Cutting Up Valuable Autographs

So for about 10 years now, I've been creating custom cards for both my and other people's collections, while showing them here. I've had a blast doing it, but 2023 is the year I focused on it more than any year prior. I wanted to show a handful of pieces that I created throughout this past year. I've done a ton more, but these cover a wide array of various designs I created, etc. Happy New Years, fellas! I hope 2024 brings you a lot of great cardboard into your collections!

The Last Trade of 2023!

The last trade of 2023 was a super fun one, and it capped off a phenomenal year for my Canseco PC. For a little bit of a back story, the first card I remember ever pulling is a 1987 Topps Jose Canseco. While it isn't his true rookie, it is his most popular Topps card, and perhaps his second most popular card ever, behind his Rated Rookie. In 2017, Topps came out with a set called "Clearly Authentic". In it was a 1986 Topps Canseco Rookie Reprint - and a 1/1 parallel. I thought it was the coolest thing -

You might have GOLD in your relic cards!

Goodness, has it really been 6 months since I've last written an article?  That's a good tell for how busy I've been.  I guess it also speaks to the fact that I haven't really had anything all that interesting to say ... until now.  While the catalyst of the discovery I'm about to tell you is going to zero in on my latest card acquisition, it is my hope that it will cause you to dig into your collection as well, and see if you can uncover gold.  It'll be a fun exercise, I promise!   So, where to begin?  Ahh

Happy Birthday to Me! The 1996 Select Certified Mirror Gold is Back!!!

Cardboard grails are a weird thing, man.  They make you do strange and irrational things, like keep you up at night, trying to figure out where to search, and even post things like this ... or this ...  or even this!    When I walked away from supercollecting, not a single card in the above graphic had surfaced the entire time I was searching.  It should be noted that the first card shown, the 1996 Select Certified Mirror Gold was my main grail I never found, and was one of three that were my favorites.  I dreamt about this card. 

Orange you glad you collect baseball cards?

When it comes to Canseco cards, some of my biggest and best trades have come after I decided to call it quits on supercollecting.  In fact, (to my knowledge) I hold the record for selling the highest dollar amount for a single Canseco card.  More on that later, but that's where today's story starts.   Back in March of 2021, I was "in a selling mood" - the dealer and collector in me often compete.  Well, the dealer in me won on this particular day, and I moved some incredible pieces.  One of which was this Dynasty beauty:  This is a

Baseball Card Relics older than a T-Rex Discovered!

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zup6xMgrtR8 I've kept this acquisition under my hat for over a year now :)  In 1902, the first Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton was discovered by Barnum Brown in Hell Creek, Montana.  Does it shock you that it wasn't that long ago?  Think of all the people who never got the chance to know about the T-Rex.  George Washington, Van Gogh, Darwin, etc.   Barnum Brown is in the white shirt, next to his discovery.  Ever since, the T-Rex has been known as the king of the dinosaurs.  If you ask a child what their favorite dinosaur is,

1932 Sanella Babe Ruth – Did Hitler Collect Baseball Cards?

Happy Babe Ruth Day! On Feb. 6th, 1895, the Sultan of Swat was born.   Ironically enough, I JUST landed this Babe Ruth card! My friend Enrique came over yesterday, and we had a great time talking. BTW, Enrique is now a part of the T206 Wagner Flip Quest!   But anyway, onto the card...it is a SUPER fascinating one ...   Babe Ruth's 1932 Sanella offering pre-dates his Goudey cards, and has, perhaps, sinister implications, as it was produced in Germany during a very dark time.     While the Nazi party was reportedly fringe in years prior, by

1996 Fleer Ultra Home Run Kings Gold Medallion Exchange – Monster 90s Card

In 1996, Fleer went wild with inserts for their Ultra offering.  Among the rarest is the 1996 Ultra Home Run Kings Gold Medallion.  Yes, Fleer didn't think inserts were enough - they had to do parallels of the inserts that were quite literally 10x harder to pull! Collectors were treated to a number of inserts, but a standout would be the wood parallel: Home Run Kings. Seeded 1 every 75 packs, the gold medallion could be found 1 every 750 packs.  A little detail that probably didn't seem like a big deal at the time has become a huge deal

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the Tiniest baseball cards, ever!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have done the unthinkable. I have consolidated my three shelves of Canseco cardboardy goodness to ONE single, solitary shelf.  Here's what it looked like before: and here is what's left standing ... Don't worry, the others are safe and sound in a box, but as Holly says "It looks much less stalkerish now".  I guess that's a win!  2022 has definitely NOT been the year of monster pickups for me.  I probably only added 2 or 3 PC cards, and likely none that I'm super wild about.  No vintage, no nuthin'.  In fact, I sold a

Jose Canseco Christmas Tree!

It's crazy to think that more time has passed since I quit supercollecting Canseco than the entire time I was a Canseco supercollector.  Admittedly, it is a bit difficult to quantify exactly *when* I became one.  In October 2013, I wrote about how I was going to sell my entire childhood Canseco collection.  I loooove one of the things I wrote in that article: Seriously?  A serial stalker?  Oh, 2013 Tanner - wait until you meet 2014-2018 Tanner LOL.  Here's a pic of the bulk of my collection in 2013 that I sold.  The biggest card I owned was probably