Recent slab pickups / grading

[2014BESTSERVICE]

So we are on to scanning the 2004 DONRUSS ELITE series of cards. Elite was turning some serious cash, and I wish DLP had kept their license. I thought card wise this 2004 series was well thought out, had a nice mix of inserts, game used , and autos, and the design was top notch.
I went over a lot of my thoughts when I did the 2005 series ( look back on prior posts)
Price point was perfect, and everyone usually went away happy. Boxes were one of my go to buys back then.
I think the long lasting impact of this series speaks for itself

Info on the 2004 Elite Series series can be found here 2004 DONRUSS ELITE BASEBALL


Think I need just the Dual Bats/50 and Gold/25 of the # 43 Roger Clemens / Mike Mussina to complete the base series of stuff
If anyone has one feel free to email me I have dupes of some of the Status and Aspirations.
On the Team cards I have 5 or 6 of the #2 base item just need to sub and close that slab sub-series out



2 - YANKEES TEAM ( Derek Jeter / Roger Clemens / Andy Pettitte / Bernie Williams )
===================================
,
,

25 - PASSING THE TORCH ( Roger Clemens alone)
===============================
,
,

43 - PASSING THE TORCH ( Roger Clemens / Mike Mussina dual)
================================
,
,

,
,
,
,
In a little bit will scan my 2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition stuff.

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Part 2 of the 2004 DONRUSS ELITE EXTRA EDITION now scanned and my inventory updated
It includes the two Throwback Threads from the base set also- forgot to scan those two slabs
I believe years ago I saw a Status Gold ,but it was damaged ( card #05/10) so I still need one of those
Otherwise most of this sub-series is complete


I'd love to own a 1/1 from it- but they are incredibly difficult to come by as expected either base series or the Extra Edition

I will say buyer beware on the Status stuff. I've seen fakes being sold lately now that I've been actually looking for holes to fill when I have spare money
There are subtle items to check off that I won't reveal - but experienced folks know what I am referring to ( the real versus tells on the fakes)
,
,
,
THROWBACK THREADS VERSIONS- SINGLE (47) AND DUAL (58) WITH MIKE MUSSINA
==========================================
,
,'

,
,
,
113 ROGER CLEMENS STATUS & ASPIRATIONS (plus Turn of the Century)
=====================================
,
,

,
,
,
22 - CAREER BEST ALL-STAR JERSEYS- ASTROS VARIATION - BASE AND PRIME
===================================
,
,

,
,
,
33 - CAREER BEST ALL-STAR JERSEYS- RED SOX VARIATION - BAT, JERSEY AND COMBO
=======================================================
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Scanned some more that had come back while I was at my Pops funeral.
I can forgive myself on the Kershaw- I found a surface defect literally buried- took 10 minutes to locate it
Well hidden in the word "most" dominant on the reverse was an imprint= otherwise I don't see anything else affecting
Not sure why I subbed the Taylor didn't look on back apparently- easily seen corner issue
The rest obviously did well on. Those Silver Prizms are turning out to be a bear to Gem- too easy to see defects on them
The Eason is one of two I subbed the other on is not due back for a while

The two PSA slabs= Mahomes is gonna offset the PSA sub cost, while the Luka is currently a Pop 1 Blue Prizm from 2020 Select. The other PSA slabs I still have to scan - bunch of Brady back for the PC.

,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Been busy with docs and selling ,so scanning took a back seat all week= just getting to some backlogs
The 2005 Elite Teams #9 Green was one I just missed scanning for some reason its scanned now
The 2005 Elite Face 2 Face black if folks will remember was upside down and label on the left
BGS was kind enough to fix it for the $5 re-slab fee. I like labels on the right so I paid to re-slab

The two Absolute are the first two located in my inventory that for some reason I had not sent in
Both came back after being gone for 11 months and I'm happy to add them to the 2005 Absolute inventory
My sheets say I am "supposed" to have 9 more items around- guess I'll look in more boxes in storage

Going to post in the 2005 Absolute thread as well
,
,
,

,
,
,

FIXED SLAB= and the old slab upside down
============================

,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

More scans done for the inventory girl. Trying to blast a whole bunch out before work tonite as I need to catch up scans. These are from the 2004 Upper Deck Reflections series. I never purchased more than perhaps 1 box of 2004 Reflections. Back then was a hard core DLP person, and would buy UD stuff when I had nothing I liked on the DLP side at the shop. The price point these were sold at made no sense, and ROI was horrible so I stayed away. Add in my guys stuff was not likely to be pulled- yeah. I also disliked the foil base set- just awful. The Holo subset looked great, but the base foil board looked ugly when scanned, and not much better in person

Info on the set can be found here 2004 REFLECTIONS BASEBALL

Clemens has 9 items in the series and they are all a bear to locate and properly identify.
I've been lucky to get a few of the harder to locate Level 3 jersey pieces.
Believe I have more Level 1 and 3 jerseys to locate and slab from this series, including the base card

I did have a Level 4 jersey piece # to 100 damaged out of the one box I paid for , with witnesses, and sent UD an email back then and got a replacement. Honestly never realized until 2019 they had sent me a non-numbered Level 4 piece. I do have one numbered to 100 like it so I'll send in soon. Kinda nice though to get another UD replacement piece in the PC. I have a few others I've accumulated over the years.

Take note also how they changed the Beckett label nomenclature over the years. The Level 1 was slabbed around 2010 or so, the other 3 recently. Pardon my Level 1 # 148 pics-- just couldn't get this card properly pictured quickly will update down the line best I could do for now
I am not wasting more time than I can spare on scans she'll just have to accept the photos
Just an ugly set to get properly pictured foil was the wrong choice
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Back in 2004 Donruss attended the 1st Annual World of Sports Collectibles Orange County show that was held in Orlando , Florida at the Convention Center. As with all shows a rep attended back then, special cards were made up. These contained an Orange County Collection label, which looks more like a tomato than an orange, and the backs were foil labeled to 5 items each. Both the DK base set and Donruss base sets all were stamped for this particular show
More cards were stamped than purchases and people in attendance sadly. Somewhere buried is my show papers from this show that would give perspective. The promoters did promote it well, just that show attendance was less than expected.


Back then it was frowned upon- "gimmick cards" they called them= "deliberate serial number spamming" others called them. Not sure what I spent back then buying up many cards ,but can tell you it was well worth it. I still own quite a few of these DLP show cards. There will be plenty more shown- these are just the first of many ( inventory is going down in years so scanning as I come across). Condition is not great but then again I had them in my golf bag.

The Craftsmen just came back but since inventory insurance lady wants it by the list here it is again
And the Timber and Threads auto # 3/5 is the only item slabbed from that sub-series so far I have slabbed

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Recent economy level returns from PSA. Not too thrilled with damages seen that were not seen when they left here
Had expected a PSA 7,8 and 9 got back two PSA 7 and PSA 8. Happy with the other two results they were as expected

Brady have been moved to my local vault. Liking it a lot- safer and better than my old storage unit
This make 5 of the 15 thick items slabbed from that series
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

More slabs back and scanned as I catch up. All from last years breaks
Just more of the Panini Prizm stuff . I also scanned what I found of another Clemens subset lurking in storage for inventory girl
I'll post the new subset once I upload the updated pictures to my Clemens registry

I did get a BGS 8 Dazz Newsome back also- that one irritated me so I threw it in my giveaway pile to be scanned later
Seeems I just can't get any Newsomes to even get into silver much less gold frames. Will try again later this year on a few others
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Next up in the Clemens inventory sheets is his 2004 DONRUSS CLASSICS stuff I have slabbed.This is one of those annoying sub-sets. I did like the distribution method , which allowed for boxes to be split into mini boxes like Finest. Helpful when you want to mix and match buys. I have just the game used slabbed and a few serial numbered Clemens inserts. Not much of a memory on these when cracking open boxes . Like a lot of lesser boxes, there was nothing really mind blowing that ever popped out of a box for me, which explains my lack of memory. I'll be blacking out slab info from now on in public forums for privacy reasons for future scans ( not going back to the already posted items)

Info about the series can be found here 2004 DONRUSS CLASSICS

Have not looked at a checklist and have no plans to- this is one series I'll take time completing
Have a duplicate bat piece for some reason. Slabbed two serial # items also probably as fillers to complete a sub

I'll be scanning the 2004 DK series next. Gonna be some late night posts which don't bother me =still early here on the West Coast
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

The 2004 DIAMOND KINGS sub-set is no different than the 2005 Diamond Kings subset I posted about roughly 6 months ago. Chock full of goodies with lots of inserts, serial numbering, and autos. Plus what the hobby describes as " an absurd amount of parallels". I remember when boxes hits shelves I immediately pulled a Cal Ripken 1/1 labeled item, and remarkably sold it for $200 on ebay. Unknown to many people was there were dozens of 1/1 variations. No one knew because DLP did not release the standard checklists until the very last minute, thereby forcing folks to break boxes and figure out what was going on. This sale turned out to be low compared to other 1/1 I sold from that set, which still amazes me to this day considering how many there are available. I loved the styles of inserts, and the set was visually appealing and reminded me of 2003 DK which was well coordinated. Think boxes ran me about $80-100 back then and steadily increased to about $125 after a while.

