2017 COMC purchases: basketball and hockey

Welcome to the first of what will likely be five posts in which I finally conclude a look at my 2017 purchases by covering everything I nabbed from COMC late last year.

Today's post covers both basketball and hockey since I didn't pick up much of either (as usual):

Darius Morris 2012-13 Immaculate Collection Printing Plates Yellow (1/1)

Nik Stauskas 2014-15 Spectra Global Icons Printing Plates Yellow (1/1)

Like I said, I really don't chase basketball very much, but how could I pass up this pair of plates for around $11 combined?  The top one is my second 1/1 of Morris, the former Laker who's now playing in China, and it represents my 12th hit of him overall, good enough to break the tie with fellow former Laker (among other teams) Cazzie Russell.

If two plates out of 12 hits seems pretty good, prepare to be impressed by Nik "Sauce Castillo" Stauskas.  The Canadian star (whose plate is definitely far yellower than Morris' above) appears on a 1/1 on four of his six hits in my basketball collection.  That's crazy!  What's just as cool is that I now have double-digit 1/1s in all four sports of my Michigan PCs, and a pretty sweet 97 overall--and this is only my first COMC post in this bunch so who knows what might happen to that number soon!

Shawn Hunwick 2012-13 Panini Prime Dual Jerseys dual jersey (with Dalton Prout) (#011/200)

Shawn Hunwick 2012-13 Panini Prime Prime Time Rookies Jersey Autographs jersey auto (#20/50)

These next two are the first additions to my Shawn Hunwick PC since last October--as I find myself saying too often, his cards can be hard to find at reasonable prices for whatever reason.  Both are from 2012-13 Panini Prime--part of the excellent Rookie Anthology Product--and that's no surprise since Hunwick appears on 15 cards under that title (not including 1/1s).  This pair doubles my count to four of those, and some toughies await including three numbered to five copies and one limited to just three.  I'll take 'em as I find 'em.

I didn't know a thing about Prout so I looked him up and found out that he lasted with Columbus far longer than Shawn did, though he's most recently been associated with New Jersey.  The card he shares with the former Michigan goalie is the only such issue I have in Hunwick's collection so far.

Meanwhile the auto/jersey is far more interesting by virtue of including a signature along with a huge jersey swatch.  Just another example of Panini doing it the right way, I guess!

I now lay claim to 27 of Hunwick's 71 non-1/1s, 30 overall, and 15 hits.

We'll end the day with one more goalie on a flat-out cool card, one you'd be forgiven for mistaking for a Pacific product.  This Marty Turco Hot Gloves insert actually hails from an Upper Deck/McDonald's partnership from 2006-07.  It's die-cut in the shape of a goalie's catcher, and the main characteristic differentiating it from a Pacific-produced card is that it doesn't feature manufactured "netting", or die-cutting in that area at all.  But that doesn't take away from its very cool design, one that's definitely worthy of my favorite goalie's PC.

Come back soon for more COMC goodies as we go on a four post football run!

2018 trade package #3: Bob Walk the Plank

Welcome to those of you who came here from my TMV post this evening showing off two big-time high-end hits from Matt of Bob Walk the Plank!  Many of you know him as a fellow college collector, and in his case he chases stuff of the Mountaineers of West Virginia.  Trading with college collectors is the best since they always put more effort into tracking down items of guys you collect, and I'll emphasize the "effort" part of that because it's more involved than simply finding guys wearing a pro uniform.

That's why I appreciate all of you who send me Wolverines cards, whether they're in pro or college duds.  Fortunately for me, the card I get to show off here tonight from Matt is an example of the latter:

Sauce Castillo!  Just like Matt gets to say "The original Frank Thomas!" when someone sends him Pirates cards of that guy, or "Spanky!" when Mike LaValliere shows up, I get to yell "Sauce Castillo!" when Stauskas' mug graces this here blog.

I got to mention Nik in my first trade post earlier this month (from Scribbled Ink) and now he's back on this totally awesome SPx Winning Big Materials jersey from 2014-15.  The Winning Materials name goes way back in SPx history and it's always been a great looking relic design, especially these larger versions.  And I mean the maize swatch is a big winner here, just a fantastic piece from my alma mater's colors.  It's my fifth Stauskas (one other jersey and three(!) plates) in the basketball PC.

Thanks again for this big addition of the big man, Matt!

Too Many Plates! Part 2: basketball

Between May and June I won eBay auctions for a total of 17 different printing plates at a cost of a bit more than $100 (not bad!).  14 of those came from one awesome seller (markaguirre22), whom I can't recommend highly enough due to his great prices, excellent communication, and super fast free shipping.  A fellow Michigan collector, he was unloading some of his better stuff, and I was able to take advantage of quite a few great deals.  Better yet, over the course of my purchases he threw in three extra plates for free, giving me a nice round 20 to show off.  Several separate purchases rounded out the run on rarity.

All of the players are Michigan alumni that I collect, so you'll see most of them in three separate posts on here, one per sport, including this evening's post covering the basketball pickups (in addition to the baseball guys over on TMV tonight).  That's right, I said basketball!

Darius Morris 2012-13 Panini National Treasures Printing Plates Black (1/1)

Today's pair came from the same aforementioned seller, just a few weeks apart.  Number one is erstwhile Laker (among four other NBA teams) Darius Morris on a five-ish-year-old plate from Panini's high-end National Treasures product.  Although it's my 11th hit of Morris (tying him with Cazzie Russell for the basketball PC lead), I don't actually have a copy of the auto it goes with, but that may just turn up someday.  Considering I like to keep my plate purchases under $10 in general (and probably less for my least favorite of the four sports), a bit under $4 was a fair ransom for this one, I think.

Nik Stauskas 2014-15 Panini Spectra Global Icons Printing Plates Black (1/1)

You know how I can tell I don't pay much attention to my basketball collection?  This is my third hit of Stauskas, a.k.a. "Sauce Castillo", and all three are plates!

Here he is on his other solo venture plus a trio (ignore player #4), both of which also come from a 2014-15 Panini product: Immaculate.

I couldn't tell you exactly why I got into a mini bidding war for this 1/1 of the former first-rounder of the Kings, now with Philly--he's not exactly a star or from a sport I love--but I still threw down a bit over $7 anyway.  I mean, it fit into my plate price preference (say that three times fast) and I was happy to continue giving business to a quality eBayer, so there's that.

This pair plus the two you saw on TMV this evening give me a new printing plate/1-of-1 total of 71 with lots more to come!  Make sure to stay tuned for the forthcoming football and hockey plate posts if you like that sort of thing.