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

What... am .... I .... thinking?

Well when I saw this card/plate I thought to myself, hey why not do yet ANOTHER rainbow for a PC player and lets make it even more difficult than any other project you have done before. Ha ha. I acquired the yellow plate from the 2015 Topps Supreme set and was lucky enough to turn it into BGS gold when it earned a 9.5 from them. I was content with having 1 autograph plate of the Dodger great and moved on. Of course this one popped up and grabbed my attention. Sigh...

When card companies make their cards they use four color plates (Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black) and in recent years have released them in packs for collectors to chase after. Some, like these, are even signed by the player. Even though there are 4 colors/plates each are 1 of 1's and I rarely see Clayton's up for sale. Well when this popped its head up I thought to myself is it even possible I could own all four from the same year? Well why not at least try so I scooped up this Magenta parallel and now it sits in my to be RCR'ed pile for Beckett when they come back to town in March.

If anyone owns or knows who has the Cyan and/or Black plates please keep me in mind as I would love to trade you for them.

Uno

of

Uno

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2013 Bowman Chrome : Corey Seager Base X-Fractor Parallel

Going to try this yet again and if doesn't come out the way I want/need it to I will continue to try till I get what I want. Life of a baseball card collector.

As most of you know I am trying to do a complete rainbow of Corey Seager cards from the 2013 Bowman Chrome set in gem mint form. As of today I have all of them in that condition except 2 (green being the other) and I will continue to pursue this till it is complete. With that said here is another X-Fractor copy that I will be submitting to BGS for a raw grade review when they are back in town.

I acquired this on eBay and know that centering is not dead on perfect but I believe it is at least deserving of a 9 in that category. What I need is for all the other subs to come back with a 9.5 and I will be able to cross this off my checklist for this project. The reason I am doing this as a raw grade review is that if it does not earn a 9.5 I don't have to wait a month to find that out and can just resell this card as is and try again. I aim to have this project done sometime in 2017 and hope this gets what I want.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Five Star : Clayton Kershaw Silver Signatures Autograph Purple Parallel (#/25)

Well this card's acquisition was a surprise. Not because I got it but that I picked it up right after Clayton's dominate performance in the NLCS.

I had a number in mind that this would go for which was in the $70-85ish realm and similar purple parallels in fact sold for that much after this one but thankfully I was under the $70 barrier and as always I couldn't be happier.

The only downer is that after I received my last Kershaw redemption from Topps a couple months ago I was down to l last one that I was waiting on. With this card's purchase I am now back up to 4 as I now have this along with the Scully and Urias Five Star (since arrived) cards that I have to wait for. Hopefully now that Scully is retired and Urias and Kershaw are on a forced vacation they will sit down and sign the cards and I can have them in hand before BGS is back in town in March.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Corey Seager Base Triangles Parallel

53 cases or if you prefer it in pack form it would be 536. Either way you decide to calculate the odds of hitting this Seager Triangle parallel it would be price consuming if you decided to do it that way. Of course you could get lucky and hit it right off the bat but I'm not like that. I go the single way everyday or aka the eBay route.

When the 2016 High Tek set was released I zeroed in on the Gold (Asia exclusive #/60) and this one of all the parallels. I did my research and it was figured out by the experts (not me) that this was the hardest pull from the group B players (53 in total). They come 1 per case which is a total of 12 boxes hence it would take you 53 cases to pull a specific player. At the time I acquired this there was no price guide to use as reference and only 1 other sale prior to this one. I had a feeling that the high book would be in the $50-80 range and I was right as it was announce a couple weeks after release that $60 was the high with $25 being the low. Seeing that low price made this card even nicer as I picked it up for less than that amount. To top it off when I put it under my 20x loop I can not see any issues. The corners are super sharp and this is 1 of 2 cards (so far) for my upcoming BGS batch that I believe has a good chance at earning a Pristine 10 grade.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Topps Tribute : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Blue Parallel (17/50)

When I see a parallel I don't have. = )
When I see an autograph of Kershaw I don't have = ))
When I see a bargain for an autograph Kershaw that I don't have = )))

Yup, this fits all of those comments as I welcome yet another Clayton autograph to the collection and my project of owning 100 signatures of Mr. Kershaw. With Clayton being a Dodger I am always partial to blue parallels as they look great against Dodger unis.

