Trade completed with reader Paul Browning

Shortly after I announced I had returned to the land of the living and I was ready to start trading cards again, long time reader, Paul Browning, contacted me with a proposed trade. I quickly accepted his offer and sent off his requested cards. Here is what I got in return.

I'm not chasing many inserts set anymore, but I was always partial to some of Topps' reprint sets, such as the Trading Card History from 2008 Topps, where the Clemens card hails from. Topps would again do a big reprint set in 2010 with their popular Cards Your Mother Threw Out. Paul helped me get a little closer to finishing the set with 5 more cards. Another reprint set, 60 Years of Topps was included in the 2011 set. This Dave Winfield nearly completes that set.

I also got 3 more commons for my 2013 Gypsy Queen set and 2 inserts from 2012 Gypsy Queen. I'm still a long ways off from finishing both of those GQ sets, but I appreciate any help I can get.

Cards from the Underdog

A few days ago I found a bubble mailer in my mailbox that I wasn't expecting. While I've completed a few trades recently, I haven't received many new cards in the mail. Well thanks to the Underdog Card Collector, I have some new cards!

We've exchanged e-mails in the past, but nothing recently, all the more reason I was surprised he sent me a little package. He knew I was easing myself back into cards, though he knew from my toy blog that I hadn't given up on blogging. Inside the mailer was a nice stack of cards, both Atlanta Braves and Carolina Panthers. I've decided to take my favorite cards from the stack to share, but I appreciate everything that was sent.

From the 2015 Topps comes this beautiful Inspired Play insert of current fireballer, Craig Kimbrel and Hall of Famer, John Smoltz. I really like the faded copper colored background.

I'm always surprised when somebody sends me a relic or autograph card just out of the blue. Even those the Braves opted not to bring Kris Medlen back for the 2015 season, I'll always take whatever cards of his I can get as he was so much fun to watch on the mound.

The Greats was an insert from 2013 Topps that look nice enough to have come from one of the many sets released that year. Printed on a thicker cardboard, these have that premium feel. Smoltz is one of the guys I like to collect and this is one that had eluded me thus far so I'm very happy to add this one to the collection.

Reggie White
2000 Collector's Edge Masters Holofoil #0793/1000

I don't have many Reggie White cards as a Carolina Panther. Even though this card didn't scan very well, I can promise you it looks much better in person.

This off season the Panthers decided to part ways with long time running back, DeAngelo Williams. I believe this decision was made in part to the production of this guy, Jonathan Stewart. While Stewart has had some health issues in the past, when he is healthy watch out! This is the Xfractor version of his 2008 Topps RC.

Pack Break: 2015 Topps Heritage

I found myself at the local Walmart the other day picking up some shipping boxes...business has been good lately in my eBay store...and before I checked out I had to see if they had Heritage on the shelves yet. There were a few blaster boxes and a few value packs. I opted for the value pack as I don't plan on doing much with this set outside of cherry picking a few Braves cards.

Like any savvy card collector would do, I peered through the back of each pack to get an idea of at least one card in the pack. The next to the last pack on hanging there on the peg contained a card of my hometown native and Atlanta Braves rising star, Alex Wood.

Overall the cards looks nice, but Heritage just isn't my cup of tea. All of these cards are available minus the Alex Wood of course.

Open for Business!

One of the things I've enjoyed most since I started this blog 5 or 6 years ago has been trading with others. However during my hiatus all of that fell to the wayside. I would still randomly receive e-mails asking if I wanted to work a trade, but both my trade box and my want lists were woefully inaccurate.

I've spent a few weeks basically taking inventory of every single card I have for trade and make sure my lists are now accurate. Baseball, football and what little of basketball I have are done. I haven't touched the wrestling and non-sports stuff yet, but rarely does anyone ask about those.

My want lists are still being updated, but for the most part those have been updated as well. There are still a few older insert sets I'm working on, but a lot of the ones I was working on have been dropped. From a set building perspective, I'm only working on past Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter sets. I will probably end up putting at least series 1 of 2015 Topps together, but I'm actually in the middle of opening a hobby box so I'm not quite ready to build a want list yet.

All that said, if you've contacted me in the past and I had to say no...well now I'm ready to jump back in!