The Rodney Brew:2020 Select Black Die-Cut 1/1

Hello there fellow coffee fans! And card collectors too! I hope you have a cup of coffee ready to go along with today's post.

It's been close to a year since I posted a new card in this segment. One of the biggest reasons for that is the lack of new Rodney Hamptons on the market. It appears his run of cards is over with Panini as I don't see any coming up and all of 2022 was Rodney-Less.

Pretty much what remains to my Rodney chase are rares and obviously rare cards are hard to come by.

Fortunately, though, a few did pop up since last year and thanks to a very generous Christmas package from my buddy Wes, I hauled in some amazing ones.

*takes a sip*

I had two cards left for my 2020 Select autograph chase, both 1/1's. One was a base 1/1 and then there was a die-cut version 1/1. I wasn't ever sure they would pop up especially since the products are getting older and probably sitting in warehouses somewhere with my Rodney's inside of them.

Luckily one of them finally popped up, the die-cut version.

It's a really sharp card. I really like the appeal. It's like a dark roast coffee.

 

Back of card gives the autograph guarantee along with the 1/1 info.

Thanks again to my buddy Wes for sending this my way.

There are still more Rodney's to show off from my Christmas package from Wes.

Thoughts on this card is welcomed in comments.

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday Night.

Coffee Card Blogger Out.

Who Is Right?

Going to need a strong cup for today's post and luckily, I have one next to me.

If you were to see my eBay saved search list, you would see exactly what you would expect from me. 90's inserts, Rodney Hampton, Charles Way, non-sports, some oddballs and Eli Manning.

I check these searches multiple times a day and have caught some good deals in that process.

  

But, none better than this one I thought I had landed back in September of 2022. 

At first glance, it appeared as a base Any Given Sunday insert of Eli Manning from 2022 Prestige. It was a card I needed and at the time the price was right.

As I clicked on the picture of the listing, I like to blow it up to see if there is any damage before I purchase, I started to notice something off to the side.

 

It was a 1/1 version of the card! Wowzers! My first Eli Manning 1/1 card and I landed it for under $10! To say the least, I felt like a kid being set free down the toy aisle at Walmart.

I couldn't even sleep that night. It was like I had caffeine in my coffee again. Boy, do I miss those days.

 

When I woke up still in disbelief of my purchase the next morning, I went to look at it again and that's when I saw this.

REFUNDED??!?!?! What?! Why?!! I didn't request this.

So, I messaged the seller.

Here was his response,

 

Keep in mind I use my wife's account for eBay which is why it is addressed to her.

Either way, I don't agree with his response, and I never replied because I may not have been friendly. So instead, I will post about them on here. I worked in retail for seven years and we were always told the customer was always right even when we marked something wrong. So, if they made an honest mistake, they should have stuck with it, learned from it, shipped it, and not refunded.

This is just my opinion on this. You guys may have different feelings about this, especially those of you who actually sell. I know if I made this mistake and sold cards on eBay, I would have shipped it. I have lost out on trades before when I made a mistake. But, I have learned from it.

Let me know in comments who is right. Is the buyer right in this situation? Is the seller right? What would you have done on either side of this situation?

Now I am all worked up again. I may need a second cup after this post and maybe a third when I read your replies.

Hope you are enjoying your day...I was until this post brought back this memory.

Coffee Card Blogger Out.

The Process

It's the calm before the storm as I drink my coffee on this sunny winter day.

We are expecting 7-12 inches of snow which may lead to a snowed-in day. Fortunately my wife has tomorrow off from work as well.

Being snowed-in isn't always a bad thing especially when you are a sport card collector with a lot of projects to tackle.

In my limited spare time, instead of blogging I have been trying to tackle some of those projects. One of the biggest ones is moving my rookie cards from boxes back into binders.

 

At one point I had all of these rookies inside of binders. There is a row like this for every team in baseball and football inside of these monster boxes. Basketball is the same way as well except there isn't quite as much. 

Which is making this project drag on.

Putting cards in binders is a painfully slow process as you want to make sure you don't damage the cards on the way in. Not to mention you also want to check out the cards as you go along.

So far, I have only completed three of these boxes with many more to go. And this is just the rookies. I haven't even gotten to the player boxes yet.

 

As the cards are added to binders, the binders are labeled on the side with painters' tape and a number written on it. That number corresponds with the number in this notebook telling me which team or teams are in that binder.

 

The binders are then stored upright on shelves. This is the first time since the 90's I have stood binders upright. It has been said they are better stored on their sides but in order for this project to fit they will have to stay this way.

I am hoping more can be done on this project tomorrow with the snow coming. I will need a distraction from it.

Let me know in comments how you store your binders.

Hope you enjoyed a cup of coffee with today's post.

Coffee Card Blogger Out.

The Beauty Within

If you have been wondering where I have been the past few months, well, you're looking at me minus the white hair and mustache. Overtired, mug in hand and trying to get through another busy day.

With so much going on, I had to put blogging on the backburner. I was almost at the point of completely stepping away but couldn't completely shut the door yet. Or in blogging terms, close the laptop.

I may not have the time or drive to blog like I once did, but occasionally I get the itch and it leads to a post like todays. 

Though today's post doesn't involve any cards. It's more like Pictures Over Coffee.

The pictures though I found post-worthy.

We had a big-flake snowstorm about a month ago and I went out to take a few pictures in-between errands.

This will be a lilac tree once spring begins. There is nothing like the fresh smell of lilacs.

This isn't one that Charlie Brown would pick out.

Trees across the road from my house.

And I mentioned earlier how these were big flakes, for the first time ever, I was actually able to capture some of the snowflakes up close.

And this was my favorite one. Look at the intricate detail.

I may be annoyed by winter, except around Christmas, but there is some beauty to be found in it. Even though we were getting close to spring feelings here and we are expecting a 8+ inch storm for Thursday. 

So, I compare this to blogging as well. I can get annoyed by how blogger can operate sometimes, the pain of uploading pictures, the time that can be consumed, but yet there is beauty to be found in sharing your hobby with others in written form.

I hope all of you have a great Tuesday and hopefully no snow is heading your way.

Coffee Card Blogger Out.

Let Me Help You This Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day.

I sure hope you took the time out for your spouse/significant other and hand made them a card, brought them flowers, or some chocolate or at the very least made your bed on the couch ahead of time if you forgot.

Hopefully you didn't forget.

If you did, I may have some help for you. Quickly grab a piece of paper, draw a heart or stick figure-whatever suits you best-and use the following lines,

"Baby, your eyes shine like refractors"

"Is that a box of cards in your pocket, or are just happy to give them to me?"

"You are a short print in a world full of base cards"

"You Complete (set) me"

"Girl, you are Impeccable"

"I chromed everything for you just like everyone likes"

"You Are The FINEST thing I have ever laid eyes on"

"Unlike Panini, you are Flawless"

"Do you believe in love at first sight? Or should I walk by the card section again?"

"Every kiss begins with a pack of cards"

"You are my 1/1"

"Is that a new dress? You look Spxier than usual"

"Do your parents own Panini because they made a great product for once!"

"You are the missing piece to my set"

"If you were a card product, you would be called (insert name) Chrome"

"Hey, my name is Topps.com on a product release day, can I crash at your place?"

"Are you a 1952 Topps Mantle? Because every time I look at you, I smile"

"I may not be a photographer, but I can totally picture us on a Stadium Club base card"

 

"Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, I like to read Cards Over Coffee and I like you too"

If none of these worked and you are on the couch watching reruns of Friends, don't blame this messenger. Blame yourself for forgetting in the first place.

Coffee Card Blogger Out.

The Trade Game

You can buy cards, you can sell cards, but nothing is better than trading cards. There are many ways to trade them, and I have done most of the ways to do so in what I like to call, The Trade Game.

In The Trade Game, it's funny how trades work out sometimes. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you don't. I remember a trade back in 2017 I made for a Patrick Mahomes Optic rookie card where I gave up six base autographs for it which at that time was an even deal. 

After a second Super Bowl win last night, I think Patrick Mahomes may be worth just a tad more now.

Other trades, I lost. For example, I traded away a rare Upper Deck Jeff Gordon fire suit relic for a Sp rookie card of an upcoming running back in Denver named Terrell Davis. At the time, it was a great trade. Then the injuries kicked in and it was a huge loss.

Then there are trades where you trade for a card intending to keep it, but then decide later on to trade it away. This is exactly what happened this past weekend with a recently acquired card.

A few weeks ago, before the NFC Championship game, I had been looking to add a Brock Purdy rookie card to my collection thinking he was going to continue his amazing run with the 49ers. I also needed one for my rookie card collection as I try to collect one rookie of everyone, and he has a limited amount of them out there. So, I gave up some decent RJ Barrett cards as I move away from collecting him and acquired the 2022 Chronicles Prestige rookie of Purdy.

Then came the NFC Championship game. Purdy got hurt early in the game and the 49ers lost to the Eagles badly. The end of his run was over and so was the end of his card values and possibly his future as starter on that team.

That usually doesn't affect whether I keep a card or not, but when I found out my father found two impossible-to-find blasters of 2022 Mosaic football and he wanted a Purdy rookie, I have to admit, it got me.

So, I drove an hour away to Walmart and traded him the Purdy rookie along with a couple other cards for the blaster box of Mosaic. This isn't the first time I have traded cards for wax with him as my desperation to rip open stuff sometimes overwhelms me when I hadn't opened anything in a while. The thrill of the pull!

My hope was that this box would replace the Purdy I traded away so I would have a rookie of his for my collection still, but, it didn't. It did however provide something much bigger which was great since I usually take a big loss on our past trades like this.

I am going to take a sip and then show you how this box break went.

Each blaster box of 2022 Mosaic football comes with 6 packs of 6 cards. Boxes run $35 each and no guarantees at all.

Here was my best base rookie card of the box. It was also a subset version of it with NFL Debut.

National Pride parallel is a new addition to this year's product. I would have gone right by it if I hadn't seen someone else post this parallel on one of the Facebook groups I am apart of. At least this is a card of the assumed 49ers starter.

Not bad silver pull. Treylon Burks had a few moments this season, but he had big shoes to fill in when they traded away AJ Brown.

Tyquan Throton Mosaic Parallel.

Here's a guy that knows a thing or two about winning Super Bowls.

Green on Green. The offensive Rookie Of The Year Garrett Wilson.

HoloFame Mosiac parallel insert of Jerome "The Bus" Bettis. He was a fun watch when he got running at full speed.

Touchdown Masters of last year Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp.

Holofame base insert of Warren Moon who felt like he played for every team in the league for 40 years.

And in the final pack....

 

Aaron Rodgers case hit Genesis parallel. Which I must mention I had my wife open up three packs and this was in her pack. She didn't know what this was and assumed it was a plain ole parallel, but I knew better. 

I would say my gamble for this trade paid off even though I am now in need of a Brock Purdy rookie card. I am sure someone out there must have one for PWE trade. Which leads me back to the trade game again. 

There is no right or wrong in trading, only fun.

Thanks again to my father on this trade if he is reading this. I am not sure if he even remembers that I have a blog haha!

Thoughts on my break welcomed in comments after you take a sip of coffee (or tea or water or even alcohol though coffee is obviously preference here)

Coffee Card Blogger Out.