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The Collectible Shift: Investing in Baseball Cards Amid Tariff Uncertainty

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 18:34:00 +0000

Hi Friends,

Recently, we've seen a trend with a lot of interest in collectibles coming from some new buyers who would not usually purchase Baseball Cards and Pokémon Cards, so it led us to do a little bit of digging.

What we found was quite interesting, and definitely makes a lot of sense, given the current market conditions, and the trepidation over the ultimate level of tariffs that we will be seeing over the next several months.

Of course, Baseball Cards and other collectibles are a great investment, however, they are not a guaranteed way of increasing your wealth. This is important to put out there before we go further.

There are a lot of great reasons to buy and invest in collectibles:

* They are a great way to diversify your investments, to go along with any stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. that you may already own.

* They are a "reach out and touch" investment (a tangible item) - a great investment for people who want to invest in a physical item.

* Collectibles bring a lot of enjoyment outside of being just a potential investment.

It's important, though, to keep in mind that when you are looking to sell a collectible, there is the potential for you to sit with that item for a while before it sells. Of course, that depends on the item and the demand, but also, on the condition, and whether it has been authenticated and/or graded, if applicable.

Furthermore, you need to consider any potential tax implications based on how long you have held the collectible before selling, so it is important to check with your tax professional regarding any of those considerations.

Jumping back to where we began, several non-conventional buyers have began to jump into the market, turning collectibles into viable assets.

A recent article in the New York Post ("Tariffs are driving investors to Pokémon and Mickey Mantle as trading cards gain credibility as domestic assets"), says that "Collectibles have emerged as a legitimate asset class: a $600 billion+ global industry, with trading cards alone valued at more than $15 billion as of 2024.".

The article goes on to say, "As tariffs begin driving up the cost of imported goods, consumers are increasingly turning toward domestic assets already here — resale markets, collectibles and trading cards are seeing a surge in demand as investors seek out alternatives beyond the traditional mix of stocks and bonds".

This is certainly the case with what we are seeing, and upon speaking with some of our newer "non-conventional" buyers, this is exactly what they have told us about why they are jumping into what is a new class of assets for their portfolios, and diversifying their portfolios with rookie cards, autos, graded cards, and more.

The overall market will always re-invent itself, and morph, based on changing market conditions, and this is certainly what seems to be happening right now. Another exciting era in the hobby begins!

Stay Tuned as things seem like they will be evolving over these next several months.

Thank you, and have a great week!

Rob
CardboardandCoins.com

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Baseball Card Scams And Fraud During The Holiday Season

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 01:37:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

Hello Everyone,

I hope your Holiday season has been great, thus far!

If you've been buying baseball cards and coins for either yourself or that special collector in your life, you know that there are a lot of deals out there, both online and in-person/in-store, but some deals might just be too good to be true! There is always an element of fraud in the market, but during the Holiday season, fraudsters seem to flourish.

We're going to take a look at some different types of fraud that can occur in the sports cards market, and we'll define a few of the more common deceptive practices that may occur when buying or selling sports cards. Again, these scams are more prevalent during the Holiday season, when there is often an increase in transactions.

Some of the most common, yet, obvious types of scams have to do with the physical card, itself. For example, with the sophisticated manner in which items can be duplicated, many cards can be made to look genuine, even down to what appears to be "aging" on a card. Counterfeit cards are a widespread type of scam, especially with the more expensive cards on the market. Another type of scam is when a seller will trim the edges of a card to alter it so that it looks as if the card has perfect edges on it, or to remove some markings or damage.

Combating counterfeit cards as a buyer can be difficult, so it is often advisable to purchase the more expensive cards that are on the market from a reputable seller. In terms of protecting yourself from sellers who alter cards, you have to do your homework, and by this, I mean that you have to know the true dimensions of a card (exact size), as well as know how to tell if a magic marker or a Sharpie was used to cover up some chipping along the edges or corners of a card.

One of the more devious scams is fake autographs that are passed off to the buyer as authentic. A good rule of thumb is to know what the autograph looks like and compare it to the signed card that you are looking to purchase. As with counterfeit and altered cards, the same rule applies here; try to make purchases of higher-end autographed items from a seller that you have purchased from before and/or a reputable seller with a long-track record and positive reviews for other signed merchandise that they have sold. Another layer of security on top of this is to ask for certificates of authentication, to prove that the signature was witnessed by a respected authority in the hobby, such as JSA, among others.

One additional way to protect yourself from these types of fraud that we've been discussing is to purchase cards that have been professionally graded by one of the more popular grading companies, such as PSA or Beckett Grading. Once the card is graded (and if there is an autograph, once they authenticate it), the card will be put in a "slab", which is a heavy plastic protective and display holder, along with the grades that the card received, and along with a bar code or a serial number. You can check the serial number online with the specific grading company, which will allow you to verify that the slabbed item is truly from the grading company.

Along with these physical types of scams, there are some others that you may come across online.

As you search around online, there are sites out there that exist solely to steal your payment information. For example, you might receive unsolicited e-mails that are telling you about a great card that became available at an amazing price. However, when you click the link and go to check out, you are giving your information and payment details to a fraudster. This is a form of what is called "Phishing". How can you protect against this? Again, always know the seller from whom you are purchasing, never click any e-mail links from someone who you do not know and be careful with obscure websites that you may come across when searching online.

One last thing to watch out for is when you are making a payment. It may be obvious to some, but always remember; never send cash through the mail, and be wary of sellers asking you to pay via wire transfers and other "non-traceable" forms of payment. When you are making a payment, the payment page should always be secure and should have an "https" (the secure form of "http") in the website address on the browser web address line. This will ensure that you are entering your payment details on a page that is encrypted for your protection.

The Holiday season is an incredible time of year, but along with the holiday parties and the holiday shopping, you truly have to stay informed and do your research! Find and use only reputable sellers, and watch out for deals that seem too good to be true. If a deal looks too good to be true, then there is a very good chance that it just might be too good to be true!

I hope this has been helpful!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and get out there and buy some great cards!

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The Sports Card Hobby Just Keeps On Rolling!

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 00:30:00 +0000

Hi Friends,

I hope this weekend finds you doing well!

A typical weekend for me always involves some kind of baseball card purchase, mixed in with everything else that's thrown at me, and this weekend has been no different!

I have noticed that everything is getting more crowded by the day, and our great hobby is no exception!

During the pandemic, there was a huge boom in the sports card market, not just limited to baseball cards, rather, all sports cards.

This certainly made a lot of sense, because people were home, and looking for things to occupy their time. Additionally, there was a lot of extra money that was thrown into the hobby from the stimulus checks that some people had received, and as always, people with extra money will certainly find ways to spend that money!

However, now that the pandemic is "over", that market boom is certainly continuing, with no signs of slowing down.

Recently, I went to the National Card Show in Long Island, and in all my years of attending this show, I have never seen it more crowded than it was. The line to get in was out the door, and once inside, there was barely room to move.

Keep in mind that there were some top names signing autographs at the show, but there were always top names signing at these shows. In speaking with some of the vendors that I know at the show, they said they could not keep up with the people at their tables. They said that they had a rough time juggling between people asking questions about their cards, people forking over cash to pay for cards, and, of course, keeping an eye on the rest of their tables to make sure some of their cards didn't get up and "walk away".

One vendor who I purchase unopened boxes from told me that he regretted not bringing someone with him to help out after he saw how chaotic and crowded it was on that Saturday, because on Sunday, it was just as crowded and maybe even more than the day before.

It's not just in one location or part of the country.

A recent article titled, "Three years after pandemic boom, trading card industry still going strong", John Russo talks about a collector who got his start in the hobby during the pandemic, and attributes the influx of new collectors in the hobby as follows; "...when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, many old hobbies experienced a renaissance, including...." sports cards and trading cards.

REASONS FOR THE CONTINUED BOOM IN THE HOBBY:

The continued interest in the hobby can be attributed to a couple of factors.

The first is obvious, which is that new collectors that came into the hobby during the pandemic have stayed. They have caught "the bug", as I call it, or the desire to keep adding to their collection.

As Russo said in his article; collectors are now "fully immersed in the hobby", which sums it up!

There is something for everyone in card collecting, whether it is unopened packs and boxes, rookie cards, serial numbered cards, short prints, refractors, sets, autographs...there is more than enough to keep everyone hooked and having fun!

On that notion of "fun", there is also something behind that, which is that collecting cards, as a hobby, is therapeutic, and is great for mental well-being. It helps you focus on something positive (an "escape"), brings you a little more excitement, something to work towards, and helps you be a part of something greater than yourself...to be part of a community of others just like you, who love collecting cards!

After all, what’s more exciting than opening a pack of cards and seeing that gorgeous Mojo Refractor "1st Bowman" Rookie card staring right at you! It is a feeling of excitement that only a true collector can appreciate, and the fact that more and more people are experiencing that great feeling is definitely a good thing!

Thank you for joining me today!

Rob

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Collecting Baseball Cards In The 1980s...3 Fond Memories, Part 2 Of 2

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 18:10:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

I'm glad to have you back with me, and I am excited about telling you a little more about collecting baseball cards during the primitive 1980s, along with 3 fond memories, for me, from that period of time.

In part 1 of this story, "Collecting Baseball Cards In The 1980s...A Whole New World, Part 1 Of 2" (You can read Part 1 here: http://blog.cardboardandcoins.com/2021/12/collecting-baseball-cards-in-1980s.html), we left off with me looking like a deer in headlights when I read about the most incredible thing ever...that there were such events called "Baseball Card Shows", which were like a convention of baseball card sellers in one huge open space, such as a hotel conference center, or a convention center. In my case, it was the Adria 2 Conference Center and Motel in Bayside, Queens, as well as the Golden Gate Inn in Brooklyn (as well as another show in Hempstead, Long Island). These were all places nearby, where people would gather to buy and sell their cards!

I questioned myself..."Do such events truly exist??"

There was one card show coming up the following weekend, just a few short miles from my home, and I begged and pleaded with my parents to take me, which they did, luckily!

The crowds were dense, and it was like walking on air! Cards everywhere. As far as the eye could see.

There were many tables with rows and rows of cards that folks were thumbing through with little pieces of paper. I asked someone what was on their paper, and they said it was a list of cards they needed to complete their 1975 Topps set! That thought stuck with me, and I planned on making the same type of lists for my sets when I got home, before the next card show.

