Threepointplay

Old Ball Players...

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 22:58:00 +0000

Aside from the Olympics (which has this week interrupted the baseball season as far as my armchair sporting activities go), I have been steadily working my way through the excellent Ken Burns documentary on history of baseball. Whilst I have owned the series on since it first landed on DVD, I have not watched it for a number of years and had forgotten how it did an excellent job at covering the early history of the game. So much so, that it had me trawling through eBay looking for affordable vintage cards featuring the starts for the first half of the 20th Century.

Fortunately, the same UK seller that listed the T206 cards that I posted about last week, also made available a partial set of the 1950 Callahan release. These cards were by B.E.Callahan of Chicago and distributed as a box set at both the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and ball parks nationwide. I was fortunate to pick up 56 cards for just over $16. Not bad when you consider that each card has a book value of at least $2 - $5.

In addition to cards from Grover, Alexander, Lefty Grove, Rogers Hornsby & John McGraw, the partial set included one of my favourite old school ball players; the great Walter Johnson.

Grover Alexander (Cardinals), Walter Johnson (Nationals) & Lefty Grove (Athletics)

Napoleon Lajoie (Naps), John McGraw (Giants) & Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals)

Joe Tinker (Cubs), Carl Hubbell (Giants) & Eddie Collins (Athletics)

This is the last 'new' set that I am likely to feature on the blog this year. I am going to make a conscious effort to try and complete as many of the unfinished sets I have on the go; before commencing any new chases. Consequently, I am not going to purchase cards form any releases that I do not already own.

Over the coming posts, I will though look to showcase some of the sets in my collection, that I have not shown before. Thanks for reading!

1909-11 T206 - Archie Persons & Ray Ryan

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 08:40:00 +0000

I have stated on his blog on more than one occasion, that collecting baseball and basketball cards from the United Kingdom comes with its challenges. There are no local card shops or shows to visit and importing boxes or valuable cards, brings with it expensive shipping, customs and handling fees.

But, being based in a country which has little interest not only in the hobby, but the game of baseball itself, can bring occasionally have its benefits. Every so often an item appears on the UK version of eBay, listed by a local seller which presents an opportunity to avoid some of the above challenges and make a hassle free purchase. When the seller also decides to make the auction open only to collectors based in his home country, then with less competition the possibility of bargain may also be on offer.

To my surprise, a seller listed recently listed some PSA graded T206 cards. Since my decision a few weeks ago to focus some of my attention on baseball, I have found myself revisiting the early history of the game, through the excellent Ken Burns 1994 documentary Baseball. This in turn had me researching the vintage cards that featured players from the early days of the game. Very quickly, this led me to the classic T206 issue. So there was little chance of me passing up on these particular cards when I came across them.

The cards I picked up (graded 3-VG by PSA), feature minor league players from the Southern & Virginia Leagues respectively:

Archie Persons (Montgomery Climbers)

Archie Persons career totalled four years in the Minor Leagues, the first three of which were spent plain for teams in Alabama, Arkanas and Texas. In 1912 he then is recorded as having played for a team (Bassano Boosters), 2,000 miles to the north in Western Canada. Despite a batting average of .378 which topped the Western Canada League that year and earned him a batting title, Persons is not recorded as featuring in semi-pro or pro baseball again.

Ray Ryan (Roanoke Tigers)

The career of Ray Ryan spanned over 60 years in minor leave baseball, during which time he featured as a player, manager, scout GM and owner. His playing days were spent as a catcher primarily in Virginia, but in 1910 was signed by the Chicago White Sox and attended Spring Training. It is quite possible he would have found himself catching for pitching legends such as Ed Walsh & Doc White. He did not feature for the White Sox and sixteen games into the season returned to the minor leagues. As far as I can gather, it was the closest he came to playing in the major leagues.

I admit I love reading about the careers of old ball-players that feature on baseball cards and there is little doubt that over time I will add some more from the T206 and other vintage issues to my collection.

My biggest struggle with these cards, are that they are slabbed. These are my first T206 cards and I am not able to physically have them in hand (albeit briefly before I put them in a top-loader!) which takes away some of the pleasure of collecting in my mind. Whilst removing them from the PSA holder will reduce their value, I have not bought them to sell them. But before I do, I need to make a decision in how I am going to collect cards from this set. Do I purchase graded or ungraded cards? Some further thought is required.

