Someone posted the question "Why do so many people dislike printing plates so much?" My response was that as this hobby continues to have more and more high end pieces, we collectors see our cards more like art, thus making the aesthetics factor very important to us. Because of this, plates are not at the same level, because they are...well...ugly. I personally love them. I love having a piece that is used to create the entire run of a certain card. I got to thinking though, what if the companies started to instead, chop up printing plates and embed them

In July, a 1963 Topps Ken McMullen rookie card sold on eBay for over $150,000. It was a beautiful specimen graded by 9 by PSA. For those of you who don't know who Ken McMullen is, he signed with the LA Dodgers right out of high school and debuted in 1962 as a 20 year old. McMullen wrapped up his career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1977. His career statline boasted a .248 average with 156 home runs. So why is his rookie card so expensive?  Because he shared it with 3 other guys. Recognize any of the names? Throughout

It must have been five years ago when I was in my office with my son opening some SP Authentic.  He pulled a beauty of a card. While it wasn't (most likely) this exact card, this is how I remember it.  I thought it was absolutely amazing.  Brilliant even!  They took a game used jersey worn by Griffey to cut up and have him sign a letter ... then put it on a card! Then I found out they just manufactured the letter to be signed.  I thought something was up when they started making sets of these cards that

Know what I love?  Making customs of cards that don't exist or were never made.  It adds a certain layer of depth to my collection.  I suspect many of you who have customs in your collections feel the same way.  A '69 Topps Garvey, '66 Topps Ryan, 81 Fleer Ripken, etc. In the past few weeks, I have focused on creating a few cards that never existed and modifying others. I found this autographed 2011 Goodwin Champions on an advertisement sales sheet for the set.  It didn't look familiar, so I checked my collection.  Not there.  I also checked Becket.