I met some great folks at these shows, "vendors", and over time, I began to know them by name, and vice versa. One really nice older gentleman had a gumball-machine type of baseball card dispenser, and for 25 cents a turn on the machine, I was pulling out cards from the 1950s! Remember, this was 1980s, before the prices really spiked! Each time I got another card, he asked me if I wanted a "Gosinta"? He found it quite funny! He said it to everyone. Why? Because they would ask what a “Gosinta” is, and he would reply, "it holds the card...your card ‘GOES INTA’ the holder!". I guess that was part of his joy in the game! He was there every week, and I got so many incredible cards from him, and a stack of “Gosintas”!

Being a newbie to card shows, I did make some "Silly Rookie Mistakes". One specific time stands out for me, and a vendor had a really good laugh. I had asked him how much his 1963 Topps Pete Rose rookie was, and he said “Two Fifty”. I took out two dollars and two quarters and went to give him $2.50 for the card, and he said, no, so, $250! Yikes! I turned beet red!

Amidst the chaos of these shows (and aside from my confusion with the multiple Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, and George Brett versions in that pesky 1981 Fleer Set), I had a blast. After going to several shows, I figured I would try and bring some cards with me to sell, but when the vendors looked them over, I learned a valuable lesson in this era before grading companies existed; condition matters, and the price of the card depends on the condition of the card! How could I find out the prices for cards across different conditions? The Beckett Baseball Card price guide, of course!

With that said, this now brings me to my first memory of those times:

#1 "BECKETT WAS BIG!":

The Beckett Baseball Card price guide was better known as the "Bible" of baseball card collecting in the 1980s. This incredibly comprehensive book had almost every card ever produced listed within its covers, along with conditions and pricing.

What is my take-away...my memory here? Well, this huge book was only produced once a year, so I remember waiting, waiting, waiting for the next issue to be released to see if the prices of my cards had gone up in value. It was absolute torture! In between issues, it was all a big guess! It was a very primitive time! Have I mentioned that yet?

Fortunately, with the price guide, I was able to price my cards a little better, and my first venture into selling cards came by placing an Ad in Baseball Card Magazine as "Bob's Cards". This yielded another true "sign of the times"; people would send me $1 and a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE) to receive my list of cards that I was selling! I made a few sales, but the process was really tough, unless you were selling at card shows.

The lesson here; you should really appreciate the fact that with a few simple keystrokes, you can check card prices and sell your cards vs. the ancient way of waiting, waiting, waiting, and then doing some more waiting!

#2 "LUCITE TOPLOADERS WERE LIKE WEAPONS!":

Keeping your cards safe from damage was a new concept in the 1980s, and the sleeves were these rigid pieces of plastic with sharp edges on them. Top Loaders? Well, that is my second very fond memory:

The Toploaders (or "Top Loaders") that you know from the present day, got their start in the 80s. These huge, thick, Lucite plastic card holders were thick, heavy, and could protect a baseball card from an atomic bomb!

If you were walking along with that gorgeous red and yellow bordered 1975 Topps Pete Rose that you bought at a show, and someone tried to take it from you..."CLUNK"...it also served as a weapon (Not that I clunked anyone with one of these prehistoric toploaders...however, in Brooklyn & Queens in 1980s NYC, you never know!!).

The point is, these were mammoth-sized holders, which really make you appreciate the slimmed-down, yet, just as durable toploaders of today.

I even included a few photos in my post to give you an idea of just how big these toploaders were from back then at the dawn of time!

#3 "BLUE BOXES, BLUE BOXES EVERYWHERE!":

Aside from purchasing complete card sets, I found out later on in my collecting ventures (in the 1990s) that there were such things as "Vending Boxes", which are basically a small carton of about 500 random Topps Baseball Cards from the current year, direct from the factory. These boxes were loaded with mint condition cards, and a boatload of rookies from the set from the particular year that was printed on the box.

With that, comes my third memory from those times (a memory that is more of like “the one that got away”); I saw these blue boxes all over the place at baseball card shows, but I never thought to ask what they were. Why did I never even look INTO vending boxes? I never heard of them. So, the true take-away here is...don't be a fool! Open your eyes to what's out there, and never take anything for granted!

Growing up in the 80s was amazing, but collecting baseball cards in the 80s was epic, especially during the earlier part of the decade, before over-production began, and when finding names like Cal Ripken Jr, Wade Boggs ("Wade"..that name still makes me giggle, lol!), Tony Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, and Kirby Puckett in your Wax Pack gave you that feeling of excitement, and that feeling that you struck some type of gold...but at the time, you didn't realize just what type of gold it was...not yet, at least!

Thank you for taking this journey with me, and I hope that it brought back some great memories for you, as it certainly has for me.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all!

Thanks, be safe, be healthy, and be well!

Many thanks and Regards,

Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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Collecting Baseball Cards In The 1980s ...A Whole New World, Part 1 Of 2

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:49:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

I hope everyone has been keeping safe during the pandemic. Our best thoughts and prayers are with everyone that have been affected and impacted by this difficult time.

Today, I hope to put a little bit of levity and perhaps a bit of laughter into your day, even if some of that laughter is directed at me, during my journey back into time to give you a glimpse of what it was like when the Earth was just dinosaurs...and Baseball Cards!

Yes, the 1980s. For those of us in the 40ish range, we remember that decade as a magical time, for the most part, but looking back, there was pain, waiting, confusion, and all that stuff, but wow, there were deals! In the days before professional grading existed, it was a Wild-West out there, but if you were at the right card shows, you were golden!

For the purpose of this article, I will tell you that when I started collecting in the early 1980s, I was in my pre-teens, so it gives you an idea of the mindset that I approached the hobby with at that time. Prior to taking an interest in collecting, my previous memories of baseball cards was a 1976 Topps Glenn Abbott baseball card that reminded me of the Wicked Witch in the "Wizard of Oz", which is why I probably put Elmer’s Glue on the card, somewhere around the time I was 5 or 6. Also, I was quite puzzled by the 1976 Topps Ty Cobb card, which said, "Ty Cobb OF" on the front, and I was always confused..."OF" what? What did "OF" mean? ("OF" meant Outfield, I found out a few years later, of course!). I still have these cards, because these are what sparked it all.

Fast-forward to around 1982, when "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, was blasting from every Camaro in Queens, New York (NYC), and after seeing my hapless New York Mets in person at Shea Stadium for the first time, something put me into a complete baseball card trance! I found a lot of the old cards I had, and they looked like they took a tumble in the wash, which they actually might have, and then I decided I needed to go to the candy store and get some cards.

Wax Packs and Rack-Packs were the flavors of the day, and I opened pack after pack, putting the cards in team order, and still not realizing the importance of condition.

Fast-forward to around 1983 (when "Karma Chameleon" was now the tune blasting throughout my borough in NYC)! After ripping open some 1983 Topps Wax packs, a friend and I had a good laugh about the name of one of the players..."Wade"...how could a great player be named, "Wade"? Well, it was Wade Boggs, and boy, were we ever wrong!

At the same candy store where we bought cards, they also sold magazines, and they had a magazine specifically called, "Baseball Cards". I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming, but I wasn't. I bought this magazine, and read it cover to cover on my walk back home. What I found out and read about made my head tilt side-ways in the same way that a dog does when you ask them if they want to go for a walk!

What was it that left me with a completely dumbfounded look on my face? What made time stand still for me?

Let's talk about that in Part 2, "Collecting Baseball Cards In The 1980s...3 Fond Memories, Part 2 Of 2", which you can read here: http://blog.cardboardandcoins.com/2021/12/collecting-baseball-cards-in-1980s-part-2-of-2.html

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all!

Thanks, be safe, be healthy, and be well!

BLACK FRIDAY SALE! 25% Off & FREE SHIPPING on Cards, Coins, and More!

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 20:00:00 +0000

Hi Friends,

We have some great news! Our Black Friday Sale starts NOW!

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If you have a Collector in your life, nothing makes a better gift for them than what they actually collect, whether it's Baseball Cards, Football Cards, Basketball Cards, Hockey Cards, U.S. Coins, Pokemon Cards, Comic Books, or all of these!

Not sure what to get them? A Gift Card makes a great choice, so they can buy anything they want! Our Gift Cards can be found HERE.

If you are the Collector, then you have definitely come to the right place to pick up some incredible gifts for yourself, at some very low prices!

May you have a Very Safe and a Very Happy Thanksgiving!

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The Many Baseball Stars We Have Lost So Far In 2020

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 19:25:00 +0000

Hi Friends,

I hope everyone has been keeping as safe as can possibly be during this absolutely crazy year of 2020.

Between the Coronavirus/Covid-19, the economy, and the social/racial justice movements going on all over our great Nation this year, sometimes, you wake up wondering, "what will this day hold?"!

The world of Sports is a fantastic diversion that many of us enjoy watching, debating with other fans, and cheering for our on-field favorites! However, even the sports world has had a very difficult year, with some very untimely losses, such as that of NBA Superstar Kobe Bryant back in January, which almost feels like it was 2 years ago!

The world of baseball was not immune to losses, and I started to realize after waking up today and find out that HOF Superstar Joe Morgan has passed away! Just this weekend, HOF Yankee pitching Ace Whitey Ford passed away. A week before that, both HOF Ace Bob Gibson and Ron Perranoski passed away. During the summer, we lost one of my personal favorites, HOF New York Mets pitching Ace, Tom Seaver, and a week before Seaver, it was Lou Brock!

The year began...on January 1st... with the passing of Don Larsen, the pitcher who threw a perfect World Series game for the Yankees! Then, on through the Spring, it was Tony Fernandez, Jimmy Wynn, Al Kaline, and Bob Watson! Is this year for real?

All of the losses are huge for the sport of baseball, and of course, the families of these players, to whom we send our most sincere condolences. However, as I mentioned, growing up in Queens, New York, as a lifetime New York Mets fan, I can identify with and feel the loss of Tom Seaver, "Tom Terrific", for several reasons, beyond the most obvious ones.

When I was born (1971), I had missed out on the Miracle Mets of 1969, and was not "conscious" of the Mets until the late 1970's, when I began attending games at Shea Stadium, and by that time, Seaver was traded away and most of his "hey days" were behind him. However, when he pitched for the Mets on Opening Day in 1983, I was there with my best friend at the time, as well as my Dad. Ironically, Tom Seaver passed away from Dementia, which is the same illness that my Dad passed from, just last year!

We can all just imagine these great players, assembled on a big field in the sky, striking each other out and battling it out every day from now on until the end of time! All we can do is hope that the remainder of 2020 is a little more merciful to the rest of us, and to leave our favorite sports stars with us just a little bit longer!

Thanks, be safe, be healthy, and be well!

Many thanks and Regards,

Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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Baseball Cards Years and Manufacturers Ranked by Strongest and Weakest Cardboard!

