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: Topps Heritage breaks and chatter, NBA chatter, slow-arriving NFL cardboard, Jackie Robinson vs. Mickey Mantle, NFL chatter and ... where's Freddie Freeman headed?

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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: Heritage is here, Carson Wentz, Deshaun Watson, some thoughts, holograms and waiting on WrestleMania.

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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: Heritage pulls, eBay Vault, MLB signings, "To the moon!" and some non-sports collectors would like a word.

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What: 2022 Topps Tier One Bundesliga soccer cards
Arrives: Aug. 31
Box basics: Two autographs and one Relic per box (12 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Tier One hits the German soccer ranks for a sophomore season with this release that's nothing but hits -- and it will have some deep lineups and deluxe pieces in the mix just like its first time on the pitch.

Keep reading for more as well as a gallery of images.

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Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals is to rip a little less and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... and this time around it's the biggest Buzz Buys ever. (A collection of pick-ups from recent times as well as in the past year or so.)

--

BUZZ FELT RICH AGAIN ... 
The Card: Derek Jeter 2012 Panini National Treasures Prime Button (/6)
The Price: More than I'll admit.
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This was a premium-priced pick-up for me but I only landed it after getting rid of a lot of smaller cards slowly but surely -- and that's something I should do more often. Sure, it's centering is off -- that's the one obvious issue -- but I always liked the simplicity and lineup of options for this first year of Panini National Treasures. I typically stick to the old guys but a button card of a new Hall of Famer wasn't a bad add and at the price it's a good long-term hold. I got this at a fraction of many Jeter game-used button cards out there. That's all I'll say for now -- I'm keeping these a little shorter than normal as this is the biggest roundup of pick-ups I've ever done.
Grab a box right here: Panini National Treasures boxes (all years)

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

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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: Baseball is back, post-lockout chatter, new WWE pulls and more in this Thursday-afternoon edition.

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They won't give and they won't give ... neither one will agree.

And that's bad.

It's something that leaves all those stadium seats empty -- just like all those baseball-hungry stomachs with nothing to eat and those baseball-loving hearts that are a bit broken right now. Those fields of the spring and the cathedrals that bring many fans' summers to life are silent. There are no balls. There are no strikes. There's nothing. All we really wanted was a stadium hot dog with a side of strikeouts -- and maybe a home run from the good guys to go along with our peanuts and Cracker Jack.

What can fill that void?

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and break down 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: 2021 Topps WWE Women's Division wrestling cards (hobby)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading to see a full gallery and breakdown of what was in this one.

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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: Carlos Rodon sees Batman, 2022 Topps Heritage, new breaks, a must-see thread and collectors have some thoughts about something revealed yesterday.

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 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: 2021 Topps Formula 1 racing cards (hobby box)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of highlights here.

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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: 2022 Topps Series 1 baseball cards (hanger box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview with checklist/SPs/more: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and break down 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 package: 2019 Topps WWE Slam Attax Universe (India smart pack box)
Where to buy: Will take some looking -- get WWE boxes here

Keep reading for a full breakdown of what was in this one as well as a gallery of highlights.

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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: New breaks, non-sports and vintage chatter, AEW, something new on the way and a Michael Jordan slabbing story.

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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: Big pulls, tennis cards coming, signed books and plenty more in this Sunday edition.

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What: 2022 Bowman University football cards
Arrives: April
Box basics: Two autographs in every 24-pack hobby box (12 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Topps enters the NCAA prospects ranks in pack form with Bowman University, a Chromed line that will showcase current college stars thanks to the NIL rules that allow them to appear on cardboard before they are professionals.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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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: Mickey Mantle Topps NFT sale goes big, checking in on the MLB lockout and more in this Friday-afternoon edition.

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What: 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball cards
Arrives: Nov. 16
Box basics: Three hits in every 24-pack hobby box (12 boxes per case)
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Allen & Ginter drops once again with all the eccentricities, plenty of baseball players and a new retro design meant to emulate the 1880s tobacco cards that helped bring some of the first baseball cards to the masses.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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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: MLB lockout chatter and potential card fallout, Mac Jones vs. Trevor Lawrence, new pulls, Star Wars cards and more.

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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: 2022 Topps Series 1 baseball cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview with checklist/SPs/more: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Continue reading →

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: Big pulls, MLB lockout chatter, collecting strategies, the Mickey Mantle NFT and what happens with baseball cards now?

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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: A new Project coming from Topps, new pulls, a serious issue for slabs, Wander Franco RC chatter and more in today's edition.

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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 ... another super-sized edition with some new inclusions like comic books and magazines.

FRESH OFF THE TRUCK
The Book: Captain Britain No. 1 (1976 Marvel UK magazine, with mask) -- first appearance of the character
The Reason Graded: This one arrived back in my hands from CGC on Sunday, so I'll have it lead off here as it's as fresh as it gets in my stash of slabs -- and it actually presents a question for people familiar with pressing. (Help a newb out!) First, the back story ... I picked this up probably 30 years ago via Mile High Comics for more than I would have normally spent back then -- probably around $20 -- for a NM-MT copy. For all these years, it was in its magazine bag with one of their old round condition stickers still attached before I recently decided to dig it out for slabbing. Why? It's obscure -- it's a newsprint-style, magazine-size book released only in the UK -- and it's pricey when it's in elite grade. (We'll get to that.) This debuting character is one that had evolved a lot by the time I had gotten into comics (around 1990) and he was the leader of the British X-Men group, Excalibur, which launched as a standalone title in 1988. As part of collecting key issues and artist favorites back then, I tracked down this debut that was mentioned on the back of his 1990 Impel Marvel Universe card. (That set is what drew me into comics.) I knew this copy wasn't perfect, but it was close and I figured it was best to get it slabbed despite some paper-texture funk (the vertical black lines in white areas around the nameplate and corner box). I assumed some of that might lighten up as part of CGC's pressing/cleaning process. If it helped at all, I had figured it might get it closer to one of those top grades.
The Grade: CGC 9.4 (Universal)

Click for a closer look

Reality Check: This one checked in lower than I had hoped for as I had thought a 9.6 might be realistic -- but the only dramatic difference here vs. higher marks is the dollar signs and probably some of that funk. (My back cover wasn't as clean as I remembered so my gut feeling may be moot.) A 9.8 copy of this has topped $5,000 on eBay while ones in my condition have been around $1,500 ... so it's still a good slab. (I'm sitting on it like everything else in my stash.) ... Here's where I can use some help from the pressers/slabbers out there, though. It seems like pressing may have actually added to the funk or emphasized it in spots. Some of the white areas definitely have more of that showing now, not less, particularly around the right side of the No. 1 box and the "free inside" mask circle where there's plenty of white paper. It's absolutely the same book (minor pulp spots are there as they were when I sent it) but I was surprised by the paper texture seemingly being emphasized (or not as clean) after pressing. (Click on the image above right -- ignore the color difference as that is likely due to my photography skills.) You can see more dark spots/texture of the paper visible -- perhaps it's from ink on the inside page showing through? I assume I'm not the first to press one of these -- or that they wouldn't press these if it would make its condition worse. I didn't have this on my mental list of outcomes, and naturally, I wondered whether this dropped me a grade and it will always bug me now. Perhaps this happened because the cover is newsprint and not white paper? The time it takes for pressing has had me not doing that on nearly all other submissions but this one -- my first sub I had pressed -- left me wondering if it helped at all. (If I could do this one all over again ... I would not have.) By the way, the color you see peeking out the right side? That's a perfect mask tucked inside the issue just like the cover promises from almost 50 years ago. All in all, I'm glad I graded this one and I think it's the priciest comic book in my stash ... but it definitely prompted some questions.

Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

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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: 2022 Topps Series 1 baseball cards (hanger box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview with checklist/SPs/more: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and break down 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 package: 2019 Topps WWE Slam Attax Universe (India smart pack box)
Where to buy: Will take some looking -- get WWE boxes here

Keep reading for a full breakdown of what was in this one as well as a gallery of highlights.

Continue reading →

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: Wander Franco, Joel Embiid, big pulls and "What happens to the baseball card market if there is no season?"

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