Kevin Love and random additions

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 20:56:00 +0000

Regular readers of this blog, will by now have come to realise that I am not someone who collects a particular player or team. My preference has always been to focus on sets, which allows me to own cards from a wide cross-section of players, whilst avoiding having cards in my collection that I do not find aesthetically pleasing. This often results in me building up a small collection of cards of a particular player, more by accident than design.

The arrival today of the 2011-12 Panini Modern Marks card of Kevin Love is a case in point. This card was obtained solely as part of my attempt to own all ten cards in this insert set. Whilst an admirer of his steadily improving game; it is extremely unlikely that I would have purchased this card of Kevin Love, if it was not part of an a set chase. But its appearance had me flicking through my collection to remind myself of the other autograph cards of his that I currently own.

First up was a 2008-09 SP Authentic RC card, that I picked when putting together this at the time of its release. It was accompanied by a 2008-09 Radiance Writing Samples dual-autograph featuring fellow class of 2008 member, Russell Westbrook. When I consider that it would probably cost me four times as much to obtain these cards today, then adding seemingly 'random' players cards to my collection can suddenly become an even more rewarding experience!

Box Break - 1998-99 Finest Series I

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I was rather surprised to see a few 1990s basketball boxes up for sale on eBay from a UK seller. I decided to grab hold of the 1998-99 Finest Basketball Series I box on offer and transport myself back in time 14 years, to a time when I was ripped open over half a dozen boxes of this particular release.

I seem to have ended up with most of the rookie cards from this set in my personal collection, but little else. So this break is aimed to go some way towards redressing matters for this particular issue and set me in the right direction to complete the set.

Base & Hardwood Honors

The box provided 122 of the 125 base cards, with 11 doubles. So no complaints about the collation from the box. I also pulled out a Hardwood Honors (1:33) of Nick Anderson. I always felt that Anderson should have got more love doing his playing days. He provided strong support to Shaq & Penny, but will always be remembered for poor free throw shooting.

Refractors

I struck out on the two refractors (1:12), landing common cards of journeymen Shandon Anderson & Isaac Austin. Although featured in a Clippers unifier, Austin played the 98-99 season with the Magic, having signed with them as a free agent at the start of the season.

Mystery Finest & No Protector Refractor

Finally the highlights of the box were a No Protector Refractor (1:24) of Derek Fisher and a Double-Sided Mystery Finest (1:33) card featuring Tim Duncan & Keith Van Horn.

If anyone else reading the blog collects, this set give me a shout...I have a number of spare RCs, that I will happily trade.

An Allen & Ginter free-zone

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Whilst most of the baseball card brethren have turned their attention to the newly released 2012 Allen & Ginter, my gaze is remains firmly with Gypsy Queen. It is not that I would not like to join in the fun; but without a local card shop, Walmart or Kmart within 3,000 miles, I am forced to wait on the mail man to do his thing, before seeing if Kate Upton is going to find her way into my life!

Fortunately, after a few quiet days on the mail front, a couple of packages arrived with some additions to what is effectively the inaugural set in my baseball card collection. Up first are three autograph cards from the pitching fraternity. Cards featuring Brett Anderson, Brad Peacock and Travis Wood are unlikely to set the world on fire, as all three are in reality a long way from becoming All-Stars. Anderson (career stats of 21-23 and 3.66 ERA), is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery and has not been seen on the mound in over a year and Peacock (career stats of 2-0 and 0.75 ERA) is currently playing AAA ball with the Sacramento River Cats.

Consequently, Wood is the only one of the three active in the major leagues. As things stand he has a 4-3 record, with an 3.05 ERA from 10 starts this year. He is next up on 17 July against the Marlins, so not having seen him pitch him before, I will see endeavour to see if the $3 I spent on his card is a worthy investment!

Alongside the autograph cards, was a lot of 19 (Straight Cut & Gypsy Queen back) minis from a fellow Brit. The highlights from the lot are pictured above. Completing these two parallel sets feel like a pretty daunting task...but I'll probably give it a go. Well ,at least until I get sidetracked by Allen & Ginter mini cards!

2007-08 Exquisite Finalists - Lebron James & Tony Parker

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:36:00 +0000

In the mail today, is easily the most expensive single card that I have purchased since my return to the hobby. But when you consider it is features an on-card autograph of Lebron James and is from Exquisite release that is hardy surprising!

When 2007-08 Exquisite was first released in mid-2008, I decided that I would attempt to collect a complete insert set from the release and settled upon the 20-card Finalists Dual Autograph set. Each card in the set was serial numbered to 25 and featured autographs of two stars/legends who had played in the NBA Finals during their career. Over the following twelve months, I managed to get pick up 14 cards as they appeared on eBay. The addition of the Lebron James & Tony Parker, leaves me needing five more to complete the set.

The short print run and increase in prices for Exquisite cards, means that completing the set is probably going to take a while. I refuse to pay the extortionate prices that some sellers are demanding and happy to 'play the long game' with this particular chase. The cards will turn up eventually.

The arrival of this card, does though give me a good excuse to showcase the other 14 cards that I have in my collection!

2012 Gypsy Queen: Box Break

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:18:00 +0000

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that last week, I added the word 'baseball' to the logo at the top of this blog. With the NBA close season upon us, I have found myself turning to 'The Boys of Summer' and have recently decided to add some baseball cards to my collection. Having done a little research, I decided that the 2012 Gypsy Queen release fitted the bill and I ordered a box to break open. Below are the results.

Base

Mariano Rivera (Yankees)

The 24 pack box delivered 60% (180 cards) of the 300 card base set, with an additional five out of a possible 50 short printed versions, with the most valuable being of Mariners Pitcher, Ichiro. When you consider the SP cards have a 1:6, I can have no complaints with the number I received. I have read a few comments from collectors expressing disquiet over the grey border from this release. Personally, I think it works sand along with excellent design on the back, it makes for a great looking base set.

Mini's

Mini Sepia - Asdrubal Cabrera (Indians), James McDonald (Pirates)

Mini Black - Ken Griffey Jr (Mariners), Alex Rodriguez (Yankees)

Of the 34 mini cards received, two were Sepia parallel versions (serial #'d to 99) of Adrubal Cabrera and James McDonald, whereas Ken Griffey & Alex Rodriguez turned up in the Black version. With only 20 of the 350 card base mini set, pulled from the box, completing the base set is going to be quite an undertaking, before even starting on the short prints and various parallel versions that are available to set collectors!

Autographs

Danny Espinosa (Nationals) & Randall Delgado (Braves)

The two autograph cards I pulled were 'common' ones of Nationals Second Baseman, Danny Espinosa and Braves Pitcher, Randall Delgado. I have got to admit, I am a sucker for strong on-card autograph sets and these certainly fit the bill. I have already purchased a couple more on eBay and there is little doubt I will chase this 40-card set.

Relics

Victor Martinez (Tigers) & Kevin Youskilis (Red Sox)

Whilst I am a fan of the autograph cards, I am less enamoured by the relic ones. But, that has more to do with my general dislike for jersey / memorabilia cards in general, than these in particular. So it is likely that I will let these particular be traded at some pint in the future.

Printing Plate

Mike Trout (Angels)

Last, but by no means least is a 1 of 1 printing plate of a rising star Mike Trout. Nine home runs, 33 RBI, a very impressive .339 batting average, culminating in a trip to the 83rd All-Star game is a pretty good way to start your rookie season! So as you can imagine to see this arrive in my first every baseball box break was pleasing to say the very least!!!!

I have started to list my wants from this release here and would love to here from other collectors who have cards from this release for sale.

Panini Past & Present Modern Marks: Blake Griffin & friends...

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 10:02:00 +0000

In the mail this week, were the first three cards for my 2011-12 Panini Past & Present Modern Marks set that I am chasing. The cards in-hand are as attractive as I hoped and I feel that Panini has done an excellent job with the clean and crisp design for these cards. Consequently, the on-card autographs do really jump out.

Whilst I have a couple of LaMarcus Aldridge autograph cards in my collection, these are the first I have of Andrew Bogut and Blake Griffin. I am still on the look out for the remaining seven cards to complete the set, but they are turning out to be less prevalent than I thought. If anyone spots any for sale around the web, then do drop me a line!

2011-12 Fleer Retro Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Oh dear....how the mighty have fallen. Upper Deck yesterday posted some images of cards from their forthcoming release 2011-12 Fleer Retro Basketball. Originally due to be released in April of this year, the released has steadily been pushed back and is now due to land in September. Whilst a five month delay could be regarded as an issue in itself, it is the above images that have caused the real consternation on my part.

