Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Tribute : Clayton Kershaw Foundation of Greatness Autograph Black Parallel (42/50)

I went back to the well once again with an eBay seller that I have done countless transaction with in the hope I could snag steal on this card on a day that eBay was running a coupon special. The jury's still out but I in the end no matter what BGS gives this card I think I came out on top.

This is from the 2015 Tribute set which is notorious for being recalled because of condition issues. I have had some luck with cards from that set in the past and was looking to hit another home run on this Kershaw autograph. This books for $100-$200 in Beckett but the seller had this on a BIN for just $85. My mind thought there probably was a conditioning issue and once in hand there happens to be 1 corner with a slight fraying issue. Can it hold the line at a 9 so I can sneak out a 9.5 overall? Maybe but if not I can't see it getting lower than a 8.5 on that category and at worst a mint 9 is what this card would earn.

$85 seems like a slight steal but eBay was running a $15 coupon deal for any transaction that totaled at least $75. Considering this card had been listed for quite some time I reached out and asked my eBay friend what his best deal was and he said $75. So with the coupon added to it the cost to me would only be $60. So for a card that books for $100-200 I think $60 is a decent enough deal. What do you think?

Forty-Two

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-NINE of FORTY-TWO - 2015 Topps Supreme Clayton Kershaw Magenta Printing Plate Autograph (1/1) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Half way there to the ultimate Kershaw autograph project albeit not the priciest.

Having one autograph plate is a nice thing but have 2 of the 4 to make a card is a nice achievement. Having both in gem mint condition is just crazy. Crazy why? Printing plates are know to have flaws as they are used to make the cards so are constantly being "handled". No surprise that this one received a 9 for its surface but thankfully everything else checked out OK with a 9.5 and I now have the yellow and this magenta and still on the look out for the cyan and black ones. If anyone happens to come across them please point me in that direction as it would one helluva an accomplishment to own all for 1 of 1's.

Another 1 of 1 gem

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-EIGHT of FORTY-TWO - 2015 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Red Orbit Parallel (3/5) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Yesterday it was 2014 and today its 2015 and hopefully in the future it will be 2016. Topps and their High Tek brand has produced red parallels in each of those 3 years and I have the 2014 and now the 2015 in gem mint BGS holders. On the look out for 2016 to complete the trifecta.

This High Tek goes against the norm for this batch as it was the corners and not the surfaces that checked in with a 9. No matter as the overall is still a gem mint 9.5 and that is all that matters at the end of the day. I hope to get the 2016 at some point and get a 9.5 attached to that one as well as that would be a nice little 3 card set to own for this Kershaw fan.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number THIRTEEN of FORTY-TWO - 2015 Topps Five Star Clayton Kershaw Jumbo Patch Autograph (32/35) Now BGS Graded Mint 9

Day number 13 and the final non gem of the batch is here. Out of all the non gems I only had 5 I really had bone to pick with so considering this is a 42 card batch and 37 I am "OK" with I guess I should consider myself lucky. Yes there were 8 others that of the 13 that didn't gem but most were expected just like this 2015 5 Star jumbo autograph of Mr. Kershaw.

No matter the conditioning issues I will always love the brand and having yet another Kershaw on card autograph for the collection in mint form is always a good thing. I knew the corners would be an issue as when I picked this up I could see a slight issue but what surprised me was the centering coming in as an 8.5. Close call to having an overall 8.5 but thankfully that was the only real issue on this card. With this not being an investment but just part of the overall project of having an autograph for each Kershaw win in his career I am more than happy with this 9 return. Now onto the 9.5's of the batch.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number Four From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2015 Topps Supreme Clayton Kershaw Magenta Printing Plate (1/1) Autograph)

I know this picture is a little dark as I took all my RCR results in a hurry due to time constraints but all that matters is that beautiful gold you see glowing at the top of this picture. Another gem mint Kershaw autograph for the collection.

I am trying to the impossible with this 4 card project but with this return I am now officially 1/2 done of completing it. I am trying to get all 4 printing plates of Kershaw from the 2015 Supreme set and on top of that I would like/love them to be in BGS 9.5 condition. I already have the Yellow in said condition and now I have the Magenta one. I still need to locate the Black and Cyan plates which may or may never happen but being 1/2 to completion is better than not even have started the project. Either way this adds another 9.5 to the Kershaw autograph collection and that is a good thing.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Red Orbit Parallel (3/5)

I guess red is my color when it comes to certain cards. Topps and their High Tek brand have released 3 Red orbit autograph parallels in the years 2014-2016. I already own the 2014 version which is earmarked for BGS and now I was able to lock down this 2015 for a steal. Guess I need the 2016 one to complete the "project".

