Todays mail brought this eBay win. 1972 Topps hi number 331 Mercury Morris. I can't tell you how many eBay auctions I have bid on for this card, only to come up short. A tough card hi number AND popular with those that collect Dolphins cards related to their 1972 "Perfect Season" There is NO WAY I am going to get this card at a discount!
The card was described as NRMT+ which seems to be "pushing" it a bit LOL but what do I know, I always look for the low grade cards. The card is way off centered, a dinged corner, and has some print defect in the upper left that I thought was a wax stain but my trusty "panty hose" remover wouldn't do the trick! And all kinds of snow on the card NRMT+ I did leave positive feedback but dinged the seller on his card description LOL! But I am SO glad to get this card and this leaves me with just ONE more hi number to complete my 1972 Topps football set.
I still need #266 Rayfield Wright Cowboys All-Pro, and yes, I have lost many battles on eBay for this card too. But I will prevail (meaning I'll probably overpay to complete my set).
The Mercury Morris card "books" NM $25 in the Standard Catalog and I set my "snipe" for $23.77 and I took it home for "only" $18.50. Seller charged me $3.95 to ship, and I see on the small size bubble mailer that his cost was .94c so I dinged his feedback on that too LOL! So my cost was $22.45 or 90% "book" price.
It might sound like I am bitchen' but I'm not. I knew what the card looked like and I knew what he charged for shipping before I even bid. It's just a little insight into how my pea brain works!
Time to go over-pay for that Rayfield Wright!
Larry
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Another good day in the mailbox...

Love that Landry!

One smart thing I did years ago, and there aren't that many, was write to Coach Landry and ask if he sign a old Giants program for me - he agreed and sent me a signed 8x10 back with the program I sent him

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Thanks!

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That is a cool piece!

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You gotta wonder what would have happened if either Landry or Lombardi got the Giants coaching job after Howell.

jeff

This one's for Dan. Could not stand it any longer, and picked up this John Hannah, from the 1977 Topps Mexican set. Strange, it has the exact spot adjacent to his ear, must have been a manufacturing problem. Wait, examining the card more closely is that an earplug/headset, can't imagine those in 1977 but sure as heck looks like it. Do you think John's brother Charley shows up at family gatherings with his Super Bowl ring?

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Ty, glad to see you got your Hannah!

Picked up a nice Jim Brown Rookie recently.

Great pickup on the Jim Brown card - it's a beauty

This!

New FB Acquisitions
 

Not a major pick up, but I am glad to get this for less than 10 bucks. Decided to take a break from baseball for a while and focus on my Bradshaw run.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...f1518069c3.jpg


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That's a great pick-up Ed. After seeing your card, I went into the "closet" and dug mine out.
1. It appears that the football is airbrushed on the card?
2. Bradshaw has HUGE hands!
Larry

Thanks Larry. I also noticed the football. Not sure what the deal is with that. Makes some of the 70's Topps airbrushed baseball caps look pretty good.


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nice cards past few pages. Most of the Bradshaw's i've been seeing are pretty off center. Mine is off center for sure top to bottom.

Agree. My new card is a little OC top to bottom, but I definitely prefer that to left to right OC.


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Todays mail brought four football cards and the best news?

My 1951-1981 Topps set run is complete!

1951 Topps Magic Babe Parilli completes my set!
1972 Topps Hi number Rayfield Wright completes my set!

Other cards low grade 1952 Bowman small #30 Sammy Baugh and another beater 1950 Bowman#6 Lou Groza RC.
A GREAT day at the mailbox!
Larry
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Wow - great run Larry - 30 years of Topps football! Did you think about going further? Anyone know what year the number of companies issuing football cards really exploded? I'm thinking either 87, 88, or 89.....

Congrats, Larry! A great accomplishment.

jeff

Congratulations Larry! Great run, love the updates on the many set progressions. Hope you're not done, done?

Jeff and everyone else: thanks for all the support along the way! John I have no interest in cards newer than 1981. Ty I'm still working on my '48-'55 Bowman run (need 30) and my '60-'63 Fleer run (need 11). I'm working on the '48 and '49 Leaf sets too but I need lots of cards. I'm trying for some of the Topps wax pack inserts too. It never ends!
Larry

Congrats Larry! I also enjoy seeing your posts. !!

I think in '88, or '89 proset and score came along. maybe some others i could be wrong.

