Ebay Loot for Under $20 (Part 1)

Total Cost of Cards: $19.69 (Free shipping)
Total Number of Cards:  59
Date Purchased: 01/26/10
Date Received: 01/30/10

Every once in awhile my favorite Ebay seller puts up a bunch of lots priced at around a buck each.  Even better, they are usually either serial numbered or shiny and from around the years 1994-2002.  Those are almost exactly the years I had stopped collecting, so the seller kinda feels like a pal who fills in the basic gaps in my collection.

Cost: $1.00

Details:  1998 Topps Finest Refractors.

I know very little about most of the sets from this era (which is part of the fun).

This set has four different versions of the same cards:  Finest, Finest No-Protectors, Finest Refractors, and Finest No-Protectors Refractors.

Honestly all the variations look identical to me on Ebay except for the protector thingy.  I read they look different in person though. 

My cards do have a very small letter R on the back (next to the card number) which, from what I could learn, indicates they are indeed refractors.  That's good because otherwise I'd just have to assume they're refractors.

Cost:  $1.00

Details:  1998 Topps Finest Refractors.

This lot isn't nearly as good player wise.  Am I collecting commons?  NO!  I'm collecting less common commons!

Chan Ho Park wins the prize for being the only active player out of the twelve total '98 Finest cards.

I'd like to open a box of this stuff just to get an up close look at the variations.  It's about $30-40 bucks now.  Looks like you get about 3-4 of these refractors (with protectors) per box.

(Digital Camera Pic)

(Scanner Pic - Click pics to enlarge)

Cost: $1.00

Details:  1999 Topps Gold Label Class 2.

There's Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3.  Class 2 was inserted one in every two HTA packs.  Hmmm, that seems pretty common.  Nice looking cards though.  They look great even on the scanner.  Thick too.  In person they don't shine much unless you turn them at a very particular angle (which I do, over  and over).

 

Cost:  $1.10

Details:  2002 Topps Super Teams Retrofractors.  These cards are serial numbered based on the year the team won the featured World Series (Furillo: 1955, Mueller: 1954, Law: 1960).

The serial numbered version of these seem a nice thing for team collectors to chase.  You basically get the World Series roster.  Cool idea. 

Ten teams are represented in the 146 card set: Giants, Dodgers, Braves, Pirates, Yankees, Cardinals, Mets, A's, Orioles, and Mets.  That's right.  The Mets are in this set twice.  Once for the 1969 World Series and once for 1986.

 

 

Cost:  $1.18

Details:  2000 Topps Finest

The giant shiny baseball that looks like a planet sucked me in.

 

Cost:  $1.20

Details:  1999 Fleer Mystique (SN to 2999)

I'm finally starting to appreciate Torri Hunter's career.  Nine straight gold gloves and 20 or more home runs eight times is pretty dang impressive.  

Cost:  $1.20

Details:  1996 SPx

The left card is the gold version.  I don't see it priced so nice very often.  The gold version cards from this set were inserted one in every seven hobby packs.  There's only 60 cards in the set though.

When these were released the packs went for $3.49 each.  You only get one card per pack too.  I guess people were chasing the chance of a Griffey or Piazza auto (1 in 2000 packs).

These days you can buy a box for around $35 on Ebay.

Well, I am only about halfway done but this post is long enough so I'll put up part two later.  One thing about this seller is I always feel like I get a lot for my money.  He even gives out cool free cards, which I'll show next post.