My Musuem Collection World War 2 Relic Booklet Arrived!

Since February I have been counting down the days since I redeemed my biggest pull from Goodwin Champions.

I just wanted to get this card in-hand to see it. At one point I had checked in with Upper Deck to see if there were any updates, they said within two weeks I should have it in July.

Awesome.

Even more awesome, the card when it arrived. It was also shipped really safe in a plastic case which I am going to keep it in. I mean it is a piece of history.

The fun thing with these booklets when you redeem them, you have absolutely no idea which one you will be getting. We don't get many surprises in life so I will take any I can get.

The booklet I received brings us back to the Battle Of The Philippines. I am not a huge history buff-it was actually my worst subject-so other than the details on the inside of the booklet, I can't tell you much else without Google. I didn't appreciate history back in school, but as I have gotten older, I have realized how important everything was. Especially since today's teachings are much different and less detailed from what I learned/tried to learn.

So instead of rambling on anymore with that, let's take a look at this card.

The details look great on the outside cover

And even more so on the inside. It gives a description of the Battle Of The Philippines but doesn't give me what the description of what the relics are. That part was disappointing but you can just feel the history and why they call the line Museum Collection. This literally looks like a display you would find in a museum.

And here is the back of the card.

 

This card also has some personal feels to it as well as my grandfather fought in World War 2. I am not sure which part of the war, as I never got to meet my grandfather as PTSD took him away before I was born, but I will treasure this as such a relic and remembrance of him.

What do you guys think of cards like this? Relics of history like this? Let me know in comments!

Nuttin But The Hits:2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions BOX 2 (BIG LAST PACK HIT)

If you didn't know by now, I am apart of a special club and have been since 2011. It's called The Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance.  This "club" takes on missions designated by Upper Deck to help make the hobby a better place. In exchange for our hard work, we could be chosen to receive an Upper Deck mail day.

I was a lucky recipient with the latest mission receiving two boxes of 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions along with a few other cards including one that knocks off a want list card. Yup, pretty stinkin' cool club to be apart of.

Today is my second box break from my mail day and it has a whopper!

\Like I said with the first box, they come with 20 packs and 6 cards per pack. Boxes run $100 and come with a variety of hits.

Mini's again that fall 1:4 packs

Black and White Sp base cards that fall 1:4 packs. This time I found another Trey Griffey for my Griffey Pc.

Those crazy colorful Goudey cards. A horse I tell you and a Kangaroo. Totally dig it!

Messier 83 Galaxy falls in Tier 2 for the Space Lenticulars and is 1:120 packs.

Like I said in my last break, these are Tiered hits for relics. This Felice Herrig falls 1:541 packs. So really tough pull here but not the toughest from the box.

Goodwin autograph of who at first I thought was Bobby Lee from Mad TV, is actually a Chef named Eddie Huang. He could use help on his auto but cool 90's looking card despite that. This one falls 1:760 packs. Still not the toughest of the box.

 

So I sat there okay with my findings knowing I had my three hits. But then some last pack mojo....

1:974 packs you will find one of these that I will show off when it arrives...

Wow. My hand was shaking! Other than wanting the Stephen King autograph, I really wanted one of their World War Relics and now I have one! Sick!! Can't wait to see what it is as when I redeemed it I was never told.

Box two came with many big hits and it left me wanting to bust more and more. I definelty have more singles I want to snag up. I wouldn't mind finding more World War 2 relics and like I said, I need the King autograph and relic.

Thanks again to Upper Deck for this prize. I will be showing off the remaining prizes I got for my last mission coming up soon!

MT, A Redemption Mail Day

A few months ago I busted a box of 2016 Panini Optic and pulled a redemption as my autograph hit...just my luck. But, I don't mind redemptions personally. Usually I mark 4 months on them when I redeem them so I can exchange them later on for NY Giants cards I actually want.

To my surprise, the Michael Thomas autograph I pulled from Optic came just a month later. Not a bad looking card and is an on-card auto. However, he has a terrible signature.

 

I am not going to complain about this one actually showing up however. This guy showed some spots of talent last year and with Brees down a top WR, this guy could be ready for super star status.

NYG Week Part 6:Replacing A Redemption #2

Today is part 2 of my redemption replacement and kicks off Day #6 of NYG week. A week leading up to the Giants opening day game vs Dallas that comes up tomorrow at 4 pm.

Today's redemption replacement was of a 2012-2013 Panini Brilliance Jim Jackson autograph.

I think I did much better than that....

My first NFL Gear jersey signature from National Treasures. Very nice looking card with an on-card autograph making this card #87 in my Andre Williams PC.

Thoughts on my redemption replacements are welcomed in comments or any comments in general are welcomed.

Giants week comes to an end tomorrow for kickoff Sunday. Not sure what card I will post, but I gotta top the week off somehow.

Panini America vs Topps Redemption Replacement:Battle For The Ages

Last month I posted two redemption replacement mail days that I received with one being from Topps and the other from Panini. I thought it would be fun to breaking it down on how I got these replaced and to see which company came out on top in their replacement.

Here we go!

Panini America
What I got replaced:

2014 Panini Preferred (14-15) Silhouettes

Card

#240 ( / 35)

Kyrie Irving Cleveland Cavaliers G

What Arrived: 

Estimated Time Of Response To Replacing: 3 Hours
Contacted Via: Twitter
Delivery: 5 Days
Equal Value: Yes
Team Of Choice: Yes

VS 

 Topps
 What I got replaced:

2014 Five Star

Five Star Auto Rainbow Parallel of Rashad Jennings

What Arrived:

Estimated Time Of Response To Replacing: 2 Months
Contacted Via: Email

Delivery: 3 Days
Equal Value: Yes (if not a bit more)
Team Of Choice: No

I think it's pretty easy to see who won this round. Topps had the faster delivery but a TERRIBLE response time as opposed to Panini who quickly responded then turned around and replaced it. Not to mention Panini offered my team of choice over Topps who I mentioned which team I liked and got another.

I will admit however my Topps replacement is the best one I have ever gotten from them so that part was headed in the right direction. I think the most frustrating was getting a response. I understand that they are busy, but isn't Panini too? I think maybe a Topps C.S. Twitter account like they used to have may help some.

What do you guys think and how has your experiences been with either company?

Topps Redemption Mail Day

My patience with redemptions is very thin, I can usually only make it the four months before I require a replacement no matter what the card is. I would rather have something in hand than nothing.

So I replaced my 2014 Topps Five Star Auto parallel of Rashad Jennings, yes I didn't want that to go because it was a Giant, but I did anyways and go this in the mail....

A 2012 Topps Five Star rookie autograph of Michael Floyd.

 

It's a fair replacement in my opinion. I miss out on a Giants auto, but I get a rookie auto for the PC. 50/50 to me.

Thoughts on this mail day or your Topps redemptions you know where to leave em!

What Does An Fleer Ultra Hockey Rookie Redemption Look Like? See Here!

Patience. Something all of us must have when it comes to redemptions. That is something I had to learn with my first Upper Deck one in years....and it wasn't even for an autograph!!

In Upper Deck's 2014-2015 Fleer Ultra product, amazing product by the way, they inserted these that fell one-per-box that you needed to redeem online like a redemption card.

With early season hockey card products featuring carryover rookies, rookies that made their debut after the previous hockey card season, Upper Deck decided they would try to include those rookies before the following years products released by including these Rookie Redemption cards. So no waiting til 2015-2016 products to get those late skating rookies. Upper Deck has them now.

And in exchange for the redemption card I redeemed, 5 months later, I received this on Friday...

Not a bad looking card. Just seems like a long time to wait for an non-autographed card but I understand why. I do like the aspect of getting those late season rookies included somehow so you don't have to wait. Other sports could use that too. It also helps that he is in a Rangers uni even though he no longer plays there. I guess that is the only bad part of the redemption promo is UD keeping up on possible moves for these players as well.

So now I gotta ask your thoughts on this. Do you mind waiting for a non-autographed redemption card? Do you like Upper Deck's idea and attempt to try and get these rookies in? Let me hear your thoughts!

Panini Redemption Replacement Mail Day..#d 4/5!!

I have no patience. I don't like to sit and wait for redemption cards. So when the four month waiting period comes up, I get it replaced. I would rather have a card in-hand, then not have a card at all or have to wait years for it.

My latest redemption card replacement was for a 2013 Totally Certified Gold Signatures /10 of Alec Ogletree of the Rams. I am not a fan of defensive players cards, though in Madden and on the Giants I love my defense, so I was happy to receive this card as it's replacement. It's Giants blue, a QB and low numbered. Doesn't get better!

4/5

Glad to had made the replacement. I have another redemption ending soon from Panini but haven't decided whether to replace it or not. It's Jarvis Landry, so to me, that's up in the air as Landry is an excellent player with a very bright future. That one I may wait on unless they can replace it with another Landry auto. Time will tell.....

Topps Chrome Football Redemption Mail Day

A few weeks ago I did a Breakin Wax on 2014 Topps Chrome and showed that my autograph from that box was a redemption. To my surprise, after submitting the redemption card, the card I pulled arrived. This was probably the fastest turnaround I have ever had for a redemption.

Outside of the player, this is a pretty impressive looking card numbered 1/15. It should fit nicely in my PC.

Hobby Topic

Another post in our new series Hobby Topics. This is not so much a post for us to comment about or give our opinions on, this is your chance to let your voice be heard on a variety of topics in the hobby. We are leaving the floor open to you! So comment away! But please no language and keep your answer clean as we do have a younger following as well.

Today's Topic will be about Redemption Cards

I know there should be some serious feedback about this topic. How do companies fix redemption card problems in your opinion? Which companies are best at turnaround time? Which are worse? How many redemptions are you currently waiting on?

Let's hear your thoughts!

NOTE: All comments will be hidden due to the ongoing contest. I will get them published on here ASAP when you comment. So leave those thoughts!

Panini Redemption Card Replacement Mail Day

 

When it comes to redemption cards, I am a very impatient person. So when I found out that one of mine had reached its 4 month limit, I said, no more waiting. So like with most of my redemptions, unless I really want the card, I get it replaced. And the best company to do that with is Panini. I know some of you may disagree, but as soon as I request a replacement, it's mailed.

This card originally was supposed to be 2013 Panini USA Baseball Champions

Stars and Stripes Signatures of Grant Green so I think I won on the exchange. Moore is not only from my favorite team, but is going to be a beast years to come. He has shown potential throughout the season.

How To Improve The Hobby Part 1: Redemptions

A new 4 part series here on Sport Card Collectors is giving our opinion on how to improve the hobby and its weak points.

We decided to kick off this conversation with redemption cards. The dreaded pieces of white filler-board that has a lottery scratch off to find a code that will at some point hopefully turn into a card for your collection. As always, there has been much chatter about redemption cards all over Twitter and Facebook. But, it seems this topic has been more talked about recently as fellow hobbyists have been all over companies, especially Topps about it. I have a few ideas that might help with the situation of redemptions.

  

Upper Deck has started to take one of the ideas that I had and is pushing off releases in order to get all of the autograph content for it first. This idea is great because it will guarantee no redemptions, but on the other hand collectors will have to wait longer for a product. I guess you can't win both ways. But this is a start.

Another idea, is to have contract that the companies sign with the athletes state to have the signed cards returned in a decent time frame. None of this two or three year stuff where collectors are calling and stalking companies. 4-6 months is a better time frame. Yes, I understand that athletes are always busy in the off-season working out and so on, but if you are signing on to a company to earn some bonus bucks, you gotta do your work in a decent time frame. You can't just show up for a game on game day, you gotta work through training camps. That's what your paid to do. Just like with redemption cards, you can't sign a contract, get paid and never signing your cards to return to the companies.

A final idea that I have comes from what I do with all of my redemptions. I get them replaced. But instead of having to wait 4-12 months to be able to choose this option let us do it the second we get the redemption. If I get a redemption for player X and I know I don't really care about owning player X's autograph, replace it for me with something of equal value. Why make me wait when I know in 4 months I am going to ask you to replace it anyways? You might as well skip this step. However, if I do want this autograph, I will wait but only up to a certain point. When that point reaches, replace the card BUT with the same players autograph from a different product.

I know that these ideas come at more of a cost for the companies, but if they want to keep collectors happy, which is where their money comes in the first place, they have got to either use these ideas or find other ways to fix the redemption card problems. If not, collectors now and of future might turn away from collecting because of this and the hobby we all love could fizzle out.

Panini Redemption Card Mail Day #3

Received in 3 redemption cards. Here is the last and my most favorite one.

Thoughts on this card?

Panini Redemption Card Mail Day #2

Received in 3 redemption cards. Here is the Second one.

Thoughts on this card?

Panini Redemption Card Mail Day #1

Received in 3 redemption cards. Here is the first one.

Thoughts on this card?

Very Nice Panini Redemption Card Mail Day

 

This just came in the mail yesterday. Originally it was supposed to be a Archie Manning Inked auto card numbered to 10 from Panini Limited but instead I had it replaced like I do with all of my redemptions after 4 months unless its a card I really don't mind waiting for.  I contacted Panini CSM on Twitter, got a quick response, and within two days this beauty arrived. This card is numbered 2/10 and going straight to the PC. My first auto of Bradford.. I think its an equal trade off when I had it replaced. Just hoping that Bradford can finally pan out to be the first overall pick he was supposed to. 

Let me know your thoughts on this card and if you think this was an equal exchange.

Panini Redemption Mail Day!! Jernigan Style! (Also my Favorite Card Thursday Card)

I love how huge the signature is on this card. And its on card! Not to mention its a NY Giant.

Panini Redemption mailday..part 2: Panini's CS is the Bomb!

If you don't remember us getting a redemption mail day a few weeks ago here is the link:

http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2012/04/nice-panini-redemption-mail-day.html

In the write up we question the value of the card we got in return compared to the one we were supposed to get. After some research...we found the values were not equal. So I called Panini CS and this is what they mailed me to make up the loss. They mailed this card out and it got to me within 3 days! John Taylor National Treasures Ring of Honor autograph numbered to 50. I thought it definitely made up for the value.

Panini's customer service continues to improve and with that being one of their former weak spots...the company now is rising even higher to me as the best. I am not the only one who is thinking so. I have seen a lot of compliments recently on their improving customer service.

How do you feel about them? Have you had a good or bad experience recently with them? Let us know in comments!

A nice Panini Redemption mail day!

I had called and got a redemption card replaced. My original card was supposed to be a Asante Samuel Panini Certified prime signature materials card numbered to 25. They replaced it with this Ausin Pettis National Treasures auto/patch rookie card numbered to 99. Not too bad of a trade off. I just hope it's equal value. Will have to wait til the next Beckett comes out. But either way, it's a nice card!

What do you guys think?

Upper Deck Redemption Lawsuit

The other day I was on www.beckett.com and came across this article:

http://www.beckett.com/news/2012/04/upper-deck-loses-court-case-over-redemption-cards/

Then now I have to rant. First off, Upper Deck, why didn't you check the rules before you sent a non full time employee to the case???!! You lost what should have been a winnable case because of that move. But that isn't my main rant. My main rant involves the plaintiff in this case. Any card collector, especially us seasoned vets, knows, first off, Upper Deck doesn't have an MLB license. Secondly, we know that every product for any company is bound to have redemptions that are "time sensitive" not to mention those words are put right on the outside of every card box. And thirdly, we all know that buying older product is a risk especially when it comes to the chance of finding a redemption or 2.

To me, I avoid buying anything a 1 year old. Its just what I stick by and what I recommend other collectors stick by. I would not want to buy lets say a 2007 MLB product because its cheaper and a product I love then pull a Nolan Ryan autographed redemption card that is worthless. Something that had a date that was dated for 2010 that can no longer be used. Something you can give to your dog for a toy. I avoid all of their older product due to that. These are things every true card collector knows. And especially when it comes to Upper Deck who could no longer legally make those cards anyways because of lack of licenses. The cards were never made because the athlete hadn't gotten the cards back to Upper Deck. Which opens a whole new debate over redemptions. Should companies skip out on Star players just to make sure all autos are in the product?? I can go both ways on that topic. But we will save that for another day.

In closing, it just infuriates me that a guy who claims to be a collector knew none of this. Then wins the battle because Upper Deck made a mistake. I know as you will see when you click on the link that Upper Deck has a lot of lawsuits coming down on them, but this one should have been an easy victory. However, by the plaintiff winning this case this could have opened a whole new can of worms in a negative way. And not just for Upper Deck, but for the overall hobby we love.

Any of you agree or disagree with me or with the case? Any thoughts?