Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha . . . .

As a seller on eBay you gamble at times and sometimes you come out on the right side but there are other times where you miscalculate and end up losing. I should know as I have done the exact same thing from time to time but this time I was on the winning side with a seller from Taiwan.

Other than the impossible red (print run of 5) and the refractor (that may or may not have been produced) this base autograph from the 2016 Topps Chrome set was the final piece I needed for my autograph rainbow project. I personally can't believe it even got to this point but a lot of luck here and there and here I am now.

I have tried numerous times to snag this at a deal but each time I have been outbid or denied on a OBO auction. This one popped up on eBay with an OBO and I sent an offer over which was lower than what they have been selling for but not by much. Never heard from the seller. He ended the auction and relisted the card and I sent the same offer and still no response. I noticed the following day he listed it on a traditional auction AS WELL as keeping this OBO auction. 2 auctions, 1 card. Dangerous game to be playing. Anyways I keep the traditional auction on my watch list and when the final day arrived the high price was about $50 less than my offer. Seconds left and I put in a bid and moments later I was declared the winner at $40 less than my offer price. LOL. Now the question was would he honor the winning price. 2 weeks later I received the answer to that question in the form of this card in the mail.

Seller should have taken my offer but man am I happy he didn't. I have now finished the rainbow (minus the red and refractor) and now I need to submit my raw green and if that gems (as I expect it to) then I have the rainbow in gem mint condition. Score.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Green Refractor Parallel (66/99) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Ha Ha Ha
Thank you eBay buyers that seem to be "scared" off by auctions originating from across the pond aka Asia. Another score for me and I'll do this every day of week.

I believe this was only the 2nd time I have ever seen this green parallel in BGS graded form but just the 1st time I decided to chase after it. The other one popped up at a time I was concentrating on other projects and couldn't acquire that one at the time. I eventually picked up a raw version of this card and was content on waiting till Beckett came back to town in March but this one showed up and I quickly noticed the auction was by a seller in Taiwan. Knowing my past successes in that area of the world I wondered if I could snag this for a deal even though I had one that looked like a lock for a 9.5 from BGS.

As expected there wasn't that much traction on this card's auction and with a hour left I looked to be sitting pretty on the a potential steal of a deal and that is what exactly happened. I ended up winning this for LESS than what I paid for the raw version and to top it off since I didn't need 2 green parallels I obviously sold the raw version back on eBay and sold it for MORE than I paid for this graded one. You got to love it. With a print run of just 99 and with most drying up during the baseball season these only show up 1 at a time it seems. Being an eBay seller based in the USA helped me sell mine at a premium.

Sixty-Six

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Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw MLB Debut Autograph Insert Orange Parallel (4/25) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Man do I love Kershaw autographs.
God how I hate the color Orange.
Love me gold banner 9.5's.
2 beats 1 and hence the acquisition of this "beautiful" card. Of course an eBay eBucks promotion doesn't hurt as well.

Early December of 2016 and eBay was running another 10% eBucks event and I was scouring the site to see if there was anything that I might want as I had funds stacked up from other sales. Nothing really was catching my eye and I remembered I had this on my watch list for weeks and saw it still was available for purchase. The seller had a crazy asking price but also offered an OBO option so I sent him a crazy low ball price. More than 70% off his asking price in fact. He promptly declined but countered within the ballpark with an acceptable amount. Not ready to accept I sent him another offer that was just a little higher than my offer but lower than his counter and told him if he accepted I would send payment then and there. 2 minutes later he confirmed the transaction and a minute later I completed it by sending over the payment. With it I added another Kershaw autograph to the collection and earned more eBucks for the quarter. There is a Red parallel as well to this card and though I have never seen it for sale maybe I can snag it at some point to complete the 3 card rainbow.

The one last (big) reason why I wanted this card was the fact that I attended this game which when he gets inducted to the Hall of Fame I can say I was there the 1st time he took the mound in a MLB game.

Four

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Allen Ginter : Mike Trout Base Mini Parallel Brooklyn Back Variant (1/25)

Let's.... try .... this.... AGAIN.

