Recent slab pickups / grading

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What sets do you have that are all graded. I just got back a 80 plus order with the 1984 topps set. Not the whole set of course but most of the Hall of Famers. Of course my luck, I get several 9s but not one single 10! Still happy with the overall grades, just wish I got atleast 1 or 2 10s!


What's weird though, is this was a quarterly special( the 80s special) that I sent in around July. It gets listed in to my PSA account on 8/14 and then is graded and shipped out 9/10. Skipping all my other submissions before it. They just decided to grade this one first. PSA is strange sometimes.

If your looking for sense to be made of their stuff good luck. Been subbing since 1997 with them and they have never done FIFO rules. I don't have enough current info to decipher what the new recent hiring's and changes have done to the processing times. The 1984 set is tough- your 9's are perhaps due to edge chipping (least in my experiences this knocks down most stuff in 1984 and 1986 items) . I do have 2 groups of cards in under that special- one 44 card sub and another 39 card. Not one items mine they are all subbers. So that bodes well for them. I'm still waiting on a March 6th bulk of 222 that has a lot of my recent stuff. You'll see the scans when they return.


I have partial PSA sets of certain 1990's Finest runs, bunch of 2000-2005's inserts sets from DLP, a few harder to locate subsets of all years from Topps ,Fleer, and UD. I also have player runs of certain types but those are under wraps until I complete so that I can then submit the structure to PSA and have them create the runs on the registry. An example I'll show in a bit is a Boggs Star subset I just slabbed- slabbed all the cards, created the subset on the registry, and since its complete moving on to the next groups.Showed a Mark McGwire 1998 Pacific HR History subset that was almost completed also have more due back. Tons of others too many to list.


The next subset group of 4 scanned

 

[seitas]

My 10 day sub took 11 weeks. I’m happy with all the grades except the Acuña 9. I can’t see how the surface got an 8.5. I’ve looked through a loupe and with excellent lighting at both the front and back and it looks like a 9.5/10 surface to me. I’ll end up resubbing it. I think the morant was a generous 9.5.

 

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@seitas nice slabs !!! Good luck on the re-sub.


Next group of scans done more to follow
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And the next group of 4 of the 19988 Topps Cloth scanned below. Someone asked if I still had the stars
Most were sold in 2012 when my wife spent 6 days in ICU in the hospital. So most are gone = a few remain.

 

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Finally got to the end of this box of stuff. The end of the 1988 Topps Cloth that are in here
A few have the stamped areas shown

 

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Plugging along on scans. All Clemens for this grouping. The Fleer is still the best NrMt card I've seen not sure where they saw issues under magnification. I still can't locate the surface issue and corners - well - I havent had time to review super close.
The Fleer cards are always poorly produced so Mint is actually good on those .Graded so long ago haven't had time to upgrade. The 1990 Score McDonald's believe I wrote an article about how the came to be purchased HERE
The Stadium Club came in a sealed box and if yours isn't in super shape, that's unusual ,as its Topps only set ever done that was top notch QC. Many of us own Mirror Golds, Extra Editions and Donruss Preferred Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum so you can relate to those. For a card numbered to 500 the Extra Editions are a tough pull.

 

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The Dufex card that started it all- 1993 Pinnacle Dufex. A bent corner prevented a good BGS grade but I have a higher graded PSA 10 Dufex somewhere. Pinnacle continued the style with their " Museum Collection" and "Starburst" in later years.
And while the Gold Sig is more celebrated ( will dig mine up eventually) this Silver Sig was the harder of the 2 to find for me at least

 

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A few stragglers scanned. Next batch could easily be in the 1990's insert thread but I'll post here since its an inventory continuation. The Finest are base I need to locate the refractors and get them put together.
The Gold I need to locate my Gold Promo not sure why its on its own usually have those all together.

 

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OK this batch is all 1990's inserts. Seems I'm missing a bunch that should be grouped with these
Explains why I should do an inventory more often. Most are self-explanatory and well known.
The Fleer In the Clutch is one of my favorite "green" cards. After the Crusade of course
Need to locate my Red and my Premier cards also and slab them

 

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OK this box apparently is a mix of jumbled years. We go from 1990's insert mania to late 1980's Donruss & Fleer goodness.
I always loved the Fleer box sets. I used to buy master boxes of the stuff. Aim was to get the best shape and I knew I could sell off all the other stars or rookies from the boxes easily. I self subbed most of these .Believe the Donruss Highlights 17 Pristine was an eBay buy. Rest were my tries at Gems.
The Game Winners, Exciting Stars , and Baseball AS all came back on the same sub. I remember the Sluggers well. First few I sent in were Mint 9 . I learned from the first 2 what to look for, but it took 24 boxes to find one good enough.

 

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OK folks more scanned of the box and these are all Clemens from the 2007 Upper Deck SPX Winning Materials series. One of the most perplexing and thought required game used sets I think they've done. You really have to know this series otherwise you'll wind up with lots of duplicates. There's thick and thin items that look similar. There's patches that are sometimes not patches in the traditional sense, but plain Jane pinstripes, or dark away jersey pieces. I love cracking these boxes ( great breaks with lots of inserts- worth the $$ spent ) just stopped when I got so low on my Clemens needs

In 13 years I find myself still 4 short on the Winning Materials subset . I bypassed one twice now as the card came up for auction both times at bad medical bill periods (the Triple auto # / 15). One day it will come up when I'm flush. The other two missing pieces I just haven't been online at the right times for the low # patches .


Bronze (serial-numbered to 199 )
Gold (serial-numbered to 199 )
Silver (serial-numbered to 199 )
Blue (serial-numbered to 175 )
Green (serial-numbered to 175 )
Patches Gold (serial-numbered to 99 )
Patches Silver (serial-numbered to 99 )
Patches Bronze (serial-numbered to 50 )
Dual Gold (serial-numbered to 50 )
Dual Silver (serial-numbered to 50 )
Dual Bronze (serial-numbered to 25 )
Dual Green (serial-numbered to 15 )
Patches Triple (serial-numbered to 25

OK let's start off showing the Base series and the # to 175 colored base inserts
First thing I learned- NUMBERING doesn't mean squat.
I always check- is it thick or thin? What color? Say "limited" or not?
Answers to all those will let me know what level it is and what type of item it is
Just because it says 99 doesn't mean its immediately identifiable to me. Have lots of doubles because I did not pay attention to the subset differences initially


BASE SERIES / 199 ( BRONZE / GOLD / SILVER)- thin, normal GU
========================================

BASE INSERT SERIES / 175 ( BLUE / GREEN )-thin, normal GU
===================================

 

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Here is the next grouping from that series. The Silver is mislabeled ( should be Patch version not the base)
Will get it fixed soon just noticed it and haven't had the time lately. The base is thin and is clear - they should know that.
When it says limited and is thick - means its the "patch" version. Simple mislabel is all.

The Gold and Silver Patch are # to 99, the Bronze version to 50 for whatever reason.
I have no idea why certain colors / variations were limited just know what I know

BRONZE / GOLD / SILVER PATCH VERSIONS
==================================

The Dual items are probably the first I actually almost finished ( missing just the Green # to 25 Dual)
Took me just 5 years to get the first 3- been looking since then for the fourth and last
And once again the Bronze was lower numbered ( 25 instead of 50) for whatever reason


BRONZE / GOLD / SILVER / GREEN DUAL VERSIONS
===============================

In case anyone's interested I am always open to cracking a box or 3 of the stuff provided I do the cracking ( I value condition so I trust myself to handle properly). Too many breaker butchers around. I prefer handling with a ) the appropriate museum quality archival paper gloves so no fingerprints or oils and B) proper opening care.
Has tons of stuff that makes these boxes worth breaking.

 

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The last of the 2007 SPX series attached. The Triple Patch # to 25 and the Platinum Sig # to 10
Just the 4 left and will be done. maybe will try in 2021 to complete- we will see

 

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More from the 1990's in the box. I remember debating myself when the second Gem HFTH that came back.
Do I want the one with no weaknesses, or the one with the higher centering ? I remember the one that was 9.5x4 being the winner. Forgot to sell the 2nd gem and apparently still own it. Shows what lack of inventory does to people.
The Pop is still just 2 Gems= so I guess I own the entire Gem pop of the card.

The packages these samples come in were not exactly well protected so Mint works for me. More coming.