The 2014 version is numbered out of 10 but this 2015 and the 2016 ones are numbered out of only 5. That makes finding one let alone acquiring one a true feat as most probably never see the light of day. To my surprise this one popped up one day and I was all over it as it slots into a lot of different projects I have going. While there were a lot of bids for the card surprisingly the amount of them did not drive up the price that much. In the end I won it for a lot less than the 2014 version and when I compare the print runs between the 2 this 2015 is much better bargain.

The cards looks good enough to earn a 9.5 from Beckett but will put that to the test in March when it goes to Dallas to get slabbed.

Three

of

Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Mike Trout Base Throwback Photo Variation BGS Graded Pristine 10

The perfect player?
The perfect card?
No on both counts but very close on the latter.

While my pursuit of the ever elusive black label perfect 10 continues I grabbed yet another pristine 10 of Mr. Mike Trout for the collection and couldn't believe it didn't make more of a dent into my virtual wallet.

I always come across cards that I didn't know existed and this happens to be one of them. I love photo variations but I don't know of all of them in existence and this is a perfect example as I came across it on one of my graded card searches. Once I saw it I knew I wanted it but with a 10 attached to the label I expected it would go for top dollar considering Mike is having another great season. This card in raw condition has a high of $25 according to Beckett and I would say a fair market value would be somewhere in the 12.50-17.50/18 range depending on any given day. With that evaluation I expected this to go for at least $40 if not $50 because people do love their "perfect" 10's. At the end of the day/auction this card only put me back 50% of my guess for the closing cost. Hence that makes this even a nicer addition to my collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps Update : Clayton Kershaw Base Black Parallel (1/64)

I wasn't even looking for a copy of this for my collection as there are too many other black parallels of Kershaw that I am looking for but when I was approached on Instagram about picking this up I couldn't pass up on such a good deal.

It's getting around I guess on social media that I love me some black parallels and a follower of mine DM'ed me asking if I might be interested in this. I looked up the book value (a high of $25) and since his asking price was way below that I said sure why not and had it in hand a few short days later. The only complaint I had was that it came in a PWE (plain white envelope) with nothing other than a top loader for protection. Maybe I am being a little too picky but when I send out a card in a PWE (which is not very often) I put it in a top loader AND wrapped it in card board to give it a little more support during transport. Just food for thought for anyone that does the PWE shipping.

First of Sixty-Four

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY - 2015 Topps Update : Mike Trout Base Snow Camo (95/99) Parallel Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Update Mike Trout Snow Camo (95/99)

Can a great deal with a blogger friend get even better with a 9.5 return on this limited Trout card? I hope so and halfway expect it to. 

I picked this up from Judson on a trade/purchase a month ago and like he said this card looked to be in great condition and I agreed with him once I had it in hand. Now I hope BGS agrees with us. It is well centered with no surface issues and the only thing I see "wrong" per se is that one of the corners is slightly dinged and that can only be seen under a loop. So 9.5 please Beckett people.

All great minds think alike as Judson, BGS and I thought this was a gem mint card and it was confirmed when I received this back from Beckett encased in a gold banner holder. I was actually a tad wrong as the only sub grade not to earn a 9.5 was centering which came in as a 9. Judson and I both believed it was slightly off but I still thought it would come in as a 9.5. The corner that I thought would be an issue was not though. Great pick up from a friend got better with a gem grade return.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Trade with Fellow Blogger Judson of My Cardboard Habit - 2016 Topps Clayton Kershaw No-Hitter Relic AND 2015 Topps Update Mike Trout Base Snow Camo Parallel (95/99)

Technically this "trade" is not complete as of yet as Judson of My Cardboard Habit has not received a package from me. Why is that? Because Judson, out of the kindness of his heart, sent this 2016 Topps Clayton Kershaw card on the "promise" of something in return down the road which might happen tomorrow, next week or months in the future. He saw the card (among others) from a box he cracked open and took care of a couple Los Angeles bloggers as I saw my buddy Greg of Plaschke Thy Sweater is Argyle also scored some cards from Judson.