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 05:23:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

For those of you that have been collecting for many years, or for those that collect vintage baseball cards, at some point in time, you might have noticed a trend among certain years of baseball cards, and among certain manufacturers. There are just some years of cards that are close to impossible to find with sharp corners, without paint chipping... cards that will hold up if you look at them the wrong way!

For the sake of "Vintage", which I have defined as 20 years or older, I've ranked the Top 3 strongest cardboard years with the manufacturers, and I have also ranked the Top 3 weakest cardboard years with the manufacturers. Included in deciding these ranks are considerations of the wear and tear effects of what I call "Pokemon" corners (rounded corners), wavy edges, and easy creasing. Again, please remember, this is from my experience of collecting, buying, selling, and handling thousands upon thousands of these cards over the past 30+ years that I have been in the hobby.

TOP 3 STRONGEST CARDBOARD BASEBALL CARD YEARS AND MANUFACTURER:

1) 1983 FLEER: After a decent showing in 1981 and 1982 with their first 2 re-emergence years in the hobby, the Fleer set from 1983 is built to last. This is extremely fortunate, because 3 major Hall of Famer Rookie Cards (Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, and Ryne Sandberg) are included in this set, among many other major HOF Stars. There is something different and almost space-age to the 1983 Fleer cards, and they can "take a punch" and survive, unscathed. The Winner!!

2) 1991 UPPER DECK: Another set in the 3rd year of the company's baseball card set issue, the 1991 Upper Deck issue is made of quite a strong cardboard! Although they were certainly over-produced, there are still some great cards in this set, like the 3rd year Ken Griffey Jr. Card, as well as another HOF'er, Jeff Bagwell, with his rookie card in this set.

3) 1969 TOPPS: OK, I had to throw one in for Topps, and honestly, with 50 years of time on them, these cards have held up extremely well, but, whatever Topps did in 1969 did not last, because the 1970 Topps cards went downhill!

TOP 3 WEAKEST CARDBOARD BASEBALL CARD YEARS AND MANUFACTURER:

1) 1976 TOPPS: My absolute favorite set, as I remember going to a store as a 5 year old and buying a pack (I wish I bought a few cases...what was I thinking??). However, even with 1976 cards acquired via set breaks, which is where a majority of cards on CardboardandCoins.com come from, there is still a major inherent weakness to the corners and the paint on these cards, and errant creasing building from the corners inward. Unless they are stored in a sleeve and a top loader, avoiding any type of handling or exposure to air, these cards are tough! The 1975 Topps card stock was not nearly as bad, however the 1976 Topps and the following year, 1977 Topps, were the two worst, in my experience.

2) 1977 TOPPS: As mentioned above, this is another set that yields very easily to excessive handling, and also, to open air exposure. Paint chipping is more evident on the 1977 cards vs the 1976 cards, but these are slightly less susceptible to errant creasing.

3) 1970 TOPPS: After a relatively banner year for cardboard strength in 1969, the 1970 Topps became one of the most crease-likely cards that have been made. The cardboard is not necessarily super weak, but there is something to the internal structure of the cards that makes them develop stacking creases, as I call them (creases that build in size and spider out across the card). It seems the lower/earlier series of the 1970 Topps baseball cards are the worst (perhaps due to the lesser amount of handling on the higher series?)

Aside from having to deal with the issues highlighted above, I would not want the composition of baseball cards to be anything but cardboard...but to the manufacturers, we ask; Please try to copy the formula that made the 1983 Fleer baseball cards the "Iron Mike Tyson" of the baseball card collecting hobby!!

How has your experience been with the Cardboard treasures that we all know and love? I'd love to know!

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New MLB Baseball Expansion Teams: Omaha? Cuba? Japan? Where? Why? How?

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 08:49:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

I hope your favorite baseball team is doing as great as you hoped they would, thus far, and so early in the season still!!

Sometimes, we take it for granted if we have a favorite team within visiting distance, and I don't mean "day-trip" visiting, rather, I mean locally (30-60 minutes away, maximum). Personally, I grew up visiting Shea Stadium as a kid to see the New York Mets, and now it's Citi Field. So for me, I think sometimes I take it for granted that my team is "right here".

Some folks have gone through the grieving process for teams that were "right here", for example, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants, and then there are the folks in Montreal, a big baseball city, that bid farewell to their Expos. Did Montreal Expo fans roll their allegiance behind the Washington Nationals? Did they start flying down to DC to watch their Nationals play? Maybe some of them, but for the most part, it had to hurt. Growing up in New York, I heard stories from folks that were die-hard Dodgers fans in the 1940's and 1950's, and when the team relocated to Los Angeles, these fans went through a very sad period of time that only a true Baseball fan can "get" and understand. Many of the former Brooklyn Dodger fans refused to move their allegiance to the new L.A. team, but many of the same folks refused to become Yankee fans, due to the intense rivalry that existed for so many years (some of these rivalries split families in half!).

However, in 1962, when the MLB expansion brought baseball to Queens with the New York Mets, a large amount of old Brooklyn Dodgers fans found some love once again for the game of baseball, no matter how hapless the Mets were in those first few years.

Recently, the Baseball Commissioner, spoke about the next wave of cities that the MLB will be expanding into. There are a few places that make a lot of sense, as far as locations of new teams, but it makes me wonder about the mind-set of some folks that grew up without a local team.

For example, can you imagine growing up somewhere like Omaha, Nebraska, which is an All-American city like any other Metropolis in our great country. Who would you be a fan of when you are growing up? Well, you have the Kansas City Royals, about 200 Miles and a state away, or the Colorado Rockies, 500+ Miles Away. Who do you choose? Well, if you grew up before the MLB Expansion put the Colorado Rockies team on the Baseball Map, then I guess it would have been the Royals?

Here's my first point; from the standpoint of the actual structure of two leagues and 3 divisions each, you need to have 6 new Expansion teams. Mathematically, there is no other fair way to do it, because the way it works now, an extra team in your division makes achieving one of the wild cards that much more difficult. We're not going back to just an East and West division per league, so 4 teams will not suffice. We need 6, but where can they be? Better yet, where should they be?

#1 Well, my first pick is Omaha. It's prime for a team, and even though there is not a population explosive region surrounding Omaha, it will lure folks from Lincoln, Des Moines, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and other mid-size cities surrounding it by a stretch of Interstate. The stadium may not require 50,000 seats, but as far as playing in the heart of the country, you cannot get much more "central" than Nebraska on the map.

#2 How about New Orleans? You can argue "why?", with Houston a few hours down I-10. But, hey, there are the NBA Basketball New Orleans Pelicans...and the Houston Rockets. There are the New Orleans Saints of the NFL...and the Houston Texans. Why not MLB Baseball? Perhaps they can be called the New Orleans Cajuns? I am getting hungry just thinking of the potential ballpark fare....clams, oysters, garlic crab....Yum!

#3 Aloha. How about Honolulu, Hawaii? As a gateway to the Far East, Honolulu would be a great place for a team. Aside from a large enough local population, scores of folks would catch games when on vacation in Hawaii. It might also be the next jumping point for the next big stars from Japan or Korea, who are trending towards the West Coast (Shohei Ohtani went to the Angels & Yusei Kikuchi went to the Mariners). What would the team be called? Maybe the Honolulu Hulas? Scratch that. Perhaps the Honolulu Polynesians? The New York Mets are the New York Metropolitans. Perhaps the Honolulu Polynesians can be called the Polys?

#4 Next Stop, Montreal. Montreal is a huge market with a ready-built fan base. Like I mentioned earlier, I sincerely believe that Expos fans did not decide to stay with the franchise chain and become Washington Nationals Fans. Maybe a few, but not the majority. Baseball has a rich history in Montreal, and there is a big drive going on now and discussions regarding where the new stadium would be located. This one already seems to be in motion. I wonder if the old Expos mascot, Youppi! would split time between the Montreal Canadiens NHL team games and Montreal baseball games? He/She/It was a huge part of the fan experience at Olympic Stadium during the time of the Montreal Expos.

The next two may be a stretch, but remember, baseball is becoming global, and these two cities are inevitable.

#5 on my list would be Havana, Cuba. Just 90 Miles from Miami, the love that the Cuban people have for the game of baseball rivals the love that we have for the game. It was meant to be for an MLB team to be based in Cuba, and the time has come for this major step forward to happen. It does not have to be political...it's all about baseball!

#6 on my list may be outlandish, but follow me here. Tokyo, Japan. Another city in another country that eats, sleeps, and dreams baseball. They already have the infrastructure, and would have an MLB team. I know it is far away. But, for example, an East Coast team can head out West, play the California teams and Seattle, then, play the Honolulu team, then the Japanese team, or the same in reverse. These would be long road trips, of course. Then Team Tokyo would have a longer road trip, hitting multiple cities before heading back. They would have 3 major road trips per season, followed by 3 long stretches playing at home, hosting the other teams, one after another.

Honorable mention teams were Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, which are also huge baseball countries, as well as Korea and Australia. However, this is just my thoughts on where I'd like to see new teams, and these countries could also be interchangeable.

What are your thoughts? Where do you think the new teams will be located?
Better Question: What do you think their Baseball Cards would look like?

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items at www.CardboardandCoins.comHave a great week, enjoy, and be safe!!

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How to Explain the Hobby of Baseball Cards to Anyone!

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Mascot 101: Baseball-Card-Collecting-Turkey!

Hi Friends,

It's hard to imagine, because I still remember vividly as the calendar flipped from 2017 into 2018, but Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season are already upon us!

This time of year makes us think of Turkey, Shopping, Family, and Fun. Yet, some of us feel the stress when we think of sitting at the Thanksgiving Dinner table with folks that we might have not seen in a year, with whom we are forced to make small talk. By "some", I mean "most" of us have been in this position at some point in time. Stress!

The question is: what do you talk about with them? To quote an episode of a Charlie Brown cartoon I remember from childhood, always avoid discussing, "Religion, Politics, & the Great Pumpkin", as Linus so aptly stated.

May I make a suggestion? Discuss Baseball Cards. Point the conversation as if describing the hobby to newbies...basically, rookies...to the hobby. Since this is a stressful time of year for many, put a little twist on it!

What should you discuss about Baseball Cards? I figured you might ask that! I wrote the following script for you, from which you can use bits and pieces of in your conversation with Uncle Bart, Aunt Betty, Cousin Louis, your neighbor, Henry, 3rd cousin removed, Tina...you get the point!

What to Say?