With this card being encased by Topps I always hope that it means that condition will be good when it arrives to me and I think this one has a good chance of earning a 9.5 from Beckett. When this post goes live it will be closer to the 2017 baseball season then it is when I type it up (mid December) but this one was picked up in the 2016 off season and was another auction bargain. The only good thing about no baseball are steals for baseball cards.

Seventeen

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Five Star : Corey Seager Base Autograph Rainbow Parallel (#/25)

Five Star
Corey Seager
Autograph
Yeah, that will do.

Every single year I wait for the new Five Star release as it is one of my favorite sets to collect. Previous years there have always been Kershaws and Trouts to chase after and the 2016 set is no different in that aspect. What makes the 2016 even sweeter is that Seager and Urias have now popped up (on top of Vin freaking Scully also being included) and going forward will be 2 more players I will be going after. Well I already have the Urias in hand and have been holding out to pick up the Seager. Obviously with this being popular it has been a pain to land a card even though it is of the redemption variety. I kept losing out on numerous auctions but hoped with it being the off season (it's mid December as I write this up) that demand might be down a tad (price as well I hoped) and low and behold this parallel version showed up on a BIN auction for a great price. No second thoughts and within a week I had this faux card in hand and entered the code into Topps website. Now I patiently wait for the physical card to come in.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Julio Urias Base Autograph

Got to love the off seasons and the deals that are there for the taking and this 2016 one is no different as I snagged this Urias autograph at a steal.

As you can see from the sticker this was a redemption originally and Topps was fulfilling people's orders. I decided I wasn't going to take the plunge and pay and wait for the card but instead waited till people put the actual signed card up for sale. I missed a different copy of this card as my friend told me about it after the fact. He also missed out on it as that card went for a measly $8. Man I would have loved to have had it at that price but this one only cost me a little more as I bargained with the seller on a best offer auction.

Card looks great in hand and even though this is not a numbered parallel I will be submitting this to Beckett for the grading treatment as I expect it to come back as a weak 9.5 but a 9.5 nonetheless.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Corey Seager Base Orange Magma Parallel (9/25)

With the Gold parallel in hand there was only 1 other numbered parallel I needed (less the 1 of 1's of course) and that would be this Orange beauty.

Just like with the Gold one I had no book price to reference when I acquired this card. I went by my gut and knowing that there would only be a limited amount of times I could pick this up so I had my set ceiling a tad higher than usual just like I did for the Gold one. Unlike the Gold one though this one was in my favor by a long shot. While I feel I paid a little more than I should have for the Gold one this Orange to this day has been the lowest to be sold as all the others have gone for $5-$10 more. So while I felt I lost a little on the Gold I feel that I really won on this Orange. Now if and when this gems from Beckett then it becomes an even bigger win.

Nine

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penugin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Gold Rainbow Parallel (35/50)

I have Gold in my past.
I have Gold here in the present.
I see Gold in my future.

It's the beginning of December as I write this post up and the new Topps High Tek set was just released and even though this was not my 1st acquisition from the set it is the 1st to reach me and what a fine way to start what I expect and hope are gem mint condition cards from this year's set. For those that don't know the High Tek brand are acetate/plastic so condition issues are usually a minimum. I have only had 1 High Tek ever come back as a non gem mint from BGS and that one barely missed a gold banner by .5 of a point.

With this being a gold parallel I expect and hope that it will be partnered up with a gold banner when I send it to Dallas for encasing. This happened to be the 2nd Gold copy that I saw on eBay and I feel I snagged it for a reasonable price considering there was no pricing at the time of sale. Another Kershaw autograph for my road to 100 Kershaw autographs. For the record I am nearing 70 as of this post and hope to be at or near 85 by the end of 2017.

Thirty-Five

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Corey Seager Base Gold Rainbow (Asia Exclusive) Parallel (41/60)

I may I might I'm not sure. I'm debating on doing another rainbow of Corey Seager and what better way to start off with than an Asia exclusive in the form of this Gold parallel from the 2016 Topps High Tek set.

This actually was the 1st one sold on eBay and the 1st 2016 High Tek that I won but the 2nd to arrive since it had to travel over a big body of water. With these only being found in packs that were distributed in Asia I wanted to lock one of these down as soon as I could. Seeing a couple sell after this one I probably paid a few dollars more than I should have but considering it is an acetate card and looks great in hand once I send it in to Beckett for the grading treatment and comes back with a color coordinated gold banner I'll be good. Yes, I am confident that this will earn at least a 9.5.

