Monday, February 20, 2017

2010 Topps 206 minis from the dime box

In my last post, I was talking about the single row box of cards of 2010 Topps 206 cards I found during the September Urbandale American Legion card show. These cards, going for a dime apiece,  didn't look as if anyone had dug through it yet.
 
Besides a bunch of Topps 206 SP cards, I was also able to find a whole mess of minis, including a pair of serial-numbered ones, all for one shiny dime each.

Of the 2010 Topps 206 Minis I dug out of the dime box, there were a total of 36 cards, consisting of mini cards of Cycle (2), Polar Bear (3), American Caramel (9), Old Mill (2), and Piedmont (10).

The two mini Cycle cards were both serial numbered, which included a Martin Prado (S/N 23/99) (#43) and a Roy Oswalt (S/N 50/99) (#118). The two Old Mill minis included Gil Meche (#180) and Scott Kazmir (#149). The three Polar Bear minis include Freddy Sanchez (#117); Prince Fielder (#125); and Ryan Ludwick (#150).
 
Of the nine Piedmont mini cards, I found Daniel McCutchenn (#261); Christy Mathewson (#99); Felix Hernandez (#53); Jeff Francoeur (#235); Cristian Guzman (#67); Rick Ankiel (249); Cliff Lee (#152); Jason Kubel (#21); and Joe Mauer (#218).

Among the 10 American Caramels card, I found Justin Verlander (#58); Clay Buchholz (#76); Justin Upton (#33); Yadier Molina (#115); Chris Carpenter (#86); Alex Gordon (#202); Brett Anderson (#146); Luke Hochevar (#70); and Robinson Cano (#273).

I'm not entirely sure why I picked up these 2010 Topps 206 Historical Events minis, but I figured, for a dime each, I could probably find someone who would actually be interested in them. This is actually a 20-card set, so I managed to pick up half the set, which included: Joan of Arc Beatified (#HE5); Francis' Louis Bleriot makes 1st Airplane Flight Across English Channel (#HE7); First Short Flight in a Plane With a Jet Engine (#HE20); 1st Junior High School in U.S. Opens (Columbus, Ohio) (#HE10); Chicago's Comiskey Park open, St. Louis Browns Beat White Sox, 2-0 (#HE16); 1st Radio Contest Held (Philadelphia) (#HE13); Earth Passes Through Tail of Comet Halley (#HE15); The Boy Scouts of America is Incorporated by William D. Boyce (#HE12); British Miners Strike For 8-Hour Working Day (#HE11); and 1st Movie Stunt: Man Jumps Into Hudson River From a Burning Balloon (#HE18).

Actually,  this turned out to be a rather bittersweet find. It turns out someone was selling these, and a few other cards for, Chuck's Sports Cards Plus. According to the guy who was selling the cards for Chuck, said that Chuck was shutting down his Des Moines shop. 
 
Back in April, someone broke into Chuck's Store at 5 a.m., prying open the front door and making off with about 200 cards worth more than $100,000. Apparently, the crook knew where the vintage cards were and that's what he concentrated on. Someone saw him breaking in and called the cops, but he was long gone by the time law enforcement arrived.
 
If that's the case, it's truly sad indeed, as that will leave Des Moines with just one or card shops and the monthly Urbandale card show.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Dime Box 2010 Topps 206 SP cards

While I was shopping at the September Urbandale American Legion card show, I came across a dealer who had 10 huge, 5,000-count boxes full of baseball and football cards for 10 cents each. After digging around, I also found a single row box of 2010 Topps 206 cards. What was especially interesting was the fact this box didn't look as if anyone had dug through it yet, and yes, all the cards in this box were 10 cents apiece as well.

Unfortunately, I struck out on finding any Padres in this box, what did make this a fantastic find, however, was the fact there was a boatload of Topps 206 short-printed SP cards in the box, including a whole mess of minis.

For those not aware of the 206 SP cards, the backs are unnumbered, and were only distributed one in every four packs. This Tim Lincecum Bronze (#255) and Lincecum SP (#333) card demonstrate the difference in the SP cards, which only have the player's name, team name and "American League," or "National League."
As for the card fronts, as shown by the Lincecum Bronze and Lincecum SP, the SP cards are also unique in that they feature artwork of the players with their hats on. 

Of the 50 SP cards in this set, I managed to find 16 different cards, including a Jason Bay (#319), Shin-Soo Choo (#309), Rajai Davis (#327), Stephen Drew (#342), Neftali Feliz (#339), Roy Halladay (#304), Austin Jackson (#338), and Ubaldo Jiminez (#322)
I then found these Stephen Strassburg (#331), Stan Musial (#343), Brian McCann (#303), Joe Mauer (#316), Mickey Mantle (#340), Cliff Lee (#308), Evan Longoria (#310), and Matt Kemp (#318) SPs in the box. Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised to find the Mantle card in the box.
I was able to pick up a few more interesting cards, including this Bronze Allen Craig (#203), Ian Desmond RC, (#171), Jason Heyward RC (#60), Derek Jeter (#162), Bronze Derek Jeter (#162), and an Austin Jackson RC (166)

And then there were these rookie cards for Mike Leake (#17), Tommy Manzella (#295), Daniel McCutchen (#261), Buster Posey (#193), Stephen Strasburg (#55), and Drew Stubbs (#179). If I remember right, Strasburg had just been called up to the Nationals, so I believe this may have been one of his first rookie cards.

If mini cards are your things, check out my next post, when I'll show the awesome mini cards I found from the same dime box from the Urbandale American Legion card show.