short print cinema

A big part of some of my want lists right now are short prints.   The dreaded high number cards that companies enjoy making in order to give set collectors nightmares. My recent COMC order knocked a few cards off of the Short Print hit list.

Sadly, I'm still working on O-Pee-Chee sets from 4 and 5 years ago.  The high numbers in those sets number 100 each, and thus it's been a slow go finding cheap enough cards to fill the bill.

O-Pee-Chee mixes legend cards in with the rookies in order to fill up the 100 cards #'d 501-600.  The first five cards from this scan are from the 2012-13 set.  Needless to say, they stretched the term rookie a little bit in order to fit Joe Sakic into that portion of the set, since it had been a quarter of a century since Sakic had been a rookie.  I do like the old time photo of Joe in his number 88 jersey which he only wore during his first season before switching to #19.  Sami Vatanen is the only 2013-14 card that I added on this order; this set is much further away from completion with 130 cards to go, 54 of those being SPs.

The 2017 Heritage set also is rife with SPs (as you well know).  I decided to make a more concerted effort to get this set done a little more quickly than the 2011 set which took me 5 years to finish.  My hunt was for SPs that cost less than a buck, and these 6 fit the bill.  There are some high prices on the high numbered cards, with the Kris Bryant card being the highest that I've seen on COMC; the cheapest Bryant card is currently $13.75, or about $13 more than I really want to pay.

I still have 80 of the SPs to go, so it may be a year or two before I make a real push to finish the set. 

Frugality always wins out...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Speaking of card shows

Twenty bucks.  That's all I spent on Saturday. 

One table.  That's all I looked at on Saturday.

I quickly walked through the room at the monthly card show, and went to the one vendor on the stage.  That area usually has the biggest selection of cards in varying prices.

This month it was a different vendor, and he had what the normal vendor doesn't usually have.

Dime boxes.  Now I get the allure.  I found some great stuff in the boxes...

70+ cards towards my 2017 Heritage set.  Including 4 SPs!  Nearly 1/2 the set is complete now.  Still have over 80 SP's to go however...that's a little depressing.

4 cards for the goalie frankenset.

Some miscellaneous hockey and baseball dotted the 107 cards I pulled out of the boxes.

One of his other tables was several $1 boxes.  Discounted 12 for $10.  I didn't do too bad here either.

Knocked one card off the serial #'d hockey set.  Dallas now has 8 cards in the set thanks to this 2007-08 SP Authentic card of Chris Conner.  Didn't remember the name, still don't even after looking at his career stats.  Chris bounced around the NHL over 9 seasons playing 180 games for 5 teams.

A couple of big names from the '82 set are crossed off the list.

A trio of serial #'d cards, including a couple of Blue Jays.  I've thought about starting a small Ichiro collection, and this serial #'d card for less than a buck might just be the start.

One true vintage card, J.C. Martin from the '62 Topps set.  Haven't bought any cards from that set for quite a while, and this card has the Rookie Trophy on it for under a buck.  Just 11 more cards to hit 200 in hand for the '62 set.

A couple of hall of fame short stops from the early 80's were easy pickups as well.

A couple of my newer set projects both get a Nolan Ryan scratched off the want list. 

The 12th card I won't show as I'm going to send it off to a fellow trade partner. 

After this bounty for just $20, I feel a little excited and a little empty.  I did spend close to 2 hours at the show, but only at one table.   I'm used to hitting a few tables at each show, and even though I did well for myself, I felt a little cheated afterwards.

My time was limited though, as I promised friends that I would help them on Saturday.  I'm thinking about hitting the smaller West Palm Beach show this Sunday now; maybe I'll get lucky and find another dime box to pad my collection further.

thanks for reading, Robert