September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number FORTY-ONE - 2015 Topps Chrome Clayton Kershaw Culminations Autograph (18/50) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Chrome Culminations Autograph (18/50)

When I see a Topps sticker on any card that is shipped directly from them I somewhat expect it to come in better shape than one if it was one pulled out of a pack but sadly that is not the case half the time. I think I got the bad half when it comes to this card as there are 2 slightly frayed corners but hopefully that doesn't drop the overall grade under the 9 threshold. 

It was close but I/the card pulled it out and earned a 9.5.

There are/were 2 frayed corners I knew about going in and hoped it would not earn less than an 8.5 on that category but lady luck was on my side as not only did it not earn that 8.5 it actually pulled in a 9. That coupled with all the other subs earning at least a 9.5 means I have yet another gem mint autograph for the Kershaw collection. 

Didn't think it could/would happen but obviously I am happy that I was wrong. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FORTY-SIX - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Green Refractor Parallel (93/99) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Chrome Mike Trout Green Refractor (93/99)

Like most of the chrome cards in this batch I expect those and this green Trout to receive a 9.5 or better. The reason this is higher on the list is because of the the print run being so low (99) if it were to gem or possibly pristine then the value of it would get a nice bump. Again, I'm not looking to move it but if I ever had to it's nice to know that I could get a nice figure for it in return.

Well I expected a gem and would have been more than content with that return I was kind of surprised that it earned a strong 9.5.

I thought this would be a better than average gem but did itself better as 2 sub grades came back with 10's and the only "blemish" was centering which earned a 9. That 9 can't take away my smile as I just love when a serialized parallel of less than 100 comes back with a gold banner attached to it. Another hit for my Trout collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Gold Refractor Parallel (42/50)

Now that I think I have my collection goals situated I can concentrate on acquiring cards that I will appreciate more rather than just picking up anything that tickles my fancy at that particular moment.
I can now concentrate on picking up "older" cards that I passed up the first time around instead of picking up "everything" when it is first released.

I wasn't planning on picking up gold parallels but now I am as they are usually numbered and are a nice pursuit as they don't show up very often. That said Trout is a lot more pricey than Kershaw to acquire so I always seem to feel like I received a bargain when I pick up a Kershaw version which is exactly how I felt by winning this copy. This was literally a last second win as my phone's signal was going haywire when I put my bid in and it didn't take till there was a 1 second left in the auction and I won it for less than the cost of a lunch.

How do you make a gold bordered card better? Why have it encased in a gold banner case from BGS that's how and I believe this would/will earn at least a 9.5.

Forty-Two

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Culminations Autograph (18/50)

As I wait for my own redemptions to be fulfilled by Topps and Clayton I come across ones that have made it to other people and shortly after put them up for sale on eBay. My goal of having 100 Kershaw autographs continues with this addition.

A few of these culminations autos have made it their way to eBay but this is the first one that was reasonably priced for my taste. Traditional 7 day auction was needed to pick this up as my bid at the very last minute barely held on as someone tried to snipe me at the very last second but I held on and landed this copy. Hoping to add yet another future gem mint copy to my collection I changed my tune once this made its way to me. While it still might earn that coveted 9.5 gold banner it borders on picking up a silver 9 instead as there is a corner that has a fraying issue but thankfully it can only be seen under a look and not really by the naked eye. Hopefully a 9.5 but "for sure" a 9.

Eighteen

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-THREE - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Purple Refractor Parallel (213/250) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Chrome Mike Trout Purple Refractor (213/250)

Purple and gold aka Los Angeles Lake colors or for the purpose of this post what hopefully this Trout card comes back as.

More and more I love these purple parallels and this Trout copy has perfect centering and no corner issues whatsoever so I am expecting a gold banner here. Since the print run is "high" its not really a investment piece but it nonetheless it will/would great in a gold banner.

My wish came true as I indeed have the color combination that I was seeking for Mr. Trout's Topps Chrome card.

Purple is probably my 3rd favorite color now as black and blue will always be my primary loves when it comes to these colored parallels. That said purple looks better with a gold banner than a blue parallel does and this one looks great in its new case. Another gem return for the best every day player in baseball.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-TWO - 2015 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Purple Refractor Parallel (220/250) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Chrome Clayton Kershaw Purple Refractor (220/250)

Another purple chrome card but this time its of Kershaw but just like Trout I expect it to gem.

The reason this one gets a higher billing is that under the loop the corners look extra sharp. Even more so than the Trout version. So nice that this might be a candidate for a pristine 10 but I'll try not to get ahead of myself.

As expected this indeed earn a gem mint 9.5 and even had one sub grade that came back as a 10 but it was not close to earning an overall 10 as I had hoped in my preview paragraph.

