Stick To It!

I have little more than time to check in on the hockey playoffs these days, hoping that the Leafs are still around when May arrives so I might just watch some. So far - going as expected, though the Leafs could probably be playing better, but good teams find ways to win even when not playing well, so being up 3-1 over the Sens, is about right. I didn't think it would be a sweep, but should be done in 5 or 6.....6 would be better for my quickly done playoff pool, but I'd be happy with 5 as a fan.

No hockey today though as far as cards go, instead, we have baseball with a TCDB trade today that is sticker heavy. This trade is with member distirbed1.

As I have said before - I don't go out of my way to collect stickers but happy to take them in a trade. Similarly, playing cards are interesting, but not high on my collecting list per se, but neat to pick up still.

I didn't know the Vladdy was a sticker at first, but full card size stickers - I can get behind that!

Steven Matz wins prettiest card of the trade for his pink wave look. Toronto was a one year pit stop between his time with the Mets and then afterwards with St. Louis.

Fabulous trade and hope to do more in the future with the distirbed1!

Classic Wrestling

 A very tiny PWE trade today. This one is with a fellow Canadian, one from out in Nova Scotia, Rick Mackay.

As a kid, I loved Demolition. Their theme song was fantastic and on point, honestly one of my favourites to this day. As a tag team they were a Legion of Doom rip off, but done well in their own right. Unfortunately between health issues and Legion of Doom joining WWE (WWF at the time), the team disappeared. Definitely paved the way for kick button tough guy teams.

As for Ronnie, his time in the WWF was from 1988-1990, and wasn't someone I connected with well, though remember his retirement angle which had him ref and interfere in matches as the ref, instead. Was definitely different and actually something they could probably bring back and run now as a good angle.

Nice couple adds to the collection though, and much appreciated!

Workin' On Gold

A small PWE trade with TCDB member flyers4life. The "bulk" of the trade was to get a few more 1993 Topps Gold parallel cards as I keep getting closer to completing that set.

These adds bring me to 710 of 825 - more than I ever figured I'd come across to get, but here we are!

The other card in the trade was the 1994 Fleer Major League Prospect Delgado, the only Jay in that insert set.

The other couple cards were kind surprise add on.

Bip is continued set help on Studio and Joe was a Jays need - very nice and unexpected.

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.