Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Heritage : Clayton Kershaw Punch Out Toploader Autograph (10/10)

I had seen this card and others like it on eBay for awhile and with its scant print run of just 10 I didn't figure I would ever pick a copy up for my collection. Since it wasn't high on my wishlist I wasn't pursuing it as hard as I do other cards.

I believe it was this exact card (could have been a different copy) but it was on a BIN auction with a crazy asking price but finally the seller decided to list it on a traditional auction which meant I put it on my watch list to see if I could score a deal or not. I expected there would be decent action on this card and I wasn't wrong but as the final seconds of the auction approached I noticed that the high bid was way below what my personal ceiling was for the card. At the last moment I put in a token bid of just $2 over the high bid as I decided I either wanted a great deal or nothing at all. To my surprise my bid made me the winner for what I feel was way below value. I am not going to complain as this acquisition helps me to my overall goal of 100 Kershaw autos.

I knew this card would be "oversized" and didn't know what to expect condition wise but knowing I want all my Kershaw autographs to be at least mint I crossed my fingers. Now that it is in hand I think it has a very good chance of earning a 9.5 from BGS with a 9 almost a formality but we shall see in shortly.

Ten

of

Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Stadium Club : Corey Seager Base Photo Variation

The trifecta is finished and in record time.

My three PC players all had photo variations in this year's Stadium Club release and with Trout and Kershaw in the fold the only one I needed was Seager and there seemed to be plenty to chose from.

I had heard the pull rate for these variations were 3-4 to a case which seemed semi rare to me but it seems like the market was/is flooded with them. I had hope to snag a Corey for a deal and I felt I did at the time of its acquisition but after a couple weeks went by it seems I had made a slight overpay for the transaction. What made it a little more irritating is that while the card is in good condition it is not in gem mint form. It will probably score a mint 9 from BGS so it is what it is.

With all that said I am still happy I have this card in my collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Tribute : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Pink Parallel (27/45)

As this season continues and Clayton keeps putting up historic numbers its getting harder and harder to nickel and dime a good deal on eBay but I will keep on trying and in my eyes this one qualifies as a decent acquisition.

Picking up this card helps 2 separate ongoing projects that I am doing. The 1st and more important one is my goal to have 100 Kershaw autographs to call my own which I would say is still at least 3-5 years away from reaching. The 2nd is the rainbow of cards I am trying to complete for the 2014 Tribute Kershaw autographs and this is the 3rd color of said rainbow.

I never thought I would be searching for pink cards when I reentered the hobby a few years ago but here I am picking up another (have a Seager card as well). This card popped up on eBay on a BIN auction and even though it was a reasonable asking price the seller attached a best offer option. I promptly contacted him and negotiated the price down by more than $15 all the while the watch list grew to 5. Once an agreed price was reached I quickly sent over payment and had me another Kershaw autograph for my collection. Condition wise I think it is pretty much a lock for at least a mint 9 return from BGS but there might be a chance it squeaks in with a gem mint 9.5 bold banner. We shall see in October.

Twenty-Seven

of

Forty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Heritage : Clayton Kershaw Base Action Photo Variation

I know I have mentioned it many of times here on the blog but man do I love it when eBay sellers don't describe everything in their auction and/or end the auction at a time during the day that is not optimal for a sale.

I won an auction that included 3 cards even though I only wanted (needed) 2 of them. The other card I placed in my giveaway stack for when I do another trade I'll just include it for the hell of it. The other 2 were the ones I really wanted and surprisingly I was the only one to put in a bid over the auction's reserve. I expected that limit to be high but was happy to find out that it was only $25. So for that amount I received 3 cards for an average of $8.33. What also helped me was that the auction ended when I was still asleep out here on the west coast. I had put my bid in before going to bed and was shocked I was the only one to do so the whole night.