Collecting Baseball Cards help relieve stress for many people who love sports, which is why Baseball Cards have been an irreplaceable part of American culture for over a century. These cardboard treasures give collectors a chance to see the stats and pictures of their favorite players, and are fun and not limited to any age or gender of collector.

Baseball Cards have come a long way in the past decade. As some collectors grew weary of the traditional card format, card companies needed to find a niche that would help boost the excitement of their product, so they pioneered numerous advancements in the trading card field. These companies, such as Topps, Bowman, Upper Deck, Panini, and Donruss, among others, have created numerous specialized and highly sought-after types of cards.

For instance, Topps, one of the industry's top companies and producers of Baseball Cards for about 70 years, has found a host of ways to keep collectors interested. In their latest set of cards, they have offered up the opportunity to get cards that are signed by the players that they represent, giving the card collectors an exciting sense of thrills every time that they open a new pack (with the possibility of getting an autographed card!).

Additionally, giving collectors a sense of owning a piece of history, they have begun to place actual pieces of game memorabilia within the cards. So, basically, you may end up opening a pack and getting a piece of fabric directly from the jersey of one of your favorite players, or even a chip of their bat.

These game-used memorabilia cards (referred to as "GU") don't necessarily have to come from players that played the year the cards were printed - if you get lucky, you may find yourself with a piece of a bat used by Joe DiMaggio! That can add a very interesting prospect to sports card collecting. These specialized memorabilia cards feature extremely limited print runs, allowing for a high value to be assessed for the more unique cards, and some of these more unique cards for the best players may fetch upwards of hundreds of dollars, so it's almost like buying a lottery ticket! Sure, some of the cards may cost more by-the-pack, but it is clearly worth it to have such an exciting chance to get close to your sports idols. With all of these opportunities for hungry collectors, Baseball Cards are in more demand than ever before.

Aside from the potential for huge profits from collecting Baseball Cards, collecting Baseball Cards and focusing on them in making sets or sub-sets can help relieve stress & anxiety by acting as a pleasant distraction to everyday stress. This calming effect helps fight everyday tensions, especially during the holiday season!

Did You De-Stress Your Thanksgiving Dinner?

My sincere hope is that you were able to steer the conversation of your Turkey-Time dinner to a more pleasant and enjoyable topic, Baseball Cards, in which everyone can participate in and enjoy.

A Reward for your Valiant Effort:

For being a Thanksgiving Dinner/Turkey-Time Hero, it's your time to have some fun!

Our Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) offer to you:
Take 25% off and get FREE SHIPPING site-wide on CardboardandCoins.com

Use Code 25OFFBFCM at checkout for 25% off and FREE SHIPPING on all

items at www.CardboardandCoins.com

In honor of "Cyber-Cember" (Cyber December), this offer extends throughout the month of December...all the way until the last day of the year !!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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Baseball Cards To The Rescue! Turkey-Time Talk & A Major Black Friday Sale!!

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 05:21:00 +0000

Mascot 101: Baseball-Card-Collecting-Turkey!

Hi Friends,

It's hard to imagine, because I still remember vividly as the calendar flipped from 2017 into 2018, but Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season are already upon us!

What to Say?

Did You De-Stress Your Thanksgiving Dinner?

My sincere hope is that you were able to steer the conversation of your Turkey-Time dinner to a more pleasant and enjoyable topic, Baseball Cards, in which everyone can participate in and enjoy.

A Reward for your Valiant Effort:

For being a Thanksgiving Dinner/Turkey-Time Hero, it's your time to have some fun!

Our Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) offer to you:
Take 25% off and get FREE SHIPPING site-wide on CardboardandCoins.com

Use Code 25OFFBFCM at checkout for 25% off and FREE SHIPPING on all

items at www.CardboardandCoins.com

Boxes of Baseball Cards? Scan, Save or Sell Them! Epson FastFoto FF-640

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 00:32:00 +0000

Hi Friends,

Thank you for joining us today for a very interesting technical product review. We have a unique twist with the specific product we are reviewing, which is the Epson FastFoto FF-640 Scanner.

Just some background on this Scanner; it is a fit for not only home office use, but it's also quite useful for the home, as well. Today, we are going to take a look at the FastFoto in terms of the set-up of the scanner, the speed of the actual scanning process, the quality of the scan results, as well as some features and options that I found quite helpful, and you might, as well. At the very end, I'll provide all of the technical details for you to review.

Straight out of the box, the scanner looks non-threatening, and if I had to compare it, I would say it's about the size of a toaster oven. The only thing that you have to do is just snap in the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), which is quite simple. Aside from that, the scanner is pretty much turn-key and ready for the software, which is the last step in the set-up. This part is a snap! Super-easy, since you download the software directly via Epson's website. I call it "seamless" since it is so easy. I suggest you download all software offered to you for your given operating system. It's free to download and it will help you take further advantage of the functionality of the scanner.

Guess What? Congratulations! Your Scanner is now configured and ready to begin scanning!

At this point, your scanner is all set up, with software installed, the USB cable connected to your laptop or desktop, and now you're ready to begin using it. As easy as the scanner is to get set up, it's even easier to use!

What I have tested the scanner with was 5 different items; regular photos, Polaroid photos, documents, business cards, and of course, baseball cards. Automatic folders are set up for you and you name them at the moment right before they actually scan. One amazing feature of this scanner that will "WOW" most folks is that it automatically scans front and back, so if you have handwriting or something on the back of a document or photo that is important to save, it will also scan that as well. The FastFoto will name the front file name with an "a", and the file name for the back will have a "b". Not only does it capture the names, but it also captures the date as well for easier filing and for ease in locating the files long after you have finished scanning.

Another thing that makes this real easy is the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), which you really cannot do without it. It is a critical part of the scanner. Example: I was trying to send some Polaroids through and they were not going through at first but then I resolved it by just placing them in a different way on the feeder, which is very versatile in this specialized type of scanner. On the topic of ease, you can even have the photos border adjusted by simply tweaking the settings, and it even allows you to take out red eyes if they show up in the scan. As for resolution,the FastFoto defaults to 300 DPI resolution but it also has an option for 600 DPI, but remember, and this goes for all Scanners; as you go up in resolution, the time it takes to scan your items will increase, as well.

Speed is another great quality of this scanner. I sent through 20 baseball cards and they were done in about 50 seconds which is blazing fast. The amount of time that it saves you will really impress you! Sometimes, you have to go back and adjust the photos or anything that you've scanned in order to tweak it and make it better, especially if it's a faded out photo; this will correct it. For those folks that scan often and then have to correct the documents or photos, etc afterward, will realize that this is a huge time saver. Just think of how much you will miss Photoshop editing your scanned image files. This might make you tear up over that... or perhaps they are tears of joy? Perhaps both?

Overall it's amazing how accurate the FastFoto is, and that just goes to show you the quality of product that Epson once again has put out on the market. As I mentioned above, the quality is second to none. One of the many features that makes this scanner shine is the auto enhancement, which really does some magical things when you're dealing with photos that are either faded or just very very light, i.e. with sun in the photo, or something bright along those lines. As mentioned, you can select the enhancement option in the settings by changing it to be Automatic, or you can manually do it in the folder that pops up with the app. Just select the image, click on Edit, and you can do many things to enhance your photos.

Yet another great feature of the scanner is that you are able to select whether you want to save the enhanced photo as an original or if you want to make a second copy so you don't overwrite the original, in case you need to make additional changes, from the original version forward. This increases the efficiency and the amount of time saved and headaches saved with the scanner and its accompanying software. I ran into an issue with some baseball cards that would not get a reverse scan. I very easily found out through the intuitive menu that by adjusting the sensitivity settings, the lightness and darkness of print on the back of the card, completely remedied this and fixed the issue. Any issues you come up with are easily remedied most often by looking in the settings in the software. It's true...it's all right there. I tried another scan test where I loaded up many different cards of different sizes and it scanned all of them seamlessly without even a hint of a "misfeed"! All the while, this scanner is so quiet that you don't even realize that it's working until your originals come out gently into the front catch. Quiet scanning is perfect in my book!

To sum everything up here, this is an incredibly fast, very smart device with very good software for the user interface and it also is amazing in terms of how you are able to easily edit and enhance photos, either automatically or manually. This is a scanner that can be used to blow through hundreds or thousands of cards that you may have from years back, and catalog them for yourself to save them or sell them. With the option to upload everything to the cloud, you have basically an off-site private copy of all of your card images. This will ensure your photos will survive any adverse or damaging conditions that could affect them, because they are saved as your very own personal off-site high-quality front and back scans. The FastFoto makes sense on a number of levels, and it is certainly something you want to take a look at further after reading this review, so you can take the first step towards owning this time saving wonder!

Have a great weekend, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

REMEMBER: 20% Off + FREE SHIPPING (Use code 20LESS at checkout)

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TAGS: #Epson #Scanner #FastFoto #baseballcards #Photos #Office #Home #Document

Phillies Prospect Scott Kingery Might Truly Be "Mike Trout 2.0" (Re-Post with Footnote)

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 12:35:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

Welcome Back!!

How many of you have heard of a fella by the name of Mike Trout? He's just the best player on the planet! Do you have any of his early Rookie cards, Baseball Cards, autos, etc, or did you miss the boat? What if you had a second chance with someone revving up to be just as good or maybe even better than Trout?

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I'd like to take a look at one of the brightest stars in the Minor Leagues right now, and then see how he ranks vs. the Game's greatest.

First we'll do numbers. Then, the name.

2016 A+ and AA .281 BA, 5 HR, 46 RBI, 30 SB.
He slapped 149 hits, with 36 doubles, 3 triples, and an On Base % of .335

The most recent season stands out and shows hard work results in improvement;

2017 AA + AAA .304 BA, 26 HR, 65 RBI, 29 SB.
He also scored 103 Runs, smashed 165 hits, including 29 doubles and 8 triples,
on his way to a .530 Slugging % and an On Base % of .359

NOT BAD, RIGHT?!

Before I give you his name, he plays a hard-nosed 2nd Base, with 11 errors in 2016, but down to 6 Errors in 2017, along with some dazzling plays. Overall, a formidable batter, runner, defender.

The Mystery Prospect (In case you didn't read the Title of this Post)? Scott Kingery of the Philadelphia Phillies farm system. Kingery just jumped 18 spaces in the latest Top 100 MLB prospects, with him coming in at #35, and #31 with Baseball America. Not too shabby, considering Aaron Judge was much further down the list at this stage.

I have watched countless videos of this kid playing ball and I've seen some truly mature hitting, staying away from some dirty pitches that others may swing at, and watched him launch some powerful home runs. His patience at the plate reminds me of Michael Conforto, of the New York Mets. In April of 2016, I wrote in an article on Conforto, one of the Bright Young stars of the New York Mets ("Conforto Factor")

"... there is one factor that simply awes me, and it is not the power and consistency that we want in our hitters, both of which Conforto has. It is the "no fear" mentality with eyes always open watching and observing. Mike Trout has this. Bryce Harper has it. Going further back, Tony Gwynn certainly had it as well. It's almost as if an older, wiser soul resides within him. Pull up some of his at-bats online. How can he take pitches like that and know they are not strikes? He's a tough out, and he makes each pitcher earn their pay. Let me be clear. He's 23. What 23 year old has an eye like that?"

So, after almost 2 years have passed, we know the potential of Confortos patience and power, barring the freak accident he had swinging the bat.

There is that common thread among good hitters, really good hitters, and it's like they have a few spare seconds more "mentally" than the next guy, and when the pitch comes, it's a beach ball they see sailing over the plate.

I can't help it when I watch Kingery play to think to myself this is the next Mike Trout. This is the next version of Mike Trout. I put my money where my mouth is and stocked up big on Kingery. They are already going up since recently, the MLB Top 100 Prospects for 2018 were released, and Kingery jumped about 18 slots to #35 of 100 and #31 of 100 for Baseball America. That's higher than Aaron Judge was ranked before being called up.

Another factor contributing to his increasing popularity is that the MLB named him the Top 2nd Base Prospect in all of Baseball.

Every interview that's been done with him shows a well-spoken, humble guy with a desire to play the game and just be happy. This positive attitude reminds me of Ken Griffey Jr. Between Trout and Griffey Jr., he's in good conversation company.

Earlier, I was wondering if I had a conflict of interest because I bought so many Kingery cards, but then I realized I don't need to write a story to make his card value increase, because it's driving itself on it's own. Second, I'm not even selling one of these cards until he fully develops in the Major Leagues, so you can rest assured this is truly a post from the heart. I did feel that it is my responsibility with the volume of readership I have, to inform everyone of the opportunity so they, too, could get in while the prices are still reasonable.

Why Mike Trout ?

An interesting article was written in May 2017 titled, "Reading’s Scott Kingery Battling With Mike Trout For Baseball’s Home Run Lead, Game by Game" in which it said, "It seems with almost a third of the Eastern League season in the books, the Phillies have a budding superstar in their minor league midst in Scott Kingery. All he is doing is matching the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, for the home run lead almost “game by game!"

He's got the power, speed, fielding agility, intelligence, and a profound love of the game, so not only was the author correct in comparing Kingery to Trout, I take it a step further and I see Kingery emerging as big or even a bigger star than Trout. It is not a shot in the dark. I have chewed up his stats and spoke with many others in the industry that are thinking the same thing about Kingery and his future.

Scott Kingery was invited to 2018 Spring Training, and that should make for another show like the one he put on last year for Spring Training. This Rookie is a crowd-pleaser, hustles, and can make or break a game. That's Power!! Mike Trout 2.0 Power!

FOOTNOTE ADDED 7/29/2018:

First of all, I am still a huge fan of Scott Kingery, even though he did turn a blind eye at Citi Field when I was trying to get his attention by yelling out his Twitter handle!

Look, I think he might need the "Conforto Crunch", as I call it, named after Michael Conforto, who came to the Mets from the Minors and was on a mega roll. Somewhere along the line, he lost his usually perfect knowledge of the strike zone. After a while, he got sent down, hit everything they threw at him, and came back after 2 weeks like a brand new Conforto!

I think the solution is the combination of a dose of reality, nerves, and re-adjustment, and I think it's something Gabe & the GM should consider. With Kingerys natural talent, it would do a world of wonders for him.

Have a great week, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

REMEMBER: 20% Off + FREE SHIPPING (Use code 20LESS at checkout)

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to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
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#ScottKingery #Philadelphia #Phillies #Prospect #Rookie #MLB #MikeTrout #KenGriffeyJr #Reading #Philadelphia #AaronJudge #Conforto #Mets

Encore! Bitcoin Meets Baseball Cards: A Cryptocurrency Love Story

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 09:55:00 +0000

The Impact of Cryptocurrency on the Collectibles Market...

(ORIGINALLY POSTED 12/22/2017. DUE TO MULTIPLE REQUESTS TO
RE-POST THIS BLOG ARTICLE, WE HAVE REMASTERED
IT AND SENT OUT THIS UPDATED VERSION)

Hi Folks,

For the sake of this discussion, I’ll assume you have some understanding of what Bitcoin is (a Cryptocurrency), or at least that it has become a popular new payment method

The Hobby and Collectibles sub-category used to be the largest component of its parent category, the Antiques market Category. In decades past, people from all different walks of life compulsively accumulated large quantities of Antique collectibles. Baseball cards, sports cards, Pokémon cards, U.S Coins, and Comic Books (Sounds all too familiar for me!!). The market had been super-saturated first with collectors-turned-vendors, and then came the over-saturation by moonshot figures of overproduced products. The “Big Boom” of this ‘era’ ran between 1986-1993. During that time in the early 90’s, housewives covered their home furniture with Hummel miniature figurines, antiques and a variety of other shelf-sitters. Their husbands collected U.S. Coins, vintage toys, and stamps. Their daughters turned their rooms into shrines to porcelain horse figurines or seashells while their young sons avidly hoarded baseball cards, marbles, Pokémon cards, Comic Books, or G.I. Joe action figures.

There was a push and shove in the market as time went by, and the faith and love in the Hobby and Collectibles sub-category began to wane, in part, due to the result of over-production and dissatisfaction with where prices had gone (more commonly, prices had not appreciated due to excessive production). People held firm to their pride and refused to settle for less than what they wanted in terms of specifically needed items. Another issue was that folks naturally want things done yesterday, and quite often, desired items were almost never in the locations where they were needed. Stores with antique collectibles that were sought after by many individuals were not being found, as many shops had little or no publicity and even those with some publicity were confronting other issues occurring in a flooded market with wide distribution, namely, lack of trust.

“What could make our market soar again?” folks wondered. Even the big boys in the market were losing, as a result of the fog of this era, due to the way things were going. So what was the way forward they pondered? Many ideas were put forward , all in a bid to awaken the somber giant. Some ideas were simple, like to slash production and offer more exclusive sets. Some examples during this time was the Topps Tiffany elite glossy offering, which was mimicked by Fleer on one level and by Score on a similar level. The increasing use of the Internet was a shot in the arm for the collectibles industry and the ability to find what you need wherever it is located. Some other ideas were more forward-looking, and ideas began brewing and had not truly percolated until many, many years later.

Then came Cryptocurrency:

Out of these days, there was a need for something more substantial and wide-spread and effective. Cryptocurrency, or for example, Bitcoin (or BTC, which is the most popular of all Cryptocurrencies), had a slow start. In it’s infancy, you could barely buy a snack using BTC, even as it boasted back then to already be what it is popularly known as today, which is “the universal currency”. In the present day, Cryptocurrency boasts the most reliable, fastest and efficient way to make payment and receive your items.

The interesting thing is that ever since its inception, there has not been one breach in the servers nor any incidents with unforeseen circumstances occurring, which would have forced many of us to think of Bitcoin as unsafe. Based on the topic at hand, public domain blocks are created for companies with strict registration patterns which can always be trusted, placing them in a position where they can not only be seen by the general market, but also trusted by all that see them.

Building on this, there are very impressive developments, with some major players now accepting Bitcoin, for example, Overstock, Expedia, and Dish, are among many other retailers being added daily. This has started to catch the attention of some major players in the collectibles/hobbies sub-market, and they have started following the same path. The results have been stunning in terms of their profit, ability to bring on more staff, and the new-found trust of customers, as well as the influx of customers strictly preferring to use Cryptocurrency.

The result? The collectibles market is once again rising to its rightful place in the world markets, again, with the help of Cryptocurrency at the foundation of it all. Many of us in the same line of business, seeing the trust and the exciting positive outcomes stemming from accepting payments in Cryptocurrency, began looking into the feasibility of implementing it as another option/form of payment.

This brings us to an exciting moment for us, where we are officially sharing our own Cryptocurrency news:

We here at CardboardandCoins.com are glad to announce that we have decided to adopt Cryptocurrency as a form of payment, with an option to use Coinbase or some other method, directly to our Paxful Wallet. We already accept PayPal, Amazon Payments, Credit Cards, and various other payment methods, in addition to Bitcoin (we are amenable to even accepting Ripple coin/XRP and a few other Cryptocurrencies...just ask). Remember, in addition to any coupons you use on our site, you still get 5% off additional when using Bitcoins/Cryptocurrency.

How do you pay for your order using Bitcoin? When you arrive at checkout, look for the payment option titled,
"*** BitCoin Accepted *** (with a 5% price discount!!)"

From there, it's just 3 Simple Steps to easily make a payment securely and instantly using Bitcoin (BTC)...

Step 1: Remit Payment for the cart amount, less 5% discount, to our Paxful BitCoin Wallet (address provided at checkout screen).

Step 2: E-mail us at info @ cardboardandcoins.com with your reference #, the items you purchased, and any discount codes you have used.

Step 3: We confirm payment, securely pack your order, and Ship your items. It's that simple!

We've always had the pleasure of offering you the best of everything in the collectibles market, and are providing you with the platform of not only viewing what you desire, but also paying for it with no worries or concerns about the payment used, as the Bitcoin option is now live and working on our site during checkout. Now you can get all you've ever wanted for the right price and at the right time, all in one place. So don’t let anything hold you back from getting the collectible items that you love, whether it’s baseball cards, sports cards, Pokemon Cards, U.S. Coins, or Comic Books…it’s all accessible at your fingertips and on your own terms!!

REMEMBER:
Have a great week, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

Tags:

bitcoin, btc, cryptocurrency, hobbies, collectibles, baseball cards, ripple, currency, coins, pokemon, comic books, doge, dogecoin

#bitcoin #btc #cryptocurrency #hobbies #collectibles #baseballcards #ripple #currency #coins #pokemon #comicbooks #dogecoin #doge

1975 Topps Mini Baseball Cards; Flawed, Scarce...& Enamored by Collectors

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 12:10:00 +0000

Hi Folks,
Today, we are going to take a fun ride together back to 1975, no bell-bottoms or disco ball required! To that, I promise!

What started out as a test across a few states, grew into a cult-like following, with popularity among investors that has spiked of late.

It was literally a carbon copy of the main set, but the cards were approximately 20% the size of the mother/base set.

What cards am talking about? The 1975 Topps Mini Baseball Card Set, of course!!

Some notable cards stand out on the lips of any baseball card collector when they hear the words "1975 Topps Mini" uttered, and their thoughts sway to the mini George Brett and Robin Yount Rookie Cards. That's followed with a chaser of Jim Rice, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, and the Hank Aaron cards that start and end the set, in light of his major Home Run milestone accomplishment of passing Babe Ruth on the All-Time Home Run Leaders list in 1974.

These scarce cards are tough finds to begin with, and even more-so in mint condition, because, similar to the 1971 Topps solid Black border that chipped and showed cardboard easily, the rainbow of colors that form the borders of the 1975 Topps Minis suffer the same existence. Add to that some bad color mixes and smudging, and also, the imprecise sheet-cutting of the time (making for off-center and diamond-cut cards), and you have a tough find if you are looking for Gem Mint Cards.

Talk about a test run...you would think Topps would have been more careful, but a lot of these cards left the factory disheveled, in terms of cut and other factory flaws usually weeded out via the old "Inspector #5" method. I believe there was a certain color combination that was more likely to have issues, such as size, but I was not sure of which combo. I believe it was one of the combos with Yellow in it. If you know, please chime in with your comments below.

One example, per PSACard.com, is the #647 card of Claudell Washington, which at the time they wrote their article, only one PSA 9 was found, and no PSA 10's. Another card is the #16 card of Frank Tanana, of which there are just two in PSA 9 or better. We have an amazing Tanana card, ungraded, and we have made that card available on CardboardandCoins.com

Some other cards, per PSA, that have been scant in the high-level grades are the George Brett Rookie Card (#228), and also the last card, Hank Aaron (#660), the latter of which shows up often as diamond cut.

Prices run somewhat higher than the standard size cards from 1975, yet, there are a few players that flip flop between being more expensive as a mini and more expensive as a base set card.

Overall, there is an inverse relationship, because as more folks are investing in these, the scarcity increases.

On a personal level, I love the 1975 Topps Minis, and they are truly an Epic part of the baseball card collecting landscape. Within a few more years, I am positive that these cards will be viewed in the category of "Elite" cards, in the company of the 1952 Topps Set and other such pillars of our hobby. Mini cards are issued each year now, but the imitations always pale in comparison to the real father of Minis, the 1975 Topps Mini cards.

Per PSA's price guide, you can notice some of the more expensive commons, and we have listed a few NM & close to NM rare cards for your review, including:

#16 Frank Tanana (Rookie Card)

#246 St. Louis Cardinals Team Card with Red Schoendienst (Deceased)

#253 Jesus Alou

#306 1974 Batting Leaders (Carew/Garr)

#545 Billy Williams, a HOF'er

What are your thoughts on the 1975 Topps Mini set?

REMEMBER: 20% Off + FREE SHIPPING (Use code 20LESS at checkout)

Have a great weekend, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Rob Eisenstein and your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

TAGS: #Topps #Mini #BaseballCard #1975 #Set #Brett #Yount #Carter #Hernandez #Rice #Aaron #Ruth #HomeRun #1971 #off-center #diamondcut #PSA #graded #factory #ClaudellWashington #FrankTanana #collecting #1952 #Cardinals #Schoendienst #Alou #Batting #Carew #BillyWilliams

Vintage Baseball Cards by Popular Demand, & $10 Graded Aaron Judge Cards?

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Fri, 04 May 2018 13:12:00 +0000

Hi folks,

I have been receiving several messages from folks asking us to add more Vintage Baseball Cards. We are stocked to the teeth with Vintage cards, and so, it is our pleasure to do so. Right now, it takes time, but we are migrating from an archaic (totally 2017!!!) method, onto a new, efficient, Multi-Sim-Chan (Multiple Simultaneous Channel) system, and are in the final stages with our developer on this.

What does this mean for you?

More products added more frequently, and more of a variety for you to choose from.

The Vintage

OK, getting back to the vintage cards; We've added cards of Yogi Berra (a 1955 Bowman and a 1960 Topps), Duke Snider, Bob Gibson, Roger Maris, Rod Carew, Ted Kluszewski, and many more. The names/dates are hyperlinked to those specific cards, but there are far more than we have room to list here. Remember...Free Shipping, ANY ORDER.

New Feature

$10 Graded Aaron Judge Cards? You heard that right! We are in the middle stages of adding a Flash Sale system, with rotating sales of items such as that of the Yankee Phenom, Judge (there are quite a few of those, actually).

Thanks for your business, thanks for taking time for reading this, and if there is anything you can do to help my New York Mets survive this season, please let me know. Signed, My Team is aging me Gray fast.

REMEMBER: 20% Off + FREE SHIPPING (Use code 20LESS at checkout)

Have a great weekend, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Rob Eisenstein and your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

TAGS: #Berra #Snider #Gibson #Carew #Maris #Kluszewski #Vintage #Cards #BaseballCards #VintageBaseballCards #Graded #AaronJudge #Yankee #Mets #team

20 Athletes Signing Autos Inches Away From Our Booth

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 10:58:00 +0000

Card Show Appearance w/HOF Players Signing Autos

Plus...a Special Gift from CardboardandCoins !

Hi Folks,

I hope everyone has been well!

We are happy to announce that we will be making an appearance at the National Card show, a twice per year card show with the venue set at Hofstra University on Saturday 4/21 and Sunday 4/22. For the 1st 10 people that come over to our booth and mention they read this post, you will get a very nice surprise (OK....let's not get silly here....you know it's cards). Yet, some very cool cards, and we are positive you'll love them!

Preparing for this show has been exhausting. A while back, I posted about the top 10 things you need when selling at a card show but beyond that, you are literally putting prices on 18,000 cards, and that is as time-consuming as anything!

So, who's signing?

Well, Saturday is very Mets heavy and Sunday is more Yankees heavy.

Saturday 4/21, the signers will lead off with Hall-of-Famer Roberto Alomar, as well as Dale Murphy, Jerry Morales, Lenny Dykstra, Jerry Grote, Cleon Jones, Pete Falcone, Junior Ortiz, Elliott Maddox, Endy Chavez, Boxing Great Mark Breland, Iran Barkley, and Marlon Starling.

Sunday 4/22 will feature the Hall-of-Famer Tim Raines, and also Kent Tekulve, Ruben Sierra, Luis Sojo, MEGA Football Super-Star Lawrence Taylor ("LT"), Hockey Superstars Pat Lafontaine, and Butch Goring

For those that are curious, we will have baseball cards and rookies of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Scott Kingery, Mike Trout, and much more, plus Graded Cards, also, all other sports, with players like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana, etc. We will also have some premiere U.S. Coins on hand (1909 VDB 1c, Silver Quarters, etc), as well as some hot Pokemon cards (Charizard, etc) and some high-end Comic Books (Fantastic Four #112, Amazing Spider-Man #252, etc). There is truly something for everyone.

Full details of the show are as follows:

April 21st and 22nd

Hofstra University
David Mack Student Center
100 Hempstead Blvd
Hempstead NY

300 Tables of Sports Cards and Memorabilia
Area's Largest Event!
Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm

Admission $10.00
Free Autograph for all Paid Admissions
Kids Under 10 are ALWAYS free.
Free Parking
More info at NYShows.org

Don't forget to stop by and say you read about the show here on our Blog.
If you're one of the 1st 10 that do, a gift awaits you!

REMEMBER: 20% Off + FREE SHIPPING
Just use code 20LESS at checkout on
www.CardboardandCoins.com

Have a great weekend, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Rob Eisenstein and your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

Hofstra, baseball cards, Topps, Autos, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Scott Kingery, Graded Cards, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana, Coins, VDB, 1909, Silver Quarters, Pokemon, Charizard, Comic Books, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spiderman, Autograph, Signature, MLB, Roberto Alomar, Dale Murphy, Mark Breland, Tim Raines, HOF, Hall of Fame, Lawrence Taylor, Pat LaFontaine, sports cards, memorabilia, PSA, Mets, Yankees, Mike Trout

#Hofstra #baseballcards #Topps #Autos #AaronJudge #GiancarloStanton #ScottKingery #GradedCards #MichaelJordan #WayneGretzky #JoeMontana #Coins #VDB #1909 #SilverQuarters #Pokemon #Charizard #ComicBooks #FantasticFour #AmazingSpiderman #Autograph #Signature #MLB #RobertoAlomar #DaleMurphy #MarkBreland #TimRaines #HOF #HallofFame #LawrenceTaylor #PatLaFontaine #sportscards #memorabilia #PSA #Mets #Yankees #MikeTrout

Update - Scott Kingery, New Mega Star for the Phillies......

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 08:09:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

Just before Spring Training, I pinned my reputation on Scott Kingery as a superstar (http://blog.cardboardandcoins.com/2018/02/phillies-prospect-scott-kingery-might.html)

I UNDERESTIMATED him!

He did SO WELL, he got an unprecedented contract offer to stay on for 6 years! (http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/scott-kingery-philadelphia-phillies-mlb-prospect-contract-best-position-to-win-20180326.html)

Next Prediction?
Kingery wins '18 NL ROY

Is this "Mike Trout 2.0" unfolding right in front of our eyes?

Our Next Blog Post is coming up soon....stay tuned!

Regards,
Rob
http://www.CardboardandCoins.com

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 17:49:00 +0000

GREAT NEWS !!

BLACK FRIDAY HAS BEEN EXTENDED....
UNTIL NEW YEARS (12/31)!

25% Off + FREE SHIPPING (on ALL ORDERS)

Use Code "25OFFHOLIDAYS" at Checkout:
https://www.cardboardandcoins.com/

HAPPY THANKSGIVING & HAVE A
WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!

REMEMBER: To get 25% Off + Free Shipping:

Use Code "25OFFHOLIDAYS" at Checkout at:
https://www.cardboardandcoins.com/

#BaseballCards #Pokemon #Coins #ComicBooks

Have a great weekend!!

Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

Tags: Baseball Card, Pokemon, Coins, Comic Books, Black Friday,

Deals, Gifts, Cyber Monday

#BaseballCards #Pokemon #Coins #ComicBooks

IMPORTANT: 12 Serious Phobias of Baseball Card Collectors and MLB Fans

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 18:00:00 +0000

Hi Folks,
A little something for your Friday, before you head into the weekend.

IMPORTANT: 12 Serious Phobias of Baseball Card Collectors and MLB Fans

1. SuspiciousSigneraPhobia - The fear that a player's auto you got through the mail (TTM) was actually done by the Star's Mom.

2. OMGFinallySPSSPWowaPhobia - The fear of how you will react if you ever pull an SSP. Condition worsens when thoughts stray to /1 or /5 Serial-Numbered SP and SSP cards.

3. GradeMeGemaPhobia - The fear of getting anything less than 10's on the cards you sent for grading.

4. GottaGoByeBlackBordersaPhobia - The fear of being at a card show table surrounded by NM-Mint 1971 Topps Baseball cards on sale for 10c per card (Stars included), while regretting you drank a 40 ounce of coffee and 3 bottles of water before you arrived at the show and realizing the bathrooms are all out of order

5. WhichBoxConfusionaPhobia - The fear of not being able to decide between a Blaster or a Hobby Box. Further worsened by lack of information on how many Autos or Game-Used Jersey cards are in either of these boxes.

6. NoRefractorHereaPhobia - The fear of not getting a refractor in your Blaster/Hobby Box, or getting a refractor, but it being the only off-center card in the entire box.

7. InsertsAbsentaPhobia - The fear of not getting an insert in your Blaster/Hobby Box, not even bottom-of-the-outside-box cards you can cut out.

8. HeyWhyNotMeaPhobia - The fear of your friend pulling the SSP that you were supposed to get. Made worse when you realize he also wound up with more refractors and serial #'d cards than you.

9. WhichShowManiaPhobia - The fear of not being able to decide which of two long distance card shows to attend, while your car is in the shop, and a blizzard is paralyzing everything but the two shows.

10. PreShowHustleaPhobia - The fear that you will not be able to put in enough overtime before the show so you can go there flowing with Pesos. Also, the fear of traveling a long distance to a show, only to realize once you get there that you forgot your wallet. Also, the fear of traveling a long distance to a show, only to realize the show is next week, not this week.

11. YankeesPleaseNoaPhobia - Specific to us NY Mets Fans, the fear of the Yankees making the playoffs and not the Mets. Another variation is when a Yankee makes the Hall of Fame (HOF) instead of a Met.

12. Withdrawal - Experienced daily by fanatic Baseball fans, starting from the end of the World Series and lasting until the First day of Spring Training.

If you experience any one of these, we suggest that you immediately check out an online vendor, for example, http://www.CardboardandCoins.com

Ahhhh....Baseball Cards !

;)

Have a great weekend!!

Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

Tags: Baseball Card, Collectors, MLB, Auto, TTM, SSP, SP, Serial, Grade, Gem, Mint, Topps, Blaster, Hobby, Game-Used, Refractor, Mets, Yankees, HOF, World Series, Spring Training

#BaseballCards #Collectors #MLB #Auto #TTM #SSP #SP #Serial #Grade #Gem #Mint #Topps #Blaster #Hobby #Game-Used #Refractor #Mets #Yankees #HOF #WorldSeries #SpringTraining #Baseball #Box #Case

All Rise...Aaron Judge Rookie Cards Defy Gravity & Redefine the Hobby

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 14:09:00 +0000

Hi Folks,
Welcome back. I don't know about you folks, but have you taken a ride on the Aaron Judge Express yet? When they say, "All Rise" for the Judge, it also has a second meeting, as in All Aaron Judge Rookie Cards Rise (in Value).

I have been through all Rookie Market Runs, from Mattingly in the 80's to Nomar and Manny, and even as recently as Mr. Kyle Schwarber and Gary Sanchez. Even taking into consideration the amount of interest that focus on Mike Trout and Bryce Harper cards, they have all paled in comparison to the run of Aaron Judge cards.

On our website, CardboardandCoins.com, within 10 minutes of adding Judge Rookies, they were gone! I posted a 2017 Heritage #214 Non-SP, as well as a Super-cool Bowman Refractor and barely took a sip of coffee before I was wrapping up shipments of the Judge.

So, with the Home Run Derby set for tonight, we just added a brand new batch of Aaron Judge Rookie Cards.

Here are just a few of them:

2014 Bowman Chrome AARON JUDGE ROOKIE CARD CTP-39 Top Prospect Yankees HOT!!

RARE! AARON JUDGE ROOKIE CARD! 2015 Bowman Chrome #PP-21 Mini Prospect Profiles

2017 Topps AARON JUDGE ROOKIE CARD #287 Pack Fresh RC Yankees, Home Runs, HOT

2017 Bowman Chrome ROYF-9 Aaron Judge ROOKIE CARD Refractor ROY Favorites HOT

2017 Topps AARON JUDGE ROOKIE CARD "5 TOOL" #5T-46 RC Yankees, Pack Fresh!

2017 Topps Heritage AARON JUDGE ROOKIE CARD 214 RC Yankees Pack-Fresh HOT!

Who is your pick for Derby Winner? How about the All-Star Game?
I have to say Judge....but the NL in the ASG? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

Tags: Aaron Judge, Yankees, ASG, All-Star Game, Home Run Derby, Kyle Schwarber, Mike Trout, Don Mattingly, Gary Sanchez, Nomar, Manny, Bryce Harper, Bowman, Refractor, Topps, Rookie Cards, ASG17

#AaronJudge #Yankees #ASG #All-StarGame #HomeRunDerby #KyleSchwarber #MikeTrout #DonMattingly #GarySanchez #Nomar #Manny #BryceHarper #Bowman #Refractor #Topps #RookieCards #ASG17

The 3 Game-Used Cards I'll Never Sell Anywhere, Even on CardboardandCoins.com

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 12:40:00 +0000

Hi Folks,
Welcome back.

After being surrounded by sports memorabilia for more than a quarter of a century at that time (a few years back), it struck me....."GAME USED" CARDS....this stuff has certifiably been used in real MLB baseball games! The bug for baseball cards was strong, but once the bug for authentic/vintage/original memorabilia and collectibles hit me, I began to stock up...it's how I buy! Well, with the cat out of the bag, here are my Top 3 Favorite Game-Used Cards that I'll never sell anywhere, even on CardboardandCoins.com

#1: 2004 Topps Series Stitches Relics #SSR-HK Harmon Killebrew Minnesota Twins Card

Sometimes, it all comes down to sentimental value. This is the card that drew me in to the Game-Used, or "GU" market. I've always collected Harmon Killebrew cards, so when I saw a piece of his actual bat on a card, I was mesmerized. Not wanting to buy simulated relics, I flipped over the card and saw the guarantee by Topps that this was truly game used by Killebrew. The price was reasonable, and earned a place in my permanent collection. My fire was lit and now I couldn't be stopped from buying up more GU cards!

#2: 2008 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Swatch Tony Gwynn Jersey Card #SS-TG

What more can I say but this; I am in awe of what Tony Gwynn accomplished. Each time I look at his stats I am left scratching my head. How does someone strikeout only about 20 times during an entire season. He must have seen a beach-ball instead of a tiny baseball. He was to hitting as Greg Maddux was to pitching; a clairvoyant scholar of the game with superior intelligence. I'm honored to have his Jersey card and wish he never touched chewing tobacco, which sadly ended his life way too early.

I picked up this card in Cooperstown when visiting the Hall of Fame with my son last year. What could be a more fitting purchase in "Baseball City" than a GU Tony Gwynn Jersey card?

#3: 2015 Mike Trout Topps Update ALL STAR GAME STITCHES WORKOUT JERSEY LA Angels

Mike Trout has already been dubbed, "the best player the game of baseball has ever seen", and is on track to surpass Mickey Mantles lifetime figures in all of the major power offense categories. Add in his over-the-top fielding ability and the kid-like role-model way he carries himself, and they just might have nailed the description of Trout's place in Baseball history.

When a player like this emerges, it's time to stockpile, and every true stockpile should have a GU item (or many GU items). I won this particular card at an auction, and by auction, I don't mean eBay. I mean a real Auction with a hammer, gavel, and a super-sonic speaking barker running the auction. For those of you out of the New York Metro area.....if you think we speak fast, then check out one of these real auctions. If you can understand them after while (it took me time...there is a learning curve), then us fast talking New Yorkers will be a piece of cake for you!

Next on my list? Even though I am a die-hard Mets fan, I definitely will be adding some GU Aaron Judge items to my collection. I'm also interested in GU Ty Cobb items, so that fun shopping plan will come into action in the next month or so. What an awesome hobby we have, folks!

What are some of your favorite GU cards? We'd love to hear!

Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com

Tags: game used, mlb, baseball, memorabilia, jersey card, bat card, relic, killebrew, gwynn, trout, aaron judge, ty cobb, stitches, upper deck, topps, baseball cards, authentic, vintage, original, hobby, GU

#gameused #mlb #baseball #memorabilia #collectibles #jerseycard #batcard #relic #killebrew #gwynn #trout #aaronjudge #tycobb #stitches #upperdeck #topps #baseballcards #authentic #vintage #original #hobby #GU

RE-POSTED BY DEMAND: The Essential Card-Seller's Guide - The Top 10 Critical Things You Need When Selling at a Baseball Card Show

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Tue, 02 May 2017 11:52:00 +0000

Hi Folks,

As the Baseball Card/Sports Card season enters the busiest segment of the year, I have had more than 20 requests (I stopped counting at 20), to re-run a post I did last year that apparently was quite helpful to our fellow brethren in the Hobby. Here, at your request , is the Essential Card-Seller's Guide - The Top 10 Critical Things You Need When Selling at a Baseball Card Show:

I don't know about you, but I still get those first date jitters the night before selling at a card show. The thought of all of the people, and seeing some great friends and talking sports and cashing out a little, all shares the same headspace with the thought of all of those hours and being cut off from anything outside of my little table-zone. And then the stomach rumbling starts just from the thought of hunger!

So, in order to combat this psychosis of mine, I made a list of the top 10 things you need to have in place and with you when selling at a Baseball Card show (or Sports card show of any kind, Coin shows, or even Comic Book Shows). These items are not listed in any particular order, with each one being quite an important part of a successful day at the show, but they fall into 4 categories: Technology, Human Beings, Goods, and Last Minute.

Technology:
1. Internet Access; The worst thing you can do is find yourself at a card show and you have no pants on. The next worst thing is to find yourself at a card show with no access to your online price guides, eBay, your website, your home network, etc. Bad move. Make sure and verify that the venue has Internet access or WiFi. If not, I'll present an idea shortly in another item in this list. If they do have access, make sure you have all of your passwords, as well as your tablet, smart phone, laptop, and ALL power cables and chargers. Again; ALL power cables and chargers. Hint: Bring an extension cord in case the outlet locations are not convenient.