 

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Next group of scans. Cool with the auth label just 10 are available and I haven't found a replacement yet.
The others are just your basic press proof and reciprocal. Always liked the predictor "bats" scratch offs

 

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Pick any years DLP Gold Sample-all are a pain to locate. Most scans do not even show the differences.
Even the Grading pros screw them up unless a Silver is right next to it to see
Took me forever to locate the below Leaf Base Gold and by sheer dumb luck I found it when seller had good scans
Silver is shown for comparisons sake. Sent them in the same sub so they could SEE the difference and compare easier

 

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Below is a bunch of the base and parallel items form the 2004 DLP PLAYERS COLLECTION multi-product series
I am sure I have more buried that need slabbing just have no idea where stuff is its why I am working hard on this inventory. Its actually the first full inventory of slabs plus items I've done since I moved to Vegas nearly 15 years ago
Done partial slab reviews but never raw plus slabs so this one's a chore

The 2004 DLP Players Collection Jersey was a 100-card GU jersey set that was released in four DLP products- 2004 Leaf, Playoff Honors, Playoff Prestige, and Studio

As usual props to baseballcardpedia for keeping info up baseballcardpedia.com/index.php/2004_Donruss-Playoff_Players_Collection_Jersey

Makes me want to dig up my 2004 DLP unopened boxes and see if I can flash out some more needs
Maybe a few box breaks !!


First up is 2004 LEAF. This series is simple- your going to have a Green Version or a Platinum version of both Home & Away jerseys. I have the Green PC80 somewhere. If someone has any base Green stuff see me I do buy dupes of the base Leaf items. As you can see I kept my own pack issued stuff in good condition Mint 9 or better is difficult unless one does it themselves. There were just 4 items to worry about in this set= so I'm done with this set as I know I have the PC80 Green somewhere
As you can see the PC81 Platinum is mislabeled meant to get that fixed- will do so ASAP

BASE PC80 GREEN IS CURRENTLY MIA

Next up is 2004 PLAYOFF HONORS versions.
This one gets tricky. There are FIVE total items you could find for the Player Collection Jerseys

Blue (# to 250 copies)
Blue Number (# to 250 copies)
Platinum Number (# to 50 copies)
Platinum (# to 25 copies)
Gold (# to 10 copies)

I literally have zero clue where I stand here. Have not looked at my raw stuff in years on this one or some graded stuff either. Will have to spend time in 2021 looking up what I have and what I may still need. Its now on my 2021 "hobby" list of stuff to do

These two were in the box- the next 2 Blues I know are slabbed just need rescanned - and the balance ???? will need to check it out. The Golds are incredibly difficult to locate if you've ever tried getting your player.

These two below I know I have buried just need to locate them along with all my raw stuff

I'll get to the Prestige and Studio when I can

 

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OK finished the 2004 Player Collection for the Prestige and Studio brands that were here in this box I am doing now.
Something tells me most of my PC80 cards are together somewhere- just a guess since most of the PC81 seem to be here together. Just a few of the PC80 are in this box so they gotta be somewhere else of course
Again no idea where I stand on either set I haven't seen my box of game used since I moved 2 years ago.

Oh and I found another 1988 Topps Cloth in the box-so I moved it over to the other box that had the Topps Cloth items

 

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Next up is the 2007 TOPPS STERLING Clemens slabs in this box. This series was very expensive ( think boxes were $200+)
If ever a series drove me to just avoid opening- this one was it. The cost vs ROI was HORRIBLE unless it was a) your guy or b) a MAJOR player. Combine that with a plethora of dealers who broke rules and peeked at boxes ( opened seals then claimed to customers thats how it came).

These boxes came sealed in plastic- if it's missing plastic then it's not "unopened" and therefore be wary of that dealer it has been cherry picked. Most times I'd just avoid buying boxes altogether. I avoided them when they came out anyways as I was still working on 2006 UD Epic back then. Think its been 5-8 years since I added to my Sterling Clemens as I really have not bought much Clemens at all the last few years . Been concentrating on other stuff ( and players)

Trusty baseballcardpedia has some great info on the set as always baseballcardpedia.com/index.php/2007_Topps_Sterling

First up will be his Base items in this box-- not sure where #117 is currently but 7 of the 8 base cards are shown
These cards you can buy from $3-10 depending on who is selling. Got most of mine for $5-10 delivered each

 

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Next group of 2007 Sterling is scanned is the WHITE versions # to 50. A little more difficult than it may seem for a # to 50 item. Tougher to locate then a base insert in the Sterling series. I have 4 of the 8 done I need 111,115,116,117 for White versions if you own one see me. I purchased most in the $18-25 delivered range and will gladly fork over $20 to finish them up.