from Asia. Well as seen in that post I was just a tad worried about the corners not being perfect. I was right as they "only" earned a gem mint 9.5 grade. Everything else to me look perfect and low and behold BGS thought the same thing and gave edges, surfaces and centering a 10 to give the card an overall grade of PRISTINE 10.

There are only 2 copies in the world that have earned this grade and even in this low hobby period for Puig I saw the other copy on eBay sell for $260. If I decided to go that route that would be a nice return on my investment. No plans on that right now but it is nice to know that a nice chunk of change is there if need be.

This is one great cherry on top of my submission batch. Would love to say this is the first of many 10's going forward but I am realistic and if not I can at least say I had one that I personally submitted that obtained this rare grade. This is probably my favorite non autograph card in my collection now.

Thank you to all that have taken the time to read all 13 submission posts and/or just continuing to check in and read this blog. As always it is appreciated. To everyone, have a great day and a blessed life.

I see 10's

Card(s) of the Day : 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks : Matt Magill Base Black Refractor Parallel ( 31 / 35 ) and Tom Windle Base Black Refractor Parallel ( 14 / 35 )

31 / 35

I was having issues acquiring all the black parallels of the Dodger in the regular Bowman Chrome set and since Magill is part of that one as well as this set I needed one from each set. The regular set only has 15 copies each while the draft set has 35. Not that big of a difference but this one was easier to get my hands on so for the time being the base one will have to wait. 

Seller had this one and another Dodger in his eBay store and both were on a BIN auctions. Magill only cost a nickel so there was no reason not to pick it up even though book is at $6.

14 of 35

Windle on the other has a book value of $15 but the seller as with Magill had his sale price at $5. Not a great bargain but a bargain nonetheless. 

2 black cards for the price of a lunch. Not too shabby.

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks : Yasiel Puig Base Blue Refractor Parallel ( 52 / 99 )

As long time readers know I am working on the blue parallel set from the 2013 Bowman Chrome issue. The base set has 440 cards and then Bowman always comes up with a draft pick set towards the end of the calendar year. I had been focusing on the main set with minimal interest in the draft pick set until I finished the other one. Well a few factors came into play on acquiring this card and I went across the big pond to get my hands on it.

The main reason that I wasn't looking to acquire this card yet was that it still has a $120 book value attached to it. Due to being numbered to 99 only while the base set blue Puig is numbered to 250 obviously is the main contributor to the higher price. I placed a bid here and there on this card through the year but always came up short with some auctions closing over $110. I used my eBay funds elsewhere. Well I sent in the base blue Puig that I had in my collection to get graded and it came back with a "disappointing" mint 9.0 grade. That was my fault as I didn't check the back for centering. All of that can be seen HERE .

I decided to go back onto eBay and see what the current market was on the draft pick blue Puig and the prices had come down since he has cooled off a tad in the past few weeks. I really want to have a gem mint blue of Puig and tried to narrow down my search to a good candidate for that. I found this one which looked pretty clean and the seller was nice enough to include a picture of the back of the card for people like me that forget to look at that. Looked good and I decided to go after it. The one thing that really popped out for me and made me believe that I had a good chance of picking this up at a very reasonable price was where the card is originating from, Japan. For some reason a lot of international auctions seem to scare off a lot of people. Less competition is fine by me.

On the last day of the auction the high bid stood at a little over $25. A lot less than I expected for this card. At the end of the day I came out on top with a winning bid at way more than 60% off of book and no money out of pocket ( again, thank you book sales ).

Surprisingly the card arrived in less than 10 days and other than a very slight "issue" on the back side lower right corner it looks to me like it might grade out to a gem mint 9.5. Centering is good ( even on the back ), surface is clean, edges sharp and if the corners get a 9.0 I think the others will off set it. We shall see but till then thank you to Japan for supplying me with a nice limited card of Puig.

52 / 99

Knocking on wood for this lower right corner

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Draft Picks : Chris Anderson Bowman Black Collection Autograph ( 9 / 25 )

I acquired my first couple Anderson cards recently but I was on the lookout for my first autograph of the man. I finally stumbled upon one.

Though the Bowman Chrome brand has a blue parallel version that has a print run of 99 which I may or may not go after sometime in the future I knew this little beauty existed and in my opinion his signature looks better on this silver on black card rather than the blue on blue one. The silver signature just looks more bold.

The card only has a print run of 25 and I have had seen plenty already sell on the bay ( at least 6 ) which means the quantity was dwindling or least till the eventual resales of said cards starts. Like most new hot and limited cards the asking price was higher months ago so I waited it out and this particular one went on sale and ended at an odd time ( east coast wise ) and I became the lucky winner.

Chris is a 21 year old pitching prospect so I don't expect to seem him anytime soon in the big leagues but if he ever makes a name for himself this card will for sure be one of the few to have in your collection.

Silver on black goodness. 9 of only 25

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks : Chris Anderson Base Black Wave Parallel

Finally acquired a card of the Dodgers top pick from the 2013 draft. I have had my eye on various autographs cards of Chris but have yet to land one due to the high closing cost on all of the auctions I've seen. Till then I wanted to at least get a non auto card of some sort. I did a little better by picking up a black wave parallel. It is not a numbered parallel but at the same time it is not as abundant as the regular cards. I am not the biggest fan of either of the wave parallel ( black or blue ) but the cost of the card was so low and the wanting of an Anderson card trumped the likability of the card. I am sure I will get my hands on a more desirable one in the future which will make this card expendable. Till then welcome to the collection Chris.