Purple is king but what is a king without his gold? Well the king of baseball pitchers now has another gold banner for my collection and I just love the color combination and can't wait to hunt down more purple cards of the players I collect. This year adds another to that list as this will be the 1st year that Corey Seager will be in Topps Chrome. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Culminations Insert BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

It's numbered
It's not overly limited
It's not a parallel . . .
But it is a graded, gem mint Kershaw had for a deal so now I call it mine.

While I've been scouring the internet for any and all Kershaw graded cards that could be had on a deal I have steered away from non colored parallels and insert cards in general but I couldn't pass up on this one as timing was everything.

This card had been on eBay a few times but every 7 days it failed to sell so the seller kept relisting it. One week I had sold a few other cards that netted me a lot more than I thought they would and I thought if I could score this card at the seller's starting asking price (and not a penny more) than I would acquire it. The price was lower than what the card books for in raw form so it would be a nice little get for me. Not an investment piece obviously but a nice one nonetheless. Final day of the auction and once again no bids had been put on the card. I put mine in at the last moment and was declared the winner a second later. Not too shabby.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-ONE - 2015 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Blue Refractor Parallel (39/150) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Chrome Clayton Kershaw Blue Refractor (39/150)

Another borderline chrome card and this time its Kershaw's turn.

Centering while not perfect looks like it should earn a 9.5 but what gives me pause is that one of the corners looks a bit rounded. That said I have been seeing BGS graded cards on eBay lately with obvious chipping (white showing) on corners and they get a 9 on that sub grade. Using that as a measuring stick this should be a gem but you just never know what grader you get the day your card gets inspected.

Another day another colored parallel from Topps Chrome of Kershaw and I hit the grades on the head with this one.

In my original post I knew centering was not perfect but should 9.5 which it did and I had a feeling that corners would not. Guess what? That too came true as they indeed came back with a 9 but both of those coupled with another 9.5 and a 10 earned me yet another overall gem mint card for my Kershaw collection. Woo Hoo.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin 

BGS Submission Result Number NINETEEN - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Pink Refractor Parallel Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Chrome Mike Trout Pink Refractor

Another chrome and another expected gem mint return for Mr. Mike Trout here. 

I snagged this for a great deal on eBay and think it will have no problem earning a gold banner and while it won't drive the value all that much up it would double my or possibly triple my profit if I were ever to move which I have no plans to.

When pink becomes gold which in turn can make more green.

I won this card on the bay for a mere $5 and with a gold banner now attached I could easily flip it for a minimum of $25 as that is what I have seen it sell for. Of course I have no plans to move it but seeing a plan work out so smoothly is a nice thing.

I expected this card to come back as a gem and that it did so in fine fashion as it earned 3 9.5's with a 10 to put a cherry on top of it. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FOURTEEN - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Blue Refractor Parallel (119/150) Now BGS Graded Mint 9.0

2015 Topps Chrome Mike Trout Blue Refractor (119/150)

Another borderline Trout chrome card but if push came to shove I think this earns a weak 9.5 instead of a strong 9.0.

Nothing is "perfect" on this card but everything looks damn good. Good enough for at least 3 subs to earn a 9.5? Or "bad" enough that there are 2 9.5's and 2 9's to give the card an overall 9.0? Obviously I am hoping for the former instead of the latter but we shall see.

Ever so close to a gem mint for this Trout blue parallel. I knew there were no real issues with it and wasn't sure it would be a strong 9 or weak 9.5 but in my eyes it is a strong 9 with one of the sub grades (edges) coming in with a 10.

This card actually came back with 2 9.5's and a 10 but still has an overall grade of "just" a 9 as centering earned a heartbreaking 8.5. I knew that was the weakest of the 4 but hoped and somewhat expected it would earn at least a 9 and if did the card would have gemmed but instead I now have a card that I will debate if I want to try to go for a bump. Probably won't as the print run (150) is higher than other colors but we shall see. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Pink Refractor Parallel

Pink? Really?
I love my colored parallels but this particular color was never on my radar until I kept seeing it sell for a pretty dollar in a BGS gem mint case. Well I wanted to join the party but instead of paying a pretty penny for a graded copy I wanted to a acquire a raw version of it and then add it to my submission batch to BGS. Of course with that thinking I had to score one on a deal to make it worthwhile. Off to eBay I went once again looking for my pink prize.