2. Security; Look, for the most part, people are honest. But the few bad apples out there really screw things up for everyone else. Of course, you should cover the front of your table with an overlapping thick tablecloth, with your boxes weighting the edges of it down to avoid anyone from sticking their hands in for freebies. Your table should be set up with the high risk of theft items in the middle. I learned my lesson years ago when I had a 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly Rookie stolen right off my table. It was so busy at the show that I never even realized until re-inventorying that evening. That was pre-tech age, and now I suggest, if you have a little bit of tech savvy in you, to pick up a mini PC USB Camera that you can have record to your laptop or tablet, with ample hard drive space. At least you'll have footage to show to the venue and the police. Hint: Stay alert and stay present in the moment! Watch out for "distracters".....they usually come in pairs and one asks you nonsense question after question, while his accomplice swipes things from your table or underneath when your attention is being overloaded.

Human Beings:
3. Never underestimate the power of having good table neighbor's when it comes time for that bathroom run. I suggest if you have friends who are vendors, make sure you have your tables all together in one spot so you can all repay the favor. I don't want to hear you had no friends, so you just brought an empty whiskey jug. Weirdo! If you don't have friends, make some with your new table neighbors and gauge your level of trust with them. Chances are, they'll approach you first for the favor!! The power of friends can also help with the WiFi issue, as you can invest in a WiFi Signal booster, have a chat with the Venue Security, and plug it in closer to the WiFi location, ideally half-way between you and the WiFi Source. Then, you guys will be online in no time. Hint: If you do this, please don't put up a sign that says, "Vendor Web Access, $39.95 one-time fee". It's enterprising and straight-up honest hustling, but just not cool to do! I'm such a tech-geek!

4. You need a "Runner"; Check the availability of a "runner", such as your teenage kid, wife, husband, uncle's brother’s nephew's roommate, anyone who can run over that 1971 Seaver you have someone ready to give you 5x book value for. Anyone at all. Do you have a pet seal? Pay him with fresh fish after the show. Seriously, I've been stranded before. Plan ahead.

Goods:
5. One Binder full of cards of the player or players signing autographs that day. Their popularity spikes on those days, and even mediocre players rise to superstars the day they sign autographs. You will sell a lot of these; Every one either needs one for signing, or wants to have one to be a part of the action.

6. A notebook to track everything you sell. Just as I described earlier, it gets crazy, and sometimes you have 5-7 people looking at your cards, while 3 others are trying to hand you money. Remember I mentioned to stay alert? This will help you truly weigh out your Gross Sales, and also, it will help you document where each card went vs. wondering where it went.

7. Top Loaders/Penny Sleeves/Bags/Business cards; Customer Service is key. I always say their 1st purchase is not the most important, but their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on. Build a relationship in a field we all love. Rules of thumb; Every card they buy under $10 gets a sleeve. Every card over $10 gets a Sleeve and a Top Loader. Sleeves are a penny each, Top Loaders are 30c a piece. It's a worthy investment. On multiple card purchases, offer them a bag. And every single person that buys from you or stops to look at your cards gets one of your business cards!

Last Minute Essentials:
8. Change or Cash for Parking, etc; Scout out the venue and see if the parking is free, if there are meters, a garage, etc. Can you pay via Credit card or Cash? Do you pay for your table on show day? Make sure you have your credit cards you use for Shows and Cash +10, which I call Cash + 10% extra (If you need $100, bring $110).

9. Snacks and Water; Trying to talk to someone while your stomach is grumbling is tough and even embarrassing, but even more importantly, it leaves you talking without any nutrition in you, and that can lead to "dumb-mouth". It sounds funny, but it can compromise your virtue; You might give an incorrect price or forget something. If I don't eat, my blood sugar tanks, and I kind of wander around until I realize, "Oh yeah, I skipped breakfast and now it's 3PM". Not a good image to set around your peers or potential customers. So I suggest that you bring with you enough snacks and water with you to hold you over during the show. Proteins like nuts and sugars like chocolate will suffice, or even better, pack some nice mini sandwiches you can chomp fast. This isn't a culinary dining experience. Also, it will get hot when the room is loaded with people, so hydrate yourself by drinking plenty of water. Of course, you will have your group of table buddies we discussed earlier, but bringing snacks and water with you keeps you behind the table, and the less you have to leave the fort, the more sales you can make.

10. Hygiene: Nobody else will stand up and say this, but I've been at shows with sweaty vendors that needed to refresh. Folks, these places get crowded and very hot. for the sake of all things holy, use underarm deodorant, and it's fine to wear a hat, but there is nothing wrong with using some hair gel and styling it up. Remember, brush those fangs nice and white, because you want to flash those pearly whites a lot.

One bonus piece of advice is confidence. Bring it. Nobody put a gun to your head to sell at the show. You chose this! It's your hobby, your business, and you know it backwards and forward. Be an authority, and make some friends and remember that the folks across the table from you are there for some of the same reasons. We have our own lingo and swagger, and think of it as a huge club meeting of like-minded folks.

I wish you BOOMY Sales and much success!!

Please also see my Essential Guide with the top items needed when you're attending a card show, which is located here: "The Top 10 Things You Must Have When Visiting Your Next Baseball Card Show".

Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
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Tags: baseball, baseball cards, card show, cards, coins, comic books, Mets, pokemon, sports, Tom Seaver #baseball #baseballcards #cardshow #cards #ComicBooks #Mets #Pokemon #Sports #TomSeaver

Collector Alert: A Danger Lurks in the Pokémon and Baseball Card Markets

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:48:00 +0000

Hi Folks,
Like anywhere else that you find a surging market where both price and demand are exceeding the imagination, "bad fruit" always begins to develop.

Let me give you an example: Why has identity theft become so popular? It is because stealing someones identity and using their cards and finances is very lucrative for folks who have no conscience or don't fear life staring at bars. But take one thief down, 10 more pop up. "Lucrative" was the main concept here.

Back to our friendly Pokémon market and Baseball Card markets. Let's look at a few examples of Scams I stopped before passing them on to our buyers. Fortunately, I've been around the block enough times to sense a fake and protect our customers, who put their faith in us when confidently purchasing through CardboardandCoins.com

Let me first say here that I did have a bad experience myself when I first started buying Pokémon cards some years back when they really started to take off. I did not start truly selling them until about 2 years ago, but my experience 4 years ago made me tighten down and study real vs. fake. My bad experience came from buying the cards in a discount store. What should have tipped me off was that there was a coveted Charizard Ex card in each pack. Being new to that market and knowing the value of Ex cards, I figured I struck gold, and sold an Ex card through an online Auction site. When the buyer came back and accused me of selling counterfeit cards, I was stunned, and then anger set in. I spoke to a local dealer and showed him a similar card to the one I sold and he shook his head and said it was a good copy, but it was fake. After immediately refunding the buyer and thoroughly apologizing, I confronted the store in which I had been purchasing the cards and what would you expect the owner would say? "I'm sorry, sir....I don't know. We buy them from a guy. I'm not a collector, I don't know". Pikachu would fall over on his fuzzy face if he heard that excuse!

Fast forward to the present day, as much as I make the seller assure me the cards they sell are not Proxies, which is literally another name for counterfeit, if you ask me, it still goes on. I received a Mega Charizard Ex 107/106 from the XY Flashfire Set...or at least I thought I did. It was a laminated card that looked and felt like a driver's license. When I asked the seller what the heck is going on, they were quick to say they don't know, and they claimed that their 10 year old traded for and got the card. It makes me wonder why they advertised it as "Pack Fresh" if they themselves did not pull it out of a pack. Pack as in "Pack of Lies", maybe?

This is not isolated to Pokémon cards.

I had purchased a pricey 1954 Topps Harvey Kuenn Rookie Card via a Sports site hosting the goods of many different collectors. The card was graded a 9 Mint by an obscure Grading Company, but the price was good and I took a shot. Upon receiving the card, it looked great. But something was bothering me, and I decided I had to pop open the slab holding the card. Sure enough, when I opened it up, it was a color printout of the card and not the actual baseball card. After calming down from a moment or two of rage, I advised the customer service of the website regarding the ramifications of such fraud by a vendor on their site, and that since this transaction crossed state lines, I would be notifying the local field office of the FBI. I was absolutely serious, but apparently, that was enough to get my refund. You can't make this stuff up!

Recently, from a popular Auction site, I purchased an unopened pack of 1975 Topps Baseball Mini cards. When I received the pack and opened it up, I noticed the cards kept going from forward facing to backward facing, which is not how the printing and packaging was done during that era. Aside from that, plus the fact there was not one semi-star, plus two of the middle cards had bad corners, I knew this was pre-searched and re-packed. A simple notice sent to the seller advising them of the fallout from their actions resulted in a full refund and I was told to keep the cards. Keep them? That’s odd? I don't like being on the side of benefiting from a crime, so I refused and sent them back. Albeit, some expensive commons were probably in there, but I have to abide by the same rules and expectations I have for others.

Now, the moral of this is that I am fortunate enough with 30 years of collecting baseball cards and sports cards to know when something is fishy. Many of you who are new collectors might not be at that point yet. So what can you do? If you have a question, just contact us via our website, www.CardboardandCoins.com. Seriously. Although we cannot take the risk of telling you if something is real or fake sight unseen, we can certainly tell you what to look for and what to check. What's the cost? Absolutely nothing. Look, I have had a lot of great mentors in my many years in the hobby as a collector and a vendor. If I can help some of you out and save you some headaches and hassles, then I've paid something back from the love bestowed upon me when I had questions about decisions on what to buy and needed honest guidance.

Think of it as having an Uncle in the business!!
Heck, just call me Uncle!

Have a Great Week, from Rob & your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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Growing...Cardboard & Coins...Pains!

noreply@blogger.com (CardboardandCoins.com) — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 21:43:00 +0000

Hi Folks,
Happy Love Day to you! We're sorry for all of the changes, and I intend to write everyone back. We've had a mega spike in traffic and sales, far and away more than our current Internet Host could handle, so we had to make a switch on the fly. I'm an undercover Network Engineer geek, so I have taken control of this craziness and moved us to a new and stable host.

We really appreciate your business, and we love your feedback about how our Free Shipping on EVERY U.S. Order is unique and nobody else offers such a deal. It's because we intend to stay here for quite some time. Heck, I've been collecting since I was a pre-teen, over 30 years ago. I didn't sink all of my allowances into Baseball Cards, Coins, Comics, etc for nothing !!

As a token of our appreciation, please take 15% off your next order along with free shipping by using 15FREE at checkout! It's our way of spreading the love on love day!

Stick with us....more inventory, more contests, more fun...
and more cardboard and coins....are on the way!

Have a great day!
Regards,
Rob and Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com