Monthly Wrap - April
Note: Ben’s Additions are on the left, Matt’s are on the right!
Exciting Addition
2004 SP Game Used edition Tony Gwynn HOF numbers patch /19.
This is one of the best patch designs Upper Deck ever did in the 2000s. The patch and middle of the card is die-cut and ‘lifted’ around the background by like ¼ of an inch, it’s incredible in hand and I’m happy to own a copy from this set.
2023-24 EX-2000 Hall or Nothing Gold Speckled /25
When was the last time you completed a trade for a higher end card? I’ll wait….it’s probably been a while and that’s because we often would rather just get the cash for a card we are selling. Thankfully Eric from Center Ice Cardcast was willing to trade this to me for a Fleury Clear Cut Exclusives. It was a smooth trade and one that set the precedent for future trades with collectors! It’s extra special because Flower will most certainly be in the Hockey Hall of Fame during his initial year of eligibility!
Long Awaited Addition
2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Career Best Patch /25
Long awaited in this case means the right opportunity. I knew I wanted a Pujols patch card for the collection and I wanted it to have a great design and be a Cardinals early years card. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a while and this one came up on auction: the perfect opportunity. The black and red look great, the spectrum foil pops and the patch is perfectly angular for the card design.
2023-24 Upper Deck Credentials Purple /10
While this product hasn’t even been out a year, this product/card holds a deep meaning for me. That’s because I got to case check this product on the day I was interviewed. Not only that but the Fleury picture is just plain awesome in that retro setup! The purple is the second rarest parallel, and I’d lost two prior to winning this one!
Captivating Addition
2000 Stadium Club Beam Team /500
This is one of the most intricate die cut inserts ever! And with the refactor to boot this card looks like it should be waaaay more expensive than it is. Great design for Bonds too with the black background mixing so well with the orange accents. A stunning and display worth piece!
2024-25 Panini Court Kings Rose Gold SSP
There aren’t many Panini sets that get me excited now that I see the abilities of our design team! Court Kings is one of the few sets that still combines artistic elements with spectrum foil…and it’s a perfect combination here! Shai is a player I latched onto this winter/spring as I got settled into living in San Diego. Action shots are always preferred, and he’s known for making acrobatic layups & shots throughout every game. This card depict his game so well and just looks plain amazing!
‘Overpaid but stoked’ Addition
1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified Platinum Gold /30.
Ok this card is pretty well known! Now, I’ve owned the red, the blue and came across a Boggs gold back in 2019 but it was the unnumbered proof version (considered much rarer, but it doesn’t match my blue and red!). So when this one came up I has happy to place a nuke bid to make sure I could update my run.
2023-24 Upper Deck Premier Neckline /3
Lately I’ve been trying very hard NOT to purchase cards over $25 or so…collecting Marc-Andre is an expensive endeavor and I’m nearing the time to move on from at least half of the collection. However, the neckline mem parallels of the Premiere base set are ALWAYS something to get excited about! I was able to purchase this from a person who was in a group break and the price was actually better than the other two I purchased! I love seeing the size of his jersey on this piece…it’s so unique!
‘Cheap but fun’ Addition
Leaf Vivid Gold Vinyl 1/1
Who doesn’t like a gold vinyl! The most well known 1/1 look in modern cards, and I was able to pick this Ichiro up for $10 total. It’s one of those Leaf vivid ‘pre-production’ 1 of 1s, which are a dime a dozen every year but this card with the gold and cool 80s style coloring (and photo hiding the lack of licensing) looks so cool for that price!
1996-97 Upper Deck Ice Acetate Parallel 1:40 Packs
No matter how much 90’s knowledge I feel that I’ve amassed, I still find cards I didn’t know about. I was looking up our first ever Ice product, and noticed that Thibault had a few different cards in the set, including this parallel. It actually came with a film over the top, which I of course peeled off. I do love how clear and beautiful both photos are of JT, and even better, it was less than $10! Talking to Doug who joins our podcast regularly, he mentioned the Bure is a $60-80 card. That certainly helped me appreciate the desirability of this parallel!
Month in Review
Ben: This was the first time since Matt and I have started the ‘monthly review’ where I had enough cards come in that it was difficult to pick one for each of our categories. As I’ve said before: this is a great exercise, and it allowed me to say that though this month was abundant, I’m really happy with everything I picked up. I’ll add that everything except the Boggs wasn’t something I was actively searching for, and though that goes somewhat against the philosophy we’ve been talking about involving ‘focused collecting’ in some way, I can say every card here checks the boxes I’ve outlined for my PC. So, in a way this was a less strict but super fulfilling month of collecting. I will be diving more into the active baseball players this month, I’m super hyped on this season so far - and I think I might be dipping my toes into hockey as well!
Matt: As I continue my journey at Upper Deck, I am starting to get more and more focused due to the fact that I get to talk about so many amazing cards like they are basic inserts. Because of that I have really narrowed down which Marc-Andre Fleury cards to go for. This has also helped me appreciate the 90’s card a LOT more…more than when I was collecting A-Rod in 2018-2020. This month I got to sit back and enjoy cards that I initially discovered when Covid hit, as well as pick up my first Shai in months. The Flowers I added were vert significant, which is exactly the focused mentality we both are aiming for this year! Stay tuned…as there just may be a heavy baseball flavor next month!