While book has attached a high of $20 for this card I was thinking more in the line of a single digit purchase. While this is an unnumbered parallel there seems to be a lot of demand for it. I couldn't secure one for weeks as most copies approached $10 which was too rich for my blood. Well this copy sat on my watch list for a month as the seller wanted over $10 but it looked to be in great condition. I hoped that someday he would lower his asking price and indeed he did one day as I woke up to see his price was slashed to $5. Now that is a deal and I soon had it in hand. Under closer inspection this looks to be a gem mint card and I shall see in a couple weeks as I did indeed throw into my most recent BGS submission.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Green Refractor Parallel (93/99)

Boom... Taiwan strikes again.

For the past few months I have been winning more and more cards from sellers based in Asia as they seem to give the best deals and people here in America tend to have less patience to receive packages that might take up to 3 weeks. To that I say, continue doing what you are doing fellow Americans as I will take any and all deals I can get if the price is right.

While I would like my cards in hand promptly it is more important to land a bargain than it is for a quick turnaround. This particular card books at a range of $20-$50 as it is limited to only 99 copies. This seller in Taiwan though had the starting asking price very close to low book. I think if this card originated in the USA it would have sold for a lot more but when this auction ended at 4 in the morning here in California I was declared the winner as I was the only one to bid on it. Now it will be heading to BGS to hopefully get a spiffy gold banner on it. Thank you my Asian friends for another steal.

Ninety-Three

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Purple Refractor Parallel (220/250)

Well since I recently acquired the purple Trout from the 2015 Topps Chrome release you knew I had to "bookend" it with the purple version of Clayton Kershaw and all I had to do was wait for the right auction to come along and finally it did.

With 250 copies I knew sooner or later I would land my own purple copy but with most sellers selling this as a BIN for north of $6 I had to wait it out. Book has this at a high of $8 with a low of $3 and I was more inclined to pick it up at the lower end of that scale than the high end.

A seller finally switched this card from BIN to a traditional auction with a starting price of .99 cents. With only 2 bids I ended up with the winner for a grand total of $3 and a handful of pennies. Not too shabby as once again patience pays off.

Two Hundred and Twenty

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Two Hundred and Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Purple Refractor Parallel (213/250)

This is a  baseball card my wife will actually "enjoy" that I have added it to my collection for a couple of reasons. One, her love of the color purple and when she sees the color on a card as I bring into the house she loves to claim it as hers and also it depicts a non Dodger and in this case Mike Trout from her favorite team the Angels.

As I have picked up more and more colors from Chrome brands purple is becoming my 3rd favorite color to acquire after black and blue which will always reign supreme in my collecting mind. Even though my goal this off season was to pick up as many graded Trout cards as I could I was/am still on the look out for bargains when it comes to "raw" cards of the young superstar.

This one books for a low of $10 and a high of $25 so when I landed this for less than book on a traditional eBay auction I couldn't be happier. I crossed my fingers that it would come in great condition as I would love to have this in a gem mint case from BGS and once in hand I think it has a good chance to do just that.

Two Hundred and Thirteen

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Two Hundred and Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Blue Refractor Parallel (119/150)

It took me to the off season to finally land this beauty from the 2015 Topps Chrome reason. I had been hunting down a copy of this blue Trout for months but the asking price was always too much for my tastes. That finally ended when I locked in this card on a traditional eBay auction.

For some reason this books for a high of $50. Even though it is a limited parallel of the best everyday player in baseball there is no way I could rationalize that amount or even the low book of $20. That thinking is what caused the absence of this card from my collection till now.

I bargained with sellers on BIN auctions but no one bit on my offers and the few auctions I partook in ended up going over my price cap. That is until this one landed at my doorstep at the cost of 3 foot longs from Subway. Took awhile but my patience prevailed as I won it for less than low book which wouldn't have happened it it was baseball season.

One Nineteen

of

One Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Joc Pederson Base Blue Refractor Parallel (96/150)

Amazing what a few months can do to your cards prices in the hobby. You go back to late May and early June and you had to pay a premium for Joc cards. Even up to the home run derby where he placed second in the competition people were paying more than I thought Joc was worth. I felt he was going to plummet as the signs were there so I sold high on the one card that held tons of value and picked up two cards I really wanted. Now with all the prices of his cards going lower and lower it makes it easier to pick up parallels on the cheap.

With a print run of 150 this card is somewhat hard to come by per se but I sat on the sidelines till the price came down from its initial release high price to an amount that I was more comfortable with. This card was on a BIN auction on eBay with an asking price of $25 with no best offer option. It books for $10-25 but I was only going to "pay" an amount near the low end of that scale. Kept it on my watch list till one day I glanced at it and the seller had slashed the price to lower than the low end of book. I was much more than comfortable with that and promptly hit the button and had the card in hand a week later.

I think Joc will rebound in the hobby but not to the level it was when the season started but till then I will enjoy these bargain purchases.

