2015 Topps Heritage
Making the Grade (April): WrestleMania icons, MLB stars, LeBron vs. Kobe, two books, Bo, The Sandlot, Star Wars & more
Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.
Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ...
WOOOOOOO!
The Card: Charlotte Flair 2015 Topps WWE Undisputed NXT In Line Autographs #NA-CH
The Reason Graded: The trio of big first/first-year autos in this release for three of the four biggest homegrown women's names (aka not Ronda Rousey) in WWE in this one have been slabbed in my stash -- Flair this time, Becky Lynch last time and Sasha Banks a couple times before in the history of this series. Why? Well, I think first (or first-year) autos are way more important than what people argue about on the Rookie Card front. They're inherently rarer and this brand is one that always seems to grade well as long as there's not any back-edge damage here (the designs often have dark colors).
The Grade: CSG 9.5Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 P10 Total Population 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Reality Check: This one checked in where I had hoped -- and thanks to their new shift to a "Gem Mint 10" scale this one would be a 10 if in a new slab. (I'm good with that, too.) Flair isn't my favorite of The Four Horsewomen of NXT but I think this is one of her better cards ... though I do wish she would have signed in blue like everybody else.
Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.
Making the Grade (June): The Dream Team, Ronald Acuña Jr., Bart Starr, Mike Trout, Deadpool, Kelly Hu's rookie & more
Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.
Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ... a super-sized edition this time around that's heavy on MLB and NBA but with a few surprises.
The Cards: 1991-92 SkyBox #544-546 Team USA puzzle
The Reason Graded: I picked up a box of this one for roughly $16 late last year (a bargain price) and pulled two sets of these puzzles, which was good. Why? Because grading these and the other notables from the iconic Hall of Famer-loaded Dream Team is pretty heavy and this one has been on my to-do list. I landed most of the notables more than once but just one Jordan that was noticeably off-centered. These glossed cards on the puzzle could have issues that the standard cards don't have simply because of their surfaces, but mine were clean. I will revisit my second set to see if anything stands out. I may go the PSA route on the other set for variety's sake if I see anything that would make me wonder about potential grades.
The Grades: BGS 9.5Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 B10 Total Population 0 3 0 2 3 1 7 16 30 0 0 64 Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 B10 Total Population 0 0 0 1 1 2 5 24 64 1 0 98 Grade 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 B10 Total Population 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 20 39 3 0 66 Reality Check: This one was a stressful one as I had hoped for matching grades. Thankfully, that's what I got and that's where most cards land for all three pieces of the puzzle. This is a textbook example of the kind of cardboard that can make you some money with grading, too, as they're no more than $10 total raw, while BGS 9.5s together should top $100 in some cases and asking prices for the middle (Jordan) card alone can be steep. It's memorable cardboard from the past with nothing but iconic players involved, so there's still good demand -- and that's another reason why I slabbed. Wax boxes aren't all that plentiful, either, compared to other boxes around that time.
Keep reading for the rest of this month's new grades and additions.
Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 2015 Topps Heritage MLB blaster (Hour 12)
Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour on the hour all day long today ... this is the finale of today's marathon.
The pack: 2015 Topps Heritage baseball blaster box
The cost now: $19.99
The cost then: $19.99
What's inside this box? Keep reading ...
Buzz Break: 2015 Topps Heritage baseball cards (blaster box)
From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.
The box: 2015 Topps Heritage baseball cards (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)
Packs per box: 8
Cards per pack: 9
Cards in this box: 71
Base set completion: 63 of 500 (13 percent)
Duplicates: 0Notables on base cards – Ryan Howard, Jason Heyward, George Springer, Don Mattingly (manager)
Rookie Cards (5) – Jairo Diaz & Shawn O'Malley, Brandon Finnegan & Terrence Gore, Frank Garces & Erik Cordier, Gary Brown & Hunter Strickland, Guilder Rodriguez & Lisalverto Bonilla
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on the Blowout Forums (April 19)
The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.
What's Buzzing Today: Red-ink autos, Bowman Inception apathy, scouting 2015 Bowman brands, Museum Collecton, Topps Heritage retail pulls.
Buzz Collector Profile: Jimmy Grant, a Topps Heritage master set builder
Jimmy Grant
Also known as: Jim2Cat5 on Blowout
Email: jmgrant025@gmail.com
Location: Tennessee
Work away from cards: Systems Engineer
Collecting since: 1995Main focuses: Topps Heritage master sets and Topps Heritage Chrome sets
Favorite players/teams: Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa
Current collecting projects: 1 -- Completing 2016 Topps Heritage master set -- only errors and color swaps remain.
2 -- Finding errors and variations from 2008-2011 Topps Heritage. 3 -- Grading my collection.
6 Item(s)