Group Break - 1994 Leaf Series 2

First of all let me apologize for the L-O-N-G video! It ended up clocking in at around 30 minutes total. I'm still getting used to doing video and these 36 pack boxes can be a beast. My wife usually does the video and acts as my time keeper and without her I was a little lost! Without spoiling anything there is at least one pack in the 2nd part that you may want to see. Otherwise if the videos are too boring or too long for your tastes just scroll down for scans of the inserts as well as an updated card count.

 
Rich Becker & Matt Walbeck

 
Cliff Floyd Gold Leaf Rookies (1:12 packs)


Darren Daulton MVP Contenders (1:36 packs)

 
Carlos Baerga Gold Leaf Stars (1:100 packs)




Power Brokers (1:12 packs)
We got the whole set out of one pack!


Ken Griffey, Jr., Barry Bonds, Cecil Fielder

We beat the odds again!  Not only did we luck out with one of the hot packs, but we got a 1:100 Gold Leaf Stars insert.  If you didn't take the time to watch all of the videos (which I don't blame you if you didn't!) there were a lot of cards and a lot of doubles.  Please comment if you want your team's doubles.  I'll be back w/ the 3rd box real soon - 1996 Leaf Limited!  Here is an updated count for each team:

Key:  B = base, I = insert

Atlanta Braves | B/23, I/2

Baltimore Orioles | B/11, I/0

Boston Red Sox | B/16, I/0

Chicago Cubs | B/21, I/0

Chicago White Sox | B/14, I/1

Cincinnati Reds | B/14, I/1

Cleveland Indians | B/30, I/2

Colorado Rockies | B/11, I/0

Detroit Tigers | B/12, I/2

Houston Astros | B/36, I/0

Los Angeles Dodgers | B/10, I/1

Milwaukee Brewers | B/32, I/0

Montreal Expos | B/14, I/1

New York Mets | B/13, I/1

New York Yankees | B/16, I/2

Oakland Athletics | B/15, I/0
Philadelphia Phillies | B/16, I/1

San Diego Padres | B/15, I/0
San Francisco Giants | B/24, I/2
Seattle Mariners | B/17, I/2

St. Louis Cardinals | B/18, I/0

Texas Rangers | B/27, I/1

Group Break - 1996 Topps Laser Series 1

Here we go with the first box in the group break.  I'm a little short on time this month plus my fingers were already cramping at the thought of having to type up so many packs so I'm going with video!  I'm trying a new set up as you'll see in the video so hopefully it'll work for everyone.  I'll scan in the box hits so if that is all you care to see then just scroll down to see the cards.

 

Derek Jeter Bright Spots 1:20 packs

Rey Ordonez Bright Spots 1:20 packs

 

Barry Larkin Stadium Stars 1:60 packs

So right off the bat we're off to a great start as we beat the odds and pulled 4 hits out of the box!  Here's a quick break down:

Key:  B = base, I = insert

Atlanta Braves | B/9, I/0

Baltimore Orioles | B/2, I/0

Boston Red Sox | B/3, I/0

Chicago Cubs | B/7, I/0

Chicago White Sox | B/2, I/0

Cincinnati Reds | B/0, I/1

Cleveland Indians | B/4, I/0

Colorado Rockies | B/5, I/0

Detroit Tigers | B/0, I/0

Houston Astros | B/6, I/0

Los Angeles Dodgers | B/1, I/0

Milwaukee Brewers | B/0, I/0

Montreal Expos | B/2, I/0

New York Mets | B/1, I/1

New York Yankees | B/3, I/2

Oakland Athletics | B/2, I/0
Philadelphia Phillies | B/2, I/0

San Diego Padres | B/5, I/0
San Francisco Giants | B/3, I/0
Seattle Mariners | B/5, I/0

St. Louis Cardinals | B/9, I/0
Texas Rangers | B/4, I/0

Last Call!

UPS delivered this month's group break boxes today!  I'm in the process of setting up the area to film the box break.  If you have signed up for a team or teams please submit your payment.  Gift the payment via PayPal to cardboardcollections at yahoo dot com

It's not too late to grab a team!  The remaining teams have been discounted to as low as $4.00!!  If this is your first time visiting the blog you can check out what boxes we're opening here.

Rittenhouse Marvel Dangerous Divas

I've been a long time Marvel Comics reader, but due to several different reasons I'm having to drop my monthly books.  That said I still can appreciate the artwork, stories and characters of the Marvel Universe.  Being a card collector as well I love it when my card hobby collides with one of my other hobbies.

Rittenhouse has done an awesome job w/ their various Marvel card sets.  Due to the one per box sketch cards the prices for a full box are a little out of my price range, but thanks to so many dealers busting cases and boxes buying a hand collated set is easy and cheap.

Rittenhouse's latest Marvel offering is simply called Dangerous Divas.  I question some of the characters included in the set, but the base set is still simply beautiful.  What is really nice about this set when compared to others in the past is the inclusion of a larger image on the back of ALL the base cards!  Plus each character in the set has 3 cards that make one larger image when displayed side by side.  Different artists contribute their work for the various characters so if you don't like one version of Spider-Woman or Ms. Marvel you have 2 other cards of them.  Enough talk though, let me show you some examples of these 3 card panels and the back images.

Here we have X-Men member Psylocke.  I can't name the artists here, but I love the combined image.

Next we have one of my favorite characters, Carol Danvers AKA Ms. Marvel.  Artist from left to right:  Adrianna Melo, Frank Cho and the late Michael Turner.

Another favorite, Jessica Drew AKA Spider-Woman.  The first image appears to be Frank Cho's work, but the middle and right images I can't peg.  Perhaps that Steve McNiven on the right?

Tigra is currently serving as an instructor for the Avenger's Academy program.  I love the differences in the art.

And lastly we have the Scarlet Witch who single-handedly rid the Marvel Universe of the majority of mutants.


As I mentioned earlier each group of 9 cards has a portion of a larger image on the back.  Below are all of the 9 card images.

Mike Mayhew cover from a Avengers one-shot.  Not my favorite, but a nice start.

Beautiful work by Jo Chen of Spider-Woman, the Invisible Woman and Storm.



the Lady Liberators by Mike Deodato featuring Thundra, She-Hulk, Valkyrie and the Invisible Woman



This is one image that I'm not familiar with, but the artist appears to be Olivier Coipel.



The X-Women courtesy of Terry Dodson.



Image from the Herald's mini-series.



Another offering of the X-Women courtesy of Terry Dodson.



The Women of Marvel by Greg Land.

If you're a non-sports card collector and or comic fan then you should at least give this set a look.  I paid $3.00 for the 72 card set which is a great deal in my book.  I decided to save some $$ and stay away from the inserts, but from what I've seen of those they are equally as nice.

Pack Break - 2011 Upper Deck Football

Outside of 2011 Topps Heritage being released there hasn't been much reason for me to stop by the card aisle @ Target or Walmart recently.  I did however notice that Upper Deck's new football offering was live so I grabbed a pack to see what all the hub bub was all about.

In typical fashion UD is recycling the pack design from their 2010 baseball and hockey offerings.  The back of the wrapper states that autographs of Star Rookie & Lettermen Signatures can be found 1:36 packs.  20th Anniversary cards are inserted 1:4 packs.

#6 Herman Moore

The recycling didn't stop at the wrapper as last year's baseball and hockey card design is replicated here.  I forgot that UD only had a collegiate license.  At least in typical UD fashion the photography is clean and sharp.

#38 Keith Jackson

#DT-6 Dream Team - Tim Brown / Raghib Ismail

Not a bad looking insert here.  I'm sure some Notre Dame fan out there will appreciate this card.

 

#183 Jonathan Baldwin Star Rookie

#37 Ron Yary

I won't pretend that I know much about football history period.  According to the back this guy was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987 after helping USC win the National Championship in 1967.

These aren't too bad.  If I'm buying football cards I would rather the players be in their NFL uniforms.  I can see how this set may appeal to some collectors and college football fans, but these aren't for me.  All of these cards are available for trade.  Heck, send me a SASE and you can have a card or two!

Will you be my eyes & ears? Looking for a box of 1996 Fleer...

I've looked all over the 'net for an unopened box of 1996 Fleer and I just can't seem to find one.  Heck, I couldn't even find a decent pic of the box doing a Google image search!  After high school I didn't bother with too many cards, but I loved the matte finish to the '96 Fleer set. 

I would love to buy a box of this for either myself to bust or for a future group break.  If by chance you stumble across a box for sale (online or in person) please let me know.  I'd like to spend less than $25 if at all possible.

Group Break Update / Discounted Teams

I appreciate the great response to this month's group break sign ups.  There are a handful of teams left that no one has claimed so all of them will be discounted!  To see what boxes we're opening please refer to the original post.  Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the list & prices.

If a few more teams are taken before the start of the break then I'll be throwing in a box of 1996 Pinnacle Denny's Instant Replay full motion hologram packs.  I loved these back in the day and I thought it'd be fun to add these to the break.

I've been asked in the past what I do w/ any extra money received from a group break.  You may have noticed that I now use a different PayPal account for payments.  I've done this to keep money separate from my own as I had to use a lot of my money on past breaks.  Any money that is paid for teams that goes above and beyond the total costs involved will be rolled over into the next break.  This may mean I can try a slightly more expensive box or an additional box of cards at no increased cost to you.  If there is time I may be able to use these funds to pick up some bonus packs in the future.  My goal as a host is to provide a fun and affordable group break...not to pocket money.  I just wanted to throw that out there for everyone to know.

All boxes this time around will be done by video and uploaded to my YouTube account.  I'm hoping to get started mid-week and have the videos posted by the weekend.  I have to leave next Sunday for training in Wilmington, NC for my new job so I hope to have everything completed before I leave.

Now to the discounts!  If you have already claimed a team or teams and you want an additional team feel free to do so.  If someone out there wants to take all the remaining teams please contact me and I'll make you an offer that you can't refuse!

TEAMS IN THIS LIST ARE ONLY $5.00 each
Anaheim Angels -
Boston Red Sox - Cardsplitter (paid)
Detroit Tigers - - d
Florida Marlins -
Minnesota Twins -
Texas Rangers - Spiegel83 (paid)
Toronto Blue Jays -

TEAMS IN THIS LIST ARE ONLY $4.00 each
Kansas City Royals -
Montreal Expos - Cardsplitter (paid)

Oakland Athletics - Nathan (paid)

Pittsburgh Pirates -