Final mailday & my (mostly 90s) finished PC

Originally I was just going to post my most recent SMC mailday, but given that delivery completes my very meagre PC, I figured I may as well post it all over the next couple of days, at least the main cards (#1 & 2 in my list below).

I really enjoy reading the mailday/collection threads. This one is infinitely more garden variety, but I'll aim to touch on my various mistakes/learnings along the way. Given this all took place while the market was peaking though, one might say it was all a mistake/expensive lesson, but I’ve had a blast and regret nothing dammit!

What I collected

When I got the bug again a couple of years ago, to avoid going overboard I decided to limit my purchases to the following, and with a view to stopping by end of this year;

1. At least 1 but ideally 2 auto or memorabilia or rookie cards for each of my favourite players; Jordan, Olajuwon, Barkley, Shaq, Penny, Kobe, AI, Magic, Lebron, Curry & Durant (obscure names, I know)
2. Other Jordan inserts and base cards (mostly 93/94) that I wanted back in the day.
3.  All 93/94 season base sets that I had any cards from as a kid (pretty much all bar Topps Finest)
4. All 93/94 season rookie redemption sets

*Within reason, so no Jordan auto or rookie for me unfortunately.

Along the way I ended up picking up a few other player inserts, but by and large pretty much stuck to the above.

My general approach

• I started out buying graded only when I began in 2021 (after getting one of my own cards graded for the first time)
• Quickly realised I’d rather have a bunch of cool ungraded cards than few cool graded cards, so for all of 2022 I switched to loose cards only
• When it came to the more modern cards, I really just wanted cards that looked great, so I wasn’t fussed with eg sticker vs on-card autos for example.

First cab off the rank, Shaq






Doubled down on the goofy face memorabilia card here. I was unsure of which graded rookie to settle on, the Upper Deck draft pick or Topps gold, but I was sure that no matter which one I chose in the end, I’d still regret not picking up the other.

I'd never had a Beam Team card before too so had to get one for the PC..

 Learnings

• Early lesson re crappy sellers (in this case Probstein) reneging on a sale because they don't get the price they want. The first graded card I had an auction win on was a PSA 9 Fleer Ultra Shaq rookie that I got at a great price, only to get some BS about not being able to post the card to Aus (despite it being in the listing).I picked up a loose one for $1 US this year, so it all worked out in the end.

Sir Charles

I had to pick up a few of my favourite Barkley inserts too, including my first and only Scoring Kings. I always loved how the Suns colours really popped on cards. The Barkley Signature Series is probably my favourite modern card I picked up for that reason.

Learnings

• I purchased 2x graded cards from Ebay US before discovering SMC thanks to this board, this Barkley and my Kobe rookie. Those taxes/import fees, yeesh.

AI



Only a single entry for AI in the end, courtesy of @tekk3113

So many sensational cards........ so much nostalgia!

Awesome pick ups!

Thanks @Matt26!

Steph

The Splash cards are among my favourite of all the modern cards I’ve seen, so I had to grab a couple.

Durant

This was my own card that I got graded (and what kicked off this collection). At least 10 years ago I thought it’d be fun to buy a bunch of mid 90’s wax boxes on ebay to rip (cheap as chips at the time), and decided to grab one ‘modern’ box to see what newer cards looked like - what a disappointment! I whacked a rubber band around them and chucked them into storage. Then in early 2021 I realised I might have some Durant rookies from that disappointing box, dug out that set and found I had 3; 2 with big dings in the corners, and by pure luck, one in perfect shape.

Learnings

• I should’ve sold it the second I got the grade back from PSA! I think I had seen comps for over $3k US at the time.
• Highly recommend Slabd who provided an excellent service for both this and my only other (SGC) submission.

MJ

Ok so auto and rookie were out of the question here, so I went with 2 memorabilia cards. I didn't even know game used jersey/floor etc cards were a thing until rediscovering cards last year, so getting these 2 in my hands was a real highlight for me. And I was happy to get a Jordan/Lebron memorabilia 2-fer.