Now that I have been collecting the Trout action shots in the Heritage brand I had to make sure to pick up the Kershaw ones when I had a moment. Unlike Trout with his 4 Kershaw only has 2 so I am already halfway done with this mini project. The seller described this on his auction title as "Kershaw Heritage". While his description within the auction said it was an action SP and a lot of buyers don't take the time to read the full description so for $8.33 I snagged this beauty which at least $7 less than I thought I would have had to spend to acquire it.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome Mini : Corey Seager Base X-Fractor Parallel (99/100)

I didn't expect to pick up another "color" for my Bowman Chrome mini rainbow of Corey this fast but when this X-Fractor popped up shortly after I nabbed the blue one I knew I had to turn my focus on this as I don't see them very often.

I don't know about any of you but I have always had a problem checking centering on these X-Fractor parallels on a computer screen. My eyes seem to play tricks on me and I am not certain if the card is centered or not. Well I took a risk on this particular one as the price was in the single digits and with that low of a cost I was willing to take the gamble. Once in hand it seems to be in pretty good condition and I hope to add another gem mint to my collection.

For a long time I only had the black mini parallel but in less than a week I picked up the blue and the x-fractor and have my eyes on a green. Not too shabby considering I hadn't seen any of the colors for such a long period.

Ninety-Nine

of

One Hundred

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Supreme : Clayton Kershaw Autographed Printing Plate (1/1)

Even though this "card" is not perfect I had to have it as I have been searching for one like it for years and I can finally put that pursuit to rest as at last I have an autographed printing plate of Mr. Clayton Kershaw.

While there are "plenty" of printing plates of Clayton I wanted one that was autographed by the Dodger great and those just don't come up for sale that often as they are 1 of 1's. Since all I wanted was a printing plate and not brand specific I just had to wait for one to pop up on eBay. Well this one had made a few rounds on eBay as a 30 day BIN Auction. The original price had been high but finally it was lowered to a point that I was ready to pull the trigger and buy it as I had sold off some stuff to offset the card's cost. There was no best offer option and numerous emails did not help to lower the cost so I was stuck with what he was asking for it. To be fair the asking was reasonable but nothing wrong with trying to get a better deal.

Now two things were holding me up on picking this up sooner. 1, there was/is a slight imperfection on the front of the card which if you look closely you can see near the top left hand side. Knowing that plates tend to not be void of issues that "problem" was resolved in my head pretty fast as I chose to accept it and be done with it. The second was that eBay had not done an eBucks promotion in a few weeks so I had a feeling that one would be popping up soon so I decided to hold out for no more than a week with the hope of earning some extra cash for the quarter. Low and behold the next day an email was sent out stating they were running a 10% eBucks promotion so I promptly clicked the buy it now button and earned an extra $15 for a future "purchase".

With the card in hand I have no idea how BGS will treat it's grade (of course its going in for the grading treatment) but I am thinking it will be a weak 9 which is fine by me as all I really cared for was to have an autographed printing plate of Clayton and that is what I finally have.

One

of

Freaking

One

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Chrome : Mike Trout Base Photo Variation

It is always satisfying when you final acquire a card that you have been searching and hunting for and in this card's case it was going on 2 years till I finally locked down this copy for myself.

I had a list of 2014 Topps Chrome I wanted to acquire and this was the last one on the list. Time and time again I lost out on eBay auctions as even during the off season the demand for it was/is high. I had a set amount I was willing to spend on it and every time that was exceeded on eBay so I was left on the sidelines with no card to call my own. This one showed up one day and even though there was a vague description of what the card was it wasn't overly thorough. Even though it had 19 different bids and 1 by me with less than a second left I finally won the card with literally 7 cents of a cushion until I would have been outbid.

With the seller having less feedback than I like to deal with I crossed my fingers that the card would be in good condition and I wasn't disappointed as a week later I had it and promptly put it in my to be graded pile as it looks to be in gem mint condition other than 1 corner that is not super duper sharp.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Five Star : Clayton Kershaw Silver Signatures Autograph Green Parallel (1/15)

I took an eBay gamble and I think it paid off with the acquisition of this Five Star which in hand looks to be one of the better conditioned ones I have won on the auction site.

