2010 Upper Deck Exquisite
Thurman Thomas Premium Patch
2010 Upper Deck Exquisite Football was recently released and I'm definitely on board. I'm still not sure if I like it better than the 2009 version, but it's certainly deserving of the Exquisite name plate. With my Exquisite gushing done, it's on to the card.
This Thurman Thomas Premium Patch card looks better in hand. I'm not sure what it is about thicker card stock, but cards just look better with thicker stock. Also, the white patch is actually a piece of painted fabric from the numbering or arm sleeve. It's a nice little addition to my Thomas collection.
Aside from getting a nice new card of one of my favorite Buffalo Bills legends, I got a pretty sweet deal on this item. I paid exactly $6.00 for the card including shipping. The seller even sent the card in a snap magnet holder. I put many of my cards in snap mag holders, so that was a nice surprise. Just as thicker stock cards look better, so do cards in snap mag cases.
This is the first 2010 Exquisite Football card I've gotten in so far. I hope to buy a few more, especially at the price of this card. Happy collecting and… "Enjoy All The Exquisiteness of Your Memorabilia".
This is the second Thurman Thomas gem this week that I've added to my collection (click here). It may bring up some bad Super Bowl memories for this Bills fan, mainly four bad memories, but it also brings up some great memories of "The Thurmanator" running wild and catching passes out of the backfield. The Bills run of four straight Super Bowl appearances in the early 90's was impressive, and yet heart breaking at the same time. Good thing free agency came to the NFL in 1993. Otherwise, the Bills would still be looking to get their first Super Bowl win in their 21st straight appearance tonight.
As for these SPx Shadow Box cards, they're really cool. This is the second year Upper Deck has released versions of these inserts. They are case hits inserted into the football and hockey products. I hope they release versions in the basketball product. Each card is very thick and has a raised 3D image of the featured player in the middle of the card.
This is the second Thurman Thomas Shadow Box card I've been able to add to my collection. The first features Thomas in his Buffalo Bills uniform (click here). This was obviously when Upper Deck had their NFL license. Both are really fun cards. I hope to add a few of the hockey shadow box cards to my collection too. Upper Deck really did a nice job with these. Enjoy the big game today and… "Every Bounce of the Ball".
I recently added a very nice 2009 Upper Deck Exquisite Inscriptions Auto Thurman Thomas card to my collection. The card is absolutely beautiful and is numbered 14 of 15. I'm really excited to have this card in my collection. I've bid on every copy of this card that's come on the secondary markets over the past year.
Surprisingly, two copies appeared on eBay over the past two weeks. The first sold for $69.97 (click here) about a week and a half ago. I put a late bid in on this one just before it shot up to the $50.00 range. I was disappointed that I was quickly outbid with a few seconds to go in the auction, but you have to know when to fold 'em.
With a limited print run of only 15, I didn't think I'd see another one of these Thomas cards for awhile. As the collector gods would have it though, another copy was listed last week. I knew the market value on the card from the last auction and ones previous. I assumed I'd be out snipped on this one too, but my late bid held strong.
I paid $33.99 with free shipping. I don't normally spend over $15-$20 on a single card let alone over $30.00, but this is a really great item this Bills die hard just couldn't pass up. I'm especially excited I payed less than half of what the previously listed card sold for.
I have a number of nice Thomas cards in my collection, but this one certainly takes the cake. At least until the next one! Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".
I've been wanting to pickup a Rubies card from a late 90's SkyBox product for sometime now. They're some of the best looking cards as they incorporate a foiled background that is like a mix between a refractor and hologram. Unfortunately, these cards typically demand hefty price tags. So with a little patience, I was able to snag this #'d 20/30 Thurman Thomas from the '99 SkyBox Rubies set.
I paid just under $10 including shipping for this gem. I'm sure I'm a bit biased as a Bills fan, but this is a rare card of a HOF'er. I thought the price was pretty nice.
The card is numbered only to 30 and features one of my all-time favorites. There've been some very nice auto'd cards of Thomas in the hobby lately (click here), but the higher end cards from his playing days are few and far between. That's why I'm so excited to add this card to my collection.
Stay tuned for another SkyBox Ruby I was able to land from the "Big Country" and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".
Do you remember the Actioned Packed football cards? These came out during the early 90's and featured a raised surface with large player images. I know it's tough to make out the almost 3D like surface in the scan, but it's unmistakable in hand.
There are tons of these cards out there, and you can pick one of these up for less than a dollar. I've had this The All-Madden Team Thurman Thomas card in my collection really since I've been collecting. Between the Bills' red, white and blue team colors and the unique surface, this is one cool looking card.
Aside from that raised surface, the card is unique in another way. It's not a bunch of sheets of cardboard laminated together to form one card stock. Instead, it's three panels of one single piece of paper folded together. This makes for a very rigid and relatively thick card for the time. It's also a very durable card. Between the rigidness and the rounded corners, these cards tend to stay in great shape even after nearly 20 years.
I blew the card up so hopefully you can see how the sides are folded. Enjoy the football today and… "Every Bounce of the Ball.
In an age of sticker auto's and small relic/jersey patches, the need for trading card innovation is welcomed with open arms. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the creative and sometimes outrageous designs of 90's inserts. I also appreciate and collect today's products, but I really get excited about what the 90's card industry had to offer. That's what made last year's football and hockey 2009 Upper Deck SPx Shadow Box cards so interesting.
That's right. I did write, "shadow bow". These cards feature a really cool 3d player image in the middle of the hallowed out trading card. This is not a totally new idea. Actually, it's similar to the '92 Fleer 3d acrylic basketball cards that were only available to collectors through a wrapper exchange. These cards are slightly different in that they are truly multi-layered with a separate image on the surface and inside the card. In addition, these cards are so nicely designed that they would even look cool without the shadow box effect, however, that effect really puts these cards over the top.
I first heard about these Shadow Box cards through fellow bloggers at Waxheaven and The Chronicles of Fuji. As you can imagine, these are pretty thick cards. Also, they're rare at an insertion rate of one per case. There also are autographed version that come with a separate COA card to guarantee authenticity. It's rumored that these auto'd bad boys have a very limited print run near five or less, so good luck with that. I'm happy with the Thurman Thomas I picked up recently for under $7.00 including shipping. That's a steal for this Bills fan.
There certainly has been a fair share of innovative and creatively designed products released over the past few years, but Upper Deck really came through with these Shadow Box cards. The 2010 SPx hockey and football products have been released and this year's Shadow Box cards are hitting eBay right now. With the recent troubles the Upper Deck company is rumored to be going through, it's nice to see they are still managing to putout some quality products that spark at least this collector's interest.
So you know my thoughts. I'm placing a vote for, "Yes, they are innovative and look great". I'm pretty excited to add this Thurman Thomas card to my collection, and I'll definitely be checking out the 2010 Shadow Box cards as they become available on eBay. That's enough from me. What do you think about Upper Deck's Shadow Box cards?
This 2006 Thurman Thomas Limited Leaf Player Threads card may not be much to look at, but it's the first jersey card I ever added to my collection. Like many collectors, I left the hobby when I was a little younger only to come back to it nearly a decade later. When I got back into trading cards and sports memorabilia the hobby had changed from innovative 90's designs to bringing collectors closer to the game with autographs and jersey pieces. I couldn't believe what I saw the first time I got on eBay to see if people still collected trading cards. Not only was the hobby still kicking, but one of the first eBay searches I conducted lead me to this very card. Like I said, this Thomas Player Threads card may not be the best looking card ever, but it's the hook that got me back in the boat.
