December pick up thread
 

I'll start off December with an impulse buy that showed up yesterday.

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=29244

Nice impulse...

Added another '52 to my collection:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ps%20Berra.jpg

Thanks Adam! Nice Berra BTW. Every time I see that card I always think of Abe Vigota. LOL!!

I’m super happy to add this guy to the collection!

https://farm66.staticflickr.com/6553...0f23da12_z.jpg


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Awesome card Matthew. One of my favorites. Wish I had kept mine years ago.

That 50 Jackie is Sharp! Congrats!

You're right.

"Tell Mike it was only business. I always liked him."

https://www.altfg.com/film/wp-conten...igoda.jpg.webp

Some great pickups so far. Added these two recently.

https://i.imgur.com/Lp41029.jpg?1

Added this one, love the centering

https://i.ibb.co/ftybSm9/4473510-E-2...54719-C9-E.jpg

With this raw '71 that was in today's mail, I now have all Ryan base cards 1968 - 1974, and now only need a nice '75, then some odds and ends and then probably a few upgrades to complete his base run up through 1993. This may seem trivial, but for someone as averse to me to building any type of run or set, it kind of feels like an accomplishment!

While this card clearly has it's issues, it's not creased and I think this one safely avoided the sharpies. I'll take it!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2cd1f5eeb3.jpg


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Not a bad card at all, John. No worries about sharpies with this one like you said. This is one of my favorite Ryan cards.

Speaking of Nolan Ryan
 

Here are a couple 1972 Topps Nolan Ryan cards which arrived today.

Again...to be graded 'when the dust' settles:

Attachment 430353

Whether white letter or yellow letter, that's a tough one to find decently centered. Niiiiiice!!!!!!!!

last one

Attachment 430367

Congrats on picking up such a sharp looking 62 Mantle. Tough to find one that looks that nice.

One of my favorites. The pinstripes and airbrushed Angels cap is admittedly an odd combo, but as a kid when Nolan hit his stride in popularity in the early 90's - this was one card I pined for that was out of reach for me. A local shop had it in nice shape, but wanted like $200 or something for it. I was finally able to get one as an adult...and of course they've tamed in price a bit since then.

I have never taken a close enough look at that card to notice the pinstripes along with the Angels hat, John. Good point.

I've never understood why there wasn't a '72 Ryan card with the Mets, and then a Traded card. Jim Fregosi (the player he was traded for...) got both.

He came out in a later series, the 5th, that wasn't printed until after the trade. So, Topps put him with his current team at the time of printing. The traded cards were players who were traded after their cards were printed.

True, the Fregosi non-traded was in an earlier series.

Some highlights from my flurry of activity over the last few weeks.

Wow, nice batch of cards, ASF!

This one will look good in my raw '73 set.

Thanks Noy! Beautiful Schmidt - I’ve been looking for one of those as well, but it’s hard to find a nice one at a reasonable price.

I assume you’re not my friend Noy from Chicago, right? As far as I know he doesn’t collect cards.

Nice Andrew! Fantastic gathering there.

Nice!
 

Good looking Schmidt rookie Noy.

I picked up a 73 and 74 set this month.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...Martin%201.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0Reese%201.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...Snider%201.jpg

Holy cow, there was actually a show out here today!!! Finally got to relish in the redolent air of musty old cardboard. The 'problem' was it was almost entirely new, shiny stuff (and all of those tables were pretty busy, which is nice), with really only a pair of vintage guys. One of them had what I refer to as a museum curator type table. Every single price on his slabs was just flat out ridiculous (think Dean's on steroids), so you just knew all of his cards were for display purposes only.

The other guy had a beautiful run of 1966 high numbers, and he was all too happy to negotiate, because the lack of a National this year has really f*cked him on the baseball card selling front (his words). I took that info to work out a sweet price for a bunch of stuff from his table, including a 1962 Lou Brock rookie card upgrade, a very decent 1966 Topps high number #591 Grant Jackson/Bart Shirley RC, the lovely Mr. Rose, plus a beautiful but O/C Choo Choo and other pretty sharp '66 highs...

Attachment 430903

Finished my low numbers with this Rolfe!

Picked up 3 more nice highs at my local show yesterday as well.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9c4c97e2d6.jpg


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To finish off my low # run:

Seems like a lot of us have finished up our low number run around the same time.
I am currently awaiting Pafko, Berra and Martin to arrive any day now to complete mine as well.

Nice cards guys, and congrats on finishing your runs. :)

Nice pick ups on all of the 52s and for those who have wrapped up their low number runs....Dale, you'll have to post some images of your 3 key low run cards once you receive them.

I felt like I just could not wait any longer on this card as it has nearly doubled in cost (value for those who already own one) over the past 6 months and just not sure where the ceiling is on this card. Not a crease or wrinkle to be found, sharper than some of my 6s. This pick up leaves me at 404 of 407, 3 more to go.

Wow, that's a beautiful looking 4.5. Congrats on a great pick up!

I will be sure to post my remaining 52's when they arrive but trust me when I say they are not the greatest examples.
With the recent price increases and the CDN/U.S. exchange rate, affording higher grade examples was out of the question, unfortunately.

Great looking Jackie. Congrats.

Will probably be the last pickup I have this year (unless I make a special trip to Bankston's while I'm off the week between Christmas and New Years). Anyway got this at SMP this weekend when we traveled to DFW to do some Christmas shopping.

I was looking at a box of 2020 Topps Chrome, but I ultimately decided on this for about $20 less than the box of Chrome. I know, probably (and most likely) the wrong decision. But I'm happy with it. It's my first Mantle. I was simply going to open the Chrome because I had some money to blow and hadn't opened any wax in a long, long time.


https://i.imgur.com/omSfk72.jpg?1

Picked up a bucket list card. Card is really really nice. It is trimmed and advertised as such. Got it for a ridiculous bargain.

Thoughts on buying something like this versus let’s say a Psa 2. There is a Psa 2 on eBay right now and this was half the price.

I’ve always avoided trimmed cards but this one is so nice and the price was right.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1ae5110f82.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...da23dd90fa.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2dd3ce6b88.jpg


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I updated John Harper's thread but I will post them here as well. Martin arrived yesterday and Berra and Pafko today so my 52 Topps low number run is now complete as well. :)

Welcome to the club Dale, Well done!

Congrats Dale, very nice way to finish out the low # run, which is for sure an achievement in it's own right!

Thanks guys! :)

Been looking for a centered 57T Mantle for some time now. Very happy with my purchase.

Picked up a couple of 1955 Topps from a set break. I wonder what the Mays would grade? Anyone want to take a guess?

Nice Mays. I’ll give it a 5.5 outside shot at a 6.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...354d5735ea.jpg

For those following the news, Wilson may enter the MLB record books as the last player to hit .400. That seemed like a great reason to grab a playing era card of his before prices went way up.

A nice addition to my fledgling ‘72 set in yesterday’s mail. I now only need the Fregosi and McClain to round out the Traded subset:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...59ee45eace.jpg


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That's a nice hedging move. Worst case, you're out a few bucks.

Picked these up this month.

Very cool card. Nice move there.

This one just arrived.

December pick up thread
 

Merry LCS-mas. Yes it’s lower grade, and I already had one… But hard to resist your favorite Mantle card!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d998a6fb49.jpg



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Try finding a Remar Wilson now...I was lucky enough to grab a 1949. I bought a 2nd one too but the seller claims it went missing and canceled. Sure it did; got a bridge to sell me too?

Picked up a couple of heavy hitters (at least for my budget). Nice eye appeal and great registration on both, just some roller marks on the Mick but not too bad. Centering is always tough on these, so I can live with it.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e057e0a8_b.jpg

WOW! Closing out 2020 with a bang, Jarrod!

Haha, I guess so. It wasn’t planned, and I had to give up some nice cards I really wanted to keep, but I’ve always wanted to own both of these together. I remember pulling the replica inserts from 1989 Bowman packs when I was a kid and thought they looked so cool. I had a slightly nicer 51 Mantle years ago but let it go for a guitar. So I had to get over that regret, I guess.

interesting little "cards"
 

I was fortunate to pick up a pile of these little guys at an auction for next to nothing. I guess no one knew what they were. They are new to me as well - from what I can tell they are 1955 or '56 Topps and these are the larger versions of these smaller picture cards.

Kluszewski is the cleanest of the baseball players. Haddix is the roughest. I was certainly excited to see the Williams in the pile - it's nice overall but has a small piece of the emulsion paper missing on his chin and along side. The Jean Beliveau hockey is missing a chip from the bottom of his skates but still very cool. There is something about vintage hockey that appeals to me (even though I don't collect it). If only the Sports series in the pile were as clean as the Rolls Royce, Bat Masterson, and Empire State Building ;)

Sorry for the King Kong images. I gotta work on managing those pic files better. Any way to manage their size/appearance from inside the post? Thanks for all of the Hocus Focus discussion that has been posted on this site over the years & Merry Christmas !

Fantastic score! Those are really tough. For more info:

http://www.thetoppsarchives.com/sear...0Hocus%20Focus

Nice pickups this month guys, keep them coming !

Please tell me the guitar was a nice vintage Strat or Les Paul or something.

Well, it ended up being a piece in the puzzle that resulted in a 50s Strat. And I do still have that, at least.

At least?? You have a 50s Strat and 51B Mays and Mantle. I aspire to be you someday. Right now I’m at a 52 reissue Tele, 56T Mays and 64T Mantle. So I’ve got a...ways to go :D.

I got a 1952 Topps Mantle

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...2%20Mantle.jpg

Well, OK, it is a 1995 Hamilton Collection porcelain Mantle, but it is as close as I am going to get...this month.

Another raw Mantle (and Hammer) card to be stowed away and graded at a better time:

Attachment 432564

and finally, my two cents:

Attachment 432568Attachment 432569

I picked up that Bench in November. It's a beautiful card.

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Classy. I like your style. I've got that too!

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It's been a slow year overall for card buying. I did pick up this 72 Brooks a few weeks ago. It hasn't arrived yet, but I purchased the 62 Brooks last night.

That brings me to 17 of 24 on my Brooks set
https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...shedset/197856


https://i.imgur.com/9tRiiqg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PckguSp.png

I thought Josh Gibson was the last to hit .400

I though Josh Gibson was the last to hit .400

No, he was dead by the time Wilson did it.

A few More Pickups
 

I also picked these up recently.

I thought Josh Gibson was the last player to hit .400?
Scott

Very NICE!!

A little Xmas gift to myself, always wanted one

https://i.ibb.co/VH7DcXM/6-FF5-FDE4-...A7619795-F.jpg

Very nice Tompkins rookie. Too bad he never panned out.

Lights-out Bench RC and great printing quality on that WS Batting Foes card posted earlier above.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7f24a3b0_z.jpg

Wow! Solid black edges!

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Wow, that’s a unicorn right there, zero 10s and a POP 31..........amazing!!!!

By the time Wilson did it in 1948 Gibson was dead.