Wanting to achieve my overall goal of 100 Kershaw autographs and hopefully for at least 50 by the end of this year I continue to look for deals wherever I can find them and this one definitely qualifies as one. I tend to steer away from low feedback sellers on eBay but one without any feedback? I hadn't done a transaction with one yet but that changed when this one showed up on eBay. The seller was brand new so at least their zero feedback did not include negative feedback. Like me it seems most collectors stay away from sellers like these and I had the same intention but this card looked to be in great shape from the pictures on the screen. I decided to take a chance as long as I could score a deal on this card.

The Five Star brand is a very condition sensitive brand and I have had good and bad luck with them in the past but this copy looked to be one of the better conditioned ones I have seen in awhile. On the last day of the auction the current high price was well below what these typically go for. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best and with exactly 2 seconds left I put my bid in (which was very low in my mind) and ended up the winner with room to spare. Now I had to wait till the card arrived to see if the in hand condition would be as good as the on screen condition. With a smile it was and I think it earns a 9.5 from BGS. Numbered out of only 15 this is a great addition.

One

of

Fifteen

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Heritage : Mike Trout Base Action Photo Variation

While I am not the biggest fan of this card's design I am a fan of the Angels Mike Trout and photo variations in general and with me trying to acquire one from each year that Trout has one I knew I would land me a copy of this 2014 version at some point.

Mike has an action variation in each year from 2013-2016 and with 2015 and 2016 in hand and graded gem mint 9.5 by BGS I knew since I had 2 of the 4 in that condition I had to have the other 2 to complete the project. While the 15 and 16 are seen on a constant basis on eBay in BGS cases the 13 and 14's are not. They also don't show up that often in raw form so when this one popped up on eBay by a seller that I have done numerous transactions with in the past I knew it would be an easy transaction if I could come out on top at the end of the auction. He stated it was in tip top condition and was well centered and I agreed with him. It took a whooping 22 bids for me to land this card but thankfully I did as I think as the years go by this card and the 2013 will be hard to come by in good condition.

Once in hand I had hoped that my eBay seller did not "oversell" this card's condition but under a loop I think this card is almost guaranteed to come back with a minimum 9.5 overall from BGS. We shall see in next month.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Tribute : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Yellow Parallel (6/30) PSA Graded Gem Mint 10

Kershaw is many things but one thing he is not is Yellow but this card is as it is a parallel from the 2014 Topps Tribute set and yet another project begins with its acquisition.

I am really putting my head down on my quest to have 50 Kershaw autographs by the end of this year and I am looking high and low for them. My search has expanded to parallels and PSA (non BGS) graded cards now and this one falls into both of those categories. As many of you know I am not a PSA fan but from my own experiences and talking with other collectors when a card is graded a 10 by PSA more times than not BGS will say it's at least a 9.5 in their eyes. So my intention going forward is that if I ever acquire a PSA card I will have it cracked by BGS and put into one of their cases as long as it grades out as a gem mint which I am sure it will (knock on wood).

This is the 1st time that I have picked up an autograph card of Kershaw in parallel form. I have the base version of this but had no intention of picking up a different color but when I was presented with a great deal on eBay for this I couldn't pass it up and now that I have 2 "colors" now of course I want them all from this set. A doable project and something to have fun doing.

Once again... PSA 10 = BGS 9.5?

God willing

Six of Thirty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome Mini : Corey Seager Base Blue Refractor Parallel (7/99)

For constant followers/readers of this blog (thank you again for taking the time to indulge in my rantings) you all know I have/am doing rainbow projects for Corey Seager from the 2013 Bowman Chrome sets. The base set is now complete and just trying to upgrade certain cards and the draft version is still a work in progress but I believe I am half way done. The 3rd one though is one that does not get much play here as it is not a high priority and the cards don't come up for sale that often. The set in question is the 2013 Bowman Chrome minis. Not to be confused with a mini insert set that was included in packs of Bowman Chrome but the ones that could only be had in factory sets which is why they are hard to come by as not all sets have been opened.

The base set can be had pretty easily as those that have been opened are usually resold but it is the colored parallels that I am after and the ones that command a higher price. I scored a massive deal on the black mini a couple years ago as the seller didn't specify Seager in his lot sale and I turned that into a gem mint beauty from BGS. When I picked that black one up I decided I wanted to do the rainbow for the minis as well. With that said this is just my 2nd color for the rainbow as either most are on BIN auctions with obscene high asking prices or I never see them up for sale so when this blue one popped up with a starting price of just a penny I knew I would be going after it.

Surprisingly even with the acquisition of the card during one of Corey's hot streaks on the field it was had for the a very low price of just $2.75. Another steal in my eyes and once in hand I think this has a very good chance at a solid gem mint return from BGS.

Seven

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Stadium Club : Mike Trout Base Photo Variation

As always if there is a Kershaw photo variation there probably is a Trout one that also exists and to no one's shock that is the case with this year's Stadium Club release. On top of that I also have Corey Seager to go after so in total I need 3 photo variations. I snagged the Kershaw one for "free" with my eBay eBucks so thankfully when I "overpaid" for this one I didn't feel as bad.

With the Kershaw one in hand I wanted to get the Trout one at a nice low price as well and I found this one a day after it was released on a BIN with a best offer option. I sent in what I believed to be a ridiculous low offer. It sat there unattended to for almost 2 days until I received an email stating the seller accepted it. At that time I was happy I won it for such a "good" amount. Of course as a week or so went by I kept seeing other copies sell for a lower cost. So while I scored a deal on the Kershaw copy this Trout one not so much.

Saving grace though is that like the Clayton one the Trout looks to be in great condition as well and hopefully BGS slaps a gold banner on it shortly.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Bonus Result - Clayton Kershaw Autographed MLB Debut Ticket Now Encased

Now that all of the returns for the cards have been accounted for I wanted to include a "bonus" entry from the batch. No grade for this beauty but probably the most important submission of the group. Hello Mr. Kershaw.

I showcased this ticket awhile back when I originally was lucky enough to get it signed by Clayton back in January at the yearly Dodgers FanFest. I have had this ticket since 2008 when Clayton made his debut in the big leagues and I was there to witness it on that hot Sunday afternoon.

Of course with it signed I had to be able to store in safely and what better way than a nice spiffy case provided by BGS? I have to give props to PSA though as when they slab tickets they label it for it's significance which BGS does not as you can see they label this ticket as a "Fernando" ticket while PSA would have said Kershaw's MLB debut. While I would prefer the PSA version I am a BGS person hence it is now in on of their case.

A great item in my collection just got better and won't be leaving my possession ever.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

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

BGS Submission Result Number FIFTY-NINE - 2014 Allen Ginter : Mike Trout Base Mini Parallel Flag Variant (17/25) Now BGS Graded Pristine 10

2014 Allen Ginter Mike Trout Flag Back Mini (17/25)

Only a possible 25 chances of earning a gem mint return on this card as that is the print run for it so hopefully BGS agrees with me and says its a gem as I can not see anything wrong with it as corners, surface, edges and centering all look pretty damn good to me. 

With the final card of my biggest submission ever we have one of the smaller cards as this is a mini parallel from the 2014 Allen Ginter set and not only did it earn a gold banner it earned a pristine 10 to go along with it.

I scored this on a deal on eBay and like it states in the above paragraph I saw nothing wrong with this card and hoped that this would join its 2015 flag brother as a gold banner duo. Well Beckett agreed with me and said this card was pretty damn perfect as the only thing they saw wrong was the centering was ever so off and gave it a 9.5 while everything else checked in with a 10. Another pristine Trout for my collection. Man I love saying another when it comes to BGS 10's. 

