Roberto Alomar Collector's Thread

[banjar]

I think I actually bid on that one. But my bid was pretty low, since I already have one. I think I put in a $40 bid.

Those are sweet cards though. Great design, limited regional release, and of course it's the first on-card auto for a HOF'er.

If you're ever bidding on one of those again, send me a PM so we don't get into a bidding war!

Wondering if someone here or reading this might have snagged that recently ended 92 McDonalds Auto card. I was hoping to win one, after watching out for one for quite a while, but no dice. It went for about $130.

 

[JVHaste]

Cardcop.

Cardcop!

Cardcop!!

I wonder whatever happened to him. Has anyone seen or heard from him on any message board lately?

If memory serves, I actually bought that card from an ebay user with the name "Joan" or something or other, AKA his female alter ego.

The night he left here I was writing him a nice letter inviting him to the NC, which I said would suit him better than elsewhere... people teamed up on him and he said "screw you guys I'm going home" before I could send. A shame... he was a riot.

I'm guessing he picked up another hobby entirely, but "discovered" many scams in it (with his amazing detective skills and his superpower of height to see over tall objects) and is trying to tell the world.

The only question remains.. ....


.... will the world listen?

 

[banjar]

So apparently there are several new waves of 1991 Topps Desert Shield counterfeits popping up. There is a long, long thread about this on blowout. Some of the new fakes are decent, but some are just awful.

I've know about fakes since day 1, and over time I've tried to get savvy on how to spot them, in all their various manifestations. I have three copies of the Alomar card, and I'm pretty sure all of them are real. But I've always wanted to own a counterfeit just for the hell of it. I dunno, for historical purposes. As my PC has evolved over time I've realized it really tells the story of the hobby over the past ~35 years. And counterfeiting is definitely part of it.

But it's been hard for me to positively identify fakes on ebay. And its doubly hard to find a fake that can be had for cheap, and from a seller who doesn't seem to be knowingly trading in fakes. But I took a look the other night and found a really, really bad fake for a "reasonable" price, from a guy who *probably* didn't know he was selling a fake. So I bought it.

It's weird, but this fills a nice little niche in my collection and I'll be glad to have it. And with one clear example in my collection, I'll never (knowingly) buy a fake card again as long as I live. Here it is:

 

[mrmopar]

The infamous Pete Rose RC counterfeit, those that were grabbed up by authorites and stamped as such, later became collectibles in their own right and are scarce enough now that people pay pretty good money for them. Nothing close to the real deal, but still a lot, knowing they were essentially worthless junk and have now become a footnote in this hobby. I was in the military during Desert Storm, was not even collecting at the time as I was on a break and was oblivious to them. From what I have heard, they were poorly distributed and I was probably in no position to ever see any, even if I were collecting. I have a handful that I got later in the 90s, mostly Dodgers. Have never really looked close enough to try to determine if they are real or fake, but think I got most before I realized there were fakes.

 

[Shaggy]

So apparently there are several new waves of 1991 Topps Desert Shield counterfeits popping up. There is a long, long thread about this on blowout. Some of the new fakes are decent, but some are just awful.

I've know about fakes since day 1, and over time I've tried to get savvy on how to spot them, in all their various manifestations. I have three copies of the Alomar card, and I'm pretty sure all of them are real. But I've always wanted to own a counterfeit just for the hell of it. I dunno, for historical purposes. As my PC has evolved over time I've realized it really tells the story of the hobby over the past ~35 years. And counterfeiting is definitely part of it.

But it's been hard for me to positively identify fakes on ebay. And its doubly hard to find a fake that can be had for cheap, and from a seller who doesn't seem to be knowingly trading in fakes. But I took a look the other night and found a really, really bad fake for a "reasonable" price, from a guy who *probably* didn't know he was selling a fake. So I bought it.

It's weird, but this fills a nice little niche in my collection and I'll be glad to have it. And with one clear example in my collection, I'll never (knowingly) buy a fake card again as long as I live. Here it is:

View attachment 122768

Can you take a pic of the fake and real side by side to see how bad the fake really is?

 

[banjar]

Can you take a pic of the fake and real side by side to see how bad the fake really is?

Sure, when I get the fake in the mail I'll scan it next to a real one.

 

[banjar]

Ummm. WTF? This can't be real. 1988 Leaf rookie PSA 10 sells for $1234.56.

1988 LEAF #34 ROBERTO ALOMAR RC HOF PSA 10 A3028604-422 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1988 LEAF #34 ROBERTO ALOMAR RC HOF PSA 10 A3028604-422 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[banjar]

Here's my DS cards. Real one is on the left, fake is on the right.

 

[bstanwood]

Ummm. WTF? This can't be real. 1988 Leaf rookie PSA 10 sells for $1234.56.

1988 LEAF #34 ROBERTO ALOMAR RC HOF PSA 10 A3028604-422 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1988 LEAF #34 ROBERTO ALOMAR RC HOF PSA 10 A3028604-422 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

That seems nuts, what an average price on that?

 

[banjar]

Well, there was one that sold recently for $598. And another one was $500 OBO, and they accepted a best offer. So $1234 is high, around 2x-3x some recent comps. But not as high as I had initially assumed. I thought that was at least 10x what is should sell for. Just goes to show you the bubble this hobby is in.

 

[mrmopar]

Here's my DS cards. Real one is on the left, fake is on the right.

View attachment 122803

Would probably need a close up scan of the foil stamp to really see the difference, unless my old eyes are fading enough that it is obvious to some, but not to me. Scans can be tricky too, as light reflects differently at times. It's a shame that scumbag POSs have to exploit even the most innocent of things for a slimy profit, although cards have become a huge business, so it makes sense as well. Where these is $ opportunity, there will be fraud.

 

[bstanwood]

Well, there was one that sold recently for $598. And another one was $500 OBO, and they accepted a best offer. So $1234 is high, around 2x-3x some recent comps. But not as high as I had initially assumed. I thought that was at least 10x what is should sell for. Just goes to show you the bubble this hobby is in.

I was thinking 100-150 was probably the range so 500+/- still surprises me, making 1200 bonkers

 

[JVHaste]

Sorry about the recent poor fakes guys, we at HasteQualityReplicas (LLC) strive to give buyers the most robust, accurate depiction of what opening real baseball cards would feel like. TBH my printer is on the fritz and I'm a nutless monkey who has no clue what he's doing.

Other than that, my shilling business is going fine! We at HasteBubbleManagement (LLC) like to give our (one) customer the perceived thrill of thinking he can afford a genuine Alomar card only to... poof! 10x!!!!

 

[gradedeflator]

Well, there was one that sold recently for $598. And another one was $500 OBO, and they accepted a best offer. So $1234 is high, around 2x-3x some recent comps. But not as high as I had initially assumed. I thought that was at least 10x what is should sell for. Just goes to show you the bubble this hobby is in.

man..i sold one for $120 like 5-6 years ago, i remember I felt like I couldn't give it away. Not only is the hobby in a bubble, but PSA 10 prices in particular are nuts, pushing what feels like 2-3x BGS 9.5 for what might be very similar cards (condition-wise)

 

[banjar]

Yeah even though it's one of the less competent fakes, it is not super obvious what's wrong with it from a full size scan. But the placement of the letters, the shape of the flag, the trunk of the coconut palm, and the shape of the shield are all definitely wrong.

Believe it or not, I'm kinda tickled to have finally gotten a counterfeit example. Pickle tickled!

Would probably need a close up scan of the foil stamp to really see the difference, unless my old eyes are fading enough that it is obvious to some, but not to me. Scans can be tricky too, as light reflects differently at times. It's a shame that scumbag POSs have to exploit even the most innocent of things for a slimy profit, although cards have become a huge business, so it makes sense as well. Where these is $ opportunity, there will be fraud.

 

[banjar]

You, sir, are a debit to humanity!!!

Sorry about the recent poor fakes guys, we at HasteQualityReplicas (LLC) strive to give buyers the most robust, accurate depiction of what opening real baseball cards would feel like. TBH my printer is on the fritz and I'm a nutless monkey who has no clue what he's doing.

Other than that, my shilling business is going fine! We at HasteBubbleManagement (LLC) like to give our (one) customer the perceived thrill of thinking he can afford a genuine Alomar card only to... poof! 10x!!!!

 

[banjar]

I fixed a couple things on your post BTW.

Sorry about the recent poor fakes guys, we at HasteQualityReplicas (NASDAQ: TURD) strive to give buyers the most robust, accurate depiction of what opening real baseball cards would feel like. TBH my printer is on the fritz and I'm a nutless monkey who has no clue what he's doing.

Other than that, my shilling business is going fine! We at HasteBubbleManagement (NASDAQ: ****) like to give our (one) customer the perceived thrill of thinking he can afford a genuine Alomar card only to... poof! 10x!!!!

 

[banjar]

Pickups have been trickling in, here at B-WAC (Banjar's Warhouse of Alomar Cards). Here are a few from the last month.

First is the 1995 Topps DIII Promo. I had no idea this even existed until I ran across a mention of it on TCDB last year. But the funny thing is, neither member who claimed they owned it had posted scans. Plus, the "set" listing of the 1995 Topps DIII promos only listed Tim Bogar and Greg Gagne. The Alomar was somehow listed in another bastard listing, not connected to the promo set (since corrected). So I emailed both of them asking if they would be willing to sell, or at least post a photo of it, and never heard back from either one. So that made me wonder if this card was actually real.

But here it is! It appeared on COMC last month, so I bought it and requested a shipment. But then another one appeared on ebay for not much money, so I bought it too. God only knows when the COMC shipment will appear. Their management just doesn't seem to be very good. So I bought the second copy just to have one in hand. Rare, previously unknown 90's promos - that's my jam yo.

Also, the front of the promo is not just a different photo than the base card, it's printed differently. On the base card, the players in focus are relatively static - they are not really part of the "3D" effect. It's the background that shifts around more to create the 3D effect. However on the promo, both the background and the foreground players (both the pitcher and runner) seem to shift more when you move the card. This creates a much deeper 3D effect, which I really like. But its also a little taxing on the eyes. You have to position the card exactly right to get a crisp 3D image of the entire card (foreground and background). Otherwise, you get these shifted ghost images which are harder to look at. Part of me wishes they had printed the DIII set like the promos, because when you look at them just right, they're awesome. But I understand why they went with the base card design.





Here's a weird one, the 2012 Sportkings 4-Sport Quad Memorabilia card. Absolutely no common thread between these 4 athletes. But I like that Sportkings set, and was glad to add this one. Plus it's the only Alomar card in my collection with a certifiably hot woman featured on it. Paula's pretty cute.



Finally, the 2000 Topps Gold Label Gold run. I was missing the Class 3 but then magically it popped up. All numbered to 100. I really like Gold Label. It's one of the best looking sets that company has ever produced, and I'm glad they brought it back in a couple years ago.

 

[mrmopar]

Cool D3 promo AND I wanted to take this opportunity bash COMC again too. They suck! I am done, done, done with them. I'm sure they have not damaged themselves enough to lose massive customers, but they should have. 4 months for a shipment is UNACCEPTABLE. If I were selling there, I'd be exiting too. Gotta be hurting sales in some manner with that kind of lack of responsiveness. Sorry, they just have me so pissed right now.

 

[bstanwood]

Agree that gold label, particularly for the time, was/is one of the best things topps has done. The promo and differences is also super cool, strong stuff!

Almost anything that has a total diecut edge is awesome, gold label, finest, pristine etc...