May Pickups...
 

Wow, you can tell cards are getting even more stupidly expensive, because no one is seemingly buying anything these days. It is the afternoon of May 3rd, and there hasn't been a monthly pickups thread created until now. Yowza!!

Speaking of 'overpriced' (your opinion may vary) cards, were it not for a big chunk of credit card points, I would've had to pass this one by. I am convinced Nolan Ryan cards will continue to go crazily upwards as it gets harder and harder to afford other illustrious superstars like Mantle (duh!), Aaron, Mays, Koufax and Clemente, so I made it happen.

1971 Topps #513 Nolan Ryan. It has the obligatory centering found on this card, but the focus is sharp (my scanner lacks the CCD element) and the only thing blacker than those borders is the mold in my shower. There's no evidence present, but if I had to guess, I'd say the submitter had the choice of getting either a PSA 8 OC or the straight PSA 6 (asking for no qualifiers) and opted for the latter...


Attachment 455931

Thanks for reminding me I need to upgrade my 71 Ryan! Great card...


Here are some miscellaneous cards I just picked up. First off is my LAST two cards for my 1959 Topps set...enjoyed putting that one together and it went rather quick. Last card is Minnie Minoso...classic card, class player. Also waited until the end for my Gibson rookie...best raw card I could find...first time I have ever owned this iconic card...

https://i.ibb.co/MV1PgQr/59-Minnie.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X523vc4/59-Gibson.jpg


Found a REALLY nice for the grade 55 Koufax...I have had several through the years and my 55 set is missing both Koufax and Clemente and it's time to get new ones. The 1.5 is due to some staining on the back...can't wait to get this one in hand...

https://i.ibb.co/L9K8sF0/55-Sandy.jpg


Also, very randomly, I wondered into an auction closing and jumped in, and upgraded my 60 Yaz rookie. My other card isn't that bad, but I just couldn't resist a good deal...

https://i.ibb.co/qdKvkch/60-Yaz.jpg

Received this one on Saturday (which is why I am moving the SGC 5.5 in the BST):

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1bd391d5_c.jpg1958_Banks_PSA_1

I bought this last month in the REA auction but just got it today, so I'll count it for May.

Darren gets the credit for this one. I couldn't pry a copy from his collection, but drooling over his '61 All Stars inspired me to get my own.

https://i.imgur.com/GjAzWc1l.jpg

Great cards everyone! This was also technically an April pickup, but just now getting around to showing it, so will include it here. I now have two of these for my ‘67 set. I’m not sure that’s 100% necessary, but it feels good to me right now:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ab859c35ff.jpg


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That Banks is STELLAR, Matthew. Good centering on a '58 is rare, and so attractive when it's dead-on like that. Great color, too.

Some progress on the 1971 Topps Greatest Moments with this Rose.

Very cool Rose Jay...I saw a few of those at a show a couple of weeks ago and I know ZERO about them...never saw them as a kid either. I need to do some research on those as they are really cool looking. Great card!

Love that Rose Jay. 1971 is my favorite set and I've often considered doing the GM set but the cost and centering issues always scare me off. Congrats on the Rose, that's a great card!

Big mail day (OK, yesterday + today) for me and my 67 set. 52 Rush is an upgrade. 54 Bollweg goes into my set. 75 mini is a mistake. Thought it was the regular issue, not the mini. Grrr.

http://www.vintagecans.com/baseballcards/mailday.jpg
http://www.vintagecans.com/baseballcards/mailday3.jpg

My Jackie Robinson postcard arrived today.

Real happy to have this one in my collection. :)

Dale, I didn't realize it took that long for mail to get to Canada from the US if Jackie Robinson sent you a postcard and it just arrived today. :D

Pretty good mail day today. Yeah, there are some centering issues, but for the price, they don't bother me much. Especially with the Brooks - it's hard to find a decent one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Dammit! I even rotated the image before I saved it so it would upload right. Why does it do that every single time??