My goal for this and the 2015 flag variant of Trout were to come back as gems so I didn't have to search for a replacement which would have been difficult as they both have a print run of only 25. Well I can put that worry to rest as both look pretty damn nice to each other.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2009 Topps Heritage : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Red Ink Variant (58/60) PSA Graded Mint 9.0

When I acquired my first red ink autograph of Clayton from the 2015 Topps Heritage set I didn't know I had started another mini project as I just wanted another spiffy looking Kershaw autograph at the time. Now with the pick up of this card I am now fully invested in getting this project completed even though if might take some time and that's even with only a mere 5 cards to acquire. Well I have 2 now but getting the other 3 will be a great challenge.

As mentioned Kershaw has 5 of these red ink variants through the years but going backwards is a harder journey price wise than going forward as the 2015 is the easiest to obtain while the 2008 might be a long time coming till I pick that one up. In the meantime I was able to secure this 2009 version (which he has two) in a PSA graded mint 9 case. As stated I am a BGS snob so I am hoping that my luck will continue on swapping out PSA mint cards into BGS mint cases. Theory is that most times if PSA says a card is mint than BGS usually agrees and gives it a minimum of a 9 as well with rare occasions coming back as 9.5 gems.  Not going to be greedy as I will be more than happy with a 9 from Beckett.

The only thing I had to make was that the signature was top notch since PSA does not do a separate grade for autographs. So the card itself could be mint but the auto crappy they would still give it a 9 but BGS would dock it down for the crappiness. Well nothing is wrong with this auto so I now have the 2nd of a planned 5 card project in hand and now await the return of Beckett to my hood to hopefully have it raw graded as a minimum 9.0.

All it took to get to this point was a major bidding war on eBay as there were 27 bids and mine held on even with a 2 snipe bids at the very end but all that did was drive up the price a few bucks. Very happy to have this beautiful card in hand.

PSA 9 = BGS 9?

God willing

Fifty-Eight

of

Sixty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FIFTY-EIGHT - 2011 Topps : Sandy Koufax Base Diamond Anniversary Parallel Now BGS Graded Pristine 10

2011 Topps Sandy Koufax Diamond Anniversary

To finish this post up I end with a guaranteed pristine 10 in the batch and it will be my first ever for my Koufax collection (unless the Tek shocks me and comes in with a 10 as well but I am not getting greedy as a 9.5 there is fine by me).

The question will be is this a black label 10 or a plain ole "boring" gold 10? Would love to add a black label to my collection at some point and even though this card's value will not increase that much it would make the deal I got for it all that much sweeter. In any event at least I will have 1 ten in the batch and that is OK with me.

So I am down to 2 cards left in this batch but this is the 1 of the 2 I knew what the return would be and the only question would this be my 1st black label or not.

And the wait continues as this pre-graded Koufax parallel came back as a regular 10 and not a perfect 10. Even with that "disappointment" I can't complain on this eBay steal and fine addition to my Koufax collection that is still severely lacking in quality cards. This helps a little but I am still looking for more.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Now : Corey Seager June 3, 2016 (#/1900)

After picking up only Kershaw cards in Topps new line, Topps Now, I finally acquire someone other than the Dodger's pitching great, one Corey Seager.

It was only a matter of time till Corey had a good "enough" day to warrant his 1st Topps Now card and that finally happened on June 3rd and I was sure to get my own copy once it was announced he would have a card commemorating him. I expected that the print run would be higher than the Kershaw ones and I was right as this one checked in at 1900. One of the bigger demanded Topps Now cards to be printed as of this date and it's no surprise as Corey looks to have a great career ahead of him and people wanted his first card in this new brand.

This was an easy transaction as I went to the my eBay seller that he and I agreed on what the cost would be for any Topps Now card I purchased from him and a few days after he received this from Topps I had it in my hand a couple days after that. I will probably submit this to Topps for the novelty of this being his "rookie" card in the this new line.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 1957 Topps : Sandy Koufax Base

Just....two....more
So very close and yet still a big hurdle to get over.

