Remember when buybacks were rare?

Remember when buybacks were rare? Take for instance, this - Canseco's most famous Topps card, ever. In 2004, Topps gave collectors Jose's first ever buyback auto, and hand numbered it to 99. (Super rare, considering the they probably produced millions of them.  The 1991 Donruss Elite is numbered to 10,000, so this buyback is less than 1% of those!)   In 2015, they upped the ante and released one numbered to /14.   In 2016, they released it again, but numbered to /97. The only real on card difference being the stamp is on the other side. Oh, and several

1986 Donruss Jose Canseco Rated Rookie Fun Facts and my latest Pickup (It’s SUPER rare!)

For a time period growing up in the late 80s/early 90s, there wasn't a bigger card than the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco Rated Rookie.  It was the grail of grails.  I have heard reports of it selling for over $150 back then. It didn't matter to me, because anything over $20 might as well have been a million dollars.  It was the card that was so hot and so big, that I don't even think it entered my dreams. 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco Rated Rookie - the face of the hobby While I was preoccupied with 1988 Donruss and 1989 Score,

Showing off Customs & Cards While our AC is Busted

Greetings from mission control - where the lights are off, and game 2 of the ALCS is blaring so I can hear it above the 2 fans pointed at me.  The ALDS nearly killed me.  When you spend the first 12 years of your life as an A's fan in California, but have 28 years of Houston life under your belt, it is confusing who to root for.  This totally describes me last week. I was sad the A's lost, but it was a REALLY entertaining series.  The sheer amount of bombs hit makes me wonder if the playoff balls

  • 2000 Venezuelan Sticker Jose Canseco

2000 Venezuelan Sticker Jose Canseco – Ultra Rare!

If you know, you know.  :) The 2000 Venezuelan Sticker.  On the outside, it looks like one of the countless Panini stickers they did decades ago. This, however, is different. It was created in Venezuela during a time when global commerce for things like this just wasn't a common thing, and was created during a time when card companies were creating some truly beautiful cards, so unless you know what it is, even if it popped up, most wouldn't look at it twice. For old school supercollectors and player collectors, however, this has been on many people's want lists since

I Have Acquired an Honus Wagner Rookie!

First, let me say right off, no, I didn't purchase a T206 Honus Wagner.  What I did pickup, however, predates the T206 by at least a decade *and* is significantly rarer!  This was definitely an Indiana Jones moment for me. Let me introduce you to my newest piece:  The 1899-00 M101-1 Sporting News Honus Wagner Rookie!  I have only seen six others up for sale in auction houses this century, and half of them have significant amounts of it cut away.  This is one of the finest examples of this premium insert to ever hit the market! The funny thing

I Bought Out TWO Jose Canseco Supercollectors

As a buyer and seller of baseball card collections for 15 years, I always enjoy being neck deep in cardboard.  When it comes to buying Canseco collections, it is way more exciting for me, as I am able to keep out what I want instead of just selling everything.  Check out how this last month went for me! BUYING MATT'S CANSECO SUPERCOLLECTION About 2 years ago, I was in the thick of selling off my Jose Canseco supercollection.  One of the very first people to buy a significant portion of it was noted Jose Canseco Supercollector Matt.  If you are

1909-13 M101-2 Sporting News Supplements – PSA Graded Beauties!

There's no way around it.  When you are going after something rare at auction you love, and you lose, it sucks.  You can internalize it as "the one that got away".  That's where our story begins. 1909-13 M101-2 Sporting News Supplements About a month or so back, I was browsing an auction house website and came across a near complete set (96/100) of an extremely beautiful issue offered over 100 years ago. Measuring in at nearly 8x10, the 100 piece set was inserted at a rate of one every other issue from 1909 to 1913 of Sporting News.  They feature

My 19th Century Custom Quarantine Project!

My 19th Century Custom Quarantine Project! First, I'll give it to you short and sweet.  If you want to read the entire article, keep scrolling, but if you don't care about the labor pains and just want to see the baby, here you go! I was alerted to an Iowa find that unearthed an 1889 Goodwin A35 Round Album - each Round has more in common with baseball cards than they do album pages.  They are considered to be the most premium baseball issue to come out of the 19th century and had been lost to the hobby for about

1988 San Jose Mercury News Baseball Cards – These are COMPLETELY new to me!

I don't know if I have ever come across a licensed Jose Canseco card that I didn't know of.  That is what makes this so exciting to me.  A few years back, a Mark McGwire collector reached out to me on Twitter asking if I heard of the 1988 Mercury News Mark McGwire.  It was completely new to me, so I asked more about it, and he said the 1988 San Jose Mercury News apparently ran a full page on the inside of the sports section of their news paper one day in 1988.  To his knowledge, he said he

When Mainstream Baseball Cards (Almost) Went International

In 1992, Ace Novelty (the maker of those ugly looking trolls) was primed to compete with Topps, Fleer, Donruss, etc. and go even further, by expanding into international markets. A small prototype set was made to show them.  The minuscule run of cards was handed out to a little league team that one of the guys at Ace was involved with.  Ultimately, the MLB rejected giving them a license at the 11th hour.  The actual cards that got out in the public appear to be a great big ... "oops!", and were given out with the assumption that the MLB