As promised a few weeks ago, here's the second instalment to my mailday for the entire last year. Since these are my side collections (still PC), they have not enjoyed as much growth as my Shaq collection. But I believe this is where I can acutally afford some really nice or rare cards. We will start off with Yao Ming, the often injured Center of the Rockets, I wish him a fast recovery from his ankle problems and hopefully have a long career...
03-04 Upper Deck Victory Gold - a rare parallel numbered to 100.. one of the better looking parallel sets of the modern era. It reminds me of the gold signature parallel set from Collector's Choice.
04-05 E-XL Court Authentics Patch Warm-up (13/44) - one of many variations of the Court Authentics set... this one features 2 windows, one a patch piece, the other a swatch of warm-up
09-10 SP Game Used Multi Marks Dual - dual auto of Dwight Howard/Yao Ming... 2 very different players, 2 very different signatures.. Yao being more disciplined, knowing where the boundary of the sticker is, Howard on the other hand creates his own space outside the box
03-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Signatures - a nice clean on-card auto with perfect balance of colours, allowing the autograph to stand out
07-08 Upper Deck Sweet Shot Sweet Swatches Dual Patch (14/25) - the most colourful patch I ever seen... Yao's patch is a simple 2 coloured piece but Luther Head brought along 8 breaks and 5 colours.. this is one of a kind!!
09-10 Limited Team Trademarks Materials Prime (12/25) - a regulation modern day jersey patch card, very clean, nice stitches
Next on my list is Yi Jianlian, a man who is from the same region as I was, speaking the same language... there has been a lot of growth in my collection but mainly minor inserts and parallels... the only major addition over the past year was the following autograph...
07-08 Bowman Sterling RC Autograph Refractor
Now we move on to some ex-NBA players... Ha Seung Jin was the only Korean NBA player and he was often considered one of the worst NBA players ever due to his lack of speed and skills... but for a player who stood 7-3, NBA teams don't really ask for a lot other than a few rebounds and blocks... it was a good ride for him, coming out as a second round draft pick, he managed to last 3 seasons in the league... not as bad as some said for sure.. my collection of Ha has kind of hit a saturation point where I have got most of his more common cards, while rarer issues rarely show up anywhere (I believe a lot of them have gone down the garbage chute)... but here's a few I managed to save from annihilation!!
04-05 SP Game Used 120 Gold (16/50) - a somewhat rare parallel
05-06 Topps Luxury Box Box Out Quad Relics - a somewhat rare quad jersey card
After becoming the first Chinese player to play in the NBA, Wang Zhizhi enjoyed a somewhat successful run in the NBA over 5 seasons... famous for his 3 point shooting (despite being a center), he has shot his way from Dallas to the Clippers and the Heat before returning to China for good... my Wang Zhizhi collection is in the same boat as my Ha collection, not much has really happened over the past year. But recently I managed to pick up this nice autograph of his with the help of Jason from the USA.
04-05 SP Game Used SIGnificance (013/100) - nice on card auto
Now to the second Japanese player to ever play in the NBA, Yuta Tabuse (nicknamed the Japanese Michael Jordan) started and ended his NBA career with a grand total of 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 2004-05 over 4 games. I am still trying to hunt down 74 cards of his (28 of which are 1-of-1)... I have moderate success over the past year with these additions. His cards are selling very well due to their rarity and the crazed Japanese fans...
04-05 SP Signature Edition Rookie GRAPHiti (156/200) - a very generous US trader decided to trade me this card instead of putting it on ebay and make some quick cash
04-05 Skybox LE RC Gold (06/35) - a very rare parallel
We will finish off with the latest addition to the Asian NBA gang, Jeremy Lin. If you don't know him already, he is one of the hardest working players and had to go through a lot of hurdles before making the NBA... led his high school team to state championship, Lin was not offered a division I NCAA scholorship, so he became a walk-on at Harvard in the weak Ivory League. He became the team's best player and showed that he could play by having big performances in inter-league play. After being undrafted, he had solid performances in Summer League and managed to outplay John Wall and eventually secured a 2 year contract with the Warriors... to me, he is an inspiration, a sports success story...
10-11 Rookies And Stars RC Signature (349/499) - one of his first RC autographs
10-11 Prestige RC 187 Draft Picks Rights Autograph (055/199) - his first RC autograph
Hope you enjoyed the pics and commentary!!
03-04 Upper Deck Victory Gold - a rare parallel numbered to 100.. one of the better looking parallel sets of the modern era. It reminds me of the gold signature parallel set from Collector's Choice.
04-05 E-XL Court Authentics Patch Warm-up (13/44) - one of many variations of the Court Authentics set... this one features 2 windows, one a patch piece, the other a swatch of warm-up
09-10 SP Game Used Multi Marks Dual - dual auto of Dwight Howard/Yao Ming... 2 very different players, 2 very different signatures.. Yao being more disciplined, knowing where the boundary of the sticker is, Howard on the other hand creates his own space outside the box
03-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Signatures - a nice clean on-card auto with perfect balance of colours, allowing the autograph to stand out
07-08 Upper Deck Sweet Shot Sweet Swatches Dual Patch (14/25) - the most colourful patch I ever seen... Yao's patch is a simple 2 coloured piece but Luther Head brought along 8 breaks and 5 colours.. this is one of a kind!!
09-10 Limited Team Trademarks Materials Prime (12/25) - a regulation modern day jersey patch card, very clean, nice stitches
Next on my list is Yi Jianlian, a man who is from the same region as I was, speaking the same language... there has been a lot of growth in my collection but mainly minor inserts and parallels... the only major addition over the past year was the following autograph...
07-08 Bowman Sterling RC Autograph Refractor
Now we move on to some ex-NBA players... Ha Seung Jin was the only Korean NBA player and he was often considered one of the worst NBA players ever due to his lack of speed and skills... but for a player who stood 7-3, NBA teams don't really ask for a lot other than a few rebounds and blocks... it was a good ride for him, coming out as a second round draft pick, he managed to last 3 seasons in the league... not as bad as some said for sure.. my collection of Ha has kind of hit a saturation point where I have got most of his more common cards, while rarer issues rarely show up anywhere (I believe a lot of them have gone down the garbage chute)... but here's a few I managed to save from annihilation!!
04-05 SP Game Used 120 Gold (16/50) - a somewhat rare parallel
05-06 Topps Luxury Box Box Out Quad Relics - a somewhat rare quad jersey card
After becoming the first Chinese player to play in the NBA, Wang Zhizhi enjoyed a somewhat successful run in the NBA over 5 seasons... famous for his 3 point shooting (despite being a center), he has shot his way from Dallas to the Clippers and the Heat before returning to China for good... my Wang Zhizhi collection is in the same boat as my Ha collection, not much has really happened over the past year. But recently I managed to pick up this nice autograph of his with the help of Jason from the USA.
04-05 SP Game Used SIGnificance (013/100) - nice on card auto
Now to the second Japanese player to ever play in the NBA, Yuta Tabuse (nicknamed the Japanese Michael Jordan) started and ended his NBA career with a grand total of 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 2004-05 over 4 games. I am still trying to hunt down 74 cards of his (28 of which are 1-of-1)... I have moderate success over the past year with these additions. His cards are selling very well due to their rarity and the crazed Japanese fans...
04-05 SP Signature Edition Rookie GRAPHiti (156/200) - a very generous US trader decided to trade me this card instead of putting it on ebay and make some quick cash
04-05 Skybox LE RC Gold (06/35) - a very rare parallel
We will finish off with the latest addition to the Asian NBA gang, Jeremy Lin. If you don't know him already, he is one of the hardest working players and had to go through a lot of hurdles before making the NBA... led his high school team to state championship, Lin was not offered a division I NCAA scholorship, so he became a walk-on at Harvard in the weak Ivory League. He became the team's best player and showed that he could play by having big performances in inter-league play. After being undrafted, he had solid performances in Summer League and managed to outplay John Wall and eventually secured a 2 year contract with the Warriors... to me, he is an inspiration, a sports success story...
10-11 Rookies And Stars RC Signature (349/499) - one of his first RC autographs
10-11 Prestige RC 187 Draft Picks Rights Autograph (055/199) - his first RC autograph
Hope you enjoyed the pics and commentary!!