As a non Ranger fan I do not know what I will end up sending Judson as I don't have much that he would find worthy but I am sure we will work something out as we always do. Of course once Judson asked if I wanted the Kershaw card I had to inquire about another that I had tried to land for a month or so that he was trying to sell off.

  

Yup, another limited and numbered Mike Trout card for the collection which is also earmarked for grading as Beckett is coming back to town next week and I received this in hand in time to submit it. This is the snow camo parallel from the 2015 Topps Update set and while not overly valuable I think Judson and I are happy with the transaction. Card looks to have a little better than 50/50 chance of earning a gold banner as the corners look good. The only thing that might hold it down is centering is not perfect and coupled with this being a paper card I think this is either going to be a "weak" 9.5 or a "strong" 9.0. Come on weakness. Ha Ha.

Ninety-Five

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you again to Judson for reaching out to me and completing this deal and hopefully it will get even better when the Trout card gets a great grade back from BGS.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Andre Ethier Base Framed Parallel (13/20)

Sometimes losing for months on end is a win in the end as I finally was able to get my hands on this very elusive card of Andre.

I had been trying to pick this up since Series 1 from Topps came out in the Spring of 2015. I was able to pick up higher demand players aka Trout, Kershaw, Puig with minimal problems and within reason price wise. Andre though did not fall into either of those categories. This books between $10-25. Every auction and I mean every auction (about 7) that I tried to win prior to this one I lost out on as the card went anywhere from $35 to $45. Really? What was the draw for Mr. Ethier? I had no idea then and I still have no idea today. With at least 7 copies sold on eBay and at least a handful I am sure that will stay in personal collections I assumed it might be a long while till I had a chance at another copy. Months did pass until one day this one popped up on eBay.

There it was, Ethier staring back at me on the screen once again with a starting asking price of 99 cents. I assumed after 7 days it would go for at least $30-35 which once again I wasn't gonna have any part of. Last day of the auction and the price sat at $3. Interesting to say the least so at the last moment I put in my bid at pennies over $15 with the expectation of me losing out once again. Well the end price was higher than the $3 I saw. What was it? A nice round total of $5. Are you kidding me? After multiple losses at over $35 I end up winning the card for a mere $5. Go figure. Card came in a week later and I see nothing wrong with it.

After months on the losing column I checked in on the winning side with a bullet with this bargain purchase.

Thirteen

of

Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-TWO - 2015 Topps : Clayton Kershaw Series 2 Base (MVP Award) Framed Parallel (17/20) Now Graded Pristine 10

2015 Topps Series 2 Clayton Kershaw Framed MVP /20

Is it wrong for me to expect a pristine return? Well if it is I then say I expect a solid gem mint then as I see nothing wrong with this card. With the Trout framed card there is the smallest of surface issue that I saw but with this Kershaw one I see absolutely nothing. Half way expect a pristine but will be happy with a 9.5 to pare with my other Kershaw framed cards.

Well, well, well... As stated in the above paragraph is it wrong to expect a 10 on a card that has a metal frame which should eliminate any issues with corners and edges? No it is not and look what I got back from BGS? Yup, another pristine for the Kershaw collection. The only "problem" is that I still have not received a black label 10 (all sub grades being a 10) from Beckett so the wait continues on that front.

While most of my framed parallels (all 9.5's) probably do not get that big of a bump in value from being certified as gem mint this Kershaw might be an exception as pristines tend to garner bigger bucks on auction sites. Don't get me wrong, this card is going nowhere anytime soon but it is always nice to know what I can get for it if I have to part ways with it.

Of all the framed parallels of Kershaw (4) I am glad that if I was to have 1 as a pristine this is the one as it celebrates his 1 and probably only MVP season. It was the perfect storm when he won the award and I just can't see him winning another no matter how well he does in a future season as there are too many good young hitters. But you never know.

Mmm... Pristine return

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-TWO - 2015 Topps : Yasiel Puig Series 1 Base Framed Parallel (4/20) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Series 1 Yasiel Puig Framed /20

Three Puigs in this batch and two happen to be metal based. Go figure. Unlike the Ginter mini though I am confident that this one will come back as a 9.5. I hope the combination of my past history with Puig and these metal framed cards will translate into yet another gold banner card. Puig is low in the hobby right now but if and when he comes roaring back this is a nice little card to flip for something I really want and if it's a 9.5 I might be able to get something really nice. We shall see.