Andrew...those are some fantastic pick ups! I'm looking for a similar Mick right now and I'd trade my Carl listed earlier for yours all day long...nice stuff! I love a good mail day...:)

Thanks! Carl has some stray black ink smudging (kind of like the dark equivalent of snow?) but is otherwise pretty nice. I already had one, but, like you, I couldn't resist a good deal with prices on his rookie rising lately.

I've wanted one of these for a long time and finally found one I liked at what seemed to be a reasonable price. The scan is a little unforgiving -- in life, the snow isn't so prominent. My favorite Topps Clemente card.

Wanted this card for years but it never fit into whatever I was collecting at the time. Still doesn't but stopped procrastinating.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bbf17f83_c.jpg

Congrats! One of my favorites and a card that actually looks better to me a little careworn, just like Satch.

Big day for my ‘67 set, this one has been on a want list for quite some time. The entire set will still be a while in putting together, but it’s now actually more of a possibility than a pipe dream:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1d2c25438d.jpg


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John....CONGRATS! Thats a big pickup right there...long gone are the days where you could pick an EX card up for a 100 bucks, and that wasn't that long ago. That is a beauty...no creases and really centered, super clean... nicely done. BTW...I am a glutton...when I finished my 67s I just kept buying high numbers when I would see a good deal as I couldn't stop looking...it was like an addiction...lol. I'm now at 450 cards towards a second set! I do need another Carew and Seaver...so...there is that...lol.

That's a monster of a card to get a hold of (or tuck away in your binder). Congrats!!!!!

1965 set
 

Great cards everyone! Nice start to May.

Upgrade for my 65 set

Nice pick up Dan...I've noticed over the last couple years Leader cards creep up and up and....good investments.

Already have a raw one with a few annoying "waves" for my new set, but saw this and couldn't resist the upgrade. Go nice with my SCG 50's collection...

https://i.ibb.co/LQfw1RD/56-Jackie.jpg


Also picked this up with a few others on a really nice set break on the bay...may have to write a number "8" on there...:) My set is really coming together...


https://i.ibb.co/FD32T8T/55-Yogi.jpg

Upgrades , '52 Topps Evans & '57 Topps Brookie Rookie
 

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/204295...BROOKS_NEW.JPG

....upgraded for better corners ; I juss like sharp corners......

....

Nice pickups, the Brooks is sharp!

Thanks
 

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/204295...IFECTA_NEW.JPG


....Thanks , ; I had the trifecta but I wanted the quadropede......( I made that word up ).....and always remember , kids , buy the holder , not the card.......


...

I was happy to get that card years ago. The one I have has a crease through the Minnesota player (Rod whatshisname) but I got it for Hank Allen. I was chasing it for my Senators team sets. :D

Nice pick up.

Those who know me understand:

Attachment 457245

May Pickups...
 

A Saturday impulse purchase at the LCS. I’m not technically working on the ‘71 set, but too many more like this and I might need to start:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b1eb641684.jpg


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Centering on 1967 Topps #600 is damn near impossible. I’m not a huge centering guy anyway, I just don’t like cards that are miscut or close to it - so for that one I found a PSA 5 that was centered well enough for me and just ran with it. Brooksie IMO is one of the more eye-popping cards in the entire set. Nice pickup!


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Thanks John. I actually didn’t expect this one to happen for a while, but had been on a selling kick of sorts and just extended it to make it work. Especially with graded, this one is going nowhere but up apparently. I figured I had better pickup a raw copy before those go crazy too. There is a podcast somewhere on the ‘67 set where I think Rich Mueller and Jim Beckett are discussing this card, and Rich was recalling being able to buy as many as you could walk away with from bins at Nationals in the late 1970’s for like $2 a pop or something. Too bad I was a toddler at the time...


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Today's mail brought me a few 1952 Topps low numbers for my set:

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...549/1952-topps

Nice cards, Tom.

I scored all of these as a lot. The 56T Mantle has a couple of small surface creases, but very hard to see. Great eye appeal overall.

The Aarons are duplicates for me and are available for sale/trade if anyone is interested.

LCS pickup on a rainy Wednesday. I don't know why I do this...I'm not working on the '68 Topps set; this money could have been much more efficiently spent on '67 high numbers or '72 commons, but alas...

Jolly / Darren - here's one for ya - notice the thin print line through "1968 Rookie Stars" at the top? How do you think PSA handles that one? I've researched it and I know, but you may find it interesting. I'm recalling at least one "PD" thread from the past with your name on it... :-)


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b96af2f356.jpg


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Nice card! Must be nice to have a good LCS. You'd think a major city like Chicago would have something, but the only one near me that I found was full of shiny stuff and Pokemon, with only one box of (unpriced) '60s and '70s cards. I picked out a small stack, and the owner started looking them up online one by one. He came back with a price that was like 2-3x what I was anticipating. Have not been back.

Thanks, in reality it's a blessing and a curse because this LCS is literally TWO MINUTES away from my front door. I have to drive by the shopping center it's in (also where we shop for groceries...) multiple times per week even if I have no business buying more baseball cards. As you might imagine, that's often a losing battle.

What's worse is as good as this shop is, there's an even better one 30 minutes away. This is what I get finally after complaining literally for a decade that the card shops were all gone. Oy.

I know what you mean about out of touch owners. Luckily my guy here is not that way. Things haven't been super cheap lately with the boom, but they are at least reasonable for a card shop and not having to pay shipping, and being able to walk out the door with whatever you want instead of waiting a week or 10 days for it to show in your mailbox.

Well yeah, but all I have to do is open my iPad to get on eBay, so...

Sweet card!!

There is one thing I've learned (probably the only thing I've learned about the subject), and it's that PSA used to be flat out ridiculous with the 'PD' hammer. I have quite a few relatively noteworthy cards with the PD tattoo on them, that I don't believe for a second would get that ink today. PSA has cooled its jets after using that qualifier relentlessly. My guess (which I am pretty certain will be wrong :rolleyes:) is that the graders would accept it as just part of the card, especially since it doesn't jump out at you. Of course, they may recognize it and lower the grade due to less eye appealment (yes, I just coined that phrase).

--elms

That’s a great looking card! Near perfect centering. Congrats!


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Is the “red dot” version the other one?

Here you go. Mine would not grade this high based on corners and edges, but clearly it doesn't bother them. The PSA Auction Prices Realized site also has multiple with the print line in PSA 5's and 6's, and one that had it in an ancient 8 (OC) holder. Who knows:

Yes, it’s above the “S” in Yankees:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...cee29d71d5.jpg


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Don't know where you're at exactly but I am in west suburbs and there are two decent card shops near me. PM me if you want details.

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Out here, I walked into a small shop and asked about vintage (there was so much shiny stuff that the store looked like Liza Minnelli's dressing room), and the proprietor said, "No, we only have the new cards. Vintage hangs around too long to pay the bills."

An odd statement for sure, as I assume if the old stuff is not moving, perhaps it might be time to reduce the museum pricing.

There is no doubt about it, the market is booming for the new stuff.

Thanks - I'm in the city and don't get out to the burbs much, but I'll let you know if I'm planning to be out there.

Latest arrival for my 52 Topps set.
I'm now down to 25, all highs, needed to complete my set. :)

I just got an order back from PSA that had been languishing in their clutches for too long. These are some of my favorites. They were all raw purchases that went straight into the "to be graded" box, so here they are for the first time. Funny enough, it's many of the same cards some of you other fellas picked up (not pictured Carew RC and '56 Jackie).

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a15511c9fd.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b0a96cce42.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3130a9cfe8.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2f68a907ac.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2e0f1b2f69.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...527e6a15fd.jpg

And finally, I present to you the best looking 1.5 Koufax you'll ever see. I've no idea why it graded so low, the back is clean.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b035bce7a2.jpg

Congrats Dale on getting to within 25 cards of completion, nice pick up too!