One thing I also immediately noticed was the condition sensitivity. DLP was well known as the best of the best in production excellence. Whether it was how this series was created, or how it was produced by a 3rd party vendor, I don't know but the standards were well below average. I had thought after the mess they made of the 2003 Playoff Portraits series- another disaster of a creation- they had fixed the problems. Apparently not. The Frames that surrounded the various insert cards were - how shall I put it delicately- " consistently inconsistent" . The frames can be miscut, off center, and many packs you can pull a pre-damaged card out of the set. Now how it comes "pre-damaged" - well, my guess is shoddy choice of packers. I made very few buys of base stuff for years, choosing to pluck various single cards as needed out of the set. Still have about 20+ or so base items to slab these below are the bare minimum fillers from various subs years and years ago

We got a preview of this series when DLP made their presentation at the Hawaii show, where I managed to snag some numbered to 15 parallels.

Anyways- info on the set is here 2004 DIAMOND KINGS


First up will be his # 105 YANKEES versions. I have a few base and serial numbered items of this and his Sox variation
Like I said have not spent much time slabbing most of these were slabbed pre-2010
A few were in great condition, the others were standard BGS 7-8.5 ranges this series is famous for. Takes knowledge of what to look for to get high grades on this set
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Up next scan wise is his 2004 DIAMOND KINGS # 151 ROGER CLEMENS RED SOX variations
Have more of these slabbed than Yankees because I guess being from MA I wanted them slabbed first
Believe I have a couple dupe slabs somewhere like the Silver Framed BGS 9
I honestly can say I have not actively searched for the variations in 10+ years
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Last up but not least is a few 2004 Diamond Kings Player Timelines, Heritage Collection, and a Team Timelines
Plenty more base and insert items to slab that's for sure in this series. One of the few 1/1 I have slabbed is below
I remember thinking on the Maris one , do I buy a Bat card or Jersey card ? Chose bat because Clemens rarely batted
Had chances to pick up the Team Timelines jersey piece just could never pull the trigger on price
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

I'm sure others are actually getting stuff this thread is for anyone's slabs- seems lonely lately like no one is seeing anything back

Will scan the football first and baseball next, then more BGS slabs back as well
The two Brady came back on a 2021 modern bulk sub ,and the Mahomes on a recent Economy level
Have 100+ more to be scanned still behind on slabs. Too much time in docs and sleeping

The Sapphire is # to 250, Emerald # to 150 on the 2005 LRS set
The Orange # to 75, Gold Premium # to 99, and Platinum # to 25 on the 2021 prestige set
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

The Vladdy is a re-slab to clean up the older one that had scratches all over it
While technically most of these could all go in the Super Sweet 2000's thread I don't want to clog that thread up

The two Ichiro from a stash of serial numbered Ichiro I am slabbing pre-HOF induction
The Rolen is just another thick item I wanted protected that I came across
Garciaparra and the Brady both came back on the same recent modern sub as the Ichiro and Rolen
Happy obviously that I kept them in great shape. Now have both my # to 5 and # to 7 of the 2003 LCM FOG Nomars slabbed rest are coming soon
Will show that series off when they are all slabbed up ( I have Clemens done just need to do Nomar now)
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

More football slabs back from last years box breaks & subs . I really need to catch up scanning just too far behind
Bunch of current Pop 1 or low population BGS / PSA stuff. Have to get some more posted / scanned from the backlog I have
Also my never ending inventory scans

Been selling my you know what off as they come back to pay all the bills accumulated from going home for my Dads funeral. Still a couple grand behind. So scan scan scan it will be !! Although I gotta scan the Clemens stuff as well - that raise in my insurance bill is killing me also ( add in vault fees- sigh- expensive)

Not sure if anyone has insurance on their cards, but the inventory lists have to go with scanned items IF they decide they want to see proof of ownership. Which my insurance lady does regularly ( causes me untold amounts of work)

The Elite Green came in the Blaster boxes only so happy with those
,
,
,

,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

We are now on the 2004 CLASSIC CLIPPINGS sub-set of Clemens scans inventory wise. One of the tougher to complete of Fleer game used subsets for my Clemens stuff . Problem with many cards is the condition is just typical Fleer- crap concern for the final product. Poor color choices, dinged corners, white chips on edges
The list is too long to go through. I would buy boxes of this stuff if and only if I was bored. While it was an enjoyable break the color scheme was haphazard. The All-Star lineup stuff was horrible- a dirt brown and light brown mix. Compare those cards to the nicely designed Jersey Rack sub-series. Well designed, good mix of acceptable color usage. Could be why I got further along in the Jersey Rack stuff. An oversight I will take care of when I submit my next batch of stuff later this year ( too broke right now to sub anything)

I have none of the base item, base jerseys, or box score stuff in slabs yet

Info on the series is located here at 2004 CLASSIC CLIPPINGS


First up- the ALL-STAR LINEUP stuff I have slabbed. Hate the color scheme
I do have a few single and double jerseys to slab down the road just haven't got that far yet
I have a duplicate CZH as you can see. First sub didn't go so well so 4 years later tried again on that one

Never saw a Triple Gold Patch CZH # to 25 but then again haven't looked in 7-8 years either
Average grade on these cardswill run in the Near mint 6-8 ranges. Getting a Silver slab and above- VERY difficult on this sub-series. A lot easier on the Jersey Racks to get higher grades

Of note- the All-Star Lineup inserts were ONLY put into the retail packs. Which means I'd have ignored them to my detriment back then sadly
Generally just purchased hobby boxes at the shops I frequented
,
,

,
,
,
So following will be the two versions of the Jersey Racks
One was intended to highlight Clemens with two of the younger stars who were "hot" pitching commodities ( Mark Prior & Josh Beckett). The other to show off his new teammates- which formed a rather formidable pitching trio (Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt)
For some reason I never slabbed my Bronze CPO version- sent in a dupe Blue = lord knows why = probably was in a rush. I'll just throw it in my to be scanned dupe pile and sell it, and sub the CPO Bronze versions I came across looking for these slabs

,
,
,

JERSEY RACK CPB = CLEMENS/ PRIOR / BECKETT
=================================
,
,

,
,
,
,
JERSEY RACK CPO = CLEMENS / PETTITTE / OSWALT
======================================
,
,

,
,
,
,
The next few subsets will take time to locate they are mixed in with other stuff ( 2004 Absolute, 2004 Astros Fanfest, and 2004 Bowman's Best)
Might be later next week before I get to them again I have selling to do and that is priority # 1 right now

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

PSA returns back from 2021 subs. Having to sell all my returning Brady's due to some finance issues that going home for my fathers burial have now caused
Wish I could keep the Brady as I PC him but this is life on life's terms. Made up $1600 of the $4000
Have to come up with $2400 more by May 5th to get back on monthly financial track.

Rolen rookie only has 23 total which is a low pop for a 1990's Topps rookie card. Re-slabbed to sell
I got a couple dozen more BGS slabs to scan and tons more PSA. Most of these are low pop or Pop 1 items
Bunch are from 2020 Covid buys, when prices were so low every time I sold an item I'd use it to purchase another goodie elsewhere

Bunch of these already found new homes. I am just late posting scans
,
,
,

,
,
,
From box breaks last year- back from slabbing. Thought the Brady was good- didn't notice the obvious issues on back- duh !!
The Joe Burrow Sapphire KOC is diamond canted so that grade was expected. As was that Marshall Jersey
Otherwise most of the sub back came back Mint or Gem Mint these were the outliers
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

More slabs back scanned before I left just now posting. Most have surface issues. The TSC are from a 2019 box break I participated in of Stadium Club here at FCB
Astros were hot back then so I figured let's give some a shot. Quite a few variations were sent in
The Mac- I missed that white spot on back of the Blue. They both looked top notch when mailed guess that one eluded

The Altuve White Jersey Red Foil variation is tougher to find .Current Pop 1 on that one none higher yet
The Yuli Black Foil is not as tough to locate that variation ,but still a Pop 1 none higher yet

Gotta sift through the scans the wife sent- she sorta mixed everything up. I have to sorta make sense of jumbled zip files and organize first
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Bunch more BGS slabs now scanned. Going to be tough to Gem the King of Cards stuff- that much I can tell from multiple subs. Otherwise happy with the results. The Green foiling shows every issue on the Elites
So far the Star Status stuff- rear of the cards, a lot of the cards have this white dot on back, as if a printing plate was not wiped down. Very few I am seeing without that dot.
Happy with the hoop that came back. Coby Optic is a Pop 1 and the Pink Luminance a Pop 3
The Ja Essentials Pink amazingly has 13 Gems so far , which is still a low pop for an ultra modern card
,
,
,

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

More slabs from recent subs back. The Sanders Elite and Jamarr Absolute are Pop 2 Gems. I subbed the other Barry Gem also
The rest of them are currently Pop 1 Gems. The Elites show every issue as the prior BGS 8.5 and BGS 9 showed
Still have tons more to scan. Traveling so wife sends me files that I have to doctor and crop etc
Takes time. I'll be home Thursday

The Biggio is another 90's goodie leaving as I start the set breakups. Starting with B and will progress downwards on semi-stars and stars
There's just 1 BGS Gem and one PSA 10 in Pop reports. This sort of is amazing with 20+ years worth available to sub
,
,
,
,