A Boy and His Collection – A Parable

Here is a parable that I wrote!  I draw this partially from personal experience, but think and hope you all can connect with this too. Listen to the audio version here!   Let me tell you a story of a little boy who went exploring with his family in the woods. Once upon a time, a family took a trip to go hiking in the woods.  They happened upon a stream of cold, crystal clear water.  The little boy was fascinated by the shallow stream, and crouched down to get a better look at the bed of the stream.  What he

My Comic Book Collection

Selling out of a collection is a crazy thing.  You hate to see things that you did battle for walk out the door, but when the dust settles, you may find yourself in a position considering do things with the money that are outside of your comfort zone.  That's where I found myself in early 2019, after I sold the vast majority of my Jose Canseco baseball card collection.  Here is a taste of what was outside my comfort zone that I have fallen madly in love with and have invested in: (links to more in depth articles on each

Showing off my Custom Transformers Collection

I'm known for TL;DR articles, so I have posted the pics of my collection first, and posted the article below them.  If you love reading back stories and such, I hope you enjoy it.  If you just love eye candy, no hard feelings :)  Note the tag "Tanner Toys Collection" is to pay homage to an idea my parents had decades ago - they always thought it would be cool to start a toy store called Tanner Toys.  It never happened, so this is my tribute to them. If you collect anything, you are pretty much going to be labeled

My Vintage Collection

Raise your hand if you sold something too early this past year. If I were a betting man, I'd say that nearly every one of you reading this put your hand in the air while gritting your teeth.  Never in a million, billion, trillion years would I think cards would explode in the midst of a pandemic! I had a bunch of high graded PSA rookies from the 80s and 90s, as well as FASC wax, and even a ton of low grade vintage. And I sold nearly all of it. Before prices skyrocketed. Yes, everytime I see for forum

Custom Card Tutorial and Valentines Day Contest!

For YEARS, I've had people ask if I have a custom card making tutorial available, and I've always said "it's on the list".  Everytime someone asks for pointers, I try to answer questions, but it is difficult to write volumes to everyone that asks - I have loads of questions (and success stories) about baseball cards/collecting in general coming in every day!  This is not a complaint - in fact, I'm thankful.  I love talking cardboard and helping others out, but time can be scarce. With that said, I finally walked through a card I created on video.  Someone reached

My Jose Canseco Collection – Updated for 2021 Video Series

In this four part video series, I show off my entire Jose Canseco baseball card collection updated for 2021!  I have done a LOT of consolidating, and here is what I am left with.  It was a blast going through them all :)  Grab some popcorn, and snuggle up with a loved one for two hours of Jose Canseco cardboard goodness!         And, as a bonus, I did a TOP 50 video showing some of my favorites:  

I Captured the King, and Lost the Queen, But Got the Babe

Let me start off by saying, I'm going to try super hard not to turn this article into a book.  A lot has been going on!  To kick it all off, I did a MASSIVE trade involving a boatload of Jose Canseco cards.  The boxes on the right are Canseco cards.  The box on the left?  An 1888 Allen & Ginter N28 baseball card set. I know what you are thinking:  How very Tanner of me to trade my 1888 Allen & Ginter set for Canseco cards.  PLOT TWIST:  The Canseco cards actually left my collection! I packed up a

Christmas Cards – Showing off the Red & Green

I love the idea of pairing red & green cards together for Christmas, so I did just that with my two PCs: Canseco and Vintage. Here they are! Pictured below is an EXTREMELY rare card ... and the other one is the Red Crusade.  Obviously, the Red Crusade is a grail card, but the other is an Executive Prototype that is rumored to have only had 1-3 copies made of it. Plus, I lurve the green - it matches the Oakland green & gold! Next up are my Christmas Cobbs! The vibrant red and green backgrounds make me melt. One came

Bringing a $200,000 19th Century Advertisement To Life

I think I now understand why why I get so romantic over 19th century baseball cards and collectibles.  They give a rich and vivid voice to a time period that has been largely forgotten by yesterday's fans and collectors - and unknown to fans and collectors of the present. Baseball and baseball card collecting in the 1800s is fascinating - there is no shortage of fun stories and history that have come out of this time period.  In the pictures below, you will see the likenesses of hall of famers, baseball pioneers, and players who reached larger than life celebrity

1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond Gold Rarity Mystery

Did you know that the Alan Trammell version of this sold for over $400 the other day? Heck, Kent Merker went for $22! 1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond Gold - This set was sold in 2 series. Series 2 is harder to find, but series 1 isn't exactly a cakewalk.  Canseco is in series 1, and doesn't show up often, but isn't as tough as these series 2 cards. This is a card that I never thought much of until researching this set. The wild thing about it is the Electric Diamond Gold cards are stated to have fallen at