I have long had a hatred of sticker autograph cards. Whilst, I understand the economics for card companies of sticker versus on-card autograph cards, I still think that they were one of the worst innovations that has arrived within the hobby over the last decade. I understand that players have numerous commitments and are not as accessible to both collectors and card companies as we would like, in order that they can sign sports cards. But, I personally would see a lower number of on-card autograph cards released, as opposed to see the flood of awful sticker autograph cards that are currently produced each year.

Upper Deck seem though intent on taking things to a whole new low. 'Autographics' cards that first started to appear in Skybox products in 1996-97 took official autograph cards to a whole new level. The first 96 card set is legendary and the releases of the next few years maintained that high standard; with an excellent array of on-card autographs from a host of then current players. As regular readers of this blog will know, I am still attempting to finish the 1998-99 version of this insert set!

So to see Upper Deck plan stickered versions of these classic 90s set, simply has me shaking my head. I was actually quite looking forward to this release and maybe adding another chase to my ever growing list. But seeing these images, I think it is fair to say I will stay away. When I consider some of the amazing basketball products that the Upper Deck was producing only a few years ago (Exquisite, Chronology, SP Authentic, Ultimate Collection to name but four), I do wonder whether we are really seeing the demise of this once great card company.

I genuinely do not like memorabilia cards

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 19:43:00 +0000

It is official; I do not like memorabilia cards. I have never been a fan, but over the last couple of weeks, I have come to the conclusion, that I genuinely do not like them. Two recent events have brought me to this conclusion. The first, was seeing some images on the Panini America Blog that pictured a number of hockey jerseys that had been cut-up, ahead of being added to cards that would be featured in the 2011-12 Prime Hockey.

Now I am not a hockey fan, but my instant reaction was 'What a waste of a good jersey!' It seemed such a shame to see patches from a game-worn cut up and in my mind destroyed.

The second, occurred upon receiving the above 2004-05 SP Game Used Authentic Patches card of Kevin Garnett. I have made a conscious decision to increase the number of Kevin Garnett autograph cards that I have in my collection and was able to pick this one up from eBay for competitive price. It would be described by most collectors as having a good 2-colour patch, but as I held it in my a hand, I was completely unmoved. In fact I concluded that the card would look better without the patch.

Now, I appreciate that amongst most modern day collectors, I am going to be in the minorty with the above view. But, the joy of the hobby, is that there is no right or wrong in determining what cards to collect. Consequently, with the exception of the existing sets that I am looking to complete, I will not be adding any more jersey / memorabilia cards to my collection.

Box Break: 2010-2011 Limited

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 15:46:00 +0000

Whilst, purchasing and trading for singles is the mainstay of my involvement in the hobby, breaking boxes every so often is something that I, like the majority of collectors, just love to do. So, ahead of the release of the 2011-2012 Panini Limited, I decided to crack open a couple of boxes of last years incarnation of this premium product.

Unless, I intend to put together a base set of a particular release, I have long preferred boxes which feature a small number of cards. With seven cards in each box, Limited certainly meets that requirement.

So without further ado, her are the scans of the cards that I pulled from the two boxes:

BOX 1

Base: Marcus Thornton (75 of 199)
Silver Spotlight: Rajon Rondo (105 of 149)

Threads: Karl Malone (117 of 119)

Trios: Kobe Bryant / Lamar Odem / Pau Gasol (42 of 99)

Next Day Autographs: Da'Sean Butler (83 of 99)

Team Trademarks Silver Spotlight: Lebron James (47 of 49)

Rookie Card: Quincy Pondexter (11 of 249)

BOX 2

Base: Russell Westbrook (183 of 199)
Silver Spotlight: Jerry Lucas (133 of 149)

Gold Spotlight: George Gervin (49 of 49)

Retired Numbers Gold Spotlight: Hakeem Olajuwon (7 of 24)

Threads: Tyler Hansborough (180 of 199)

Freshman Jumbo: Luke Babbitt (24 of 99)

Freshman Jumbo Signatures: Quincy Pondexter (10 of 99)

Jumbo Jersey Numbers Prime: Carmelo Anthony (1 of 10)

OK, so I am not going to able retire with the proceeds when it comes time to sell the above cards on eBay...unless Quincy Pondexter has a huge breakout year in 2012-2013! But, the Kobe & Lebron inserts are not too shabby and I am sure a fellow collector will happily add the Carmelo Anthony patch card to their personal collection.

All of the cards are available to buy or trade. Although, if no interest in the coming couple of weeks, I will be sending them off to checkoutmycards.