There are only 25 copies of this Brooklyn back in existence and this will be my second one that I have called my own. This one is numbered 1 of 25. I originally had number 24 of 25 and it was in great condition as I decided to send it in to Beckett to get it encased. I expected a gem mint return and in fact there were 3 sub grades that had earned a 9.5. Of course someone at BGS had to ruin my fun and drop it while it was in their care as they gave corners a 7. I would never send a card in that had corners that would earn such a low grade (unless it was vintage). Well to say the least I needed another copy that would be acceptable to me so I sold off that "damaged" card and went on the look out for another 1 of the 24 out there that would be good enough for me.

Since I knew the availability is diminishing I had a slightly higher price ceiling and was glad I did as I won this one in the middle of the night as the auction ended at 4 in the morning. It was nice waking up to an email declaring me the winner. Now this #1 just like that #24 is in very good condition so when I send this to BGS they better not drop it again.

Numero Uno

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Green Rainbow Parallel (35/99)

Another day and another 2016 High Tek acquisition for the collection as this Green parallel of Clayton Kershaw is finally in hand.

The price for this card has been all over the place from $3 and change to $25 and all of the sales have been within a few days of each other when I won my copy. Don't know why the wide range of prices and while I would love to say I was the one that snagged it for $3 I can't but at least I am not on the other end of the price spectrum. That said I never would have as that to me is too high and that is even before prices came out in the price guide to use as reference. What I can say though is that I was in the single digit club when it came to my final price and while it probably won't add much value to it I will be sending it to Dallas for the grading treatment as it looks to be in great shape condition wise.

Thirty-Five

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Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Allen Ginter : Mike Trout Mini Frame Autograph Black Parallel (2/25) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Allen Ginter is probably my 2nd favorite brand every year and the mini frame autographs are number 1 within the set for me. This is my 2nd numbered A/G autograph of the Angel's great. I lucked into the red ink parallel from the 2013 set (quick recap on that is I sold a Puig BGS gem to cover the full cost of the Trout AND pocketed some money, try doing that today!!!) and am always on the lookout to add another but most of the time the price is too high for me. Lucky for me when one day eBay was running an eBucks promotion at the same time I saw this and I was ready to part with a few cards to cover it's cost. I did not get the same awesome deal as the Puig/Trout swap but I did get another limited and numbered Trout autograph that has already been certified as gem mint by Beckett at no cost out of pocket. The best kind of transaction.

Two

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Sapphire Edition Parallel (#/250) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Wanted this but did not expect to snag it so soon and especially not in this spiffy BGS gem mint 9.5 case.

Topps Chrome came out with a special edition (Sapphire) at the end of the baseball year and only came in factory set form. There were only 250 sets produced and even though that number has been confirmed by Topps the actual cards are not numbered to reflect that print run. Tad irritating but it is what it is.

Per the norm I wanted my core 3 (Seager, Trout and Kershaw) from this set but knew that they would be a pain to acquire. Right out the gate the Seager card was going for 2 bennys which was and is still out of my range. The Trout I haven't seen pop up but a couple times but don't really remember the price and then you have Kershaw. It has constantly sold for anywhere between $10ish to a high of $25-30. Not crazy pricey but I wasn't in a hurry to pick it up. Of course that changed when this popped up one day a few minutes after it went live. This was the 1st one I have seen graded and with a BIN price lower than some of the raw sales I saw no need to put off acquiring this CK card.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph Gold Refractor Parallel (4/50) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Gold...Gold.... and even more Gold. Everywhere I look when it comes to this card I see that color and I couldn't be happier.

For this off season there were a few cards on my want list that I really wanted to acquire before the 2017 season began and this was one of them and a major get on my part. I am trying to do the autograph rainbow of Corey from the 2016 Topps Chrome set and this Gold one (50 print run) and the Red (a scant 5 print run) were the last biggies I needed to land. I have the Orange (25), Green (99), Blue (150) and Purple (250) in hand already so these last 2 colors are the last that were needed to be picked up. I probably will never see the Red so this Gold was a necessity for my collection and when it popped up on eBay I put a quick bid on it as it also had a BIN option but I wanted to play the auction game. Many bids later, including a few snipe ones from me and another buyer in the waning seconds of the auction, mine held on and I struck Gold.

Is it possible for me to actually complete the rainbow for this project? Yeah, but not likely as I am sure when and if that red pops up it will go for a pretty penny and probably way out of my price range unless I choose to sell off something of value to acquire it. For the time being I need to snag the base (plentiful) and the base refractor (does it even exists?) which would give me the full rainbow minus the Red which if I can make that happen I would be more than happy with.

Four

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Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Update : Clayton Kershaw Base Black Parallel (43/65)

Even though I love black parallels and I hunted down all 3 of Corey Seager I wasn't planning (at this moment at least) to snag the Kershaw one but when this one popped up for a bargain price I couldn't not pick it up.

For some reason this books with a range of $20-50 which even as a Clayton fan I know is way too much. The highest I think I saw this go for was in the high teens and that was when it first came out. Prices have dropped since then even with only 65 copies out there. Well one night I was doing my random Kershaw searches and this along with a gold parallel (which is available if anyone wants it) popped up on eBay on a BIN auction at less than $8. Just the black one for that amount would have been a coup but with the gold also included it made the deal sweeter. Now with Seager and Kershaw acquired I guess I need to get that Trout to finish off my needs from this release.

Forty-Three

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Sixty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number Seven From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2016 Topps Corey Seager Acetate Parallel (6/10))

The final write up from my raw review batch from a couple weeks ago and while this is a "disappointing" return if they were all like this I would be happy every day of the week.

So why is this card's return a disappointment? While it did earn a gold banner I honestly thought this had a good chance at earning a pristine 10 which would have made this acquisition even more awesome. I acquired it during this past off season on a steal of deal and with a print run of just 10 I had hoped to really drive up the value of it and possibly flip it with a 10 on it. The card is the acetate parallel aka plastic like the High Tek brand. I had hoped that would help earn a higher grade as they are less susceptible to conditioning issues. While there is no 10 on this grade I am more than happy that it earned a 9.5 and this is my new crown jewel of 2016 rookie cards of Corey. I am curious to know if this was close to a 10 (.5 away) but I will have to wait till early April to find out the results but till then I know I have a very cool piece about to be slabbed for my collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Update : Julio Urias Base Photo Variation

Yesterday's black and white parallel of Julio was a great deal in my eyes but then I snagged this from the same seller on eBay for even a bigger bargain.

This card books for $4-10 which makes it not an investment piece but I do love me some photo variations of various Dodgers and after I talked down the seller for the black and white one I turned my attention to this one that he was selling. He had an asking price of $6 which was mid book which was higher than most copies were going for. I sent him an offer of $1.50 and sold him on the fact that he would save on shipping as he could combine it with the other card I won from him. He didn't even put up a fight as he accepted my offer. Not a bad card for 6 quarters.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Update : Julio Urias Base Black and White Photo Negative Parallel

Well I guess I am full on into Urias cards once again. Yes, I decided to collect him again but I was only going to focus on autographs of the young star. Well the deals keep presenting themselves so how can I say no to them when they are just basically calling to me to snag them.

Well this black and white parallel that has a book range of $8-20 was not really on my radar till I was bored and decided to give the seller of this card on eBay a low ball offer that was below low book. He rejected that offer but with his counter it was still reasonable and showed he was willing to negotiate with me. After all was said and done I acquired it for less than low book AND on top of that snagged another great deal better than this one. More on that tomorrow.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number Six From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2016 Topps Chrome Corey Seager Orange Parallel (16/25))

And now we get to the final 2 cards from the RCR batch and the 2 that I could not wait a month to found out what they earned as they/are limited and if they did not earn a gold banner then I would have flipped them and pursued replacements but thankfully it did not come to that.

I am trying to do the unthinkable and complete a DOUBLE rainbow of Corey Seager from the 2016 Topps Chrome release. One rainbow of autographs and the other of non autographs. I plan to pursue them minus the superfractors as those are just 1 of 1's and I would never spend the money to acquire them. The other thing is I want/need them all to be in BGS gem mint condition. Yeah, that's a bitch. Well other than the Red parallel (with its 5 print run) the Orange (#/25) is/was the hardest to get. I snagged this from a friend on IG and crossed my fingers that it would gem when I submitted it to BGS for a raw review and thank God it did as I did not want to go searching for another copy.

Most year's this would probably be THE rookie card to have of any given player with it's minimal print run but not for Corey. More on that Monday as that one will close out the RCR results.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps : Clayton Kershaw Future Game Pin Autograph (4/25)

With this being a thick card (potential condition issues) and with a print run of just 25 and it being a year old I didn't expect to pick up a copy at any point even though it was never a priority. But things change as we all know.

I am concentrating on just autographs going forward when it comes to my collecting habits which means less and less stuff to chase after. Knowing that this particular card would have a possible issue earning a gem mint from BGS I just kept an eye out for a quality one that would at least earn a 9 and I believe that is what this one will do.

The main reason (other than being an on card auto) that I wanted this was because it shows Kershaw in a non Dodger uniform as you can it is a USA variety. A rarity nowadays when it comes to Clayton cards. Card is heading to Dallas for the grading treatment as this was the last one to make it to me prior to the event.

Four

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number Five From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2016 Topps Now Clayton Kershaw Relic (35/99) Autograph)

The 5th result of the batch and the final Kershaw and autograph overall and one that I wasn't sure how it would grade out even though I was confident of a Gold banner.

I went from not caring/wanting this card when it was first announced the day after Clayton recorded his 1st MLB save to needing it to be in a BGS 9.5 case and now that journey is done.

This is a thick card and they do have a tendency to have condition issues but when I received this back in January I didn't see any major issues with it and I crossed my fingers that it would earn at least a 9.5 and that it did. I am curious what the subs are but I wouldn't be surprised if this was a strong 9.5. This has become one of my favorite Kershaw autograph cards in my collection due to the significance that it depicts.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph

And look at me now. I think I just completed the "realistic" autograph rainbow of Clayton Kershaw from the 2016 High Tek set with the addition of this base version.

I now have what I consider the achievable cards of the set. There is a 1 of 1 black and a red with a print run of 5. I might land that red one at some point but with only 5 copies it will be a stretch but other than those 2 I have all the rest and each one is included in my most recent BGS batch. Crazy how I might have a full rainbow of ungraded parallels and in a few short weeks I could have the full rainbow in gem mint cases. We shall see.

Even though this is the base it was the hardest one to acquire as I set my limit on what I considered to be a good deal but finally I won it at a price I was comfortable with. Welcome home Clayton.

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 - 2016 Topps Strata : Clayton Kershaw Clearly Authentic Autograph Black Parallel (32/50)

Clayton was pumping out his signature this off season with nearly no break as I received yet another one that was due to me via the Topps redemption program.

This black parallel was one of the freebies that I picked up during the last eBay eBucks quarter and now with the actual card in hand it even feels better that I spent zero dollars to acquire it. I now have the blue parallel and this black one and both are heading to BGS for the grading treatment. I think this one has a better chance at a 9.5 gold banner but I'll cross my fingers that they both earn that distinction.

Thirty-Two

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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 (10/25)

I got a steal on this card when I acquired in redemption form awhile back but the shine of that transaction has dulled a tad with the actual card now in hand.

A Kershaw autograph is a Kershaw autograph and now that I am not getting rid of any that don't reach at least a BGS 9 there is no way this card is leaving my collection. That said it will be a stretch for this card to earn a 9. There is a corner that the paper is coming off the cardboard. I tried my best to fix it but there is no way it won't be seen by the grader. No matter though as I will be submitting this as a RCR and if it does indeed end up less than a 9 then I will just submit it for slabbing so I can store it easier.

I had high hopes for this card but even with that issue it still is a beautiful piece as the silver autograph really looks good against a purple backdrop. Another rung on the ladder to 100 Kershaw autographs.

Ten

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number Three From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2012 Topps Heritage Clayton Kershaw Autograph)

Of all the gem mint returns I received from the raw grade review portion of the BGS event this was the biggest and most pleasant surprise of the group. Glad I was wrong when I did my pre grading routine.

To this day I think the 2012 Heritage set is the best looking of the brand and I have/had wanted the Kershaw autograph from this set for years and when The Dutch Card Guy announced he was quitting the Kershaw portion of his collection I was all over this card. Quick transaction as always with him and I had my card in hand shortly. Once it arrived though I saw there was some fraying on the corners and though I was disappointed in it I believed it would at least earn a 9 but instead of just sending it straight to Dallas for grading I decided to give it the RCR treatment. Glad I did as you can see it earned a gold banner and I couldn't be happier.

I am expecting the sub grades to go 9.5, 9.5, 9.5 and then a 9 for corners. Do...not...care! All that matters is that the overall is a 9.5 and that sirs and madams is a good day in my eyes.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Orange Refractor Parallel (16/25)

Tuesday's card was the appetizer while today's is the main course and it's a biggie in great condition.

I am/still trying to finish up the rainbow parallel project I have going for Corey Seager from the 2016 Topps Chrome set and other than the superfractor (which is a 1 of 1) the only 2 colors I needed were the Orange and Red parallels. Orange has a print run of 25 while the Red checks in with the small number of 5. While I believe the Red is a "white whale" that I probably will never acquire the Orange I also thought I could snag at some point even with only 25 copies in the world. I have seen quite a few exchange hands in the past year but I was never able to jump in and pick it up but then one day this was made available on Instagram and I inquired about it immediately and thankfully it was still there for the taking. Now to negotiate a price that was acceptable to the both of us. A few hours later we agreed and the card(s) were on their way to me.

I had already made up mind that I would be RCR'ing this when BGS came back to town as if it did not come back as a 9.5 I would flip it and wait out another Orange copy that would earn a 9.5. Well I don't think (hope) that will be the case as in hand this card looks to be great. I am still going to RCR it but I think/should be happy with the result. Knock on wood.

Sixteen

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number Two From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2015 Allen Ginter Clayton Kershaw Mini Frame Autograph)

I was hoping to sneak one past the graders with this Kershaw autograph but they were not having it this day.

I was confident that this would earn a 9.5 and that it did. What I was hoping to also get was a 10 on the autograph but since Kershaw signed it to the edge of the card 99% of the time the graders knock it down to a 9. I was hoping for the 1% this time but I got the majority instead and with that I now have 2 Allen Ginter mini frame autographs of the Dodger great in 9.5/9 condition. Even though I could have just sent this in to get it slabbed as "authentic" I decided to go the full grade route. Hate how they knock the grade down just because it goes to the edge but it is what it is.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Gypsy Queen : Corey Seager Base Autograph

A card popped up on Instagram one day (more on that Thursday) that I really wanted as it was made available by the owner. I approached him about snagging it and inquired about the value he put on it. It was reasonable but at the same time he had this autograph he also wanted to unload. I want(ed) to add to my Seager autograph collection but I didn't want this one at this time. Glad I was "convinced" to take it.

While any Corey autograph is nice to have I know GQ has quality issues but after I decided to take both cards I was pleasantly surprised of the condition of this beauty. I actually think it might earn a 9.5 from Beckett but even if it doesn't at the very worst I believe it back with as a 9. 2 great cards acquired in 1 transaction and I am glad I got them while I could.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number One From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2014 Topps Tribute Clayton Kershaw Yellow (6/30) Autograph)

Twice a year Beckett ventures out to my neck of the woods and once again I attended the event to submit another large batch of cards for my friends but for the bonus of the event is to get some cards raw reviewed to hopefully send off to BGS to get fully slabbed if it passes my expectations. I ended up sending 7 to Dallas and this is the 1st one and the only one that I was trying to cross over from PSA to BGS on a minimum grade review.

When you do a card review you can always request the minimum grade you want and for this PSA 10 I wanted at least a BGS 9.5 and all I had to do is hope that it came back with 2 red stickers which as you can see it did. I am a BGS snob and have all my Kershaw autographs in Beckett cases and now this Yellow parallel will be in one in less than a month.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Orange Magma Diffractor Parallel (11/25)

Another parallel another Kershaw autograph acquisition.

