March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number SEVENTEEN of FORTY-TWO - 2012 Topps Museum Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Photo B (79/100) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Third time IS the charm for me.

I have submitted other copies of this card 2 other times and each time they came back as an 8.5. I have photo A in a mint 9 case and I "had" to have this photo B one in one too but till today I have had no such luck.

I did not expect this to earn an overall 9.5 but I am not going to complain as I finally completed this minor 2 card project. I could have just had the others encased in a certified slab but since I had the other one graded it would have looked odd next to each other. I expected corners to possibly be an issue because that is what the other 2 had a problem with. This one had no such problem there but it was surface that came in with the less than 9.5 sub.

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

of

One Hundred

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2012 Topps Museum : Clayton Kershaw Archival Autograph Photo B (46/100)

Hopefully the second go around will result with a more satisfactory ending when I eventually get this card graded by Beckett the next time they are in town.

Back in 2012 Topps released two different photo Archival autographs of Kershaw in that year's Museum release and I landed photo "A" as a BGS mint 9.0 way back in September of 2014 in a steal of a deal on eBay. Being the completest I have been on the hunt for photo "B" for some time and I actually did land a copy late last year but when I sent it in to Beckett to get it graded with the hope to pare it up with its "brother" I was disappointed when it came back with a grade of NM 8.5. I couldn't have that in my collection so I promptly cracked it out of its case and sold it raw and recouped my costs. Since then I have been on the look out for a replacement and finally over a year later I landed another copy.

The eBay seller promised sharp corners which they do have though the centering is a tad off I have a good feeling that I finally found the right card to pare with the other and hopefully will see that come true when I send it to Beckett for grading. Either way though as with the first one I did not keep I picked this up on a slow day on my favorite auction site for a deal and if worse comes to worse I will sell it back and try again but I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't come to that.

46

of

100

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Update One - 2012 Topps Museum : Clayton Kershaw Archival Autograph Photo 2 (72/100) Now Graded and Slabbed a Near Mint 8.5

It's that time once again as I received my submission order back from BGS. It was a mixed bag as I ended up with more gem mints than I thought I would but some of the issues that I thought might come up did and others that I didn't think of also appeared.

This is my last big order for quite awhile and I wanted to go out on a high note but instead I end up with mixed emotions. I guess the best part is that even though I have Kershaw here as the first post (meaning the biggest disappointment of the lot) the other Kershaws fared better than I thought so I can hang my hat on that. More on that later obviously.

So like past submissions I will link to my original post and state the Beckett book value of each card. I will post a result entry every other day for the next 36 days. So with that lets get into it.

Original Submission Post
Beckett Book Value : $80

I really hate to start with Kershaw being the biggest disappointment but facts are facts. I originally had this pegged as the 3rd from the bottom to what I expected so it isn't that big a drop but I fully expected it to grade out to a mint 9. Hell it earned a 10 on surface but sadly it received 2 8.5's on corners and edges. I just need one of those to be a 9 and the overall would have been a satisfying 9 but it wasn't meant to be. It irritates me a bit now that I have its twin in mint 9 form while this is NM 8.5 but it is what it is.

Again thankfully my other Kershaws did better to offset my disappointment with this card. Nonetheless it is STILL an autograph of the greatest pitcher in baseball so I can't be that upset.

8.5 . . . Sigh

Just needed one more .5

Wasn't meant to be

At least the auto earned a 10

Card of the Day - 2012 Topps Museum : Clayton Kershaw Archival Autograph CK2 ( 72 / 100 )

Back in 2012 the Museum brand did not just have one autograph but two autographs of Clayton Kershaw in its Archival Autographs collection. I picked up the first one at a huge discount on eBay as it was already graded out to a BGS 9 which I think some people find a turn off as they want to try their luck at a gem mint grade with BGS. Not me as I just want all my Kershaw autographs mint with gem mints being icing on the cake.

Well with that one in hand I knew I just had to have its "brother" and the search was on. Didn't find any on eBay but one day I decided to check on COMC ( check out my cards ) and see what autographs in general they had of Kershaw. Low and behold they had the Archival one I was looking for and it's asking price was remarkably low. No time to waste so I did a quick check on condition and didn't see any real flaws so I purchased it and hoped that the transaction went through and didn't get canceled due to the card not being "available" anymore. Didn't happen and in two short weeks I finished a little 2 card project of Kershaw.

Like all the other Kershaw autographs I will be submitting this to BGS for grading and think it has an outside chance of gem mint but mint being more realistic. One of the corners on the back seems to be a tad frayed. Either way I am glad to add yet another Kershaw autograph to the collection.

72 of 100

Card of the Day - 2012 Topps Museum : Clayton Kershaw Archival Autograph CK1 ( 57 / 100 ) BGS Graded Mint 9.0

I have decided (probably like a lot of other people in the hobby world) that I will focus on acquiring more and more Kershaw autographs and with prices going up due to him exceeding all expectations and raising the bar to Hall of Fame levels it is getting harder and harder to score a deal on the bay.

I have seen that people (myself included at times) would like acquire and to chance a raw aka ungraded card might grade out to be gem mint instead of purchasing one that has already been graded at a less desirable plain ole mint grade. Well with Kershaw he is the exception to the rule at least in my eyes.

Though I would love all my cards to be gem mint that is just not a feasible goal. Well this card itself books for $80 ungraded and that is assuming it is in NM/M condition. Well I saw this card which has been certified mint by Beckett and the seller's asking price was below book. Again, I believe that is because people like to gamble and hit it big with a possible gem mint grade but when it comes to Kershaw here I rather have an already certified mint card that I don't have to pay submission fees for than purchase a raw one and hope for a gem mint grade and then get a mint grade. Why go that route if I can get the finished product already? Plus the autograph grade is a 10 as well.

I didn't know what kind of traffic to expect on the auction but when the final day rolled around not a single bid had been placed on the card. Well I wasn't going to be in front of a computer but on a freeway when it was to end so I couldn't bid while driving (wife would kill me) so I put my bid in with about 25 minutes left in the auction. Well when I arrived at my destination I was informed by an email that I won the card as I was the only one to bid on it. Woo Hoo. Another great looking Kershaw autograph added to the collection. As stated in previous posts I will get all my Kershaw autographs slabbed by BGS and this one looks great next to the others. A great deal.