Lebron James

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 22:14:00 +0000

Can we all move on now? I hope so, but based on the various posts I have been reading on numbers basketball forums, the 'love him or hate' debate surrounding King James seems unlikely to end anytime soon. It is apparent that the addition of a championship is not going to change the opinions of his haters. The shortened 66-game season is already being used as an excuse, whilst his fans clearly are looking to right the inevitable wrongs and settle as many scores as they can.

I have long stayed away from the James debate and the emotive language that seems inevitably seems arrive at the mention of his name. I do not support any one particular team or player and simply love to see great players playing the game at the highest possible level. There is little doubt in my mind, that James is a great player. His speed, finesse, strength & skill for of a man of his size are almost unmatched and he has been the dominate player this year - both during the regular and post-season.

No matter what you think of the man, if you love basketball, I can not see how you could not enjoy watching his performances during this postseason. The NBA Championship and MVP titles were all well earned. It has taken him nine-long years to get there, but the potential, that became expectation, has finally resulted in a victory.

Wanted: 2011-12 Past & Present Modern Marks

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:53:00 +0000

My three hiatus from the hobby, has resulted in my collection lacking any cards from 2010-11 & 2011-12 releases. This is not something I feel happy about and have decided to rectify. Although I fully expect to purchase some autograph cards from the forthcoming 2011-12 Panini Limited & Gold Standard releases, there is one small chase that I have decided to start on immediately.

The set in question is the ten card 'Modern Marks Autographs' insert set from the 2011-12 Panini Past & Present release. The autographs are all on-card, with a design that jumped out at me when I first saw it previewed by Panini earlier this year. The checklist also includes some younger stars (Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Kevin Love and Blake Griffin) that are under represented in my collection.

I have already purchase two cards from the set, which I will showcase on their arrival, but I have eight more to go. So if anyone reading this blog knows of any cards from this set for sale to trade, then please hit me up via my Contact Me page.

2000-01 SP Authentic - Sign Of The Times

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:08:00 +0000

I have been distracted today, both by a slightly crazy day at work and England defeating Ukraine 1-0 in the Euro 2012 'soccer' tournament. This victory (somewhat surprisingly) takes my home nation through to a quarter-final game against Italy on Sunday. Consequently, this is going to be a quick and simple post to show off a couple of 2000-01 SP Authentic Sign of The Times autograph cards that arrived in the mail today.

DeShawn Stevens (Jazz) and Marcus Fizer (Bulls) are 19th & 20th additions to my collection from this 48 card set and so take me past the halfway mark of this particular chase. I have to admit that this particular set building exercise falls under the "I've started so I will finish" category. There has been more than one occasion, when I have pulled the cards out of the cards and wondered why I am attempting to complete the set.

The 2000-01 rookie class was pretty poor (with not a single player able to muster a scoring average above 20ppg), resulting in what can be best described as a pretty uninspiring checklist. The only stars to feature are Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki and Reggie Miller; none of which I currently have in my possession.

But, the autographs are all on-card and I do like the design. So having come this far, I have now hit the point of no return and will eventually close this chase out. The 20 cards that I do own, can be found on display here in my Photobucket.

An 'Exquisite Final' for King James?

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:41:00 +0000

We have been here before: Eastern Conference Champions and 2-1 up against the best from the West. But, will the result for Lebron & his Heat teammates be the same as last year? Possibly not. The first change is that the Heat have home court advantage for the next two games. But, as we saw in Game 5 of the Conference Finals against the Celtics, they are not invincible at the America Airline Arena.

More importantly, Lebron James seems to be on top of his game this year; whereas he under-perfomed in 2011. He is averaging 30.3ppg this year versus 20.3ppg against the Mavericks in 2011. If the memories from 12 months ago, continues to drive Lebron, Wade and Bosh forward, then they might finally be able to put the pain of that defeat behind them.

It will also mean that the torch held by 5x champion Kobe Bryant for the last 10 years will finally be handed to LeBron James. Whilst, it could be argued, from a hobby perspective, this happened a number of years ago, King James was in danger of being upstaged by the young Prince Durant. It will be intriguing to see over the course of the next few days, if the long-expected coronation does finally happen.

1996-97 Finest set chase...second time around

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 18:17:00 +0000

I make no excuses for the fact, that my recent posts have been dominated by cards that were released in the 1990s. As I have returned to the hobby, I have concentrated on trying to complete the chases that I started but never fully completed. One set I did though complete back in the day was of the 1996-97 Finest base set.

This 291 card set, was released in two series and divided into three seperate tiers; the 'common' bronze, 'uncommon' silver and the 'rare' gold tiers. In the early days of the internet, putting together the whole set (which had a high book value of $1,300 at the time of its release) was pretty tough ask and a took good deal of work finding all of the cards. Consequently, I was pretty pleased with the achievement when I completed the set within two years of its initial release.

In early 2002, I made the decision to sell the complete set (along with a number of other cards) to help fund a round the world trip. I actually was out of the country for just shy of two years and had an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience, travelling through Central & South America, Australasia and Asia before returning to the rat race in 2004. So I can not say that I regretted the sale, or that the funds I received from it, were not put to good use.

But not owning the set grated. So much so, that a few years ago I decided to repeat the exercise! In my mind there is little fun in going and buying a complete set. I like to do things the old fashioned way. So I bought two boxes (one from each of each series) and busted away! This took me quite close to completing the bronze common set and I have since been steadily adding the missing silver and gold cards ever since. The delivery that I took from checkoutmycards.com yesterday, has brought me with 15 cards of finnishing the chase for a second time.

The standout cards (then as now) are the Kobe Bryant bronze RC #74 and gold #269 card, quickly followed by the Michael Jordan gold #291. With the the resurgence interest in his 1990s insert cards, the Kobe gold cards in particular has jumped in price of late and currently has a High BV of $150 - compared to $60 back in 1997. It is in the gold cards of other players where the set has seen a price reduction. Whilst the gold cards of Grant Hill, Allen Iverson and Kevin Garnett once had a High BV of $60, they are now only listed with a value of $12, $20 and $25 respectively.

I should be able to complete the set relatively easily over the course of the coming weeks. I then need to decide if I want to take on the slightly harder (and significantly more expensive) task of chasing the refractor parallel set.

Finally, as you can see from the images below, I am very much in the 'do not peel' camp. Always have, always will be.

Check Out My Cards!

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 11:35:00 +0000

I recently decided to try out checkoutmycards.com and placed an order for 100 lower price cards on their website. This morning the cards arrived and I have to say that I am very impressed with the website and its service offering. The site itself is intuitive and simple to use. I was quickly able to locate the cards I wanted, add them to my cart and make a payment via PayPal.

My order was quickly acknowledged by the site and I received regular communication, prior to them being dispatched. I particularly liked the e-mail I received that provided a copy of my invoice and included a simple statement that read "your order is being packaged to....if this address is incorrect, please reply to this email". Simple, but a very nice touch.

The package arrived in the mail today and as you can see from the image above, was superbly packaged. Each card was in a soft sleeve and then placed into a standard 200 count card storage box. The box was then packed out with polystyrene foam. This box was then packaged in a second box and again packed out with polystyrene foam and my invoice. Perfect!

In short an excellent experience and one I will look to repeat regularly; particularly for lower priced cards which are not always easy to find. I am that impressed with their website, that in the not too distant future I am going to send in some cards to sell as well.

Thoroughly recommended on my part.

NBA 50 Greatest Players - Rick Barry

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 22:21:00 +0000

Although my focus is on players who starred in the 1990s, I occasionally find myself drawn to the legends of the game who starred in the previous four decades of the NBA. The 50 greatest players in NBA that were chosen in 1996 to mark the 50th anniversary of the league itself is a list that I regularly referring back to.

Whilst I would like to add some vintages sets to my collection, I have enough chases going on to keep me busy for the moment. But every so often I do add do find myself drawn to a vintage card of an NBA legend. One such example is a 1971-72 Topps Rick Barry RC, that I picked up to recently. The thing that is unusual about this particular card from my perspective, is that it is graded. I am not usually one to buy graded cards, but this particular card was competitively priced, so I decided to make an exception.

But now that I have it in my possession, I find myself wanting to remove the card from its 'slab'. I keep flipping it over in my hands, wondering if I should just go ahead and break it open. I like to (occasionally at least) hold the actual cards in my hands and it seems a little strange to think, that I will own a card never physically touch and remain encased permanently in plastic. It seems to detract from owning the card somewhat. Anyway, that is probably a decision for another day.

1995-96 E-XL: Chase completed

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:55:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, I published details of the insert set, Natural Born Thrillers, from the 1995-96 E-XL release, that I had completed. In the mail today was the final card, that means I now own every single card from this release. So in addition to the 100 card base set, the Blue parallel version, I have also completed the four insert sets: A Cut Above, No Boundaries, Natural Born Thrillers and Unstoppable.

Whilst clearly not the most expensive set around, in total it only has a book value of $570, it is the first time I have completed a full release from the 1990s. So the addition of the final card result is a little personal milestone...which only took 16 years to complete!

Ahh well, I got there evenutally.

Pictured above is the the complete collection, whilst below is a close up view of the three main insert sets from this release.

A Cut Above (1:130 packs)

Natural Born Thrillers (1:48 packs)

No Boundaries (1:18 packs)

1998-99 Bowman's Best Autographs

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:27:00 +0000

In the mail today was an addition to another 90s autograph chase that I currently have on the go. The 1998-99 Bowman's Best Autograph card of Mike Bibby, arrived to join seven other cards I currently have from this nine card insert set. I started to put it together after breaking a couple of boxes when the product was first released and pulled a the Michael Doleac version; which considering the cards were issued at 1:568 packs felt like a pretty amazing pull at the time! Despite these odds, the cost of these cards are currently not that high; the Kobe Bryant has a Beckett BV of $120, with the Mike Bibby only valued at $15.

The cards, which feature the same design as the original base and rookie cards from the underlying set, are not really suited to displaying the player's autograph. Consequently, it could be argued that, when compared to more recent releases, they are not that attractive. But I feel this means they have a 'through the mail' feel to them, as opposed to a professionally designed autograph release that are commonplace today.

To complete the set, I am on the look out for the Tim Duncan version. So if anyone reading this, has one for sale / trade at a reasonable price, then drop me a line.

1998-99 Skybox Autographics additions

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 12:18:00 +0000

After a little lull in deliveries, three more cards for my 1998-99 Skybox Autographics chase (taking the total to 91 cards), arrived in the mail this morning. As is often the case when I am adding slightly lesser known players to the set, I find myself doing a little research on them, to find out how their careers panned out.

Whilst both Reggie Slater and Adonal Foyle had strong carers that lasted 8 and 12 years respectively, the 'journeyman' career of point guard Anthony Johnson jumps out at me. Johnson joined the league in 1997 after being drafted mid-way through the second round by the Sacremento Kings, with the 39th pick. Now clearly the standout players from the Class of '97 are Tim Duncan, Chauncey Billups and Tracy McGrady who are all still active and will finish their careers have played over (or in the case McGrady close to) 1,000 games when they finally retire from the game.

Johnson then though finds himself in the next group accompanied by the likes of Anthony Daniels, Tony Battie and Tim Thomas, having played just under 800 games during his 13 years in the league. Although far from unique for a player of his abilities, Johnson played his trade in Sacramento (twice), Atlanta (three times), Orlando (twice), Cleveland, New Jersey, Indiana and Dallas. His career stats ended with him averaging 5.6ppg from just under 20 minutes per game, during which, for the most part, he featured as the back-up point guard on each team he played.

I would be particualrly interested to hear Johnson's view on his career and specifically his personal highlights from a career, with total earrings that topped just over $19 million. He was on the roster of teams that reached, but lost, the NBA finals on three separate occasions. He was with the Nets in 2002 & 2003 and the Magic in 2008, but only played during his first two visits to the finals, being unused in the final series.

In 2008 his then coach Stan Van Gundy said of Johnson that "His professionalism, his work ethic, his toughness are the reasons that he's' had the lengthy career that he's had. He's a competitor." Owning a card that has hand signed by such an athlete and actually only cost me $5, is one of the simple pleasures to be gained from of this hobby.

More Chronology

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:57:00 +0000

In the mail today was another canvas autograph card from 2007-08 Chronology, courtesy of fellow UK collector Will Clapton. On this occasion it is a 'Timeless Memories' version featuring Clyde Drexler and records his feats in the 1994-95 post season that led to his NBA Championship victory with the Houston Rockets. This new addition sits well alongside the 'Legend' version I pulled from a box I opened back in 2009.

Cards from this set are becoming ever more expensive, as collectors increasingly come to realise how unique the design and strong the production was from Upper Deck and I was fortunate that Will was happy to let me purchase this from his collection.

2007-08 Upper Deck Premier Penmanship

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:30:00 +0000

On Saturday, I posted an image of a 2007-08 Upper Deck Premier Penmanship card of Dennis Rodman, that I had received that morning in the mail. Today, I thought I would showcase the four remaining cards from the same set that accompanied it. Namely those of Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, Walt Frazier and Dominique Wilkins.

The Paul Pierce version is a particularly pleasing addition, in that not only does does it fit in with my focus on autograph cards of players who were drafted in the 90s, have been an NBA All-Star and won an NBA Championship, but it is also the first card featuring his autographed that I have in my collection. It's arrival, with the Celtics forward currently pushing hard for his third appearance in the NBA finals in five years, is also well timed.

The 2007-08 Upper Deck Premier release featured some great looking autograph cards (I particularly liked the 'Consummate Masters' set) and I plan to add a number of others stars & legends from this set to my collection ver there coming months. If anyone has any for sale or trade, please do hit me up via the 'Contact Me' page, which can be found on the right hand side of this blog.

I am sorry, we do not ship internationally

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:53:00 +0000

One of the irritations that 'international' collectors such as myself face, is the unwillingness of eBay sellers based in the USA, to ship cards outside of their home country. Vast swathes of auctions featuring cards that I would like to bid on, seem to feature the dreaded 'no international bidders' phrase in the description. Invariably this means that, accompanied by a small shake of the head, I simply have to move on to the next auction, in the hope of finding a seller who is willing to ship overseas.

Occasionally matters are though made worse, when you come across an auction from a long standing seller, with no apparent fear of oversees shipping and you still are unable to complete the purchase of the card of choice. This happened to me today, when I chose to hit the Buy It Now button on a very nice looking 2010 Limited Decade Dominance Materials Prime Signatures card of Clyde Drexler. Over the last week, I have found myself focusing my attention on his cards and this particularly one drew my attention, being serial numbered only to five and offered at a price that I thought was a fairly attractive one.

Having hit the BIN and (apparently) secured my purchase, I sent a request for an invoice to the seller. But, within the hour, the seller had issued a cancellation request for the auction, accompanied by a message stating that they "...did not feel comfortable with international shipping". Whilst I considered attempting to convince him the error of his ways, I have long held the view that (as with a real world transaction) until I have handed over my money, the seller is able to set the terms of a particular transaction. I thus accepted the cancellation and accompanied by a small shake of the head, moved onto the next auction.

The outcome of the auction has though been irritating me, as in over 12 years of buying and selling cards on eBay, I have had no problems whatsover with the combined services provided by the US and UK Postal Services. The USPS is just as efficient as shipping envelopes to London, United Kingdom, as it is London, Ohio. A single card, held in a top-loader and packed in a padded envelope can be shipped to the UK via USPS airmail for $2.99. A certificate of mailing, will add a further $1.15 to that cost. Within four days that card will have found its way into my hands without any problems. For high value cards (which I personally regard as in the $150 - $200 plus range), then using the Priority Mail Service at a cost of $16, provides additional protection.

I appreciate that there are going to be countries throughout the world, where the postal services are not as efficient as those operating in the USA. But, to exclude buyers from major developed markets seems a little narrow-minded in my book. Thankfully, there are enough sellers in based in (amongst others) the USA, Japan, Germany, France and Australia that seem to have gained sufficient experience of the effectiveness of the workings of postal services throughout the world, not to restrict their market to just domestic customers.

Western Conference Playoffs - Serge Ibaka

noreply@blogger.com (threepointplay) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 13:17:00 +0000

Serge Ibaka's career high performance in the Eastern Conference Finals last night, no doubt had a number of collectors, scrambling around trying to remember which of his cards they had in their collection. His perfect 11-for-11 shooting from the field in the first half of Game 4 of the Thunder's playoff series against the Spurs; set the Thunder on the road to victory, before one Kevin Durrant closed matters out in what is becoming his usual inimitable manner.

Whilst, the Congolese forward is someone is renowned for his defensive abilities, having ended the season as NBA blocks leader and finding himself on the All-Defensive team for the first time, last nights performance was clearly his standout offensive game since he arrived in the league three years ago.

Judging by the listings that have appeared on eBay over the last 24 hours, the value of his cards are going to rise a little. If he keeps hitting the outside-jump shot as he did last night, then the price rise may well be more permanent. I think I will hold onto the 2009-10 Crown Royale RC (that I pulled from a box when the product was first released) and see what happens for the remainder of the season.