Ninety-Six

of

One Hundred Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Joc Pederson Base Photo Variation

Just like when Matt Kemp got injured and all his card prices dropped like a rock and you could pick up hard to find and/or limited autographs and the like, Joc while not hurt has seen the same thing happen to him in the hobby.

From April to give or take mid June Joc's presence in the card market was scorching hot and anything new that came around went for a pretty penny. I for one did not jump on that wagon. I actually sold stuff at the time as I had a funny feeling that not only could he not sustain the demand but probably would fall mightily which is another reason I hitched my wagon to Seager and Urias. Well I like others were right but the good thing is when this happens you can pick up great cards at great prices and this limited photo variation is one of the 1st I was able to pick up at a discount.

The Beckett price guide has/had this pegged from a high of $60 to a low of $25. Ha Ha Ha. No way was I touching it at the those prices even with extra comic books funds in hand. I waited a good 3 months after the card's release to seriously go after it and it only took one auction to lock down a copy for myself. No hassle and the final price was lower than Beckett's low book.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-THREE - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Photo Variation Now Graded Pristine 10

2015 Topps Chrome Mike Trout Photo Variation

The Trouts keep on coming for this batch and after 3 years of tracking down a photo variation of Mr. AL MVP I have high hopes that it will come back as a gem mint beauty. Chrome is usually good to me in these submission but the last one I had a 2014 Chrome of Mike and it came back as a disappointing mint 9. The only thing I see that could possibly give this card a problem is that one of the corners is not the sharpest but you can only see that under a loop so we shall see what Beckett thinks.

... and we reach the pinnacle of the BGS submission mountain and I am doing what Mr. Trout it doing in the this Topps Chrome photo variation, celebrating.

This batch bore 2 pristine results for my collection but even though I favor Dodger players over most others Mike gets the nod over yesterday's Kershaw pristine return as Clayton's card has a metal border which in my eyes is "easier" to earn a pristine grade than a more traditional one aka card stock variety.

The only thing that is missing from this card result is that it is not a black label pristine which has all 4 sub grades earning a 10. I have more than a handful of 10's in my collection now but I have yet to get my hands on a black label. I know someday I will get one and when that comes I hope it is on an already valuable card which would see its value go up even more with a black label.

I technically hit this one right on the mark as well as I stated in the original write up that the corners were the only thing "wrong" with the card and that indeed is the only grade that did not earn a 10. This is my first pristine return for my Trout collection and hopefully not my last. I picked this card up on a bargain and I am confident if I decided to flip it I could probably at least double what I "paid" for it.

.5 from perfection

And with this post we have reached the end of my most recent and biggest BGS submission which when taken as a whole came out quite well. Would have I liked some better results on some cards? Of course I would have but when most of the cards come back as 9.5's with a sprinkling of a couple of 10's then it is a successful submission in my eyes.

I hope you enjoyed reading about all of the cards and with this being December now we are only a couple months away from my next submission which at present "only" has 10 cards in the stack. = )

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Blue Refractor Parallel (39/150)

With the Trout photo variation out of the way I could focus on the blue parallels of the small handful of players I want from this year's Topps Chrome release. I assumed the variation was going to be the hardest one to track down with these parallels being pretty easy to pickup. First up is Kid K.

Book value on the cards were released a day or so before this car's auction was due to end and this card came in with a low of $4 and a high of $10. A little too rich for my blood even at the low end of the spectrum but with this card having a starting bid of just 99 cents I held out hope that I could snag it at a bargain. That's exactly what happened a day later as I won it for a mere $1.75. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. One blue down with a few more to go.

Thirty-Nine

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One Hundred Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Photo Variation

This year's Topps Chrome release recently came out and thankfully there were only a handful of cards that I wanted to acquire but the biggie once again was a photo variation of the Angel's Mike Trout. He has had a variation card for the past few years but I have never been able to land one as they always go higher than I am comfortable of "paying" for. Well it was a new year so yet another opportunity for me to try to get one.

When this one popped up on eBay there had already been a few that sold so I had an idea on what to expect the end cost would be. Prices had started to trend down so I expected to score some type of deal and if not I could wait as since I've waited years for one I could wait a little more. Well I didn't have to as I won this with minimal effort and well below my price ceiling. The only issue I have is that after this a few more copies have sold for a few bucks less. Yes, I got a great deal but I could have had just a little bit better one. Nonetheless, I am finally happy to add a Trout variation to the collection and hopefully it will grade out to a 9.5 from BGS as it will sent to them in a week or so. The only "issue" I see with the card is that the corners are not super sharp so at worst I think they might score a 9 but everything else should earn a 9.5. Knock on wood.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin