My First Vintage Chase?

*sits down, coffee in hand, breakfast in hand, a huge stack cards nearby. sorts them by color than proceeds to type*

I am not much into vintage when it comes to sports cards, mostly because I don't know that many players from those eras. I wasn't really into sports until 1995 so anything that happened 25+ years earlier than that didn't really have an impact on my sports life so collecting those players doesn't play a role in my nostalgia.

That doesn't mean I won't add a few players I know of, but not my top preference when it comes to new pickups.

However, when it comes to non-sport vintage cards, that's a different cup I don't mind drinking.

*speaking of cup of drinking, takes a sip*

Recently, I made a trade with @levy2628 who had stacks of 1977 Topps Star Wars and had been looking for a trade mate to unload them all to.

That's where I stepped in.

We pulled off a trade pretty fast, like we usually do, and I landed the stacks.

There was a stack of blue.

With Obi-Wan on the top.

A stack of Red.

With a picture of the spaceport on top.

And a stack of yellow.

 

With an escape pod on top.

Having all three stacks got me to thinking...should I chase my first vintage set? And if I do, how should I approach it? Need to keep in mind also that this is a very condition sensitive set and most I have aren't mint. However, being said, isn't the point of vintage cards not to be mint? It gives them their own flavor.

If I decide to go forward with this project, here is what I will have to tackle:

There are five series in the 1977 Topps Star Wars set with each having their own color, 

1 Blue
2 Red
3 Yellow
4 Green
5 Orange

but all pick up where the last one ended. Overall, there are 330 cards.

The Blue set, the most popular of the group because it has the "rookie cards" of, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

I own a good portion of the key "rookie cards", especially the Skywalker that is most valuable, I may not be too far off from the set once I gather what I had already and what I just hauled in. There are only 66 cards in the first series.

This is my first haul of the other colors and here is how they break down,

Series 2 Border Color: Red
Card Numbers: 67-132

Series 3 Border Color: Yellow
Card Numbers: 133-198

Series 4 Border Color: Green
Card Numbers: 199-264

Series 5 Border Color: Orange
Card Numbers: 265-330

Now that I have broken it all down, how should I proceed with this. Just finish Series 1 Blue? Do the ones I have? Or chase it all?

Let me know what you think in comments!

Thanks again to @levy2628 for the trade.

Hope everyone had a safe holiday weekend and has a terrific Tuesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Hospital Coffee

2024 has been brutal for me.

First, I injured my shoulder which led to a broken bone and a bruised bone/rotator cuff. From there, it has been rolling down a cliff. My car got backed into, my uncle passed away, my septic backed into my house, everyone in my household has been sick and now the latest was yesterday's early morning visit to the ER.

On top of everything else, I was buckled in pain soon after waking up on my left side yesterday morning and knew that I had to go to the ER with a suspected kidney stone. Which was confirmed once I had blood work and a Catscan done. The stone is 5x3mm and most likely won't come out on its own. So, this most likely means a fun journey to having multiple surgeries to remove it. The first surgery is to put a stent in place that I will have to stay in for a week or two, then the second surgery will be to retrieve the stone and stent. I have had this procedure done the last six stones I have had. Only once I was I able to pass one.

This means there is a long road ahead. Along with the kidney stone finding on the Catscan, there was also an umbilical hernia spotted as well. That will most likely need to be fixed with surgery later on, I will need to discuss with my surgeon first.

I cannot countdown to the end of this year fast enough. I didn't expect it to kick off like this.

At least I have the hobby to fall back onto when I need an escape.....and coffee.

 

Like this latest Emmitt Smith add to my 1995 Zenith Z-Team set chase. This is now my fourth towards the seventeen-card set thanks to another trade with @levy2628.

If you have any I don't and want to PWE trade, let me know! Always up for trading. Here is my spreadsheet of needs HERE.

Hope everyone has a great Monday. I will hopefully have more cards to post about soon and more updates on my journey with my health.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Wow

*sits down, takes a look at today's cards and jaw drops again. pushes jaw back up, inserts coffee, keeps jaw closed with hand*

*takes another sip*

I had no idea what direction to go with today's post. Do I talk about Twitter and how helpful that has been towards my collection? Do I talk about the friendships I have made in the hobby? Discussion on trades and their impact in my collecting process this year with my financial situation? Do I turn this to a Finished Cup post? Or do I simply just say Wow and go from there.

I went with the latter.

Wow was the only reaction I could have when I got a PWE in the mail from Twitter pal, @mcfarm21.

*risks taking a gulp trying not to choke when looking at the cards again*

Rick saw my Cards Over Coffee Unfinished Cup post of 1995 Topps Air Raid and looked in his collection to see if he had my missing piece.   

Which he did. I wasn't surprised though as he has a lot of great 90's inserts.

The back of the card. What are the odds the last card I needed was the last card in the set? I didn't even think about that until this post.