I was a "tad" more surprised that this received a gem mint return as compared to the Trout from yesterday hence why this is showcased after Trout's. While I still believed that both would earn a 9.5 Puig here was slightly less of chance to do so in my eyes and with the grades in for this card you can see it is a "lesser" gem even though it earned 4 9.5's. Trout had 2 10's on his card and there are none of those on this card.

Nonetheless this is a great limited card of a player that is low in the market right now but I think has a great chance for a rebound in 2016.

Quad 9.5's

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-ONE - 2015 Topps : Mike Trout Series 2 Base Framed Parallel (11/20) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Series 1 Mike Trout Framed /20

Same as the Puig before this one. I believe all of these framed (metal) cards from Topps should come back from BGS with 9.5's but I have seen (not my cards) that is not the case always. Edges and corners are metal and are "sharp" and clean with the surfaced cleaned up with a tissue. I hope to par this with my other gem mint Trout from Series 1.

A new week and a new gem mint Trout for my collection. Can't beat that for a Monday can you?

Unlike Kershaw and his 4 separate cards I had to chase for, Trout only had 2 and I was already lucky enough to have the Series 1 card come back as a 9.5 from BGS so I needed this Series 2 to also comeback as a 9.5 so they would look nice sitting together. Just as expected the corners and edges both received high marks of 10's but centering for some reason took a hit and came in with a 9 but thankfully surfaces held its own with a 9.5 so the overall grade was indeed a gem mint 9.5.

While I don't/didn't expect this being graded to raise it's value that much I took a look at completed sales of the same card on eBay and surprisingly they are near or a tad over triple digits. Maybe this is more valuable now than I thought but I have zero plans to move it so at this moment that thinking is mute.

Strong gem mint

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number EIGHTEEN - 2015 Topps : Clayton Kershaw Base Framed Parallel (8/20) Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2015 Topps Series 2 Clayton Kershaw CY Young /20

Yeah... I'm just gonna copy and paste here from the previous Kershaw card :

Is it wrong for me to expect a pristine return? Well if it is I then say I expect a solid gem mint then as I see nothing wrong with this card. With the Trout framed card there is the smallest of surface issue that I saw but with this Kershaw one I see absolutely nothing. Half way expect a pristine but will be happy with a 9.5 to par with my other Kershaw framed cards.

Different card same mentality. The only reason this one gets a higher rung on the ladder to greatness is I like this picture better.
=)

Another return where I hit the nail on the head. I expected a gem mint return which I did get and the only thing I saw that might be an issue was the surface and low and behold that is the only sub grade that did not get at least a 9.5.

I love these silver framed parallels but with a print run of just 20 and there being 4 Kershaws to hunt down it has been a pain as my plan all along was to get them graded and on top of that I expected them to return with a gold banner. Well lets just say this is the 3rd of the 4 I have showcased and I still have 1 more to go so that must be a good sign. = )

Can never have enough gold

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Hyun-Jin Ryu Base Framed Parallel (3/20)

Sometimes it is patience that nets you that one card you have been searching high and low for and sometimes it's an injury to said player but sometimes it's a little bit of both and that is what happened when I finally landed this long sought out card.

I was finally down to 3 (Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier are the others) framed parallels to complete my want list from this year's Topps releases and with all my series 2 wants completed I only had 3 leftovers from series 1 that I needed/wanted. With 20 copies they only come up so often on the bay and if you are not a top tier player it is even more rare between appearances. I had seen 2 Ryu's earlier in the year and one went for $20 and the other for a little over $30. Since then I hadn't seen another copy. Sadly his year was over before it even started as he got injured so I am sure those people that paid the higher prices were not too happy with what they paid for it.

Finally another popped up on eBay with a starting price of 99 cents and considering the demand for Ryu is probably at his lowest I thought I had a great chance to finally land this bad boy and at a discount at that. My ceiling was $15 which I still think is/was an overpay at this moment in time but I really wanted to finish this project so I was willing to spend a tad more. With that mentally it was a pleasant surprise when I won it for a few pennies over $10.

With only 2 left I might actually finish this project. Considering there were only 20 copies of each and 4 separate Kershaw's and 2 Trout's to hunt down this would be no small feat.