I have always wanted to do an autograph rainbow set and while I have gotten close I am always one or two cards away from completion but I keep trying and this Orange parallel is yet another chance at completing the rainbow from the 2016 High Tek set. At the very worst this adds another autograph to my road of owning 100 Clayton autographs.

With only 25 copies in existence I knew when one of these popped up on a traditional auction I would have to put my attention on it as you never know when another copy would show up. Unlike the Blue sky one this did not have as many bids on it and I ended up the winner of it for a reasonable amount which was covered by other sales. This like all my Kershaw autographs are headed to Beckett in the pursuit of Gold.

Eleven

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Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Strata : Clayton Kershaw Clearly Authentic Autograph Blue Parallel (71/99)

Why thank you Mr. Clayton Kershaw.

This is the actual card from the redemption that I had won on eBay. Unlike other years Clayton seems to be signing these Stratas pretty quickly and my copy finally made it to me as I have seen plenty pop up on the bay.

While I am still not the biggest relic guy I can not turn away a great deal of an on card autograph for this Dodger legend. Unlike the Strata inserts these are not too thick to grade and I am thinking at the very worst it earns a 9 but I think it has a good chance at a gold banner. We shall see shortly.

Seventy-One

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Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Sky Rainbow Parallel (11/20)

Well look at me. Trying to get all these Asia exclusive cards from the 2016 High Tek set and if I really am going to get an autograph rainbow of Clayton from the series this was (other than the red #/5) the biggest fish to acquire and surprising it wasn't that hard.

Once again I believe that the feeling among most USA based buyers is that they do not want to deal with a transaction that could take a long time to complete. Their loss continues to be my gain. Even with that mentality I still expected a decent amount of traffic for this card and I wasn't wrong. It took 19 bids but mine held on to snag this blue beauty and now it is my stack to get graded by Beckett and considering that it is made of plastic I hope and expect this to earn a gold 9.5 label at the bare minimum.

Eleven

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Twenty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2017 Topps : Corey Seager 1987 Card Design Autograph

I remember back in 1987 ( I  was a wee 13 year old boy then ) and when that year's Topps set came out I hated it with a passion. I did not like light wood in any aspect of my life but I guess I matured and I have started to like wood stuff in everyday life. Well I wasn't planning to get anything this early in the year baseball card wise but when I found out that Corey had ON CARD signed his cards from the new set I wanted 1 for my collection.

This is a big deal actually as most years the flagship brand always has sticker autographs which I despise. There are/were some limited (numbered) ones out there but I wasn't that concerned in getting one of those as I just wanted to add another Seager autograph to the collection. After all the hysteria of the new release had died down the prices became more reasonable and then this one popped up on an eBay eBucks promotion day and with zero hesitation I snagged it. Sending it to BGS to get graded and I'd say it has a 50/50 of gemming. We shall see.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Strata : Clayton Kershaw Clearly Authentic Autograph Blue Parallel (#/99)

I am not one to look turn away from a great deal if I stumble across one and that is exactly what I did when I found this on one of many searches.

eBay was running another one of their eBucks promotions and I had comic sales ending a day later when I came across this on a BIN auction. I was not going to use any out of pocket funds so I had to wait a day for my own auctions to end. I was the 1st to put this on their watch list and by the time I came back to it to "purchase" it I was now 1 of 15 to be watching it. Kind of surprised it was still available to me but I didn't hesitate anymore once I had the appropriate funds in hand.

Knowing that Clayton has been signing these already I knew this would be in hand shortly so I will have it for the next BGS submission batch that I am doing.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Gold Label : Julio Urias Framed Autograph Black Parallel (9/50)

Another redemption filled in a timely matter and I half way expected it to as Julio has always been a considerate signer in person so my thought process was that it wouldn't change when it came to doing these cards.

From afar this looks like a sticker autograph and I actually reached out to a few other collectors of this card (they had theirs in hand before me) and asked about it and they said no it was an on card autograph. That was a relief. I have always loved metal framed cards and this one is no different. This looks great in hand and I expect it to earn a gold label from Beckett when it goes in for grading as corners "can't" be an issue and everything else checks out.

My slow process getting back into the Julio collecting club continues and this is a fine addition to it.

Nine

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin