Fun mixed lot

In the last few months I've been devoting a lot of my card-related attention to finding cheap singles of vintage stars. I've enjoyed it, but I've been missing the fun of going through a big lot of cards. Adding a vintage Mays or Aaron to my collection is always awesome, but even if I leave it out for a little while before putting it away, I don't really spend a lot of time with it. I really enjoy taking the time to go through a big lot of cards, sorting them, cataloging them, updating my lists, finding cards to trade to others, etc. Years ago I used to get lots like that all the time from Craigslist, garage sales, etc. Even before COVID those areas were drying up, and now they are almost completely bare. Still, there are some fun lots to be had on eBay if you dig a little, and also get lucky.

I've won a few cheap auctions recently. This one was 600+ cards for $18 shipped. What's important to me in a lot like this is lots of variety, across sets and years. This one fit that bill. Mostly not big stars but not all commons either. Some newer stuff but also lots of late 90s early 00s, and even some earlier oddballs.

I was so excited for this that I started sorting before I remembered to take photos for the blog, which I usually try to do before I sort. So here I have them after the first layer of sorting, which is by brand. Then I do by year, then by set.

A-C brands. A lot of Bowman but not too many. There are tons of  lots out there that are primarily Bowman, but I find that brand best in small amounts. Those three black-bordered shinies in the middle are supposed to be a modern take on the '55 set, supposed to look like modern flat-screen TVs. I wouldn't have known that before I looked up the set. They are very thick, too, which is ironic considering that modern TVs are exponentially thinner than the giant 1950s TVs. That Video Nomo Cardtoons card is awesome.

Donruss. Some shiny new stuff, all the way back to some '84s and earlier. Any of the '80s stuff is available for trade.

Fleer. Lots of '85 and '86, again all available. If you are working on any of those pre-junk-wax Fleer or Donruss sets, let me know.

F-P. That Panini Dustin Ackley card on the bottom right is amusing. Some fun oddballs in here. I already have that full Kay-Bee set if anyone needs those.

P-T. Some more oddballs most of which I had already. I love adding Sportflics cards, and I needed most of the '89s. The "Team Out" game is a new one to me.

Vintage! I already have all of these, so they are available. Many of the older ones have writing. That could be useful for OBC - the new fad there is for people to start second sets of the "worst set ever" - someone is building a '65 in terrible condition, a '67 in terrible condition, etc. About 30 people building poor-conditioned sets from '52 to '78, mostly baseball. Some of these will make good trade fodder for them. (If you have really bad cards from a vintage set that you'd like to unload, let me know and I can connect you with the person collecting that set.) That '70 card is in pretty good shape, and is a high number, #702. That's available for trade too.

I forgot to take a photo of the '80s Topps stack. Lots of junk-wax cards, though at least they are mostly stars. Of note was an '89 Steve Rosenberg that is signed. Looked authentic to me so I put it in my autograph binder. For trade bait, there was a blank-backed 1987 Topps Dan Gladden someone might find interesting.

Here is the rest of Topps, one row each for 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. Most of the cards that were not from the base set were needs for me.

T-X. Some more oddballs. What was most interesting were 1993 Upper Deck cards with a Marlins 1st Year stamp. I thought at first it might be like the really rare Topps cards with the Marlins or Rockies stamps. Not quite that unique, it was a Marlins-only team set. Still pretty cool, I had never seen them before. Most of the cards had dupes, though it wasn't a full set (no Hoffman or Santiago, for example). Still, if you PC a '93 Marlin I might have an extra for you.