1933 Goudey Is In The Books!

A few years back I posted about grading my 1933 Goudey Brooklyn Dodgers' team set. PSA graded everything but one card which they felt was too low-grade to slab. I assume it's because they did not think the card would survive the encapsulation process -- although the head grader at PSA once told me anything too low-grade would not be slabbed as it would damage the brand by being in a PSA holder.

That last part is pure bullshit considering some of the items I have seen PSA grade in the same timeframe. Nevertheless, I knew I could not argue the point and so I had to find a way to get Val Picinich holdered so the whole team run could be as uniform as possible. I did not want to go and buy a PSA graded Val, as I would then have to do the added task of selling my raw copy as I don't need two.

As you can see the card survived the process of being entombed in plastic. I also did not have to wait 6-12 months or pay an ungodly fee to have a common in wildly poor shape slabbed. MBA Grading also did not require me to sign forms saying if damage occurred they were not liable. They simply provided a grading service. I am now a happy camper with my entire team set protected for eternity.

1953 Northland Bread Labels: Al Rosen

I used to heavily chase Al Rosen vintage cardboard and collectible-related stuff like it was going out of style. I built a very respectable Hebrew Hammer PC but have not sought out anything new in ages. That's partly because I had acquired all the easy stuff and just needed oddball, and partly because my collecting has drastically changed over the last 6-7 years.

This 1953 Northland Bread Labels offering caught my eye. The vibrant red combined with my enjoyment of vintage food issues made it an easy pickup. I may or may not keep it long-term as I continue to refine my collection, but it's super cool all the same.

These are beyond paper thin but secure it shall forever be in its MBA home.

If Archer Was In The MCU....

If my constant posting about it had not made it clear, my collecting love has pretty much landed on the television show Archer. I still look for a few other things but my main focus is on the Cryptozoic set of cards that was released over a decade ago. While the cards are my primary passion, I am more than happy to acquire any collectible related to one of my two favorite programs of all time.

Years ago I spotted a really cool piece on eBay. It was over what I felt comfortable spending on something that was not a usual target of mine, but I watch listed it and hoped it might eventually end up changing from BIN to bids. While it never made it to auction format, it did go on sale by quite a lot. Enough, certainly, to make me decide to pull the trigger. And boy am I glad I did.

Here we have a sketch cover edition of Captain America # 1 released in September of 2011. Someone took this variation on the comic to a convention and asked Archer artist Sam Ellis to sketch this masterpiece. It eventually made it to CGC for encapsulation, but that was irrelevant to me (although comforting and it definitely helped me feel safe in splurging for the piece).

If I am not mistaken, Sam was the first person to draw Sterling Malory Archer!

As cool as it was to know I was landing something unique and drawn by a show legend, the sketch itself was the major attraction. Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier choking out deviant Cheryl Tunt was too good to pass up on.

It may have led me down a new collecting path a decade after I originally purchased it. Time will tell how good I am about sharing said path....

Find Me A Vending Machine...Stat!

Oddball vintage always puts a smile on my face even though I don't chase it as often as I once did. Combine it with one of my main PCs and it's even cooler. The below pair of Roy Campanella goodies have been with me for a decade plus but were not on the list of collectibles that PSA/SGC would encapsulate. I sent them to MBA and lo and behold they had no issue slabbing awesome oddities.

While there are more colors to chase two will suffice unless I stumble upon a great deal. I think these charms look great and while they are cheaply made they are period-appropriate Campy pieces. Thus, they are necessities for my collection.

I had posted about snagging the yellow way back when here. If vending machines had anything like this nowadays I would run out of quarters very, very quickly.

Jackie Robinson or Jim Gilliam?

Hey, two posts in a week....it's a miracle! It's also my second MBA slab of the week and there will be more as I submitted a few orders to them at multiple Front Row Card Shows in Vegas over the course of this year.

I snagged this 1955 Golden Stamps offering of Jackie Robinson from eBay a while back. The poor condition was very appealing as I didn't want to break the bank on picking one up. Items from 1955 of course have added appeal and this is also a set I've long liked aside from its year of origin.

The kid who decided to add Jim Gilliam's name to the front gets bonus points.

The back is low-grade but it doesn't matter. It resides with me and I am happy for it.