Welcome to the last part of my initial Check Out My Cards purchase. If you’re just joining us, you can find the other parts of the countdown here, here, here, and here.
I bought a total of 85 serially numbered cards as a Christmas present to myself in 2013, which was split into 5 parts for sanity reasons. It’s not exactly intended to be a “worst to best” list. Instead, I’ve sorted them all from cheapest to most expensive and then highest numbered to lowest.
It’s down to this: the 17 most expensive (and occasionally lowest numbered) cards of my haul. Then, later, we answer the question “Does money buy happiness?” Okay, maybe not, but I’ll give my thoughts on the process as a buyer at least.
#17
$1.25 – #/100 – 2005 Studio Proofs Silver – We start today’s countdown with another lazy stamp parallel. Proofs are a good idea in concept, but when a product is clearly past the proofing stage and you’re just throwing on a stamp to act like it’s from earlier in the run, then you’ve lost me. I’m also looking at you, 1st Day issue.
#16
$1.25 – #/100 – 2005 Timeless Treasures Bronze – Pitch your way out of the cupboard, Kerry. Since your last name is wood, let’s see how well you handle being trapped inside a wardrobe. Have fun in Narnia.
#15
$1.25 – #/100 – 2003 Fleer Tradition Glossy – Here’s the second card that requires I show the back due to no visible changes on the front. Again, all that’s different is the gloss.
#14
$1.25 – #/99 – 2005 Leaf Limited Bronze Spotlight – Away – I’ve shown a bronze spotlight before, but that was a different year of Limited, and that year didn’t have Home & Away versions of each like 2005 did. Perhaps it’s not so limited anymore? The scan sure looks better, though.
#13
$1.25 – #/99 – 2005 Reflections Purple – The majority of the cards I need from this set are dual relics with Wood paired with Mark Prior or Nolan Ryan, but there’s also a good chunk of set parallels with similar numbering. I have this purple /99, but I also need a red/99 as well.
#12
$1.25 – #/99 – 2009 SP Authentic Copper – Either Beckett’s labels are messed up, or the product manager for SP Authentic messed up, because this Copper parallel is lower numbered than the so called Gold version (#/299). What’s your vote?
#11
$1.25 – #/50 – 2005 Leaf Limited Silver Spotlight – Away – This looks familiar, doesn’t it? Except this time it’s the silver spotlight with half as many made. It’s interesting that the Away versions were both available for similar prices (and that I didn’t find similarly cheap Home versions).
#10
$1.41 – #/99 – 2010 Upper Deck Portraits Gold – It’s not my favorite card of the lot, but it’s one I’m happiest to have. 2010 Upper Deck isn’t very prominent, so these parallels are even tougher than usual. On top of that, this “gold” parallel is identical to the original insert except for that number stamp. That means maybe I’d get lucky in a dime box finding it, but more likely I’d think “Oh, I have this” and skip right on by.
#9
$1.49 – #/65 – 2005 Throwback Threads Polo Grounds 65 HIT Long 3 – DLP was a real sunovabitch in 2015. Every product had 5,000 variations of some crazy insert. Throwback Threads had these polo grounds things. I think it may be based on a game of some kind? All I know is that Kerry Wood has 19 versions of this card that fall within my guidelines (and several more that don’t). Multiply that by, I think, 100 players and you have one convoluted insert mess.
#8
$1.50 – #/1200 – 1997 Donruss Preferred Tin Boxes – Okay, I know this isn’t a card, but when I saw this on the site, and for a decent price, I had to jump. I think this was probably the biggest impetus to me pulling the trigger and building a cart and checking out. I wouldn’t mind opening a tin or two of my own someday, too.
#7
$1.50 – #/50 – 2005 Artifacts Rainbow Red – I don’t know much about Artifacts as a set, other than to say it exists. And because it exists in the past 15 years, there are a few parallel cards to go after. Maybe I’ll know more by the time I track down the rest of them.
#6
$1.50 – #/50 – 2005 Fleer Authentix Club Box – I like Fleer Authentix, and even opened a box in the past. I prefer the actual hits to the parallel cards, since they usually include fake ticket stubs and the like, but still happy to have this one.
#5
$1.55 – #/99 – 2004 Fleer Genuine Insider Reflections – Down to the top five and this is not a great start. I’ve used the Etch-a-Sketch analogy before, but damn if it don’t fit.
#4
$1.75 – #/55 – 2005 Throwback Threads Polo Grounds 55 STRIKE Foul – Look, it’s our old friend, but with a lower number. I wonder if you can actually play this game if you have enough of the cards (assuming it is actually a game).
#3
$1.75 – #/50 – 2005 Leather and Lumber Gold – These last few cards really aren’t too exciting, are they? Throw some different gold foil and call it a parallel. Boy is that annoying.
#2
$1.75 – #/50 – 2005 Playoff Prestige Xtra Bases Green – These Xtra Bases cards are similar to the Prestigious Pros, but easier to scan well. Let a new adventure begin?
#1
$1.75 – #/50 – 2005 Ultra Kings Gold – Last, but not least (and also not best), we have an all-gold Fleer Ultra card. That’s sort of fitting?
And there you have it, the exciting and the not so exciting. All told, I spent about $90 to get 85 cards I needed and wouldn’t normally be able to find as easily. I love the selection on COMC. I love the picture element, even if it’s still not the best way to judge condition. What I hate is the fee structure. I really don’t like supporting such an intense infrastructure, and as I said at the start, I can’t ever see myself selling on the site. I’ll buy from the site again every once in a while (and likely in big chunks like this), but I also wouldn’t buy traditional cards from there, or easy to find/trade stuff. It’ll be reserved just for cheap inserts/parallels/relics. The world needs a better card selling website. COMC is close, but it’s really not exactly the best solution in my mind. Hopefully, that day will come.
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