Three

of

Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Los Angeles Dodgers Team Base Card Framed Parallel (13/20)

A major score with this card's acquisition gets me a couple steps closer to completing my 2015 Topps series 2 wish list.

These framed, limited parallels are beautiful and hard to come by. The print run is just 20 so there are only so many chances to pick one up. I lost out on a couple of auction as they went for a little north of $40. Now this was before book values came out on them and I assumed this card would be somewhere in the $25-30 ballpark. I was wrong as it clocked in at a meager $20. Thankfully I didn't win one of those other copies as I would have felt like an ass.

Few days later this one popped up on eBay with a 99 cent starting bid and I was determined to win it. Only a few bids prior to mine at the last minute which won it for me. Total? $6.50. Now that is a good deal. A few more showed up after I won my copy and one sold for a little more than $12 and another for over $40. Right price at the right time for me.

Thirteen

of

Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Mike Trout Series 2 Base Framed Parallel (11/20)

My/our friends from Japan helped me out by listing this beautiful and limited card on eBay. With it depicting Mr. MVP Mike Trout I expected it would be a long time before I got my hands on it as with a print run of only 20 and him being popular in the hobby I expected them to go for much more than I was willing to spend. Of course with this particular copy being overseas I saw my opportunity to snag it at a lower than expected cost and that is exactly what happened.

As I have discussed before and as I am sure some of you readers have experienced first hand when it comes to auctions from across the pond they seem to get less traffic as I suspect people are either too impatient to wait a longer time and/or aren't as trusting in shipping services. Doesn't bother me as I can wait and if it does get lost I am covered by eBay.

The series 1 card books from $60-120 but this series 2 one only books for $25-60 but I had already seen others top that high mark which I wasn't going to do so when this one popped up on the bay with a starting price of 99 cents I hoped to score a deal and in the end that is exactly what I did.

Not surprisingly there were 12 separate bids but surprisingly there were at small increments and when I put mine in at the last moment I secured this card a little over the low end of book. Yet another overseas win for me and with this I can now close the book on the "higher" priced/demand framed cards from this year's Topps set. I have 2 more to acquire but they are of lesser caliber players.

11

of

20

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Clayton Kershaw Series Two Base (National League MVP) Silver Framed Parallel (17/20)

Well that wasn't too hard or bad.

Within days of each other I was able to pick up both framed parallels of Kershaw from the series 2 of the 2015 Topps release. The 1st series also had 2 Kershaws to pursue but those took me months to lock down and I went in with that same attitude when it became known that once again there would be 2 Kershaws in series 2 to hunt for. Same attitude but different results and thank God for that.

Book just came out (at the time of write up) and for some reason the values of these cards with the exact same print run are running give or take 50% less than series 1 cards. Don't know why but it helps when trying to acquire one at a bargain which I did with this one. With a print run of 20 I still counted at least 6 that had been sold on eBay so even with the lesser book value I had to make sure I got my copy before they were all gone and when the dust settled I was declared the winner on a lower than expected sale price. Couldn't be happier and now this card joins its series 2 brother in the BGS submission pile to hopefully join their series 1 brothers in gem mint glory.

One Seven

of

Two Zero

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2015 Topps : Jorge Soler Strata Autograph (4/25)

Another token (throw away bid) has netted me an autograph that wasn't a priority but I will gladly take it when it seems like everyone else was asleep at the wheel.

Other than the Dodgers, the Cubs have the best higher tier prospects in their farm system and while Bryant leads the pack he isn't the only one with great promise. Jorge here is one of the many that has already spent time with the big league team and he was on my autograph list to pick up at some point. Didn't think it would so soon but when a great deal presents itself you can't turn it away.

These Strata cards are 1 of 3 (Five Star and Bowman Chrome being the others) that I look for when it comes to autographs. They are gorgeous and thick and with a low print run can cost a pretty penny. This one did not though. When this auction ended it was 1 of 3 separate Soler Stratas ending within a few hours of each other and that probably helped my case. I put in a bid of $1 more than the current high bid with the expectation all it would do is raise the winning total to someone else. Nope, I ended up with the card at a "bargain" price and couldn't be happier. Another Cub prospect autograph off my checklist.

Not sure this can be slabbed by Beckett but I might try when they roll back in town.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin