My other hobby volume I

Here is a Brett Favre Rookie Card by Pacific, the same card company that makes the Crown Royale Cramers Choice Award Triangular cards that I love.

This is how unusually popular Brett Favre was.  In 1991 Classic a subsidiary of Score Board created another card called; "1991 Draft Picks".  

What makes this a rare and unusually strange card is that although that it looks identical, one card was specially produced for Quebec, Canada.  It's the back of the card (If you look closely) that has a desrcription in English with a second paragraph in French.  

The majority of card collectors are unaware of this fact and have overlooked this unique card. This is what makes the Quebec French Canadian Card so rare.  I found out about this card as I used to live in Europe.  I would travel to Paris France by train via Amsterdam Netherlands to play concerts there.  

So I dabbled in the French language hence to my astonishment finding a Brett Favre card with French statistic information was a surprise.  When I went online, that's when I discovered the two almost identical cards.  

One for the continental USA and the other for the French Canadians in Quebec.  Please note that Favre's heritage is English, French, and American Indian, hence I would assume the card being distributed in Quebec.

As usual, I purchased the American edition as well to show collector's that have an interest in this specialty card for reference.  The first card depicted is the French Canadian Quebec edition.  The second card is the US release.

This is the 1991 Classic Premier Edition by Score Board Inc.  

This is a High Pro Market Action Pack 1991 card.

This next set of 6 cards was created by Upper Deck in 2007 with the backing of the NFL.  Certain Prilosec medication's came with a limited time limited edition card called; "Evolution of a Legend".  Here are the 6 cards.

Moving onto unofficial rookie cards here is one of Favre in his high school uniform.  It was produced in 2008.  I just had to have this card.  How many QB's in the NFL do you know that had a high school card made.  Lol!

Here is another graded card.  It's a 1991 Wild Card Stripe 10.  From what I was reading in the Beckett magazine in that if you pulled a Stripe numbered card, the Wild Card company would send you free cards to you by mailing in the Stripe numbered card as a proof of purchase.  Hence making this another rare Brett Favre Rookie Card.

This is my most number one cherished card.  This particular card has a embossed Super Bowl symbol on the top right hand corner.  It is a must to purchase this card from either Beckett grading services or PSA/DNA as I've been told that these cards were counterfeit by creating a embossed Super Bowl symbol.

It was given away at the Superbowl as a advertisement for Stadium Club Card Company.  Almost everyone looked at the free card and tossed it in the rubbish can.  Due to the fact that Brett Favre was a unknown!  People probably looked at the card and wondered who the hell is this guy?  Today, this is the cream of the crop of Brett Favre rookie cards.  

I've seen only 2 on ebay that were selling for over $2,000.00.  Of course it was a graded card with a mint 10.  This card I found was selling for a $100.00 as the seller wanted to specifically target new collectors young and old for encouragement into the hobby.  He had hundreds of graded rookie cards for a $100.00.  Cards of Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Deion Sanders, and much more.  Too many to name here.  The old saying goes; "Being at the right time and the right place".

This next card is whats called a SP or short print as not many of this set was printed which made this rookie card a much harder find at a decent price point.  So I did the next best thing of which was to purchase the 1992 Stadium Club complete set for a whopping $10.00.  I found out that most collectors are chasing just the rookie card and does not want to own 499 cards plus the storage concerns.  My idea is payless and sell more.  Just a quick note, this card is not an official rookie card as Brett Favre was drafted in 1991 by the Atlanta Falcons.  In 1992 he was traded to the Green Bay Packers.  So collectors like myself make this a unofficial rookie card as he has a Green Bay Packers uniform on.

This is the most popular Brett Favre Rookie card ever produced.  It's a 1991 Stadium Club Card #94.  I purchased 2 complete sets of the 1991 Stadium Club cards, each set contains 500 cards each For a total of 1000 cards.  Why did I purchase the set?  Because it was much cheaper to by 500 cards on eBay than to purchase just the one rookie card.  I purchased the 1991 Stadium Club Card Complete set of 500 for $10.00.  It was full of players that I've never heard of.  But the main card #94 was available for penny's on the dollar.

My final football card entry is my number one top cards that I took the time and care in collecting.  I do have thousands of cards that I own but I just shared with FSM Forum Members cards that were significant in my collection that I felt were exciting and interesting. 

This final set of cards that I'm about to share with you all took me about a year to finish.  Yet it was well worth the chase.  As you all know by now, my number one sports football player is Brett Favre.  I remember vividly watching the NFC Championship game between Brett Favres Minnesota Vikings vs Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.  I still feel to this very day that the Vikings should have won that game.  

It was Greg Williams and Sean Peyton that rigged that game for the scandoulos affair called the Bounty Hunting against Brett Favre.  Both coaches were suspended by the NFL.  Although Sean Peyton was allowed to return as the head coach, Greg Williams was suspended as well as terminated for being the key person in the Bounty Hunting scandal.  

Greg Williams actually held the defensive coach position here as a Cleveland Brown for a couple of years.  The story was in short that whomever was able to take down and physically injure Brett Favre would receive a bonus cash payment.  I thought that was not only disgusting but absolutely had no proffesional sportsmanship at all.  

In that NFC Championship game Favre was hit so very hard after each play that he finally injured his ankle.  I remember the officials going up to Brett Favre and made appolagies for not calling or tossing a yellow flag for the hits he took, hence Brett Favres nickname; "The Iron Man"!  In the end the Saints went to the Superbowl against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.  

Although I watched the Superbowl, it was not as intense and exciting as the NFC Championship game.  It would have been a better match up in the Super Bowl to see Iron Man Brett Favre against the Sheriff Peyton Manning.  Below is my collection of every single Rookie card of Farve.  I'm only missing the 1991 Wild Card Stripe 20, 50, 100, and 1000.  The Beckett catalog value for the 4 cards alone in 2012 was $2,120.00.  I was only able to obtain the 5 and 10 stripe.  

I've seen the 1991 Wild Card 50 Stripe on eBay but it was going for far higher than catalog value, talk about goughing!  LOL!  My Brett Favre Catalog Value in 2012 comes out to $1,553.00.  I have a very detailed list of what the cost was for obtaing Favres rookie cards.  Again, please note that these are 2012 prices.  The current prices are astronomical due to the fact that he won a Super Bowl Championship against John Elway of the Denver Broncos.  Plus his retirement and being inducted into the Football Hall of Fame as a first ballot.  Here is the list.

These cards are what's known in the card collecting universe as graded cards.  The most coveted card grader is Beckett.  The other card grader is PSA (Proffesional Sports Authority).  I only have a few cards that are graded.  I won't photograph all the other graded cards as it contains players that I don't even know let alone heard of.  But the one card that is substantial is the Pacific Crown Royale Rookie card of Peyton Manning!  It's graded at a mint 9.  The highest grade possible is a mint 10.

Out of sheer curiosity, and being a huge Star Wars fan, I purchased some Star Wars cards at my local Walmart.  This was the hit in the pack.  The photo of Chewbacca is made out of silk screen material.

In 2003 I got hired as the personal head sushi chef at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center in Aurora, Ohio by Mr. and Mrs. Wolstein.  They were wealthy entrepreneurs that really knew how to take care of their employees.  They built a indoor sports arena in Cleveland, Ohio called the Wolstein Center and were huge benefactors for OSU.  That's how the Toshi's ended up in Streetsboro, Ohio. I lived but just a short 15 minute drive from Aurora.

This is how I got the neck tie with the autograph of Coach Jim Tressell of OSU.  They were national champions in 2003.  I also met Archie Griffith a 2 time Hiesman trophy winner and had his autograph on the tie itself.  When Mr. Wolstein saw me do that he came up to me and told me to hang on to that tie as it was valuable.  

Back then I knew nothing about sports nor did I care to. When word got out that I had a OSU necktie signed by Coach Tressell and Archie Griffith there was pandemonium at the sushi bar.  Everyone there wanted to purchase my necktie.  All kinds of offers were given to me but I turned it all down and till this day, I still own a little piece of OSU history.  Just as a note, the largest offer I received that night was $500.00.  I thought that these individuals were insane or drunk from drinking too much Sake!  Lol!

Here is an actual autograph given to me by my older brother Demetri Skopos.  We are not brothers by birth but we are so close that I consider him my older brother from another mother!  Lol!

It's an autograph of the most winningest coach of the NFL. Don Shula.  The photo taken as proof of authentification was done in Florida where Coach Shula had a burger franchise.

Here are some very memorable memorabili, pun intended.

This was purchased at a major retail chain many years ago.  Sadly they claimed Chapter11 and went bankrupt.  I purchase this at K-Mart in Streetsboro, Ohio.

Being surrounded by family and friends is a very important thing that I believe strongly about.  This next card brought Mrs. Toshi, my Daughter Allana, her boy friend Brett, and I closely knit together.  Isn't it a very neat thing that something so superfluous can unite individuals together.  

I still remember the day as if it were just yesterday.  We all drove to a card shop, and looked around to see if there was anything interesting to purchase, almost instantaneously we seen a hobby box of Panini Crown Royale and decided that we were going to purchase the last 2012 product available on the shelf and bring it home and open it together.  Well we did just that.  

Of course each of us had chosen a pack to open.  This is a high end collectors football card box so for approximately $100.00 we opened several packs with each pack that contained 5 cards.  As always, the pack Mrs.Toshi chose was the hit.  When it was her turn to break open the pack, this is what she pulled below as a hit.

A Ryan Tannehill autograph 4 color patch card.  Numbered 131/249.  In 2012 he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins.  If I'm correct, last year he was traded to the Tennessee Titans.  The Titans had a QB from our home town Honolulu, Hawaii named Marcus Marriotta.  He got injured and Ryan Tannehill became the starter.  He was a alumni for the Aggies.  Below you'll see his card.  In this photo I'll share the entire break.

Dodgy

I'm afraid to say Toshi, but I have never seen a game of baseball and know nothing about it and although I have tried to watch American football, I much prefer Rugby or Aussie Rules football. The only cards I think I ever collected were the Battle of Britain chewing gum cards from the 60's which I still have.

 

I've never collected a single sports card until 2012.  I've only been to 2 baseball games because someone gave me tickets to see the Cleveland Indians at Proggressive field.  I've never been to a basketball game and my favorite sport of all football is a game I have never seen live.  So there you go.  I'm just really late in my life to finally be excited about American football and the collecting of football cards.  Anyway, thank you once again sir for folliwing my threads and for the read and replies!

Your friend's, Toshi & Ezra

I'm afraid to say Toshi, but I have never seen a game of baseball and know nothing about it and although I have tried to watch American football, I much prefer Rugby or Aussie Rules football. The only cards I think I ever collected were the Battle of Britain chewing gum cards from the 60's which I still have.

This is where Mrs. Toshi and I Agree to Disagree.  I for one think Tom Brady is one of the greatest QB's to ever play the game especially with his six Super Bowl titles.  Mrs. Toshi on the other hand feels that he has a chip on his shoulder.  But I explained to her that he was considered an underdog.  He was selected in the 2000 draft at number 199.  Then once drafted by the New England Patriots, he sat on the sidelines watching Drue Bledsoe.  After Bledsoe's injury, Tom Brady got his first start.  And the rest is history! I do feel in my humble opinion that the success that the New England Patriots recieved is due to the fact that not only did they have a awesome QB but having Bill Belichick as the head coach made this team a formidable nemesis.  

I currently don't own a autograph card of Tom Brady as his cards sell for thousands of dollars.  But one day, god willing, I'll make it a priority in my football card collection.  I did take the opportunity to accumulate a few of Tom Brady's Rookie cards when it was not as expensive as it is now.  I absolutely am astounded at the cost of his rookie cards especially when I purchased these cards you see here for a few dollars.  Again, just to emphasize I collect football cards because I truly enjoy the hobby.  I don't collect football cards for investment purposes.  I'd rather mess with the stock market than deal with the volatile nature of football cards cost based on per rookie, autograph, memorabilia, or  how many were printed.  It's just like any hobby.

One collects items for the sole purpose of enjoyment and not base it on profit.  That's what a hobby is.  The first card is a rookie card of Tom Brady from the Pacific Crown Royale trading card company.  He's depicted in his Michigan collegiate uniform.  The first 3 cards are rookie cards.  The last card is a 2011 Panini Gold Standard numbered 232/299 card.  I really love the look and feel of the Gold Standard cards.  It is a very thick or heavy duty card stock.  

Another eTopps card this time of Brett Favre.  It's numbered to 217/749.

In my very humble opinion, Johnny Unitas was one the the greatest QB's to ever play this game.  His statistics are amazing and his play making abilities by standing in the pocket and throwing the ball down the field is legendary.  In 1969, in commemoration of the NFL's 50th anniversary, Johnny Unitas was selected as "The greatest QB of All Time" or better known as the GOAT!  I was extremely lucky enough to obtain this autograph card of Unitas many years ago.  It is one of my top 5 cards of all time.

The second card purchased is a numbered card by Donruss.  It's called Leaf Limited Spotlight and numbered 40/50 making this a very rare card.  

The third card is what's known as a eTopps card.  It was only sold via internet.  It's very odd style is derived from the original T-206 Tobaco Baseball cards at the turn of the 20th century.  It's been incased in a factory sealed acrylic case and has a holographic tape sealing the card.  If the card gets tampered with, this holographic tape beaks apart and shows clear evidence that the card has come into a compromised condition rendering it valueless.  This card is numbered at 0982/1499.

All of these mordern cards are very stylish, has a great and outstanding showmanship, and at the very least has the Bling to it.  But for my collecting taste, and you can call me old, I still enjoy collecting the old school cards.  

Have you ever heard of Archie Manning?  Archie Manning played in the NFL as a New Orleans Saints back in the late 70's early 80's.  His children are the legendary Peyton Manning and Eli Manning.  

The first card is a Topps product called Bowman Chrome.  It's what's called a simple base card.

The second card is produced by Upper Deck and is depicted in there line called Ovation.  I was lucky enough to find out that Peyton Manning encourages card collectors to send him cards for him to sign.  So what I did was to find out his charitable information via internet and sent him this very card you see here with a small donation to his charitable cause in good faith.  

The third card is a actual rookie card that is numbered 5/5.  It is a reprint of the old school card company called Score.  Yet thus card printed in 2012 is still considered a rookie card in the Beckett sports card catalog.  This card bieng a specially numbered 5/5 card was released on Black Friday in 2012.  

It's always a true blessing when your spouse enjoys and shares the same feelings with you in regards to a hobby.  This what Mrs. Toshi collects besides her numismatic (Coin) collection.  She so enjoyed a RB by the name of Darren Sproels of whom played for the New Orleans Saints.  He has been traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.  So I decided to pull the trigger for Mrs. Toshi and purchased the cards depicted below of her NFL favorite player.

The first card is of Darren Sproels by Panini Certified 2012.  It is numbered to 125/150.  

The second card is a Topps card with Darren Sproels autograph.  

The third and final card is a Topps product.  It is called Finest and is Mr. Sproels rookie card that includes his autograph.  He was originally drafted by the San Diego Chargers!

These 3 cards are the old Pacific Cramers Choice Awards Triangular cards resurrected by Panini.  Now that Panini owns the rights to produce these cards, this is what the cards now look like.  This first card is what got me started with this type of die cut cards.  when I found out that it used to be a older card company called Pacific, that's when my hunt for these cards came to be.  

The first card I received for free.  It was given to me by the owner of Collectors Palace for assistance in consultation of a stamp collection that someone brought to him.  He had no idea of the cost of the stamps he purchased.  So I went home and joyfully looked up each and every individual stamp on a Mystic Stamp Catalog which utilized the industry standard Scott catalog values.  Once I gave him the cost of the stamps he immediately took my advice and sold it on eBay.  

The owner was so gratefull in that he wanted to pay me for my time, instead of cash, I asked for this card as a trade, and he joyfully agreed.  It worked out for the best for the both of us.  Sometimes it pays to be helpful to your fellow human being without expecting anything in return.  You'll be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.  I for one was not only extremely overjoyed, this kind act uplifted me spiritually and created a bond that I'll never forget for the rest of my life.  That's the true meaning to behold.  Sometimes it's better to give than to take, you just never know for sure what comes along in life!

The first card is a 2012 Panini Crown Royale Choice Award Die Cut Auto Card 10/15 of Marshawn Lynch a RB position player for the Seattle Seahawks.  He was famously known for his eating of Skittles.  

The second card is also a 2012 card of RB LaGarrette Blount with a autograph of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers numbered to 09/25.

The last Card is also a 2012 card of Brandon Lloyd of the New England Patriots with his autograph numbered to 17/25.

This is my all time favorite cards.  As I mentioned earlier, I truly love the weird and unusual looking football cards.  Not only are they scarce but due to it's limited edition, at times these type of cards can be difficult to obtain due to financial restrictions.

I was just lucky enough to find this very unique type of card from a card company now defunct and resurected under the European conglemorete Panini Card Company.  These next 2 cards were produced by Pacific Crown Royale Cramers Choice in the USA during the 80's and 90's.  This is the only company that produced these type of triangular die cut cards.  

