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1997-98 SPx Hockey STEEL - Starter Set/Lot of (24) different


Book   = $ *BOOK*
Price = $ 17.50
NEAR MINT to NM/MINT
Scarcer STEEL parallel version of this great die-cut cards combining hologram and color photos. w/Kariya, Joseph, Jagr, Federov ...
1997-98 SPx Hockey STEEL - Starter Set/Lot of (24) different Baseball cards value
Price = $ 17.50
         

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Below are short bits & pieces on sportscard & baseball trading card collecting.
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on vintage baseball, football, basketball, hockey, sport and non-sports cards.
Baseball

Autographed Gateway Cachets


Gateway Stamp Company has provided collectors well over 1 MILLION authenticated certified autographs over the last 30 years.
Silk Cachets from Gateway Stamp Company
Even though a "stamp company", Gateway rarely dealt in stamps, going down a new and creative road becoming one of the world's most unique secrets in autograph collecting combining the best in art, color photographs, history and autographs with their full-color silk cachet envelopes. Gateway's first client was Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock with hundreds to follow.

WHAT ARE FULL-COLOR SILK CACHETS?
A "cachet" is a message or design on an envelope marking a postal event. "Full-color silk" refers to the delicate material into which the original art and photography are printed. After which each silk is applied to the envelope, signed by the player and then officially post-marked by the U.S. Post Office IN THE CITY OF THE EVENT !!!

WHY POSTMARKS?
The key to EVERY Gateway cachet is the postmark.The best way to mark a date in history is with a postmark. The rules governing the granting of postmarks GUARANTEE that NO Gateway issue can EVER be re-issued protecting the value of the autographed, postmarked cachets !!!


Baseball

1993 Topps Rockies Inaugural logo

1993 Topps Inaugural
Colorado Rockies Set


In 1993 Topps produced a limited number of special factory sets to honor the Colorado Rockies first season. A special gold foil Rockies logo was added to each card.

The initial print run of 5,000 ran out quickly so the Rockies had 5,000 more sets made. Cards were only available as factory sets so singles and team sets are a bit tougher to find.

Click for complete 1993 Topps Inaugural Rockies checklist & prices
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Baseball

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs


Team signed baseballs were the thing well before single-signed balls exploded on the market.
What is a "Team Signed Baseball" ???
Simple answer: A ball with XXX signatures of a certain team for a certain year. What is difficult is the XXX. Baseball tons of roster moves make it nearly impossible to "Get Them All".

Generally, team signed baseballs from early 1900's had 10 to 15 signatures, the 1940's that jumped to 18 to 25. Joyce Sports Research Collection (Notre Dame) says "signatures must include only members of a specific team from a specific year, and there must be some approximation of completeness."

Not concrete but to me a "team ball" MUST have ALL the team's STARS (unless a rookie or in season trade) and in today's market at least 20, preferably more, and the manager.

Determining Age of Team Signed Balls
"Official" league balls have stamped signatures of current league presidents on the "sweet spot". Starting 1934/1935 balls were produced by Spalding (NL) and Reach (AL). Rawlings took over in 1977/78. Have a possible team roster at hand, ESPN & baseball-reference.com have great sites), decipher a few signatures then solve the puzzle.

Click for our current Autographed/Signed Team Baseball inventory
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Baseball
Baseball card collecting terms (part C)

Cabinet Card Were oversized trading cards featuring paintings issued mostly 1910-1915.

Card Show is a gathering of dealers & collectors looking to buy/sell/trade sports cards and memorabilia.

Card Stock is the material a card is printed on. Usually paper-based, today companies play with the card stock and sometimes it appears to be wood or leather or see-thru acrylic ...

Cello Pack is a card pack whose wrapper is see-thru plastic. Usually the top & bottom cards are seen. Unopened cello packs showing major stars and rookies sell for heavy premiums.

Centering is the balance of the borders: top/bottom & left/right. On perfectly-centered cards, top/bottom borders match as do the left/right borders. Centering is presented as a set of numbers & directions and often included with the grade. Perfectly-centered is "50/50 t/b" AND "50/50 l/r". As centering gets worse, one number increases and the other decreases. For example: 90/10 t/b is considered extremely off-center top to bottom. The numbers add up to 100 (50/50, 60/40, 90/10 ...).

Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) A document used to verify legitimacy of a collectible. NOTE: Keep in mind that COA's are easier to fake then autographs.

Common A card of a non-star player is considered a "Common" as opposed to cards of a star players or specialty/subset cards such as league leaders, teams cards, World Series cards...

Condition (Grade) Centering, corner wear, photo clarity, edges, creases, print flaws ... all combine to determine a card's condition or grade. Along with rarity/scarcity it is the major factor in a card's value.

Crease Defect usually caused by bending the card. Hard to see, or not, a crease lowers the card's grade (VG or lower) and greatly diminishes it's value.

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