Unexpected Package

 Winding down with the last week of busy season, this package confused me for a minute because I could not find the trade it related to.

Well, that's because it wasn't from a trade, just a kind package from Sportcards From The Dollar Store.

I always welcome Jays and Leaf cards to my home, without hesitation. As my kept collection ad a whole closes in on 100,000 cards, about 16k of which are Jays and 10k of which are Leafs, I enjoy each pick up as much as the first.

I mean, how can you not love picking up a card like the Power Couple one above?

Whether new, old, star like Matthew's or...not so star but good hand like Zezel, I appreciate them all.

Though a sweet looking Sundin gold medallion may get a slightly longer happy glance!

Really appreciated and may have some cards heading back your way when April is done.

Learning Lessons

 Let me start by saying - it happens and I am not mad at the trade partner here - this happens and I am fortunate enough that it isn't a huge deal, but it is worth sharing in case it helps others.

Declared value when filling out customs information can have an impact. In this case, the post office in the US, not even the trade partner, put $100 value to the package when sending. The trade partner is looking into it, but I suspect they were asked about insuring the value "up to $100" and that is where it came from.

Well, there may not be duties - well, at the time of this trade anyway - on values under $150, but there is sales tax on values over $40.

So when this arrived, it cost $28 CDN to accept. Almost half of that being the customs "fee" for them handling, charging and collecting the sales tax.

A good reminder to keep an eye on how customs forms are completed, as I don't think these are worth $40 let alone $100. The trade partner was going to go back to the post office on it and let me know what happened, and if they can at least get a refund as they even paid $17 USD shipping....yikes. 

Thick Boys

 It may have been a trade where myrke sent me 11 cards, but it was thick enough it could have been 20.

Sure, we have these four normal cards include the two and done Jays from 1987 Fleer's Baseball's Exciting Stars set, but then we also have these...

The Bowman gold cards are all thick, like slightly thin memorabilia cards, each maybe 3 cards thick. Made for a thicker PWE, but all arrived safely.

Unfortunately for the Jays at the time, none of these guys had break out careers with the Jays so the prospects were more duds than studs. Still, decent cards hindered by faux signatures.

Surprise Add On

 A small PWE trade with TCDB member Erdoro which brought me some nice Jays cards...

They may not be super rare, but the 80s had a bunch of glossy inserts or send ins from Topps that I still don't have in my Jays collection. I solve a couple here is the All-star team card (I guess it counts...) and with George Bell.

2000 Upper Deck Ultimate Victory was a smaller set at 120 cards, but with some of those serial numbered, the pure base set was only 90 cards. It means the three Jays cards here are what you get to complete it.

We then had a surprise add on...

From 2003 Bowman, A Signs of the Future auto. Now, Jason didn't end up being the future for the Jays, or any MLB team as he never made it to the big, but he does have a good looking autograph.

An unexpected but much appreciated surprise.

Wrestling From Martin

 A small PWE trade which came in from martinchabot - my most traded with partner according to TCDB as we are at almost 20 trades now.

None of the cards complete a set, but I really wnjoy the Rhen & Now inserts or subsets, and Edge is a great one here...and would be very different if done today.

A couple more Panini cards gets me to 58....of 500! Year, massive set that I am not a fan of, but.....wrestling!

Big E - great guy by all accounts. A shame he had to retire from the ring, but he is solid as a talking head on pre shows so at least we still get to see him.

Appreciate the trade as always Martin, thank you!

Get The Boots!

With Timmies packs behind me, Somes trades from past days to share. It's another good way to enjoy some quick card intervention in April.

Today, a first time TCDB trade partner Boots. I sent away mostly 1999 Topps Chrome cards in exchange for...

I love the Donruss puzzles and Lou here is one I didn't have much of. Still one more I need, but these get me a lot closer.

 The Gallery cards are great, but the couple 2019 Holiday cards finish the 4 Jays pure base set for me, and getting the Vladdy rookie is the big one for me in this trade. This gives me 3 Vladdy cards marked with the "RC" - though I know people definition of rookie card can vary. I don't fuss and am moreso happy to have 160 Vladdy cards total so far, definitely one of my fave Jays regardless of how long he stays in Toronto.

Ending On A High Note

Don't worry - not the blog - just the Timmies packs, but we end overhead...

The Tavares is my best Leaf pull from these packs. A good looking card, but goalie in this insert set do look better.

Ending with the McDavid base works too as it is probably on of the top three base set gets.

So, how did these packs do overall?

With the Leaf pulls, these being my first packs into the set, and a bit of luck not getting too many insert dupes, a very solid outcome.