Card of the Day - 2011 Topps Update : Mike Trout Base Cognac Diamond Anniversary Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

During the 2015 off season I made it a goal of mine to pick up as many graded Trout rookie cards I could get and I ended up with a lot. The 2016 off season was reserved for Corey Seager but there was 1 last colored parallel of Trout I was unable to snag in 2015 that bugged me. I fixed that during this past off season.

The Topps Update is THE rookie card to get for Trout and I ended up getting the base, diamond, gold, blue and red during the 2015 off season but I could never land the Cognac parallel at a decent price. I had a feeling if I didn't get now it might be very hard to come by in the upcoming seasons so I kept my eye out for a copy and I missed out on quite a few but I finally was able to lock this particular one down at no hassle.

Now that I am not spending much out of pocket I had to figure out what to unload to acquire this for my project and after much thought I ended up selling off some non rookie parallels of Trout which were easy to get top dollar for and I ended up with this one for my collection. No regrets in this decision as my rainbow is complete (minus the impossible black one) and I am a happy camper.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2011 Topps Update : Mike Trout Base Gold Parallel (878/2011) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Selling from surplus to acquire a need. I feel like the Dodgers as I finally landed this beautiful gold parallel of superstar Mike Trout.

During the 2015 off season my goal was to acquire graded rookie cards of Mike Trout from the Topps Update set and I did quite well as I picked up the base, diamond, blue and the hard to get red versions. The 2 left that I needed (other than the black which I don't ever see me getting) were the gold and cognac and my "rainbow" from this set would be complete. I wanted to wait for the right time which meant at the lowest price and an eBucks promotion. Well this 2016 off season presented that to me when this card popped up.

I asked friends on Twitter and Instagram which would they prefer in their collection, this or graded photo variations, and the answer was unanimous . Gold by a land side. I had a few Trout gem mint photo variations and while I like them I really love this gold one. I knew in my heart what I was going to do but wanted to see what others thought and we all had the same thought process. While variations are fun and unique gem mint rookies of a future Hall of Fame member is better.

Locked in this card which was on a BIN auction from a seller from Canada (probably another reason why price was reasonable) and promptly sold the variations to cover the cost. Now to finish off the rainbow with a cognac.

Eight Hundred and Seventy-Eight

of

Two Thousand and Eleven

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 - 2011 Topps Update : Mike Trout Base BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Even though the post will go "live" sometime during the baseball season this card was acquired at the end of March aka the end of the "off season" and with it I accomplished my goal of getting most of the Trout rainbow from the 2011 Topps Update set.

I am surprised that I picked up most of the colors and even more surprised that this was the last one as it is the base one aka least valuable one. I have in hand the red, blue, diamond and now this base. That is 4 cards with only the cognac parallel missing but that was last on my list anyways. I never expected to pick up the red as that is in very high demand and the black is basically unattainable with its scant print run of 60. So for the time being it looks like I am done as I have other needs to fill and the cognac one will have to wait.

This base card has been going up and up in price so color me surprised when this popped up on a search and it was a BIN auction with an asking price of $20 less than what every other copy had been selling for. Didn't think twice and locked it in and had it in hand a week later. Looks great next to the other colors and I can consider the off season a success.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2011 Topps Update : Mike Trout Base Wal Mart Blue Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

The pursuit of acquiring all the different versions/parallels of the Trout card from the 2011 Topps Update set during the off season continues with another fine addition in the form of this blue parallel. While not numbered this is a limited parallel that could only be found in packs of cards that were sold at Wal-Mart.

I already have the diamond anniversary parallel and still haven't decided if I am going to pursue the cognac parallel (not very eye appealing to me) but the red (not numbered), gold (numbered to 2011), black (numbered to 60) and this blue one have and remain on my want list. The black I will probably never see due to its scarcity which leaves me with the other 3 colors to chase after. This blue was the 1st one to pop up on eBay for a reasonable price. It was on a BIN auction but thankfully the seller had a best offer attached to it as his asking price was too rich for my blood. Sent over a low ball offer and surprise surprise it was rejected. He actually sent over a counter that was reasonable and thankfully when I woke up the next day the card was still available as he sent the offer in the dead of night. I was one of a handful of watchers so I don't know how many other people he was negotiating with but I clicked the button and made it mine and it is now in hand.

Another great Trout pick up for the off season and hoping I can land the gold and red before the start of the 2016 season. I might circle back around to the cognac at some point but right now it is not high on the radar.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2011 Topps : Sandy Koufax Base Diamond Anniversary Parallel BGS RCR Pristine 10

Though Koufax is now 1 of only 4 baseball players I collect I am sorely lacking in graded cards of the pitching legend so whenever I can pick one up for cheap even if it's not one that might go up in value much I do it.

These diamond parallels are not numbered but they are pretty and somewhat limited. I picked up the Trout version awhile back in BGS 9.5 form so other than me getting a Kershaw one I thought I was done. Well I went looking for Koufax graded cards one day and came across this BGS raw card review of Sandy and it has a beautiful 10 attached to it. The card was on a BIN auction but thankfully it had a best offer option attached to it as it books for a high of $15 and the asking price was $30. This would be my first pristine card of Mr. Koufax and I wanted it if I could bargain down the seller. Back and forth we went until we were able to agree to a price that was only slightly higher than high book price. That is a win in my eyes.

When I attend the next BGS event I will submit this for a full slabbing treatment. The question now is do I final get to add a black label 10 (all sub grades earn a 10) or will it be a "boring" ole basic 10? Either way I love this card and glad I "won" it.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin