Lady Gaga
Making the Grade (Nov.): A rare Steve Austin leads the pack plus RCs for Jalen Hurts, Shohei Ohtani, John Cena & 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 ...
GOOD AS GOLD ...
The Card: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin 2022 Panini Select WWE Gold Flash (/10)
The Reason Graded: If you recognize this card, well, there's a reason. Just a few weeks ago, I pulled it from a blaster box and thanks to CSG's quick, budget-minded services I turned this around fast and, well, this rarity pays for itself. This retail-only card is rare -- only nine others like it exist -- and it came back with a top mark since even the horizontal centering was clean. (That's not the norm from what I have seen with this release.) This is a pricey card right now so that was my main reason for slabbing, and now it's that much better.
The Grade: CSG 10Grade 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 0 1 0 1 Reality Check: It's the only one that has been slabbed so far. How many might still be sitting in packs? Generally speaking, Select is a strong release worth your look in any format -- and I have other stuff here I intend to get graded.
Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.
Bernie Sanders card sets new all-time Topps Now sales record
It was the moment that launched many a meme ... and now it's a cardboard record-setter.
Topps revealed the print run for its 2020 USA Election Topps Now card set from Inauguration Day and the Bernie Sanders card set a new Topps Now record with 91,169 cards ordered and printed. That's dearly double the Anthony Fauci card that sold a record 51,512 copies last year after he threw out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game.
Topps Now is a real-time card platform meaning if 12 people order a copy of an offered card, then only 12 are made. It's a realm that launched with cards for Major League Baseball but has included other sports and notable moments in the news.
History joins novelty in newest Topps Now card set
A day of history-making moments in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday means there's some new cardboard today ... thanks to Topps Now.
Sure, there are cards for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in a new nine-card 2020 USA Election Topps Now set from Topps -- a continuation of the set that included cards for the past debates -- but there are also some surprises and viral stars of the day making their way onto cardboard.
J.Lo? Check. Garth Brooks? Check. Lady Gaga? Check.
Lady Gaga's Super Bowl LI halftime show gets Garbage Pail Kids nod as Trumpocracy takes day off
The Super Bowl's halftime star has taken over for Donald Trump -- well, at least when it comes to the Garbage Pail Kids.
Lady Gaga is the subject of three new stickers available from Topps for just 24 hours only.
Board Buzz: Must-read threads on the Blowout Forums (Sept. 30)
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: Two Triple Threads packs, two Deca booklets ... and all to the Cubs in a group break. (And four other posts that can't compare.)
Grammy Awards get Garbage Pail Kids treatment as Shammys
Update (Feb. 26): These and the political GPKs have now been offered as 11-by-14 wall art prints on the Topps site.
Nine musicians will get mocked by the Garbage Pail Kids for one day only as Topps has unveiled a new line of stickers.
A pair of names for each standard-size sticker are available -- either in pairs or as an entire 18-card set in the 2016 GPK The Shammys stickers.
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