Thanks Shawn - 88 or 89 sounds about right. I think Larry is firm on 81, but I was just thinking there's a natural cutoff in the late 80s. I only say that because at some point in there picking a rookie card becomes really arbitrary. We know the 86 Topps is Jerry Rice's rookie. But a few years later in 89, Barry Sanders had a Score, a Pro Set, and a Topps. Soon after I think Upper Deck, Fleer, Action Packed??, SP??, Pacific??, etc. (I'm not even sure if these are all separate companies or what) were issuing sets - I've never really seen an article that explains the history of it, maybe because the late 80s aren't all that historical yet...

It all hit the fan in 1989. That's when Score and Pro Set showed up on the scene. So for me I consider 1988 the last year worth trying to get all of the mainstream cards that were produced. I have most of the base Topps sets thereafter but that's about it.

jeff

I'm like yall. My cutoff is '79. I do however have a few graded singles and raw sets of '89 score. There is WAY less of that stuff floating around than you would assume.

I have accumulated an embarrassingly large number of post-1987 football cards at garage sales and Goodwill. 99 cents for a bag of junk era cards are still fun to sort through for an hour or such, and if nothing else collect a few HOF's. I do not think I would ever bother pursuing a set, though sure to be close with a few different ones. I typically donate duplicate HOF's, Seahawks & Mariners to the library who give them away as bookmarks or reading benchmarks.

If I'm spending more than change on my collection, I try to keep it 1958-1977.

I gave myself one day to celebrate completing my '51-'81 Topps run, but time to get back in the game:D
Saturdays mail brought a hit to my 1951 Bowman set, #2 Otto Graham. It seems the previous owner was unsure of Ottos team, so he "inked" it on the back LOL! The Standard Catalog says this is a $200 card in NM. Well I busted my 10% threshold to pick this one up, after shipping ($3.50:mad:) was $28.50 or 14.5%.
Down to three cards to complete this set:
#4 Norm Van Brocklin RC (NM $325)
#20 Tom Landry RC (NM $365)
#90 Tony Canada (NM $50)
Larry
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Wow Larry, congrats on the accomplishment, but I'm more amazed at the heavy star power in your last 5 cards!

Definitely glad to pick this up for my Bradshaw collection. Not high grade, but presents well and I got it at a price I couldn't pass up. I don't worry much about grades since I have no plans to sell. I must admit I pulled the trigger quickly on this as I am afraid the post-war RC craze that is creating super high prices in baseball will be moving soon to football and basketball.

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I think it's already here for the Cowboys vintage rookies I try and buy. Take a look at the 1972 Staubach PSA 9 - high water mark was May, 2015 at $4,450. We've had three sell this year now for $14,050, $10,688 and $17,766.

If you look at the PSA 8 of the same card three sold this year in April and May for between $837 and $858. Since then? $1,200, $3,150, $3,049, $2,050, $3,400, $4,250 and $2,358 all in June and July of this year.

This next PWCC auction will contain a 1978 PSA 10 Tony Dorsett rookie (1 of 12) and a 1951 PSA 10 Tom Landry rookie (1 of 2) and I expect them both to blow the doors off previous high sales marks.

On the basketball side, the 1986 Fleer Jordan rookie had been selling consistently for ~$20k until late March of this year. Then we see between 3/24/16 when one sold for $25,300 a fairly straight line (with a few "deals" in between) run up pto the 6/11/2016 sale at $45,000. Followed up 10 days later by a second sale at $43,700 before "coming down to Earth" in the last two sales - veritable bargains at $38,100 and $34,025 respectively.

Be safe out there.

Two hits in the mailbox today via eBay.

First up 1952 Bowman small #144 Jim Lansford RC and the last card in the set. The Standard Catalog NM "value" $250 and this card arrives for $19.25 within my 10% price point. Jim played just one year in the NFL.

1952 Bowman large #67 Richard Logan. Standard Catalog says $60 in NM, and again I'm in under my so called "bar" at $4.95 delivered. Dick played two years in the NFL with the Packers.

Larry
(maybe the "cheapest" collector on Net54?)

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Nice pickups Larry. Love your collecting philosophy. I put together my Hank Aaron run with similar condition cards. Cool to own "well-loved" cards that have been enjoyed through the years. Lots of character and history.


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Larry, I don't know if you're the cheapest collector on Net54. I think I compete with you for that title.

