Recent slab pickups / grading

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Last up will be the Golds, both Base Gold and a Gold Xfractor. Difficulty of Blacks to this jumps 20x where the Xfractors concerned

Gold Refractor #43/49 BGS 9.5
Gold Xfractor #06/10 BGS 9

I've seen plenty of Golds over the years, but never another Gold Xfractor

I'm going to make a separate post on the Superfractor 1/1. After 2 decades of silence, I'm going to talk about the card that has shaped the last 20 years of my collecting journey. My fellow Clemens guys will learn the why behind my desire to keep to myself was so great. Why sharing only a select few items from my million card plus PC occurred. And why I still refuse to spend one ounce of energy on negativity

 

[2014BESTSERVICE]

Probably wondering why I'm posting this Jordan instead of the 2006 Finest Superfractor Clemens I was going to discuss. Well they tie in. Couldnt locate my auction pics but super was $125+ almost 2 decades ago

This hobby is about relationships. How we make them, nurture them, keep them. How we build bridges to grow a PC. And how fragile they can be when BUSINESS becomes involved.

I was involved in a bidding war +recognized the competition. Tried during that time period to work with my fellow collectors. Help them grow their PC. Share intimate knowledge of true rarities, not just show pony pieces. Trade rare pieces to them

Thought I won. Only to discover the close friend, someone I'd trusted enough to bond and crack bread ,had created a 2nd account to hide their buy rather than just say "steer clear" . Made me realize right then I was an "expendable" asset. Business 101. They went Elon Musk on me. Extract knowledge. Extract ideas= dispose.

I went underground the next 20 yrs. Rarely told anyone any set I was working on. Kept to myself

Folks= either your an Elon Musk collector. Or a bridge builder. Decide which you want to be known as. Me ? Bridge guy. Ethics and Honesty. Rather go out as a helper. Not one minute did I spend on negative.

I can look in my mirror and know I built bridges. Still do. The Jordan? Reminded me karma works both ways. The 120 I was gonna spend on the 1/1 instead turned into this BGS 8 and 20 other Jordans. Paid for my wifes lupus treatments for 2007/2008. I'd say I made a proper choice