They also produced for a very short time a acrylic triangular case to accomodate the triangular card itself.  Now comes the difficult part of collecting rare cards.  I was so attracted to this die cut card that I searched eBay for months hunting down these cards that were produced during the mid-80's.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to purchase a complete set of just simple base cards of the Pacific Crown Royale.  I purchased the set for less than $5.00.  It consisted of 100 cards.  But the hit or chase cards were not included.  This is where eBay came to mind.  Below you'll view a limited edition 1999 Pacific Cramers Choice Crown Royale Brett Favre numbered to 031/299 card #5.  I had to hunt down the triangular case.  Once purchased, they were a perfect match.  The Brett Favre card cost me $25.00.  The acrylic case came out to $25.00 as well.  Currently, there are no cases available except for one from a seller in Canada.  The cost just for the case is $80.00 not including a $20.00 shipping and handling fee.  The Brett Favre card goes for a real market value of $50.00.  I was shocked as it would have cost me $150.00 including shipping and handling to obtain the Brett Favre card in it's case in current market value.  So I can't truly complain that I spent $50.00 for the Brett Favre card. 

The Jerry Rice card cost me $10.00 as it was not a numbered limited edition card like the Favre card.  The Jerry Rice card is card number CC-10 produced in 1996.  But the case from the same seller was $25.00.  

Tojo72

Interesting stuff,although a big fan of the four major sports, I never collected cards except for when I was about 11.

Its interesting how the other sports cards never gained the cache of baseball cards which are the king of collectibles.

Never was into collecting autographs either.

 

Your friend's, Toshi & Ezra

Interesting stuff,although a big fan of the four major sports, I never collected cards except for when I was about 11.

Its interesting how the other sports cards never gained the cache of baseball cards which are the king of collectibles.

Never was into collecting autographs either.

Usually when a card manufacturer creates a mistake on a card, the production line stops and all cards that are errors are destroyed or at least in theory.  This mistake has happen with the USPS air mail stamp Scott #C3a or more commonly known as the Curtiss Jenny Inverted Error in which the border of the stamp is printed correctly with the exception that the Curtiss Jenny aircraft is upside down.  The story told is that the USPS destroyed all but one sheet of one hundred stamps that was sold to a individual whom saw the mistake and sold it to a stamp dealer for a couple of thousand dollars.  At that time that was a princely sum.

The Stamp dealer then took it upon himself to individually sell each error stamp at a premium.  Today these known existing stamps goes for anywhere from half a million dollars and more depending on condition of course.  There is a very extremely rare plate block of 4 Curtiss Jenny attached to the plate number hence the philatelic term plate block.  This set of a rare stamp rests in the hands of Mr. Don Sundman, President and owner of the very reputable stamp company Mystic Stamps.  

He obtained this rare stamps in a trade with a Wall Street investor Bill Gross of which is a avid stamp collector.  He owns every single stamp ever produced by the USPS.  Except one stamp that Don Sundman owned.  It was the Z Grill Benjamin Franklin one cent stamp.  There are only two known to exsist.  One is at in Washington DC Smithsonium Museum.  The trade between Mr. Sundman and Mr. Gross was the most biggest and rarest exchange in the world.  Although no money was transferred due to this even trade the actual Scott catalog value was a six million dollar trade. Mr. Gross is the only known collector to own a complete 19th century US stamp collection.

Now I'm not touting that this error card of Andrew Luck is a million dollar card, but it is a one of a kind.  The card was printed correctly in the front but the mistake was the back of the card was superimposed on the front creating the error.  The back of the card is a blank white card.  

I did do a little research with the owner of a stamp, coin, comic, and collectible shop here in Streetsboro, Ohio but 2 minutes away from my home.  When the card was researched, we only found one error card that had a mispelling of Andrew Lucks name.  There are a total of approximately 30 cards known to exsist with Andrew Lucks name being mispelled.  This card sold for over a hundred dollars, I purchased mine for the large grand total sum of $3.00.  According to the card shop owner, no known card like mines exsist hence that would make my card a 1/1.  I don't care about the cost as I strictly enjoy the sheer feeling and excitement in card collecting.  Maybe Ezra could reap the benifits of selling this card in 20 to 30 years.

The first card depicted is a regular card purchased by me just as a reference.  The second card is the error card.

Here is another Russell Wilson rookie card with just a game worn jersey and it's also numbered. I purchased this card as a individual sale for $10.00 many years ago.  It now sells for $70.00 to $80.00.