Finished up this set

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Jv...L=w535-h955-no

Congrats! I'm one card away!
Larry

I love the Otto Graham, Larry. I picked one of those up a couple of months ago at a show. I paid $20 for mine, also in well loved condition.

I don't have a pic of it available, but I did post it in this blog post.

I've also decided to use your strategy on completing sets - paying 10% or less of "book" value. While it could be a challenge, it will be a fun one!

That is beautiful.

Todays mail brought a "puffy" mailer, loaded with football cards via a single eBay purchase. Seller "stung" me for $6 shipping on all these cards, and really went nuts with the tape trying to protect the cards. I wish sellers would think of the potential problems unwinding all that tape around the top loaders and understand tape and cardboard don't mix. Two hits to my set (28 cards away from my '48-'55 Bowman run) and eighteen duplicates for upgrades and trading:)

1952 Bowman large #136 Albert Rechichar SP standard catalog says $200 in NM shape this low grade card was $5.50 or 2.75% shipping not included.

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1952 Bowman large #142 Tom Landry standard catalog says $525 in NM condition and this one cost me $41.01 or 7.8% shipping not included. HAHA I just noticed it's even centered pretty good!

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Seller had a bunch of '52 Bowman large cards ending at the same time, so I put in quite a few snipes, and took home eighteen duplicates. Some of these will be upgrades for my set, others go into my OBC dupes box for trading. Most were one dollar each (14 of them were $1 each) then $1.25 $1.51 $1.51 $1.77 total $20.04 for the eighteen duplicates. Most of these duplicates book for $70 in NM and the total Standard Catalog price for these eighteen cards in NM is $1,220 and I paid $20.04 (not including the shipping fee) or 1.6% of book.
Larry

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Congrats on finishing your set Revmoran! anything other sets in the works?

I've been eyeballing those Graham cards too.. maybe one day.

Great looking 1950 Bowman set, rev! Well done, sir.

Picked up two 1977 Topps Mexican 10's this month ;) OK, rather two #10's, Bartkowski and a signed Zorn RC (still no Fran). Broke two rules on the Zorn acquisition, no stains and no sigs; however it is very well centered with a strong sig and just a slight gum stain left of his head. A lifelong Seahawks fan, always enjoyed the Patera-era Zorn/Largent connection.

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Damn, Ty, a signed Mexican??

The night train
 

Awesome

Thanks Dan! The inscription intrigued me as well (without treading too deeply into net54's gray area on religion), Proverbs 26:1; "Like snow in summer, or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting a fool." Strange citation, great rookie card pairing with Largent, overall very happy.

Surprisingly there are quite a few TTM sigs on 1977 Topps Mexican football cards, as those gum stained pack fresh cards are released to the public, and a few enterprising persons/companies have recognized their rarity, but cannot capitalize on condition. IMO.

I'll keep an eye out for a Hannah :)

Thanks Ty. I want to meet Hannah and get my photo taken with him, and he does occasional signings here in New England. I've wondered what I would get signed when I do meet him, since I already have a signed RC. Maybe I should crack out my PSA 8 Mexican when that day comes.

New FB Acquisitions
 

Some more additions to my Bradshaw set. Two more (75, 76) to complete the basic set.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...b95ef1ff35.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...7fb0c21981.pnghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...d9b423e9a2.png


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Nice Ed - if its a PSA registry set, please add link - I like looking at those.

New FB Acquisitions
 

Thanks John. This is a registry set, but I have no delusions that it will achieve a high rank (currently 22). I mainly registered it for fun. Bradshaw is my all-time favorite player so I am truly a collector at heart. I don't see myself upgrading to get a higher ranking, but I do enjoy looking at others' registry sets.

http://www.psacard.com/psasetregistr...?s=208117&ac=1

BTW, I do have the #3 Bradshaw Master Topps set. Full disclosure, there are only 5 sets registered, [emoji3]!

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Today I picked up Turley to complete the Bears from the 1935 Diamond matchbook set

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Finally have something to post:D I picked up a 1951 Bowman #90 Tony Canada that leaves me two cards left until my set is complete. This card "books" for $50 in NM, and I had to pay $10 plus $3 shipping or 26% full book. It has been tough to obtain as I am sure I was in competition with a bunch of Packers collectors.

Tony is one of six Packers to have their numbered retired. Pro Football HOF 1974. Missed some of the 1944 season and all of the 1945 season as he served in the Army.
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