That's 1 parallel down and a few more to go but other than the Orange Magma one that is numbered to only 25 this was a key piece to acquire.

Forty-One

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Sixty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Five Star : Julio Urias Base Autograph Gold Parallel (24/50)

When I send in redemptions to Topps it seems to always take a long time to receive the actual card (way over a year) or super fast like this Urias card which was fulfilled 2 days after I entered the code in their system.

Five Star continues to be one of my favorite releases of the year and the 2016 version is no different. Kind of funny that all the cards I will be chasing in this set are in redemption form. Thankfully this one and the Scully (looked it up and its on its way) have had quick turn arounds from Topps to me. Considering this is a thick card and they are always subject to dinging of the corners I was pleasantly surprised that this one looks pretty clean to me. The centering is a tad off as well but this still might sneak in with a 9.5 attached to it when I send it in to Beckett for grading. Either way this is a beautiful card and thank you Julio for promptly signing for us fans. It is appreciated.

Twenty-Four

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Cyan Autograph Printing Plate (1/1)

I remember when I always wanted at least 1 autograph printing plate of the Clayton Kershaw and now look at me, I now have 3 to call my own with this one's acquisition.

I am in love with the 2016 Topps Chrome MLB Debut autographs of Clayton as I was at his MLB debut which this card depicts. Love it so much that I am looking to acquire the orange parallel of the card and we all know how much I hate orange. I saw this plate pop up on the same day that eBay was running an eBucks promotion and this and another card (more on that later) caught my eye and I had to decide how I could pick up both while earning more "money" for future considerations. Took a hard look at my collection and decided to unload 3 cards that I deemed non essential and locked up this card and the other for the total that the 3 sold for.

I have 1 plate already in gem mint form and this will join my other in the next BGS/RCR event in the hopes that they both receive at least a 9.5. I am more sure on the other than this one as on the reverse side of this plate there is some edge issues but hopefully those can hold to a 9 while everything else gets a 9.5

Uno

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Uno

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps : Corey Seager Base Acetate Parallel (6/10)

From afar this looks like any old 2016 Topps card of Corey Seager but once you look closer you will notice that it is numbered out of only 10. This bad boy is the acetate (plastic) parallel from the Topps flagship set and I have only seen 2 of these ever go up for sale and this one I have been watching on eBay for a good 4-5 months. Now I can look at it in person each day as I finally secured it and can call it my own.

I once owned the silver framed parallel which is numbered to a scant 16. I snagged it literally a few moments it went live on eBay and turned it into BGS for grading and it came back as a 9.5. In turn I resold it for a 70% profit. Pocketed that and made some other purchases. I had always hoped to win one of the other 15 but that was back in March and to this day I have yet to see another one appear. The only other lowered numbered (non superfractor) that was out there to pursue are these acetates with their print run of 10. As previously stated I saw the only other than this one on eBay I believe back in March-May window of 2016. Crazy ending price and I was never a serious player for it. This one popped up for the first time on eBay in what I want to say was late July. Months passed with the auction ending being relisted as a traditional auction and as a BIN with best offer. Each and every time it closed without being purchased. The seller always had a very high price attached to it and there was no way I would ever "pay" higher than I "paid" for the silver frame so until it dipped under that threshold I just watched it to see if and when it would sell. It never did.

Mid November (as I write this up on the last day of the month) it popped up again but this time it finally was below the silver frame threshold and I had money from TPB sales and other comics. Of course I expected with this new "low" price that there would be renewed interest from other potential buyers but with November being part of the "dead" off season of baseball I hoped that I could sneak in and grab this at a deal. I also banked on the fact that plastic cards normally grade well and that I could eventually turn this into my prized rookie card (non auto) of Corey if I was lucky enough for it to earn a gold banner.

Traditional 7 day auction and no bids and with 3 seconds left I debated one last time if I would hit the bid button which I ended up doing. After 8 months I finally landed me an acetate Seager rookie card. Card looks great in person and the chance it gems from Beckett is pretty good in my eyes. When they come back to town in Feb/Mar I will going the RCR route as I can not wait an extra month to know what the grade will be. Hopefully this will be my crown jewel from the 2016 sets when it gets encased in a gem mint holder from Beckett. Crossing my fingers.

