2019 Topps Luminaries Hit Kings Auto Patch 12 of 15

Picked this up on eBay today and I believe this is my first ever card purchased from Great Britain.  Shipping was over $20 but the final price reflected that.  I find eBay's international shipping program to be really good these days on both the seller and buyer side.  I was skeptical at first, but I've had no problems with it.  Really beautiful card.  If you've read much of my blog you know I'm not really into sharpshooting or being negative about the Hobby (or life). So I give kudos to Topps for finally listening to their customers and encapsulating these high end products in individual magnetic one touch cases.  Makes shipping easy too.

Front

Back

2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Legendary Six - three COVID pickups

Being doubled-sided, older, and loaded with Hall of Famer patches, these 2009 cards are not exactly cheap or easy to find.  They are also the only cards I've ever purchased that came with a separate 2.5" x 3.5" Certificate of Authenticity card.

Back Sides

2004 Donruss Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Absolutely Ink #1/1

No words......no words.  The One of One.  I've drooled over this card for a decade.  And now it is....My Precious.

Booklets Picked Up During COVID

All four are things of beauty....

2010 Triple Threads Relic Combos Doubles /27

2007 Triple Threads Combos Double /36

2010 Sterling - Sterling Pairs Relics /10

2016 Panini Pantheon Sacred Deploymnets /25

2019 Allen & Ginter Subway Token

I drooled over this last summer when Ginter was released and reasonably assumed I would never have the opportunity to own one.  God Bless the $0.99 starting price auction!  Now she's mine....

2005 Upper Deck Ultimate Autos

Some fairly rare Ultimate autos picked up during COVID.  Ultimate Collection might be my favorite set ever, not just the 2005  but overall.  The quality is that good.

2005 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Baseball Stars Signatures #01/10

2005 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Ultimate Signatures Edition Signature Numbers #24/27

2005 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Signatures Platinum #1/5

2005 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Ultimate Signatures #06/15

Three Recent Mini Printing Plate Pickups

COVID has brought a different pace to life and opportunities to spend more time doing things we wouldn't usually.  It's been really pleasant to have large blocks of time to dedicate to my favorite hobby.  To that end, here are a few printing plate pickups from the past 4 months I haven't been able to post. 

2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Cyan Plate Back

2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Cyan Plate Front

2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Yellow Plate Front

2011 Goodwin Yellow Back

2012 Gypsy Queen Cyan Front

2012 Gypsy Queen Cyan Back

2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th Anniversary Complete Set

Well this one has taken upwards of twenty years, but I finally added the Autographed card to the collection last month.  The "Threads" and the Auto are tough to find in my experience and bring a high price for cards that are not only not numbered, but actually don't have a card number at all! 

From top left, the base card, Beantown's Best insert, BoSox Sigs on card autograph.  Bottom row from left: Splendid Splinters insert, Threads game used jersey, and Yawkey's Heroes insert.

2019 Topps Series 1 & On Demand 1984 All-Star Reprint One of Ones

I've lusted after a Platinum parallel for many years.  One of those things that always seemed out of reach, a far away vision like a Lamborghini or a long vacation on a South Pacific beach.  One of the unfortunate consequences of The Fisk Obsession is that, if you're truly a dedicated obsessive, eventually your devotion begins to be rewarded. Unfortunate because reaching new plateau does nothing to quench the thirst, only deepens it. The totally unobtainable begins to seem just out of reach, if only you continue.  Thusly, a 22-year quest results in two Platinum pickups from the same set. Deep satisfying sigh.  Sips coffee.....

2014 Topps Dynasty On Card White Ink Auto and 3-Color Prime Patch # /10

The scan once again doesn't do this card justice.  One of the more expensive pickups I've made lately, I just had to have this card and wasn't willing to wait anymore. One of the best Topps designs of the last decade in my humble opinion.  Just beautiful. Topps should go back and look at this design with the gradient shading and dark sepia with the offsetting light-colored auto.  Really different and it really pops. 

1974 Topps Deckle Edge

I've been waiting to post this one for a while.  Wish I could write a novella about the chase for this card. For the early part of my collecting career I simply couldn't afford this card.  Once I could afford it, one in good condition was nearly impossible to find.  I scoured online auctions of all types, cold called owners in the PSA Set Registry, setup all manner of online automated searches, etc.  Finally got this nice example on eBay last year.  Still debating about submitting to PSA for encapsulation just to keep the card safe.

2010 Topps Triple Threads "The Wave"

Added two cards to this partial rainbow and now need to get the low numbered parallels.  Love Triple Threads so much should almost be its own separate blog.

2009 Upper Deck Immortal Letterman Autographs #3/3

Honestly never thought I would get one of these being that there's only 3 of each letter.  This is my first, picked up on eBay last month.  I'll hold out a distant hope that some day I could complete the autographed rainbow.

2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Memorabilia Partial Rainbow

Been working on this rainbow for many years now.  The rare ones are very hard to get so will keep chasing it.

2006 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Ultimate Legendary Materials 2x Gamed Used Jersey Relic spells "CF" #09/55

The scan looks good and it looks even better in-hand.  For a very simple patch card, I just absolutely love this design.  The blended sepia background is really great and makes all the colors on top of it really pop.

2006 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Memorable Moments

Simple book great looking design, both the jersey card numbered to 125 and the sticker auto that I just procured numbered to 25.

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Autographs

Just a show-off of all my 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings autographs.  2005 DK is a *huge* set of cards with dozens of parallels of each and Fisk has four different cards in the set.  By my count, including all of the *many* Platinum 1 of 1 cards, each Fisk card has 50 total parallels including the base cards.  That is a total of 200 2005 DKs.  So the chase has been fun, and I'm sure will continue to be.

Top Left to Right: Signature-only Bronze /100, Dual Game Used Platinum 1/1, Signature-only Bronze /5
Bottom row Left to Right: Dual Game Used Bronze /10, Black Frame /10, Blue Frame /25

Green Frame //10

2019 Panini Triple Legends Booklet with Johnny Bench & Pudge Rodriguez #9/25

Sick booklet

2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th Anniversary Red Sox Threads Game Used Jersey Relic Stated Print Run /100

These 2001 Fleer cards are incredibly difficult to find.  After 22 years of collecting Fisk I just got this one in 2019.  Very happy to have it, beautiful old card.

2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Mini Black Foil Magician Back Parallel Hand Numbered #3/9

Sweet little hard to find parallel.

2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Ultimate Star Materials Autographs # /15 and # /5

Would love to know who within Upper Deck was responsible for the designs of the "Ultimate" line.  These Ultimate Star jersey autos are relatively plain but they still pop.

2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Legendary Signatures #2/9

I continue to love the designs of the Ultimate Collection cards from Upper Deck.  The sweeping lines on this card are just beautiful, original and fresh.

2004 Donruss Timeless Treasures HOF Materials Chrome Sticker Auto + Game Used Jersey Relic #08/10

Another in the 2004 Sunday theme today.  This is a very rare numbered to 10 auto.  I don't believe I've ever seen another one in 22 years of daily eBay searches.  It's not immediately strikingly gorgeous with its brown and black 2-color theme, but it has its own elegance in the simplicity and the sense of a rare antique from another time.  Glad to have it in the collection.

2004 Leaf Certified Cuts Hall of Fame Souvenirs Chrome Sticker Auto #09/27

Another 2004 Leaf Certified Cuts post today.  I'm generally not impressed with any of the older Leaf graphical designs.  But this Hall of Fame Souvenirs set looks pretty cool.  Key elements are the vertical "wood" slats background offset by the vertical black bar.  The auto isn't the best ever done, but overall the card has good eye appeal and I'm glad to add it to the collection.

2004 Topps Tribute Hall of Fame Green Monster Wall Relic Base and Gold Parallel #01/25

Another 2004 post.  I need to do more of these comparison scans as they look super cool posted next to each other. The green monster relics are quite unique and I really love the look and feel.  I'm also pretty obsessed with older Topps Tribute cards, especially 2001 thru 2004.  Super classic look.  Love these cards.

2004 Leaf Certified Cuts Check Signatures Materials Green #CC-14 Jersey + Cut Auto #3/10

After 22 years working on the Fisk Obsession, this is the first signed check I've ever picked up.  Grabbed it for 26 bucks which seemed like a pretty good deal at the time.  Happy with this pickup, but it seems to me they could have left off some of the check numbers at the bottom and not cut off the top of the auto.

2019 Topps Archives Magazine Autographs Blue Parallel On Card Auto #14/25

This is a really cool concept from Topps to use the actual covers from the old Topps Magazine.  I love the color combinations in the blue parallel so I waited to get the blue one for the right price.

2006 Upper Deck Epic Materials partial Rainbow

I've been putting these together for as long as I've had this collection.  Just last week I finally got my first Grey Parallel # /40.  My new scanner looks absolutely terrible and doesn't do the great colors of this release justice. This card has a Gold # /25 I'm still lacking.  This has been, and still is, a great chase and I still have 4 more cards to get to have the full rainbow of both cards (EM-CF and EM-CF2).  From the upper RIGHT: Orange /185, Red /145, Dark Orange /155.  Second row from right: Dark Purple /145, Blue /99, Teal /99.  Bottom row from right: Green /75, Dark Green /50 and Grey /40.

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Hall of Fame Heroes Red Sox Black & White Dual Game Used Bat Relic and Sticker Auto Platinum Parallel #1/1

Have drooled over the Platinum Juan de Juan of this baby for many, many years.  Locked up at home for COVID, I finally pulled the trigger.  Sa-weet!