This is why I said this post could have become a Finished Cup post. But, I couldn't do that. He had snuck another surprise in there with this card.

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Rick has known for a while I have wanted this card from him for my Hall Of Famer/90's autograph collection and he just snuck that in there.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Can't believe he did that!

Thanks again Rick for this mail day. Finishing off a set and a huge autograph need on my Hall Of Fame list is HUGE and I am overly happy and appreciative for it.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I am glad that I decided to start posting my set needs on my blog as it has been very helpful for me. I have finished off a couple sets because of it. (thank you to those who have helped!!!)

If you are also curious what remains on my want list for autographs, here is my updated list and some I know I will never land, but they are on there anyways,

• Sammy Sosa Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Barry Bonds Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Tino Martinez Auto Card (Yanks uni only and no TTM or IP)
• Mariano Rivera Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Tim Duncan Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Patrick Ewing Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Paul Pierce Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Kevin Garnett Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Tom Brady Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Randy Moss Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Steve McNair Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Jamal Lewis Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Donovan McNabb Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Corey Dillion Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Tony Gonzalez Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Ike Hilliard Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Marvin Harrison Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Patrick Mahomes Autograph Card (no TTM or IP)
• Wayne Gretzky Auto Card (no TTM or IP)
• Mario Lemieux Auto Card (no TTM or IP)

There you have it. My remaining autograph needs.

Thanks agin to Rick for helping knock another one down.

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Finishing Up A Trade

*grabs a handful of cards and sits down to post about them. it's time for another new Cards Over Coffee post today*

*takes a sip*

*actually gets back up to make some toast to go along with today's post. takes a bite, sits back down, takes a sip, begins today's post finally*

I try to be as easy as I can be with trading.

Sometimes I will just take some cards to finish a trade whether they completely fit what I am collecting or not.

I regret it at points, but other times it works out well in the end. I will say that was the case for my latest trade with @TommyJC1.

*takes another bite, a sip and gets ready for the post*

I will start with the cards I claimed at the end to finish up the trade. I didn't know how I felt about it at first, but after getting the cards in hand, I was pretty happy with my choices.

 

Like this Ronnie Lott. Cool looking card. As I have gotten older, I have come to appreciate the older 90's cards like this.

 

Same goes for this Robinson. This would have been meh for me a couple of years ago, now it's cool and in. Just like Coffee and Cards.

Some odds and ends SI for Kids cards.

Gale Sayers and Walter Payton POG.

What do you guys think about my fill-ins to finish the trade?

Now onto the main claims.

New Jeter

Tim Tebow for my Christian Athlete PC.

Oddball Giants cards. I didn't have these two.

 

Allen Ginter claims. Always taking these.

Cards for my 90's PC for these guys.

And to end it, more non-sport additions. I may have these already, but I also may not. I lost track so I just take them all.

Thanks again to @TommyJC1 for the trade. Hope to do this again.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I hope there are others out there who do what I do to finish up a trade. I sometimes will take cards in these kind of trades for other people that I know would appreciate them. These are RAKs I do usually.

Thoughts on my mail day welcomed in comments and let me know if you are this kind of trader.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

A Slam Dunk Of A Trade

*sits down holding the final card of the trade I showed off yesterday. hope you guys have your coffee mugs filled and ready to go. I am*

*takes a sip*

Today marks the final card in the trade I made with @Pradough1.

This card today I decided to post by itself since it didn't fit the non-sport PC theme of yesterdays post.

But, it did knock off a huge want list card.

*takes a sip*

I remember back in the late 90's ripping packs of Topps Chrome looking to pull the top rookies and of course, refractors. One of the most sought after cards I wanted to pull in 1998 was a Vince Carter Topps Chrome rookie.

So, my father and I went and bought some packs of 1998-1999 Topps Chrome basketball to rip on the way home. He opened his packs with no luck, however, my second pack in almost made him drive off the road. Not only did I pull the Carter rookie, but I pulled the refractor version which was a huge card at the time. I think it was worth between $300-$600 if my mind serves me right. I couldn't believe it. I quickly got that in a penny sleeve and toploader when we got home.

The card remained with us until I moved out in 2000 from my parent's house. My dad then decided to sell it since they were in the need of money and it was just a piece of cardboard. It was a tough day to hear that news, but I understood.

I had always remembered that pull, but never tried to chase down a replacement until last year. I wanted to finally bring that card back home until I saw the prices on them. They were selling at least for $600 raw and twice that for graded. That dream ended fast so I went for the next best thing, the base Topps Chrome rookie. Those were even going for $100 which was still out of my range. Then I had to settle for the next best thing after that, a Topps version of the card which I found for under $5. That was more my range and was better than nothing right?

Yes.

But, it still left a hole in my collection however.

That was until this week when I pulled off the trade with @Pradough1.

No, he didn't have the Topps Chrome refractor...but at least had the second best option...

A chrome rookie! I can finally say after all of these years I have one!! Of course, prices have dipped a lot since last year but still having this in my possession is nice.

