Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here every week as we're launching a weekly version of our eBay Buzz pieces that pop up from time to time. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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GREEN MONSTER
The Item: Tim Duncan 1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Emerald (/10) (PSA 6)
The Price: $15,500 after 36 bids (eight days remaining)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This one isn't mint -- they rarely are -- but that doesn't matter as this one is a rare pull from a line that people absolutely love and will pay dearly for especially when it's a key card of a Hall 0f Fame lock. This is a parallel of his Rookie Card with the PMGs being so condition-sensitive that only one is graded higher by PSA. I dabbled with the NBA much more back in this time but this entire brand just struck me as too kiddy-looking -- though I was a kid and I apparently never pulled any of these. Now they're among the biggest money-makers of any recent cardboard without autos or slabs. Don't believe me? Check out the link below and then also check completed auctions.
Similar Pieces: Other PMG cards on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for NBA boxes

Keep reading for four more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

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PSA is making another move on its slabs.

This time around, the Newport Beach, Calif.-based company will be using its red-label slabs with the style used for graded cards on all items -- a move that affects autographed cards or other items that are PSA/DNA certified as well as over-sized photo and letter slabs.

"Uniformity and consistency are significant aspects for collectors," PSA President Steve Sloan said, "but we also believe that the added security measures that come with the red labels, such as the PSA LightHouse logo and the fugitive ink pattern, are critical components of collecting today."

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Just 10 of the most-notable items in the sports world that were sold in 2018 totaled more than $8.4 million, ranging from a $2.8 million 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card to a baseball signed by the first class for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And they all had one thing in common -- PSA or PSA/DNA authentication.

The Newport Beach, Calif.-based company recently took the time to examine the markets last year and touted its Top 10 for 2018. Keep reading to see everything on the list.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Grading maildays, showing off signed NFL helmets, big pulls and more.

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Fans of the PSA Set Registry will now have different ways to compete with other collectors as they use the platform.

It's the PSA Set Registry Achievement Program and it "draws inspiration from fantasy sports" and "will challenge existing PSA Set Registry members as well as newcomers in the field to test their mettle in all facets of set collecting and earn points and rewards -- digital medals -- for their efforts."

Visitors to www.PSAcard.com/SetRegistry will find that PSA has opted to add gamification -- "the intent is to reward collectors for reaching various milestones on their way toward building collections."

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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 ...

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A simple idea, a colorful parallel rainbow, a focus on autographs and some star power with the challenge of a chase are all ingredients for a winner if you pull the right guy at the right time.

The card you see above? It's one of 75 2017 Panini Contenders Optic Red autographs signed by red-hot Kansas City Chiefs QB and potential league MVP Patrick Mahomes II -- a guy who was a promising rookie with little-to-no playing time at the time of this one's arrival.

Now? In a PSA 10 slab, it was a card that sold for $5,800 in late September. Another one like it? It's at $6,500 in an active auction. And, yes, there are rarer parallels that are even pricier -- and the lower-grade copies of these are strong sellers, too.

The crazy part? The boxes (and cases) that these cards come in can still be found without breaking the bank.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls and showing off a PSA submission to start a new week.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Discussions of Flawless FOTL and the PSA-BGS debate get them going along with big pulls as we head into the weekend.

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Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here every week as we're launching a weekly version of our eBay Buzz pieces that pop up from time to time. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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A LITTLE EXTRA
The Item: Johnny Damon 2018 Topps Five Star patch auto (/25)
The Price: $179.95 Buy-It-Now (or best offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This brand is loaded with impressive cardboard and some crazy patches but this one comes with a little extra included -- as you can see that's a PSA/DNA authentication sticker for the jersey where this patch came from. That notes that this jersey was signed with a game-used 2011 inscription -- something you'll know from just this swatch but not any of the other 24 that exist. A simple and fun item. There are some nice cards coming out of these boxes -- check out the link below -- and get your box at the link below that.
Similar Pieces: Other 2018 Topps Five Star autos on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for 2018 Topps Five Star boxes

Keep reading for four more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

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Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here every week as we're launching a weekly version of our eBay Buzz pieces that pop up from time to time. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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THE POWER OF GRADING
The Item: 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson Rookie Card (PSA 10)
The Price: $17,300 after 33 bids with more than three days remaining
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This is a card that's been slabbed by PSA more than 18,000 times but just 22 have gotten a PSA 10. Even PSA 9s are relatively rare compared to other grades (just 1,842 exist) while PSA 8s are the most-common grade with more than 8,500 cards in that grade. This is an iconic Rookie Card that has topped the $30,000 mark seven times since 2015, according to PSA, with a high of $38,400 via Heritage Auctions early last year. Many times cards like these get posted with hefty Buy-It-Now prices so it should be interesting to see where this piece of cardboard perfection ends.
Similar Pieces: Other 1980 Topps cards on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for MLB boxes

Keep reading for more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: MLB and NFL chatter, hating sticker autos, a "find" that keeps delivering, collecting Marshall Faulk and more.

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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 ...

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The finest set of 1909-11 T206 baseball cards is on the market -- and it's being broken up -- this month via Dallas-based Heritage Auctions where it's expected to be a record-breaker.

"For hundreds of trading card collectors, this is the auction event of a lifetime," said Chris Ivy, director of sports collectibles for Heritage. "This auction is the vault door swinging open to reveal treasures unavailable anywhere else."

It's a lot of 520 cards that includes nine PSA 10s -- only 13 in all exist at that grade -- and nearly all of the cards in this one are the highest-graded specimens of their kind for this landmark set. More than 100 of the cards are PSA 9s and only one is graded below a PSA 7 (it's a PSA 6).

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The King of Pop would have been 60 yesterday, but the thriller himself can be collected in many ways when it comes to cardboard alone.

The most-recent release that comes to mind (and the most-official one, of course) when it comes to cards for Michael Jackson arrived back in 2011 when Panini America released a set that brought him to cardboard in the modern era via two waves. They're ones that include his first memorabilia cards and other cards that might surprise you.

Why? Boxes of this one's second wave aren't that pricey, but they can deliver some big hits -- and we're not talking about music.

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Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here every week as we're launching a weekly version of our eBay Buzz pieces that pop up from time to time. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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GOING SOLO?
The Item: 2018 Topps Star Wars Archives Signature Series Harrison Ford 1/1 1977 autograph
The Price: Out of this galaxy (or best offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This card came from a new box of Signature Series, which is a simple one-autograph-per-card buyback release. There are a lot of cards in this one that aren't as big as the elusive ink of Han Solo but the fact that he's in there (likely on other 1/1s) makes this box one to consider. There's no doubt it won't go for that much, but it should be interesting to see how much it does command when it does sell -- because Ford's autographs are in high demand when it comes to Star Wars cards.
Similar Pieces: Other Signature Series cards on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for 2018 Topps Star Wars Archives Signature Series boxes or cases

Keep reading for four more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Pondering Heritage High Number demand, Ronald Acuña and big pulls from a few different directions.

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Collectors wanting to protect their oversized treasures can now do so in a PSA slab as Professional Sports Authenticator unveiled a line of new "jumbo holders" at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland.

The target for these? Photos and documents -- and there are a few different sizes of the inlays inside the cases available to help showcase items of varying sizes.

“The new holders are being integrated into our autograph encapsulation and original photograph services,” said PSA President Steve Sloan. “They will enable us to encapsulate a wider variety of collectibles for collectors, specifically original photographs and autographed 8-by-10s.”

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This year's National Sports Collectors Convention is almost here -- and here's everything found on The Buzz in advance of the show of all shows for sports fans.

The rundown is heavy on wrapper redemption info and promotional product announcements, but there are a few other things here and there that might help you plan for the event that's set to begin tomorrow in Cleveland and run through Sunday at the IX Center.

New stuff from the show floor
Show Scenes: National Sports Collectors Convention Day 5
Working the National wrapper redemption lines Part II: Panini
Steiner stop includes a little mystery and a surprise or two
Panini redemption trade-in program can be worth the wait
Show Scenes: National Sports Collectors Convention Day 4
Working the National wrapper redemption lines Part I: Topps
Show Scenes: National Sports Collectors Convention Day 3
Show Scenes: National Sports Collectors Convention Day 2
Blowout MegaMix delivers fun surprises for collectors -- and even for Buzz -- at National
Show Scenes: National Sports Collectors Convention Day 1

Blowout Cards
Start your National wrapper redemption quests with Blowout
Getting into Blowout MegaMix ain't happening until National

Buzz Contest
Take the Blowout Buzz $10 NSCC Challenge right here for your shot at 10 cool cards

Historic Autographs
Historic Autographs readies 'Pieces From The Trash' promo cards & more

Leaf Trading Cards
Leaf readies three wrapper redemptions for The National

Onyx Authenticated
Onyx offers Victor Robles ink for those busting cases at NSCC

Panini America
Panini America reveals four more VIP Party guests
Charles Barkley gets his own tribute set and wrapper redemption at show
Panini reveals its first three VIP Party guests
Panini’s first NSCC promo card teaser is all about Pink Prizms (updated with pack info)
Panini preps promo packs for NASCAR fans at National
Panini releases Box Wars schedule for The National
This year's Panini VIP Party is coming soon ... are you ready?
NSCC reveals Panini's promo set for show's VIP pass buyers
Panini America's redemption trade-in returns at National

PSA
PSA readies custom cards, big contests for The National

Super Break
Super Break readies 1/1 Pieces of the Past promos for National

Topps
Topps reveals VIP package promo cards for National show
Topps readies 2018 National wrapper redemption promo cards 

TRISTAR
TRISTAR once again readies bonus bags for The National
First Buzz: 2018 TRISTAR Signature Series National Edition
The National: Whose autograph would you grab first? Here are Buzz's picks
Albert Pujols joins autograph signers lineup for The National

Upper Deck
Upper Deck readies NSCC VIP set & reveals other show plans

Scenes From The Show last year -- see this year's galleries up top
Day 5 gallery
Day 4 gallery
Day 3 gallery
Day 2 gallery
Day 1 gallery

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

>> Click here to buy cards on BlowoutCards.com

Wrapper redemptions are a big focus for many show-goers and BlowoutCards.com will be there at the center of it all for collectors at this year's National Sports Collectors Convention. 

In fact, products from all manufacturers that are part of this year's wrapper redemptions will be a heavy focus for the lineup at the Blowout booth for the show that's set for Aug. 1-5 at the IX Center in Cleveland.

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Professional Sports Authenticator has a new president.

Steve Sloan has been tapped to lead PSA and PSA/DNA Authentication Services, according to an announcement from the company released on Tuesday. He'll replace Joe Orlando, who has served as its president since 2002 as well as the CEO of Collectors Universe since last October and will continue in his CEO role.

"While I will still be involved in PSA each day, my responsibilities have increased so it was time to pass the baton to someone who can focus on the day-to-day business," Orlando said. "Since taking on the role of Collectors Universe CEO, I have been working with Steve on the transition. Steve will be responsible for the performance of PSA moving forward and there is no doubt in my mind that he is the right person for the job.

"My contributions to PSA will continue, but it’s important that I further immerse myself in the other segments of the business, namely our coin division [PCGS] at Collectors Universe. ... The services and collectibles information we provide have become staples of the hobby for more than three decades. We simply want to build upon the outstanding foundation Collectors Universe already has.”

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: NSCC chatter, Mookie Betts' bigness in the hobby, big breaks and collectors react to the Topps MLB exclusive extension.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: NSCC chatter, big pulls, PSA graded Hall of Famer Rookie Cards & more.

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Professional Sports Authenticator will have a number of things for fans to check out at this year's National Sports Collectors Convention that's set for Aug. 1-5 in Cleveland.

The leading authentication and grading company will have custom cards for fans who opt to get in on those at the show as well as contests for three notable Cleveland items that can be entered both at the show and online right now. The custom card options include Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers gear.

“Last year’s custom encapsulated card option was such a big success in Chicago that we are excited to bring the experience to collectors and sports fans in Cleveland, too,” said PSA Vice President Steve Sloan. “What better way to preserve your memory of being at the show than with a custom trading card from PSA?”

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Have you seen the latest crazy items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here every week as we're launching a weekly version of our eBay Buzz pieces that pop up from time to time. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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HOTTEST INK IN THE HOBBY?
The Item: 2018 Cryptozoic Rick And Morty Season 1 Autograph #JR-R Justin Roiland as Rick Sanchez (/50)
The Price: $947.64 Buy-It-Now
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Just like the cartoon series, you can't really explain it -- you just have to see it. A number of the autographs in this recently released product are scorchers and they're not even the main thrust of the set -- you'll find one and sometimes two full-color sketch cards per box (and sometimes an auto atop that). Roiland is the co-creator of this cult classic series and he signed a few different cards for characters in this release -- and that hasn't brought down prices for those that have sold or are on the block. Even the binders for this one are selling very well.
Similar Pieces: Check out other cards in this set
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: Click here for boxes and binders for Rick and Morty

Keep reading for four more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

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