As many of you know I have been working very hard to acquire a card from each year that Sandy Koufax played in the majors which was 1955 through 1966. A total of 12 cards for my project and with this 1957 addition I now sit just 2 away from completing said project. 1956 and 1958 are still needed and since they hail from loved sets from the 1950's they are hard to come by at a bargain just like this 1957 was.

I had not seen many copies of this 1957 card for sale prior to seeing this copy and around the same day this one popped up a BVG graded one also came up for sale. I preferred to have that one but the seller was unwilling to move off his high amount so I turned my attention to this one. While this one is not graded (yet) the asking price was close to the graded version but the auction had a best offer option so began my quest to get the price down.

My 1st 2 offers were automatically rejected so I only had 1 last chance to snag it and I was not in the mood to negotiate between offers so I waited a couple days till I had some comic sales complete and sent over my firm and final offer which was over 35% off the seller's asking price. Expecting a reject email I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email stating that the seller accepted my offer with no counter.

Now with this in hand I await Beckett to come to town so I may submit it to get slabbed and even though I do not care what grade it receives I believe it will be somewhere between 3 and 4.5. Now to find those 1956 and 1958 copies to complete my vintage Koufax collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FIFTY-SEVEN - 2015 Topps Tribute : Mike Trout Black Autograph (43/50) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Tribute Mike Trout Black Autograph (43/50)

The only Trout autograph in the batch and if/when it comes back with a 9.5 then it will make the acquisition all the sweeter as I picked this up for FREE during the last eBay quarter using eBucks and gift cards.

This card came from Topps in a case and it stayed in the case as I didn't want any potential issues with handling. Under the loop it looks like only the corners might hinder the overall grade as 1 looks a tad rounded.

And I/we have reached the final gem mint (but not the final card of the group) of the batch and what better way than it to be a gem autograph of Mr. Mike Trout.

This card just got even better with the new gold banner affixed to the case. I "won" this on eBay from last year's Christmas quarter using the eBay eBucks that I earned during the quarter. Total money out of pocket? Nothing, zilch, zero, nada. Yup, I love me some eBucks and now I have another gem mint Trout card for my collection.

I still had to hold my breath as I felt that at least one of the sub grades might earn a 9 and potentially 2 would which would have caused this card to earn a silver banner but thankfully only 1 sub grade (surfaces) picked up a 9 while all the others were a 9.5. I breathed a sigh of relief as even though this was "free" I really wanted to gem and gem it did.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Tier One : Corey Seager Clear One Autograph (18/25)

This card took a long (over 2 months) and curvy road from eBay to my hands and to this day I am still debating if I am going to leave negative feedback or none at all as positive is definitely not an option. Only reason I am thinking about it is that the card looks to be in great condition with not a flaw to the naked eye.

Topps puts out a lot of product and the Tier One brand is not one that I normally pursue and this year is no different. While the autograph portion looked decent enough I wasn't overly impressed with the design but out of all the cards in the product there was one that stood apart from everything else and that was the Clear One autograph insert and low and behold Corey Seager was represented in it. I knew I wanted a copy if it could be had at a decent price and with that the long road started.

I saw this copy a couple weeks after the product debuted and the seller had a crazy asking price of over $250. I sent him an offer and he countered and I declined. Card went unsold and he relisted it at a lower amount so I sent an offer lower than my previous offer. He countered again and again I declined. This went on a couple more times and each time other copies sold for less than what he was asking for. Once again he put it up for sale and once again I sent over an offer and added a note stating we have been doing this dance for over a month (no joke). The starting price of $250 was long gone in the rear view mirror and we were playing in the double digits now. I think after the going back and forth finally wore him down and he accepted my last best offer. Woo Hoo. I won the card now I just had to wait for it to arrive. So I waited and waited and waited and 2 weeks had passed and no card. I reached out to the seller and never heard back from him so I had planned to open a case to get my money back. Before I would do that though I went to my PO Box one last time and staring back in the face was the card 3 weeks after I had won it. Like I do with all slow arriving packages I checked the date that it was mailed and saw that the seller sent it the day I reached out to him. My problem is he never responded to me which is a major issue I have with eBay sellers. Communication goes a long way. If he would have said, oops my bad I forgot to send it out, then I would be OK with it as the card looks great in person but I did not get that consideration so now I have to decide on feedback. We shall see, Other than that I have another great looking Seager autograph for my collection now.

