Unsolved Mysteries Episode 1

This blog post series is about unraveling unsolved mysteries from a card lot my mother-in-law bought me from an estate sale. What you are about to see isn't a breaking news broadcast or some new releases. There is a lot to go through here so whenever possible, I will try to condense down some of the graphics and whenever possible, real cards from the actual lot (well all of them are from the actual lot but let's have some fun with it) will be used for pictures.

Someone, somewhere can help me uncover the mysteries within this lot. Let's take a look and maybe one of you, will help me solve some mysteries.

*insert creepy music and theme song. I swear that song could have been used in the movie Halloween it's so creepy. It gives me the chills still*

My mother in law had driven to a remote location where they held monthly estate sales and she went there looking for some furniture. That's when she walked through the door and immediately noticed this pile of cards. She stuck them under the table knowing she would go back once she found out a price.

She went looking for someone to ask how much when a man walked over to her.
"How much for the sports cards?"
The man told asked her, "Do you plan on taking them all?"
She politely responded, "yes."
"Well then, how does $25 for them all sound?"
 "Sounds good."

She hadn't expected quite a deal on them since most of the times when she hunts down cards for me from these kind of lots and they are $25 for each item. She was afraid she would have to leave some behind, but now she didn't. Whoever this man was that day, he had given her a blessing. But why? Was he trying to just get rid of them? Were they all base cards? Were they all damaged? Or was there more to the story.

We need to solve this mystery and find the answers by looking at what the contents were.

A almost filled base set of 2002 Ex baseball.

Why is it almost filled? Why not have finished it? Mysteries Unsolved.

Four incredible looking NASCAR die cut inserts. Why would you toss these in the box? What kind of cruel monster would just toss these and not keep them?

Is this a memorabilia card? Or is it a plain insert? Hmmm...

Two hologram cards I haven't ever seen but now want a set of. Were these purposely planted in there?

Brett Bodine autograph was a first random find. There were some cards in screwdown holders that were the best of the box, but why have this random card without a sleeve tucked into the box unprotected?

Rickey Henderson....enough of a mystery.

Who are the Expos...another mystery.

Why was a Boomer Esiason rookie card just tossed in there? Very random as it was the only '86 Topps card of the lot.

Kobe Bryant insert? I am Starstruck by why he would do this.

Four Triple Doubles. The mystery is deep here when it should be three to make it a Triple.

 

And to end this section, a player I have never heard of. Was he missing in action or was I when he played baseball?

This does it for Episode One of Unsolved Mysteries. There is a lot of unexplained findings here with even more mysteries to unravel. Tune in next time and Perhaps YOU, can help solve a mystery.

Mother-In-Law Strikes Again!

It's that time of year again, the time when my mother-in-law keeps an eye out at yard sales, tag sales, auctions and consignment shops for card items for me.

So far she has already snagged a couple items at a recent consignment shop.

Up first this Ken Griffey Jr plaque. She saw it the first time she was in the shop but wasn't sure if I would like it or not so she gave me a call.

"Hey, I see this card plaque in this shop, do you want it?"
"Who is it?"
"It's a guy that plays for Seattle."
I knew pretty much immediately who it was, "Ken Griffey Jr?"
"Yes."
"That's my favorite player in baseball all-time. I would absolutely want that."
"It's yours."
"Thanks!"

And here it is. Even better than I expected it. The Kid Dynamite really brings out the plaque even though at first I thought it was a card and realization hit that it's a piece of paper but that's okay. The card on it however is from 1996 Pinnacle, one I already have, but it blends well on the plaque here.

The second item in the shop she found was this 1992 Upper Deck baseball complete set. Not a lot in the set to be excited about, I have the Griffeys, but it does have the Manny Ramirez rookie so that works for me. Just hoping she didn't overpay for it.

 

Well, here's the first of at least a few I assume she will pick up for me when/if she finds more stuff. Not a bad way to kick off the spring sale season find especially with that Griffey plaque.

I will post as I get them in which isn't as often as it used to be, but hopefully this year will be different.

The Great Binder

My mother-in-law once again found me some treasure.

She recently went to a new antique store in town and as always went on the hunt for cards for me. She stumbled upon a full binder of them for $25 and picked it up.

 

I haven't really had the chance to sit down and go through all of it yet.  I thought that would make a fun segment and it seems there is a lot of good stuff from late 90's til early 2000's just by flipping through it really fast.

Any guesses on who or what I may find in here?

Auction Lot:Guess What Was Paid...

My mother in law, yup, I have spoken a lot about her on the blog this year in helping my cardboard obsession, went to an auction this summer for something she wanted but saw some football cards and knew she would have to wait around to bid on those as well.

What she didn't know was that it would take 3 hours of waiting for her to snag em.

I am not going to tell you what she paid for them as I think it would be fun for you guys to guess. On top of what is pictured, there was also roughly 100 base cards from football as well. It seems the former owner must have been a big 49ers fan.

These cards are all from 1999 and seem to have the Beckett book value on some.

First auto is Ray Barker. I honestly don't remember him.

This card looks great. I miss UD in the game. Garrison Hearst played for the Cardinals before he tore it up in SF.

Steve Young rookie card! So weird to see him in a Buc's uni.

Jeff Garcia who played well in SF before leaving, then bounced around the league till he was 100 years old before he finally retired. Cool on-card rookie auto.

Terrell Owens on another one of these sharp Retro cards. On-card too. Remember those days.

And to finish it up, another Terrell Owens autograph on-card.

 

So now it's your turn to guess what she paid for them. I won't tell you if she overpaid or got a deal. I will give this a week and then will comment with the answer and you can tell me if she did or didn't