The photograph on this card is always so memorable to me.

Back Of The Card.

This is one of those cards when you are feeling down you pull out to make yourself smile again.

Thanks again to @Pradough1 for the trade.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I am never going to ever be able to bring home that Topps Chrome refractor version of this card, but I at least can have the card live on in my memories.

So I am curious, what is the one card you had to let go of that you want to bring back or maybe already have? Let me know in comments.

I hope all of you have a superb Saturday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee With Ted Danson

*takes a sip of coffee, this time a mocha coffee from Dunkin' from the early morning errands, and reminisces back to the 90's*

The 1990's had some of the best sitcoms ever to exist. Not that the 2000's haven't brought us some gems but none of them have really stood out like a few from the 90's. Pretty much everyone has heard of Seinfeld, Friends, Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymond just to name a few. It was a great time to watch TV and most of these I currently watch on repeats on multiple channels.

Sometimes though, it's not always the headlining sitcoms that were/are the best. Sometimes you find that gem in the rough you simply laugh your pants off at. One of those sitcoms that comes to mind for me is Becker.

Becker starred the great Ted Danson, who most remember from the NBC hit Cheers, who played the lead in the show as Dr. Becker. 

The show took place in NYC in a small doctors office run by Dr. Becker who was cantankerous and easily annoyed by his patients, friends and the world but yet cared about all of it. Which is why his friends and patients stood by his side despite how he may have treated them. 

Some of the patient and Dr. Becker interactions were absolutely priceless and left me rolling on the floor laughing.

*takes a sip of coffee remembering some of the interactions and trying not to choke on the sip*

Just last week, I acquired a signed piece in a trade with Dions Autograph Collection of Dr. Becker (Ted Danson) for my TV Collection.

Here is the signed piece

a closer look at the signature.

As always, I am a tad concerned on whether this is an authentic signed piece or maybe a pre-print. The autograph photo came from a friend of Dion's who collected autographs as well. This was either from a signing, fan mail or TTM. 

From research I have done, it appears Danson's signature changed a lot from them until now if this is signed by him. This is a clear written out name while newer ones you can read the word Ted with his last name being more of a scribble. If anyone has any input on this would love to hear it.

If this happens to not be real, I will have to acquire a real one with a COA from a respectable company. Either way, this is a cool piece and thanks to Dion for the trade.

*takes a sip before closing out today's post*

Becker ran on CBS from 1998-2004 covering 129 episodes. If you haven't ever heard of it or seen an episode, go find one and I bet you will want to watch the series.

Currently Danson plays on the sitcom Mr. Mayor as the lead after a successful run on The Good Place. Last show I watched him in was CSI where he took over the lead as D.B. Russell. It was odd seeing him play on a drama after many years of doing comedies but he did pretty well in that role.

I would be interested in hearing your favorite Ted Danson show/movie in comments.

*another sip of coffee and on to the rest of my day*

Freshly Brewed:Avant A Shockey

*pours hot cup of Dunkin Donuts decaf, yep its my brew of choice today, sits down for a very short mail day post*

(side note, when I came up with today's post title, I could only relate back to Austin Powers with their word play of peoples names)

Thanks to a tip by Dennis @TooManyVerlanders, I was able to acquire a nice two card lot from someone I hadn't traded with before.

*takes the first few sips*

@flywheels does Affordable Group Breaks and nobody claimed the Giants (or a few other teams) in his break which means he ends up with anything pulled by those teams. Dennis mentioned to me that a Jeremy Shockey patch /25 was pulled in the break and I wasn't going to just let that slip by. So I contacted @flywheels and we worked out a trade faster than I am drinking this cup of coffee.

The mail day arrived a few short days later.

@flywheels also included the Shockey base card which looks spectacular.

 

And here was the big card in trade. You can see the stitching on the patch. Avant was a great looking set. I just wished Upper Deck, who holds the Fleer license, had more licenses to be able to produce great products like that.

A fast quick post and quick trade with @flywheels.

Now it's time to plan on breakfast,

(drooling over this already)

 
(lightly toasted, the only way to eat a bagel)

I think I am going with the fruit and veggie combo again today. Of course these blueberry bagels I grabbed from Price Chopper are not the best despite coming from their bakery section which is the only way I will buy bagels to eat. I won't eat the Thomas or Lender's versions as they just don't taste that great and I feel they tend to shrink in the toaster especially the ones from the freezer section.

So I try to stick with my local bakery ones, but this time was only able to get to Price Chopper so bought theirs instead. They aren't un-edible, just not as good as my local bakery ones. That's why when it comes to the Price Chopper ones, I like to hide them in cream cheese, especially the veggie cream cheese.

*takes a bite of bagel, chug of coffee and gets to finishing up this post*

It's a sunny, warm Labor Day. Hope everyone has a great day, hopefully off, and enjoys some cards over coffee.