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'07 Upper Deck Dual Plexi Autograph 1-2 Combo Clearcut Autos Ryan Miller /Thomas Vanek #'d 041/100 With the NHL playoff races tightening up, it's high time that I show some support for my Buffalo Sabres. What's the best way for a sports memorabilia collector to show his or her support for their team? Obviously, it's to buy trading cards featuring players from their favorite team, so that's what I've done. I love acetate cards, and this '07 UD 1-2 Combo Clearcut dual auto card of Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek is pretty awesome. This card certainly is a nice addition to my collection, but hopefully it'll bring some luck to the Buffalo Sabres down the stretch. Happy Collecting and… "Enjoy Every Slap of the Puck".

'08 Upper Deck Trilogy 1-2 Combo Clear Cut Miller/Vanek Dual Auto #'d 40/100

As many of you are well aware or, acetate is one of my favorite trading card technologies. Acetate cards consist of images that have been incased or printed on translucent plastic. A prime example, and one of my favorites, is the Ryan Miller/Thomas Vanek UD Trilogy dual auto'ed card pictured above. Acetate cards look cool and are certainly fun to collect. However, living in Buffalo, NY, they can have a fragile side as well.

I got back into the hobby a little more than three years ago and was amazed at how the industry and trading cards themselves had changed. For example, I remembered acetate cards from the late 90's (click here), but the modern acetate card is typically a lot thicker and often features an autograph. One of my first big eBay purchases getting back into the hobby was a Dominique Wilkins 2003 Upper Deck Focus Auto (click here). More important than the cost of the card, was the excitement I had of adding a Dominique Wilkins autograph to my collection. Unfortunately, it can get pretty cold here in Buffalo.

Cold and acetate doesn't go very well together. The ultra thick Wilkins Auto Focus card cracked during shipment like a nasty chip spiders on a car windshield. In below freezing weather, all it takes is a dropped envelope or reckless mail carrier to shatter an acetate card. Luckily, the seller refunded my entire order. Which was very nice since it really wasn't the sellers fault. Today, I rarely buy an acetate card during the cold winter months. If I just can't refuse a good deal, I will tell the seller to hold onto the card until it warms up a bit. The difference in a few degrees can be the difference between a sweet Miller/Vanek auto or a shattered Wilkins auto.

Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

'97 Ultra Court Masters Gary Payton

I've been working diligently on putting the 1997 Ultra Court Masters insert set together for several months now. I recently added this Gary Payton to my ongoing '97 Ultra Court Masters collection. That makes nine out of the fifteen card insert set accounted for (You can view the other eight by clicking here). I have some of the tougher or more expensive cards in the set out of the way with the Shaquille O'neal, Anfernee Hardaway, David Robinson, Stockton and Malone cards, but there's still a few pricey ones to go like the Jordan. Of course, if anyone out there has any cards from this set and is looking to trade, checkout my trade album and let me know.

The appeal of these cards for me is a colorful acetate background and 90's stars. This Payton is no different. However, I wish the old Seattle Supersonics uniform was featured, but it's still cool non-the-less.

The Payton isn't exactly the most sought after card in the set, but it's always nice for a collector to add a card from a set they're putting together. Also, this one didn't really set me back too much. Actually, this is the cheapest card out of the nine I have from the set at $7.00 shipped. Not too bad. So nine down and six to go.

As I'm sure you're all well aware of, I love 90's insert sets. The quality of design and creativity was at its peak during that time. Whether it was holograms, die cuts, acetate or the early jersey and auto'd cards, 90's card companies had it going on. I have about five separate 90's insert set collections going right now between basketball and football products, but none is more exciting to me than the '97 Ultra Court Masters acetate basketball set.

I've been working on putting the 15 card set together for sometime now. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the first few cards I was able to add to start the collection, but was recently able to buy a four card lot for a very reasonable price. Actually, these cards normally sell for right at or just above book value (BV). I paid less than half of BV for the lot.

The lot contains a few of the bigger names in the set like Malone, Stockton and Robinson. The Richmond is certainly a nice card and sells well, but it's not on the same level as the other three featuring HOF'ers.

Here are the other four cards in my Court Masters collection pursuit and a closeup of one of the newly added cards:

In truth, this is really a few of the cards I've gotten in over the past two weeks. I did get a visit from the Manila Mail Gods today as well, but I'll save those gems for future posts including a continuation of the "Bo Knows..." Series. Maybe I'll post the Jackson card tomorrow. As far as what I have for today, it's a bit of football and basketball. I got great deals on most of these. Actually, I don't think I paid more than $5.00 for any of these.

I actual bought a lot of eleven of these 1995 Upper Deck SP Foil Grant Hill RC's. Four are of the die-cut variety. I've been picking up Hill cards over the past few months as he was one of my favorite players growing up. These foil RC's are not terribly expensive on the secondary markets, but I do love the look of them. The die-cut versions are even cooler. I have extras of the base and die cut for trade (click here).
I'm a huge acetate card fan. This Grant Hill 1995 Classic Superior Pix card is really cool. The card features Hill in a Duke University uniform and is an excellent example of the acetate technology that I so love. I'll put this inexpensive set together in time, but I'm currently in the process of putting a number of other sets together.
This is a 1998 Joe Smith Topps Finest Test Gold Atomic Refractor. I love how the card not only has the Atomic Refractor effect on the front, but also the back of the card. It's a nice card, but I'm still not sure if this card is going to make it into my PC or Trade Album.
I'm an Antonio McDyess fan, and nothing screams McDyess fan like an Upper Deck Sign of the Times Auto. This auto is really cool since it highlights McDyess in a Nuggets uniform. The Nuggets are the original team that drafted him.
These are some rookie cards of some young Buffalo Bills on the defensive side of the ball. I'm a die-hard fan, so I'm a sucker for any eBay auction with a promising Buffalo Bills player. The Paul Posluszny RC Auto '07 and the Leodis Mckelvin RC Auto '08 are both National Treasures products.
This is the first Topps Murad card I've added to my collection, but I'm happy with that. This is not a set I'm collecting even though it's pretty cool. The truth is, G Moses is doing a great job at that. I'm only interested in this Gallinari Knicks auto. I'm a Knicks fan and there haven't been too many players to collect over the past few years. I'm looking for a few more high-end Gallinari cards, but his signifies the best of my Gallinari collection thus far.

Hope you enjoyed my mail day and… "Every Bounce of the Ball".

Here's the number 12 card in my personal collection Top 25 countdown. This 1993 Shaquille O'neal Classic Future #NNO is really a no brainier for me at the number 12 spot in this countdown. It's an extra large acetate early Shaq' card. As many of you know, I love the acetate plastic cards. This Classic Futures card is translucent, but it's tough to tell from the scan. It's really one of those cards that looks better in hand than on scans. Checkout the basketball Shaq' is dunking. He truly had the world in his hands when he came into the Association.