Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Julio Urias Base Autograph Red Refractor Parallel (4/5) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Oh...MY !!!!

I have wanted to do a full autograph rainbow on any of my 4 PC players and the ultimate would/is do one for their rookie card years. Of course the problem has and always will be that the red parallel is always limited to just 5 copies. So lets look at this :

Trout Bowman Chrome red rookie? HAHAHAHAHA.... would have to win the lotto to acquire this one.
Kershaw Bowman Chrome red rookie? = ) . Might not need the lotto but I would need one hell of a raise to consider hunting this one down.
Seager Topps Chrome red rookie? Possible but still very much a long shot and don't think it will ever happen. I would have to sell a lot and I mean A LOT of cards to pick that one up.
Then you have Julio Urias. The one of the four who's prices haven't shot through the rough but at the same time still trending upwards. So it is possible? Yes because here it is.

I decided to not do the 2014 Bowman Chrome prospect rainbow as their were more parallels to chase after and higher prices so I decided to concentrate on the 2016 Topps Chrome set instead with its Rookie Card designation on the the card. When I started I knew it would still be a long shot but considering I already had the base, green, blue, purple, orange it only left me the gold and the red to find. I am confident I will land the gold at some point using eBay eBucks so that left the red to find. Till now I have never seen one up for sale then this BGS gem showed up and a quick look up showed that it was the ONLY one to be graded so far. The question now was could I actually win it with the price I had in mind. Let the problems begin.

By the time this post goes live I will have paid it off with cards I unloaded but at the time of winning it I only had half of what it took to snag it. The other issue was that this card's auction ended at 5 in the morning on a Saturday!!! Yeah I was not getting up that early or staying up that late to win a "card" so when I went to bed on Friday I put in my bid which made the high bidder and crossed my fingers and closed my eyes. Woke up to a notification that I actually won this and no one had put a bid in after I went to bed. That in itself was more surprising. I truly believe if this ended at any reasonable time someone here in Los Angeles would have at least bidded me up some as I can not believe what the final price was for this ultra limited card. This is now my crown jewel of my Urias collection and now when I land the gold I will actually have completed an autograph rookie card rainbow of one of the players I collect. Just unreal.

Four

of

Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number FORTY-ONE of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Chrome Corey Seager Base Orange Refractor Parallel (16/25) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Second to last card of the batch and even though I knew both card's grades going in it's still a great feeling when you get them back in their BGS cases as it was for this limited (/25) orange parallel from the 2016 Topps Chrome set.

I am trying to complete a rainbow of Seager cards from the 2016 set in general but on top of that I want them to be in gem mint condition. With only 25 copies there are only so many chances of that happening and if this didn't gem on the raw review I would have flipped it for another orange and tried my chances again. Well not only did this gem it did so with 3 9.5 sub grades to go along with 1 10. Not too shabby for a card I graded on a deal. I have to look at all the Chromes I have so far of Corey but with this I think I am done except for the red parallel with its near impossible 5 print run and the super which I know is a pipe dream. Still, even without those two this is an impressive feat if I do so saw myself.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Julio Urias Base Autograph Blue Refractor Parallel (77/150) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Chugging along the Urias rainbow autograph project and doing just fine thank you. Of the 2 young Dodger stars (the other being Seager) Urias is by far the easiest (price-wise) to pick up. So much so that with this blue parallel now in hand I am almost done with the project and it's not even baseball season yet (this is being written up at the end of March).

I now only need the gold and ultra rare red parallels and I will be done. This has been by far the easiest autograph project I've done so far. I had my eye on this card for quite some time and watched as the seller periodically kept lowering his BIN price as I knew it was overpriced as we weren't in season yet. Finally the time was right to strike as eBay was doing another one of their eBucks promotions and I had plenty of funds left over from my collecting adjustments I had made so I decided to email the seller and asked if he would meet the price I wanted to pay as it has continued to go unsold for months. Not 10 minutes later he responded with a personal offer with my amount attached to it and I promptly completed the transaction. Now to find that gold parallel and if I am really lucky the red.

Seventy-Seven

of

One Hundred and Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Julio Urias Base Autograph Green Refractor Parallel (35/99)

The good thing about Urias not starting the season with the MLB and still adjusting to the big league is that his autograph rookie cards can still be had on the cheap and this one for sure falls into that category.

I snagged this in March when I decided to do the rainbow from the 2016 Topps Chrome set and thankfully and luckily for me that seller of this card didn't add the fact that this was the green parallel. His auction ad just stated #/99 but no color attached to it. At the time it was the only one on eBay and surprisingly not many watchers compared to the purple and blue varieties that have a lot more copies of each color. From the screen this card looked to be in great shape and once in hand other than the slight fraying on one of the back corners it is. I believe this will gem when I send it to Beckett and hopefully I can actually finish this project sometime this year. The last big color I need to acquire is the gold parallel. Yes, there is the red but with its print run of just 5 I don't foresee me ever acquiring it.

Thirty-Five

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Julio Urias Base Autograph Orange Refractor Parallel (16/25) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Well patience is a virtue and a good thing it can also be a stressful thing as you try to wait out fellow collectors and the seller of a card that you want but are determined to acquire at your point and not theirs.

I have been debating on what autograph rainbow of Urias I would pursue in earnest. The options were either the 2014 Bowman Chrome set (considered prospect cards not "rookie" ones) or the 2016 Topps Chrome set which is considered his true rookie cards. I think the Bowman ones are far better looking than these Topps ones but in the end I went with Topps so I can match it up with my Corey Seager rainbow autograph project from the same year. I had the base Urias in hand and the Purple had just been recently acquired so it made sense to me to just continue on the Topps path rather than go back to 2014.

Knowing the Red (#/5) parallel is a pipe dream to pick up the next color with a low print run is this Orange (#/25) and probably the hardest one to nab in the future if he does (as expected) well I focused on this bad boy the minute it popped up. The problem was I had zero funds and the asking price was crazy high so all I did was put it on my watch list and see what and when it would sell.

I keep selling a few cards here and there and added some comic sales and still this Orange beauty was available and that was even with the price coming down. Finally I was within shouting distance of having the funds to pay for this as the price had come down far enough. To top it off that day also was on a 10% eBay eBucks promotion so I decided to contact the seller and asked if he would drop the price $20 more as it just continued to go unsold. No counter no hassle and he changed the price and I nabbed this after months of waiting and watching the asking price go down 50%. Nice...!

The hardest color of the rainbow (other than the Red) is now in and I should be able to complete the rainbow sometime this year as the other colors are usually readily available.

Sixteen

of

Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number TWENTY-ONE of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Chrome Corey Seager Base Pink Refractor Parallel Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I've reached the half way point of the batch and here is a major if not pricey addition to my Topps Chrome rainbow project of Corey Seager.

My 2 biggest projects are Seagers prospect and rookie year cards that I am trying to get each color in a BGS gem mint case. I snagged this pink one on a deal during the off season as it was in a RCR sleeve with a 9.5 attached to it. I didn't care what the sub grades were as long as it was a gold banner so even though this is a "weak" gem it is a gem non the less and I am 1 step closer to having this project done. The problem is that the red parallel is the one I need and there are only 5 copies in the world. Odds are I'll never see it but you never know.

Pink Power

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number NINETEEN of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Chrome Julio Urias Base Autograph Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Solid deal for this card has now turned into a solid gem mint 9.5 of the young Dodgers pitcher from Mexico.

I picked this up on eBay on a day when the seller was asleep at the wheel and now have it in a gold banner case. I thought there might be some issue on a back corner but that never came up in the grader's eyes and even if it did the other sub grades all received 9.5. I am going for the autograph rainbow of Julio in the 2016 Topps Chrome set and if I can snag that red parallel (#/5) sometime soon before he hits the bigs again I might have a chance here to complete it.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number EIGHT of FORTY-TWO - 2016 Topps Chrome Mega Box Julio Urias Base Gold Refractor Parallel (38/50) Now BGS Graded Mint 9

Another day, another result and another non color coordinated combination of a young Dodgers star as this 2016 gold parallel is stuck with a silver banner.

I don't have many numbered Julio rookie cards and I really wanted this one to gem but I had a feeling it wouldn't as I knew there was a small issue on one of the corners. I had hoped they would hold the line at a 9 and sneak out an overall 9.5 but they did not as they came in as an 8.5. Disappointing but not unexpected. Even if they did garner a 9 it wouldn't have mattered as the edges received a 9 so I would have ended up with a strong 9 but a 9 nonetheless. Don't want this card unless it was a gem so another crack and resell for me.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Julio Urias Base Autograph Purple Refractor (216/250) BGS Raw Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I am a patient man. Because of that I was able to acquire this way below what similar ones had/have been going for and even cheaper than some that were not even graded.

I have noticed that people tend to shy away from international sellers (with some exceptions) and raw grade review cards. I think the reasoning is that "most" people do not have an outlet to get them fully slabbed when they are ready to do so and if so maybe not at the discount that luckily I receive since BGS visits my local shop at least 2 times a year.

Most other people want their cards in the sturdy BGS cases and not these semi rigid ones like this copy but if you are patient and know you will get it slabbed in the future at a discount then these RCR cards can be had a nice discount and that is what I received. The seller of this copy had an asking price at the amount that was roughly what slabbed copies had been going for. With a best offer option though attached to it I sent him a low ball offer at almost 50% his asking price. He countered though at roughly 38% of his price which I promptly took. Next stop for this Urias is Dallas to get the full slab treatment.

Two Hundred and Sixteen

of

Two Hundred and Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph Green Refractor Parallel (61/99) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

I was going to be patient but when this graded Seager autograph showed up I turned my attention to it and gave it my all to acquire it and acquire I did.

I had my own green copy of this card but it was in raw form and I was holding onto it till I did my next submission to BGS but since it was the off season (when I picked this graded card up) I wondered if I could unload the raw card and use those funds to snag the graded one. I was confident my card was going to gem but you just never know what could happen in a grader's hands. I wanted to get the sure thing than the probable thing so off to the races I went.

Even though it wasn't baseball season I knew there would be decent action for this card and I was right. I believe there were close to 20 different bids on this card but the only thing that matter was that mine was the high one at the end of the day. I didn't want my raw card up for sale while this one was active as I wanted to be the only game in town. So once I won this 1 I threw mine up and since it was the only on eBay at the time there were a lot of bids right out the gate. I ended up selling it for the majority of the cost that it took for me to win this graded one. Obviously once again comic book sales offset the difference and now the only colored parallel I need to complete the rainbow is the red one with it's print run of just 5. Yeah, probably not going to happen but I can hold out hope.

Sixty-One

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Refractor Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Another acquisition because I wanted a sure thing rather than a shot in the dark and cross my fingers option.

I have/had a few of these refractors in raw form and I was going to send at least 2 into Beckett to get graded so I could add to my rainbow project but of course when this one popped up I had to chase after it and with little effort I won it for less than a lunch. With no need for multiple copies of this card I sold off the others to pay for it.

I might actually get this rainbow done considering I have most of the colors now except for impossibly hard to find red one which only has a print run of 5. So there's that big hurdle to get over. We shall see if I can do it.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Sepia Refractor Parallel BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Its like pulling teeth sometimes trying to acquire a card and this one falls into that category for a couple of reasons.

I have been trying to pick up a copy of this Sepia parallel for quite a time now. I have had a couple in raw form but each one was not up to snuff condition wise to my liking. Ended up selling those and picking up other cards. I have seen a few of these graded versions and each one I lost out on as I refused to go above my price ceiling. Months passed and this one popped up on the bay on a BIN auction but thankfully the best offer option was available but that also became an "issue". It took me 4 days to talk the seller down to an acceptable price for the both of us. Neither of us won but nor did either of us lose so I guess that means it came out to be a "fair" auction for the both of us. Hmm... I rather win. Lol. Anyways, it is nice to finally own this parallel now on to the next one.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Sapphire Parallel Edition (#/250)

Greg, Daniel and various other friends have gotten their hands on a copy of this beautiful Seager Sapphire parallel and I was jealous. I wanted one to call my own but too many other things were on my plate to put my full attention on this one. What made it worse was that my friends scored immense deals on their copies and I was afraid I wouldn't get the same deal. While I didn't get it for free (you know who you are amigo) I felt that in the end I did pretty good for myself.

I was going to be content on landing a raw version of this and submitting it to Beckett for grading but held out hope that possibly a graded version would pop up at some time. At the time of this showing up their was a raw version but I decided to try my luck on the graded one. It originally was on a BIN auction but I contacted the seller to see what his best price was. He responded a day later at 33% less that his asking price. Fair but I didn't have the funds for it and felt that I could score a better deal for the raw one. Couple weeks go by and I notice this fell off my live watch list and relisted as a traditional auction. Guess his asking price was too much for people. Typical 7 day auction and I was all over it. Couldn't believe that on the final day that its high bid was miles away from his asking price. I put my bid in at the last moment and snagged this bad boy for a little over 60% less than his BIN auction price and almost 50% off his "best" price he gave me. He must have been pissed considering that on top "losing" it for that amount he still had to pay eBay costs. What even made this sweeter was a couple days later another raw version sold on eBay for $10 more than this one. I scored one hell of a deal if I do say so myself.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha . . . .

As a seller on eBay you gamble at times and sometimes you come out on the right side but there are other times where you miscalculate and end up losing. I should know as I have done the exact same thing from time to time but this time I was on the winning side with a seller from Taiwan.

Other than the impossible red (print run of 5) and the refractor (that may or may not have been produced) this base autograph from the 2016 Topps Chrome set was the final piece I needed for my autograph rainbow project. I personally can't believe it even got to this point but a lot of luck here and there and here I am now.

I have tried numerous times to snag this at a deal but each time I have been outbid or denied on a OBO auction. This one popped up on eBay with an OBO and I sent an offer over which was lower than what they have been selling for but not by much. Never heard from the seller. He ended the auction and relisted the card and I sent the same offer and still no response. I noticed the following day he listed it on a traditional auction AS WELL as keeping this OBO auction. 2 auctions, 1 card. Dangerous game to be playing. Anyways I keep the traditional auction on my watch list and when the final day arrived the high price was about $50 less than my offer. Seconds left and I put in a bid and moments later I was declared the winner at $40 less than my offer price. LOL. Now the question was would he honor the winning price. 2 weeks later I received the answer to that question in the form of this card in the mail.

Seller should have taken my offer but man am I happy he didn't. I have now finished the rainbow (minus the red and refractor) and now I need to submit my raw green and if that gems (as I expect it to) then I have the rainbow in gem mint condition. Score.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Green Refractor Parallel (66/99) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Ha Ha Ha
Thank you eBay buyers that seem to be "scared" off by auctions originating from across the pond aka Asia. Another score for me and I'll do this every day of week.

I believe this was only the 2nd time I have ever seen this green parallel in BGS graded form but just the 1st time I decided to chase after it. The other one popped up at a time I was concentrating on other projects and couldn't acquire that one at the time. I eventually picked up a raw version of this card and was content on waiting till Beckett came back to town in March but this one showed up and I quickly noticed the auction was by a seller in Taiwan. Knowing my past successes in that area of the world I wondered if I could snag this for a deal even though I had one that looked like a lock for a 9.5 from BGS.

As expected there wasn't that much traction on this card's auction and with a hour left I looked to be sitting pretty on the a potential steal of a deal and that is what exactly happened. I ended up winning this for LESS than what I paid for the raw version and to top it off since I didn't need 2 green parallels I obviously sold the raw version back on eBay and sold it for MORE than I paid for this graded one. You got to love it. With a print run of just 99 and with most drying up during the baseball season these only show up 1 at a time it seems. Being an eBay seller based in the USA helped me sell mine at a premium.

Sixty-Six

of

Ninety-Nine

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw MLB Debut Autograph Insert Orange Parallel (4/25) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Man do I love Kershaw autographs.
God how I hate the color Orange.
Love me gold banner 9.5's.
2 beats 1 and hence the acquisition of this "beautiful" card. Of course an eBay eBucks promotion doesn't hurt as well.

Early December of 2016 and eBay was running another 10% eBucks event and I was scouring the site to see if there was anything that I might want as I had funds stacked up from other sales. Nothing really was catching my eye and I remembered I had this on my watch list for weeks and saw it still was available for purchase. The seller had a crazy asking price but also offered an OBO option so I sent him a crazy low ball price. More than 70% off his asking price in fact. He promptly declined but countered within the ballpark with an acceptable amount. Not ready to accept I sent him another offer that was just a little higher than my offer but lower than his counter and told him if he accepted I would send payment then and there. 2 minutes later he confirmed the transaction and a minute later I completed it by sending over the payment. With it I added another Kershaw autograph to the collection and earned more eBucks for the quarter. There is a Red parallel as well to this card and though I have never seen it for sale maybe I can snag it at some point to complete the 3 card rainbow.

The one last (big) reason why I wanted this card was the fact that I attended this game which when he gets inducted to the Hall of Fame I can say I was there the 1st time he took the mound in a MLB game.

Four

of

Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Clayton Kershaw Base Sapphire Edition Parallel (#/250) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Wanted this but did not expect to snag it so soon and especially not in this spiffy BGS gem mint 9.5 case.

Topps Chrome came out with a special edition (Sapphire) at the end of the baseball year and only came in factory set form. There were only 250 sets produced and even though that number has been confirmed by Topps the actual cards are not numbered to reflect that print run. Tad irritating but it is what it is.

Per the norm I wanted my core 3 (Seager, Trout and Kershaw) from this set but knew that they would be a pain to acquire. Right out the gate the Seager card was going for 2 bennys which was and is still out of my range. The Trout I haven't seen pop up but a couple times but don't really remember the price and then you have Kershaw. It has constantly sold for anywhere between $10ish to a high of $25-30. Not crazy pricey but I wasn't in a hurry to pick it up. Of course that changed when this popped up one day a few minutes after it went live. This was the 1st one I have seen graded and with a BIN price lower than some of the raw sales I saw no need to put off acquiring this CK card.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Autograph Gold Refractor Parallel (4/50) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Gold...Gold.... and even more Gold. Everywhere I look when it comes to this card I see that color and I couldn't be happier.

For this off season there were a few cards on my want list that I really wanted to acquire before the 2017 season began and this was one of them and a major get on my part. I am trying to do the autograph rainbow of Corey from the 2016 Topps Chrome set and this Gold one (50 print run) and the Red (a scant 5 print run) were the last biggies I needed to land. I have the Orange (25), Green (99), Blue (150) and Purple (250) in hand already so these last 2 colors are the last that were needed to be picked up. I probably will never see the Red so this Gold was a necessity for my collection and when it popped up on eBay I put a quick bid on it as it also had a BIN option but I wanted to play the auction game. Many bids later, including a few snipe ones from me and another buyer in the waning seconds of the auction, mine held on and I struck Gold.

Is it possible for me to actually complete the rainbow for this project? Yeah, but not likely as I am sure when and if that red pops up it will go for a pretty penny and probably way out of my price range unless I choose to sell off something of value to acquire it. For the time being I need to snag the base (plentiful) and the base refractor (does it even exists?) which would give me the full rainbow minus the Red which if I can make that happen I would be more than happy with.

Four

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Raw Card Review Recap Number Six From Submission Batch Done On Saturday March 6th, 2017 (2016 Topps Chrome Corey Seager Orange Parallel (16/25))

And now we get to the final 2 cards from the RCR batch and the 2 that I could not wait a month to found out what they earned as they/are limited and if they did not earn a gold banner then I would have flipped them and pursued replacements but thankfully it did not come to that.

I am trying to do the unthinkable and complete a DOUBLE rainbow of Corey Seager from the 2016 Topps Chrome release. One rainbow of autographs and the other of non autographs. I plan to pursue them minus the superfractors as those are just 1 of 1's and I would never spend the money to acquire them. The other thing is I want/need them all to be in BGS gem mint condition. Yeah, that's a bitch. Well other than the Red parallel (with its 5 print run) the Orange (#/25) is/was the hardest to get. I snagged this from a friend on IG and crossed my fingers that it would gem when I submitted it to BGS for a raw review and thank God it did as I did not want to go searching for another copy.

Most year's this would probably be THE rookie card to have of any given player with it's minimal print run but not for Corey. More on that Monday as that one will close out the RCR results.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2016 Topps Chrome : Corey Seager Base Orange Refractor Parallel (16/25)

Tuesday's card was the appetizer while today's is the main course and it's a biggie in great condition.

I am/still trying to finish up the rainbow parallel project I have going for Corey Seager from the 2016 Topps Chrome set and other than the superfractor (which is a 1 of 1) the only 2 colors I needed were the Orange and Red parallels. Orange has a print run of 25 while the Red checks in with the small number of 5. While I believe the Red is a "white whale" that I probably will never acquire the Orange I also thought I could snag at some point even with only 25 copies in the world. I have seen quite a few exchange hands in the past year but I was never able to jump in and pick it up but then one day this was made available on Instagram and I inquired about it immediately and thankfully it was still there for the taking. Now to negotiate a price that was acceptable to the both of us. A few hours later we agreed and the card(s) were on their way to me.

I had already made up mind that I would be RCR'ing this when BGS came back to town as if it did not come back as a 9.5 I would flip it and wait out another Orange copy that would earn a 9.5. Well I don't think (hope) that will be the case as in hand this card looks to be great. I am still going to RCR it but I think/should be happy with the result. Knock on wood.

Sixteen

of

Twenty-Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin