Will You Find All The 2014 National Beckett Cover Cards?

National attendees this year can keep their eyes open for these exclusive Beckett Cover cards.  These covers range from all different years and feature a lot of great athletes.

There are 16 cards in all.  How do you obtain these cards?  Last night I mentioned where you can find the Roberto Clemente cover.  The Mickey Mantle July 1986 cover can be obtained at the Historic Autographs booth.  Johnny Manziel is available at Blowout Cards.  I also hear you’ll get one at the show’s entrance.  The 16th card is still a mystery, and you’ll need to stop by the Beckett booth to see how you can get that one.  As for the rest, that’s a good question.  I’d check around with some of the other dealers.

2012 NSCC Black Swamp Find 4-Card Promo Set

Collectors attending the National Sports Collectors Convention will be able to take home a little piece of The Black Swamp Find with them.  Heritage Auctions is creating a 4-card promo set based on the find.  VIPs will find a complete set inside their packages.  Not planning to come as a VIP.  That’s cool too.  While supplies last general admission attendees will have the chance to grab a few of these cards.

Here is the schedule showing you which cards will be given out to general admission attendees.

• 8/2 – Connie Mack
• 8/3 – Honus Wagner
• 8/4 – Ty Cobb and
• 8/5 – Cy Young

Card of the Day: Hans Wagner 1910 E98 Set Of 30 Black Swamp Find

Even More Sportkings Series E Fun Cards To Find

May 3rd is just around the corner, and that is when you’ll be able to find Sportkings Series E.  I’ve shown you some of the case hits, and even did an interview with their Lead Portrait Painter Jared Kelley, but here some more cards that you can look forward to finding.

One of the best things Sportkings has done this year is have premium base cards that have a letter on the back.  Once you collect enough cards to spell out “SPORTKINGS” you can receive quad-relic cards, sketch cards, and even art cards.  Base cards usually don’t excite that many collectors, but having a program like this can really add value to them.  Mini base cards are found 1:2 boxes and you can look for Gold and Silver parallels.  Gold is limited to 3 copies, and Silver is limited to 7 copies.

Old Tobacco Discovery

Yesturday I received an e-mail from a reader stating they have a bunch of old tobacco cards that once belonged to their grandfather.  Many of them look to be original Allen & Ginter cards from the 1880’s.  There are boxers, calendars, and a bunch of animals.  They don’t seem to be in the best condition because they were glued in an album for many years.  They told me within all the cards there is a Jack Sullivan, who was a popular boxer at the time.  From what I have seen, based on the condition I guess they all might be worth a few hundred dollars.  That might be strethcing it though because of all the damage.  For those collectors a little more familiar with the boxers and animals from this set, what value would you put on them?  Either way, its still a nice collection of tobacco cards no matter the condition.  Click on each photo to enlarge.

This is a closer picture of a few cards from the middle image

Unlikely Autograph Find

Ever since I attended my first minor league baseball game back in 1997, I have always picked up a team set while visiting the gift shop.  A few years ago back in 2006 when I attended a Williamsport Crosscutters game I purchased a 2006 team set.  Even though I had a good idea of what was in the set, the pack ripper inside always takes over and makes me want to open it to see what is inside.  I started going through the set card by card inspecting the fronts and backs.  When I reached about the middle of the stack, I came across an insert.  Not just any insert either, but an autographed insert of Brad Eldred serial numbered to 23.  At that time the Crosscutters were the single A affiliate of the Pirates.  Eldred isn’t the most collected player in MLB, but I still think its cool to pull an autograph from a minor league team set.  After holding on to it for awhile, I moved it into another person’s collection.  Thats one autograph I’ll never forget, because it came from an unlikely place.