These were the only other cards I had graded. Famous Nicknames was the pride of my childhood collection, and I could've sworn it was in better shape than the Superstars card...

















These were all inserts/base cards I wanted as a kid, with the exception of 88 All Star (decided this was the oldest/best Jordan card I could justify purchasing).

Outside of the fun of memorabilia cards though, I think Power In The Key is now my favourite Jordan insert. What a great set.

My main regret with this PC is that I didn’t manage to get the iconic Scoring Kings card. In retrospect I should’ve prioritised this over some other cards. Thankfully I still got a Jordan Scoring King card though thanks to @SharpysSports via MERQARY, along with E-XL.

Decade of Excellence is the closest I could get to a Jordan rookie. I hear this WCG crowd are harsh graders too so I was pretty lucky I found a 10 for so cheap

Learnings

• Pay attention when entering the SMC address into your eBay account. I managed to enter the wrong unit number, and only realised until just after the Jordan/Lebron Combo Materials card had shipped. I immediately thought I’d never see it and instead some lucky so & so was going to open their own PO Box to find it waiting for them. I even called the Post Office in Oregon in the hope there was anything that could be done! Fortunately, SMC do so much business with them, the wrong unit # didn’t matter as they made sure it went to the right place. Crisis averted. Thankyou USPS.
• As above, I should've planned out priorities earlier in this process to ensure I don't miss out on 93 Scoring King. I had just spent a bit too much by the time I got to it, but also couldn't justify spending that much on a raw card when they're so susceptible to damage.

Magic



TBH Magic was a bit of a stretch to include on the list, as I didn’t see much of him in my days as a fan, but it’s Magic & I just really liked this card. Bird was on the list initially too, but he never played while I was into cards back in the day, so I talked myself out of it.

Lebron



Yeah…so this is the poorest financial decision I’ve ever made. No idea what came over me - I’ve never spent so much on something I’ve done so little research on. It was just a spur of the moment thing that I justified as it being a ‘hold onto it for 20 years’ investment. Is it worth significantly less now than what I paid for it? No doubt. Would the Steph Topps rookie that I was tossing up between have been the better choice financially at least? For now definitely. Am I still happy I have it? Yep!

Also I really haven't figured out how to get a good picture of all these reflective cards...no scanner, but that seems the way to go.

Kobe




I’m not a fan of the jersey Kobe has on the Trophy Case card but I really like how the patch stands out against the black & white.

Learnings

• This Kobe rookie is easily the 2nd biggest mistake as far as value today vs what I paid. And there’s a bajillion of them out there too so long term won't help much either. I’d be perfectly happy with a raw one.
• I purchased this Kobe patch before I had ever heard about people swapping basic 1-colour jersey patch for something more desirable, so I really could’ve taken a bath on this one. Thankfully from what I could research I appear to have dodged a bullet.

Olajuwon

I really don’t know how I ended up with only 1 Olajuwon card here given he’s my 2nd favourite after Jordan, though he was my only combo auto/memorabilia card. I also came really close to getting a graded rookie a few times, but I think having already gotten Barkley the Fleer 86 itch had been sufficiently scratched.

Penny

This ended up being my only Beckett graded card. No other penny purchases for me given I already have a bunch of his rookie cards, and because of the below…

Learnings

• So this was a christmas eve 2021 impulse screwup where I put in a last minute bid in AUD without realising the auction was in USD, and then it ended up being bid right up to my bloody limit. I got cooked. At least it’s one of the best looking cards I own.

Ok that does it for the main cards.

Some other random additions from my last mailday & final thoughts...



Had to get a Giddey, and I just really liked the colour combo on these Rookie Ink cards.



This McGrady rookie is such a hectic/goofy looking card I couldn't pass it up, though I think I'll peel the film as it's obscuring his odd look.



This was the bargain of the lot for me at $2 USD. I was a big fan of Rider and if I pulled a card like this as a kid it would’ve been the crown jewel of my collection.



Ok not bball but I'll take this as an opportunity to recommend checking out the 30 for 30 doco about Marcus Dupree called The best that never was. I love that this was the best pic they could get.

Final thoughts...

• I had a heap of fun chasing down these cards and definitely spent way too much time scanning ebay over the past 2 years! Maybe I'll end up getting that Jordan Scoring King if things really collapse in years to come.
• I hope my son can at least get back what I paid for them when he inherits them in 20yrs time, and needs the $ to save for a deposit on a $2m 2*1 unit an hour out of the city...
• Other than a couple of purchases here, I pretty much stuck to Ebay only. I did take a look at COMC but maybe I was doing something wrong as I struggled to find cards I was after for cheaper than they were going for on?
• SMC rock. I'd definitely have far less if not for their great service and the considerable cost savings they provide.
• I was pretty nervous about getting my shipment of a years worth of raw cards back - you can only tell so much detail from the photos - but overall I'm really happy with the condition. I only opted for mint/nr mint and while there are a few that definitely aren't as described, most were close enough. That said, I don’t think there are any that I’d be sending off for grading with any realistic hope of a 10.
• I was really impressed with the condition of all of the base sets I purchased. Good thing too as they kicked my arse on the eventual shipping costs. The only annoyance from all the sets I bought was Upper Deck SE was missing Penny (had an extra Webber instead).
• I only ever sent 3 cards off for grading, the Durant initially to PSA and then Jordans to SGC. While the extensive wait for the former wasn’t fun, the reveal was one of the more fun aspects of collecting over the past 2 years, so there’s probably a good chance I send some of the better loose cards off to CGA in future for a cheaper alternative.

That'll do it, thanks for reading!

Last mailday for 2022 and not ever isn’t it?!

Epic thread - you’ve covered some very cool legends here - love it!

COMC is great for saving time sending singles here and there from eBay to SMC. It might be a few dollars more expensive but sometimes I just pay it for the convenience of keeping track of them in my inventory until I send a big lot over to SMC.

Theres certain refractor cards that just don’t photograph well in the light box - I’m looking into a scanner too, I’ll post about how it goes compared to the eBay light box I usually use.

some great learning tips here, hope people read them!

Some great cards you've picked up there mate!

GarnettFan4Life said:

Last mailday for 2022 and not ever isn’t it?!

Epic thread - you’ve covered some very cool legends here - love it!

COMC is great for saving time sending singles here and there from eBay to SMC. It might be a few dollars more expensive but sometimes I just pay it for the convenience of keeping track of them in my inventory until I send a big lot over to SMC.

Theres certain refractor cards that just don’t photograph well in the light box - I’m looking into a scanner too, I’ll post about how it goes compared to the eBay light box I usually use.

some great learning tips here, hope people read them!

Click to expand...

Thanks mate! Bar fixing up some small holes in the base cards sets which I'll do locally, it should be the last ever mailday if I stick to my plan. But I rarely do...

Yeah I thought the cheapo lightbox I got would do the trick but definitely still a struggle with a number of cards.

Auscon said:

Thanks mate! Bar fixing up some small holes in the base cards sets which I'll do locally, it should be the last ever mailday if I stick to my plan. But I rarely do...

Yeah I thought the cheapo lightbox I got would do the trick but definitely still a struggle with a number of cards.

Click to expand...

Hopefully not your last ever - this was quality!

A real trip down memory lane with those 90's inserts, Love it !!

Awesome mailday/post.

You can not go wrong with so much '90s goodness.

Interesting that a lot of your discoveries/conclusions mirror what I believe/have found. (I also can not get my head around the COMC thing. Prices are soooooo expensive there.)

So many icnonic cards there, Barkely auto is on the collecting bucket list!