2014 eBay purchase #8 and 9: nameplate nirvana

After going without posting for a couple days, I thought I should make today's feature a big one, and I think you'll agree I've delivered on that promise when you check out a couple of my recent eBay scores.

With the inception and proliferation of manufactured letter patches--some of which are autographed--I've been fortunate enough to collect some players that appear on some of them.  I've had enough success with those that I created a page devoted to my completed nameplates (and rainbows, of course) because they're certainly worthy of being shown off to an appreciative audience, which is where you guys come in!

Last month, in the span of just three days I was amazingly able to complete not one but two such pending projects thanks to some eBay persistence (you all know how old it gets searching for the same thing on eBay day after day with no luck).  Here's the fruits of those purchases, not to mention a couple years of collecting the rest:

Leon Hall 2007 SP Rookie Threads 'H' patch auto RC (#003/250)

I can't remember when I picked up my first letter (one of the "L"s) in this set, but when I was able to find two more at the same time--the "A" and the other "L"--on COMC last year, I got the kick in the pants I needed to get this project done.  Unfortunately, I had only found one copy of the "H" I sorely needed, and an eBay seller wanted a ridiculous $20 for it, which is more than twice what some of the rarer versions will set you back.  Fast-forward to mid-April and I found the same card for a more reasonable $8 delivered.  The 35th Leon Hall hit in my football PC is now part of a beautiful nameplate that will be immortalized here as long as my blog exists:

Each card is numbered to 250, and as you can see, Leon's signature is pretty consistent across the board.  By the way, this group has the distinction of being my first non-Michigan uniform nameplate in my collection!  That's also the case for the other you'll be seeing right now, in a way:

Chad Henne 2008 SP Rookie Lettermen 'N' patch auto (#02/50) 

If I can't remember picking up my first Hall from that nameplate, I really can't recall when I first landed a Henne from this one.  Regardless, I'm very excited to add another Wolverine nameplate from this set to go along with Mike Hart!  I'm even more thrilled to complete this one compared to Hall since Henne's one of my absolute favorite Wolverines, plus, for my money, I consider this the best Letterman auto set because the letters look like they were pulled right off of a college jersey.  Which I could kind of put together myself now that I have this:

I "best-offered" an eBay seller down to $12 delivered, which I was happy to pay to call this one done.  In this case, each letter is numbered to 50, and this version spells his last name while rarer ones include the team nickname.  With Hart and Henne done, I wouldn't mind going after the rest, but I haven't seen many of Jake Long and Shawn Crable, and Adrian Arrington's last name makes his potentially cost-prohibitive.  Anyway, the project-completing Henne card is my 64th hit of the former signal-caller, inching him closer to collection-leader Jake Long's 67.

I have a feeling this won't be the last nameplate I have to show off here, though it might be a little while until the next one's ready.  Until then, please feel free to admire my other completed projects here!