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

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,

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

The Dragonfly Collection – A high-end trading card customized for you!

Create a high-end trading card of your child, pet, family member, or friend!  The Dragonfly Collection is a custom trading card set offering created by Tanner Jones. (Me.  I'm Tanner Jones.)   How does it work?  You send a picture, and "relic" (pretty much anything that can be easily cut!), and I will create a card for you!  Don't want to send anything?  No problem!  I can send you the pieces, so you can have fun by yourself or with a family member to put together your own one-of-a-kind card in a matter of minutes!  If you want to do something,

100 Pictures of Customs, Nostalgia, Toys, and More! My Year in the Hobby So Far

This has been the longest layoff I've ever had since I've been writing, and there is a reason for it.  We lost our precious baby boy Phoenix recently, and our lives have been turned upside down.  I realize this is a baseball card site, and understand the need to keep the content relevant, but I simply can't go silent for the first time I've posted in a while without saying something.  I won't gush about it here, but for those of you who are interested, as part of my "self prescribed therapy" I've written everything that happened here.   Prayers

In Memory of Our Precious Baby Boy Phoenix

This has probably been the longest layoff I've had between writing.  A lot has happened, and if you follow me on social media, you know why.  I haven't publicly gone into much detail, so for the purpose of telling our story, and for my own therapy, I'm going to keep tapping away here at my keyboard until I can tap away no more.  Perhaps most importantly, it is my hope that telling our story in its rawest form will help someone out there who has gone through something similar or who will go through something similar.   Before starting, I would

Best Pickups of 2021

2021 has been wild for our hobby. If you are like me, you've experienced some huuuge highs and lows. Since I consider myself a collector of two types of cards (pre-war vintage and Canseco cards) I thought I'd share my favorite pickups of 2021, and want to hear what yours are! For vintage, the clear winner for me is this: 1887 Gypsy Queen Large Mike King Kelly. It is even more appropriate since today is his birthday (Happy 164th bday, 'Kel!) - It isn't just the fact that this is the highest graded example of one of the rarest cards

When Wade Boggs Gets Involved, Things Get Exciting!

A while back, I was doing some spring cleaning, and ran across these gems - they are believed to be my first ever custom cards!  How'd I do?  Apparently 12 year old Tanner left 41 year old Tanner an Easter egg that I didn't notice until now.  Check the copyright on the Sosa LOL As the years progressed, I got a bit better, and found myself creating cards like crazy for my own collection.  Eventually, people started commissioning me to do special pieces for their collections, and as gifts for others.  I wanted to share a few here that I've

O Bash Brother, Where Art Thou?

Have you ever been in this situation before?  You go on a collecting "purge" to move things you aren't in love with, only to find out you wished you never sold one or two of the pieces in the first place. That's what happened to me when I gave up what I now consider to be the ULTIMATE Bash Brothers baseball card. A little background ... As you probably know, Canseco & McGwire made waves during the 80s and early 90s as the premiere slugging teammates.  Depending upon what your favorite team was, they were either superheroes or supervillains, and

Using Baseball Cards as Memory Markers

Many of my childhood memories are attached to baseball cards.  I remember one late morning in 1989 going to the house my parents just bought.  We were about to move, and while I don't remember much about that day, I do remember being in the passenger seat with a box of 1989 Topps, and a handful of packs from the movie Eight Men Out.  I was on cloud nine - it is one of my earliest memories being happy.  I remember sitting at the table later that day opening it with my uncle watching the progress.  My gosh, how I