Six

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Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Update : Julio Chrome Base Chrome Gold Parallel (38/50)

Gold is King and Urias looks to take the pitching crown at some point in the future and I believe this rookie card will be a key piece to anyone's collection.

Gold parallels always have a low print run and this one is no different with only 50 copies in existence. I have not had the best luck in 2016 products condition wise when it has come to Julio cards and this one is no different but unlike others I am holding my breath that this might still squeek by with a 9.5 from BGS.

What makes these different though is that they were not available in regular packs but instead in holiday mega boxes that were sold through only a couple of retail stores. I knew sooner or later they would pop up on eBay and that they did and this happened to be the 2nd one to be sold on the auction site. Unlike the 1st though this was on a BIN auction with opitional best offer attached to it. After a couple of days of back and forth the buyer and I came to an agreement and I had my gold rookie of the young phenom. I might end up picking up another copy to hedge my bets on a gold return from Beckett but till then this is a fine addition to my restarted Julio collection.

Thirty-Eight

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Topps Museum : Clayton Kershaw Archival Autograph Photo B (79/100)

3rd time is the charm right? RIGHT?

... and here I go again with this card. I have owned 2 other copies of this card and each time I sent it in to BGS to get graded expecting it to receive at the very worse a 9 but both times I was disappointed as they both came back as 8.5's. Unacceptable for my collection as all Kershaw autographs must be at least a 9 to be in my collection. Obviously I sold those 2 and now I am trying this once again with this copy.

If you don't know there are 2 different Kershaw Archival autographs in the 2012 Museum set and I already have 1 that is in mint form and I want to pare it up with this one in at least the same grade. Unlike the other 2 this copy was on a BIN auction and with such a low asking price I crossed my fingers as I clicked the button. Of the 3 copies I have owned this is far away the best conditioned one and I am hoping it earns at least a 9 when I send it off to BGS for encasing. Of course if it doesn't then I am sure I will be writing up a 4th post on this card somewhere down the road but hopefully this will be the 3rd and final time I blog about this card.

Seventy-Nine

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One Hundred

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Update : Corey Seager Base Rookie Debut Black Parallel (53/65)

Well that wasn't too painful but of course off season shopping usually is a lot less stressful than during regular season.

When Topps Update came out I noticed that Corey had 3 cards in it and that meant he had 3 black parallels with a print run of just 65 for me to chase after. Well with this card's acquisition my small but important project is over as I snagged all 3 within a 2 week period and all at less than low book ($20).

I have the Topps Series 1 black parallel (his TRUE rookie card of the year) in BGS 9.5 form and hope to get all 3 of these to earn the same grade as that one. To be honest I would be happy with 2 as each one has their own small flaw. Maybe they all earn a gold banner but I am being realistic but we shall see.

Fifty-Three

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Sixty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2008 Topps Update : Clayton Kershaw Base RCR Graded Gem Mint 9.5

You would think as a Kershaw collector I would have already  had this card in my collection but that has not been the case as something else was always more pressing to acquire and if I was to have this card I wanted it in BGS 9.5 form. Well this is as close as I could get at this time but I am more than happy with it.

This is the simple and base Clayton Kershaw rookie card from the 2008 Topps Update set but due to him excelling on the field the value keeps going up and while I could have picked up a raw version many times over by now I wanted it encased. 2 years running and I could not land one at a reasonable price but with the off season now here I was able to land this RCR version of it with that needed 9.5 attached to it. As per the norm people seem to steer away from these as they would still have to send it into BGS to get it into a hard case but when I can pick this up for $30 less than an encased one then it becomes a no brainer for me.

Don't care about the sub grades as all I know and need to know is that when I send this to Dallas in March it will come back with a gold banner above it.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Update : Corey Seager Home Run Derby Base Black Parallel (3/65)

See card
See BIN button
Click button
Receive card

Another simple transaction landed me the 2nd of 3 planned black parallels of Corey Seager in the 2016 Topps Update release. A lot of times a "hard" (no starting bid but just one price) BIN on eBay seem to have a high asking price but this was not the case. Just like the 1st black parallel I picked up this one has a book value range of $20-50 but I "won" this for less than low book. Off season purchases are usually good deals and this one was no different. The question now is can it earn a 9.5 from Beckett in March? I put it at 50/50 but hoping for the best. We shall see.

Three

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Sixty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin