Buzz Buys ... A LOT: A bargain hunt from some time ago

Buzz buys a lot of stuff these days and for a few reasons, really. Sometimes it's just bargain-hunting, sometimes it's just something that strikes me. And other times it's a lot -- a group of things -- and that has happened enough lately I figured I'd try something different as a regularly appearing item. Sometimes my lots will be wins, sometimes they won't be ... but I'll let you decide. 

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A LANDMARK RELEASE 
The Lot: 27 cards from 2006 Topps Heritage Chrome WWE
The Price: Not much more than a Chrome blaster these days

Keep reading for more on this one ...

What's The Deal? Topps took over the WWE card license for the second of three times back in 2005 and this set arrived in 2006 as the second release -- and the first in Chrome -- of that run with this being a flashy take on the debut release in late-2005 with a few updated names. It was simple -- perhaps too simple -- with just 90 cards, parallels, autographs and Relics (in retail only) and that's about it. The hobby boxes were about $75 a pop, included one auto and four Refractors and one X-Fractor most of the time with the only rare chase being Superfractors which actually had 25 copies per card here. The base set is a mashing up of 1956 Topps baseball, 1965 Topps baseball and 1960 Topps baseball for the base subsets for Superstars, Divas and Legends respectively. The autos for 27 stars carried their own unique Chrome design with gaudy silver stickers that didn't especially sell the retro feel all that well even on Chrome but since it was all there was -- and no parallels on ink -- the boxes got ripped. Finding boxes now? Good luck and, if you do, the contents likely won't command more than you paid even if you get a good box.

What's The Steal? This 27-card lot was one I picked up months ago -- actually, checking my records, a couple years ago at this point -- for about $1.50 a card with the eBay listing showing all cards in one pic and that's where the magic was hidden. The Refractor glow was there for Hogan, Angle and Venis but they weren't noted as being Refactors but I bit. Why? The Hogan ungraded pays for this lot on its own (then or now) -- they made a lot here but landing any one Refractor with so few in a box and 90 in the set wasn't that easy -- and slabbed it's a really solid card. But, with his very public turn since then and then a lot of minor scuffs -- not truly awful but just too many for it to get an elite grade -- I set these aside in a box all this time and nixed those slab visions. (If I had to bet, on a good day, it might grade an 8.5 ... but I took the shot. It's very clean and centered otherwise.)

Anything Missing? Nah ... this is a lot, not a set or near-set situation.

The Lot Details ... all in the gallery below

Base (24) – Batista, Booker T, The Rock, Bob Orton, Jimmy Hart, Maria Kanellis, Rob Van Dam, Sharmell, The Godfather, Jake Roberts, Candice Michelle, Carlito, Nikolai Volkoff, Billy Graham, Paul Orndorff, Bobby Lashley (RC), Snitzky, Ron Conway, Doug Basham, Antonio, Nunzio, Scotty 2 Hotty, Funaki, Hillbilly Jim

Insert cards
Refractors (3) – Val Venis, Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan

Bottom Line: Sometimes you can find gems in lots, sometimes not ... in this case I still probably found both of those things. I bought a ton of this one back in the day -- especially the non-Chrome version -- but my Refractors were never as cleanly centered or as big as Hogan and Angle.

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