Eighteen

of

Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FIFTY-SIX - 2016 Topps : Mike Trout Base Framed Parallel (15/16) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2016 Topps Mike Trout Framed (15/16)

I have a 100% gem mint return on all the Topps Framed parallels that I have submitted to BGS for grading and I hope and expect that the streak to continue with this one.

I submitted 6 (4 Kershaw and 2 Trout) cards last year for the full slab treatment and 1 (Seager) this year for raw review and each one came back as a 9.5 with 1 even receiving a 10. Corners and edges shouldn't be a problem here (its metal) so the only thing that would worry me is if there were issues with the surface which I could not see so I look forward to another gold banner BGS. Don't disappoint me.

...and the streak continues.

As stated up above I submitted 6 framed parallels last year and each and everyone of them earned a gold banner. This year I had a Seager submitted for a raw graded and expected a gold banner so I could flip it on eBay and that also came back with a 9.5. So when I put this in the batch that was heading to Dallas I expected to see another gold banner when I looked at the results. Beckett did not disappoint me as it had indeed earned its gold banner.

Even though it did it was a close shave as surfaces came back with a 9 but all the other subs checked out. I don't know what I would do with myself if one of these ever came back with a silver banner but hopefully I will never have to actually deal with that. Ha ha.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Bowman's Best : Clayton Kershaw Hi Def Insert Autograph (27/50)

... and the 3rd and final Kershaw autograph pick up to offset the 2 in the most recent BGS batch that I was not happy with as the grades they earned were not up to my standards. Being able to swap out 2 autographs for 3 (with a little help from some other card sales) is a big plus in my book and with one already being in gem mint form it's hard to ask for anything more.

That aforementioned gem mint was acquired from a seller on eBay that I have done a lot of business with in the past and a couple days after I picked up that one he listed this one as well. The price was a little high for me as I wasn't going to use out of pocket funds so I contacted him to see if he would lower his selling price which he had no problem with and promptly changed his BIN price 25% of his original asking price. I completed the transaction and had the card a week later. I hoped it would be a good candidate for a gold banner from BGS and other than the small fraying on a back corner I can see no other issues. Plus that issue can only be seen with a loop as the naked eye can't really spot it. Hoping I can reach my goal of 50 Kershaw autographs by the end of the 2016 calendar year and this one makes is one step closer to reality.

Twenty-Seven

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FIFTY-FIVE - 2016 Topps Heritage : Mike Trout Base Chrome Black Refractor Parallel (18/67) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

We come to the last 3 gem mints of my most recent BGS batch and they all happen to be of the young superstar of the Anaheim Angels, Mike Trout.

I noticed that I did not do a write up in my BGS submission post but I remember exactly what I would have said. When I picked this up it was the very 1st black chrome from this year's Heritage release to be sold on eBay. I took a gamble as I wanted it in time for my submission so even though I felt that centering was going to be an issue I pulled the trigger and acquired and hoped that the other 3 sub grades would earn a 9.5 to offset the expected 9 on said centering. Off the card went to BGS and it came back exactly like I expected.

The most important thing to me was the gold banner but when I looked at the sub grades they were 9,9.5,9.5 and 9.5. That 9 was earned on centering just like I thought it would and thankfully the other 3 in fact earned the needed 9.5's to offset that 9. Another great looking black chrome of Mike for the collection and now I wait for 2017 to get the next Heritage black chrome of Mr. Trout.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin