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As you all know by now, I'm a huge Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway fan. I collect Hardaway cards, posters and now kicks. Actually, these Nike Air Penny I's are the second pair of Hardaway kicks that I've laced up. About 16 years ago I had an original pair with this Orlando Magic colorway. They looked great back then and these retro's look even better today.

The retro's were released this past February or March, but sold out in my area pretty quickly. Every now and then I would go into the many sporting good stores I frequent and see a pair on the shelves. However, a random size 8 or 18 isn't really going to help me. A couple weeks ago I again saw a pair on the shelf and asked the young punk working in the store if they had any pairs in size 10 or 10.5. He proceeded to just laugh at me. I left the store like a wounded puppy with my tail between my legs. Fortunately, I'm persistent and went into a discount/surplus Foot Locker about a mile from my house this weekend and again saw a pair on the shelf. They had one pair of size 10's left. Did I feel like a kid in a candy store? Nope, I felt like a sneakerhead in a sneaker store.

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

Apparently, Blogger has had some issues the past couple of days. I'm not sure how this has affected other blogs, but I haven't been able to post for about 24 hours and my last post was deleted. Maybe somebody over at Blogger wasn't a hockey fan. Anyways, everything seems to be working just fine now. Since I got out of work an hour early, I figured I'd type something up quick.

I've been getting out sniped on eBay pretty regularly over the past few weeks. I've been so close on a number of cards I need for several of the sets I'm putting together, but just haven't been able to close the deal. As frustrating as that's been, there's always another poster, trading card or piece of memorabilia on my Watch List for me to bid on. Here are a few recent eBay wins:

'10 Upper Deck The Cup Chris Butler Rc

My hockey fever continues with this 2010 Upper Deck The Cup Chris Butler RC. UD's The Cup has been the premier hockey product in the industry for sometime now. I know 2011 will be out soon, and I'm pretty excited about that. Also, Panini has just released a preview on The Knight's Lance for their high-end hockey product called Dominion Hockey. Both will feature on-card auto's and great patches. I'm pretty excited to see these two products go head-to-head.

The Butler card isn't autographed or anything fancy like that. It's just a well designed RC that is limited to only 25. Butler is a young defensemen for my Buffalo Sabres. He started the season as a healthy scratch most nights, but was often paired with Tyler Myers as the Sabres' top defensive duo by season's end.

I'm glad to add this super thick card to my ever growing hockey collection. It really didn't set me back too much either. I think I paid under $10 including the shipping. Well worth it for an up and coming player in the Sabres franchise. Hopefully Butler will be here in Buffalo for a longtime to come.

'97 Topps Finest Anfernee Hardaway  Gold Refractor

I'm sure many of you know by now that I'm a huge "Penny" Hardaway collector. I was a fan back in his playing days and there are just a ton of great inserts and auto's out there of Hardaway to collect. Plus, who didn't like those Lil' Penny Nike commercials from the 90's? He is just a fun player to collect.

This 1997 Topps Finest Gold Refractor is a Hardaway card I've been going after for sometime. For some reason, I've gravitated to these Finest Gold Refractors. I have about 10 different ones right now. I'm not actually trying to put the set together… I swear. I've seen this Hardaway card sell for $30.00 bucks before and one also sold for $18.09 recently. However, I was somehow able to steal this one for $9.99. I can certainly deal with a half-price auction win!

It's been awhile since I've picked up a nice Hardaway card. Hopefully this Gold Refractor will get me back in the Hardaway swing of things. Especially if I'm able to pick one or two up for a few pennys. Gotta love a cheesy play on words.

'97 Upper Deck SPx Pro Motion Troy Aikman

The '97 Upper Deck SPx Pro Motion set is one of those sets I'm attempting to put together. Actually, I'm putting together all the SPx Pro Motion sets across all four major sports for both '97 and '98. This Troy Aikman is a great addition to the '97 Football set. I unfortunately scanned the card in a top loader, so the scan didn't turn out too great. Although I'm certainly no Dallas Cowboys fan, not bitter at all about Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII, I love the card's design. I'm getting close with both the '97 basketball and football sets, but the baseball and hockey are a struggle. Also, my '98 Pro Motion sets are coming along even worse, but I'll keep working on them. The chase is all apart of the fun. Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

'98 Fleer Ultra Stars Anfernee Hardaway

Just a quick post today because I'm a bit tired from my last long training running this morning of 23 miles. Plus, the Yankees and NBA Playoffs are on right now. So without further adieu, here's the latest addition to my Anfernee Hardaway collection. This 1998 Fleer Ultra Stars insert is the 7th of this 20 card set. This is a great set with all the hoops stars from back in the day like Ray Allen, Shaquille O'neal, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and more. I love the refractor effect. Unfortunately, the scan just doesn't do this card justice. I'm not sure why some of my cards look great and others look just so so from my scanner. It's supposed to be a pretty decent scanner, so maybe it's more of operator error than a poor scanner. Anyways, you can see a better view of the card here. Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

'97 Z-Force Anfernee Hardaway Big Man On Court

You all know my affinity for great 90's inserts and Penny Hardaway cards, so it should be of no surprise that I'm back with another Penny For Your Thoughts post. This installment of one of my favorite post series features a 1997 Z-Force Big Man On Court card (BMOC). The BMOC set is highlighted by some of the best die cut action and the most vibrant color scheme I've seen in any trading card insert set from yesteryear or today. It should be of no surprise that the set was produced by the SkyBox company. During the 90's, SkyBox came up with a multitude of creative designs and the BMOC set is one of my favorites.

The set is fairly rare with an insertion rate of 1:240. Although I'd like to, I have not started building the set. I only have the Hardaway right now. I just have too many other sets I'm currently putting together. However, this ten card set is high on the future build list and the Hardaway is a nice start. On the other hand, if anyone out there has a card from this set they would like to trade, I certainly would listen.

Hope you enjoyed this latest installment of A Penny For Your Thoughts. I know this is a post about a basketball card and set, but I'm really excited about the upcoming MLB season starting this Thursday. So with that said, "Happy Collecting and… Enjoy Every Crack Of The Bat".

What's the emergency? Well, just checkout this sweet ruby red 90's insert? As many of you know, I'm both a 90's insert fan and a "Penny" Hardaway fan. This 1998 Hoops 911 card combines both of those passions. I was able to get a great deal on this gem, but buyer beware. These cards are notorious for chipping. If you're purchasing one of these 911 cards, make sure to look closely. Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

'98 Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway Hoops 911

'99 Flair Showcase anferneehardaway@takeit2.net

Is this really what the inside of my computer looks like? Is there a little Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway running around on my computer motherboard? If so, he better just make sure he keeps everything tiptop in there. I need my Mac to last a very long time.

This Hardaway card is from the '99 Flair takeit2.net 15 card insert set. Although Beckett does not have the pack insertion rate listed, I do know these are fairly rare. They are serial numbered to 1,000.

The set itself is not overly coveted by collectors despite the impressive list of former stars like Pippen, Hill, O'neal and Jordan. It does have a book value of $150, but many of the cards can be had for well under their book values (click here). Of course, the $50 Jordan usually sells for above that value (click here), and can be the missing piece for many collectors putting this set together. As is the case with many of the 90's insert sets I'm putting together.

I've always liked this set and hope to put it together…whenever I finish a few of the other sets I'm currently collecting (click here).

The endless pursuit of that elusive item referred to as a "White Whale" is what gets a collector's heart pumping. I recently ended my nearly three year search for this '96 UD SPx Anfernee Hardaway Tribute Auto'd card, and thought it would be fun to find out what are some of the white whales that other collectors have and/or are currently chasing?

As for my white whale, "it's a beaut Clark". Yep, Thanksgiving is over and I just watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I'll spare you from anymore Christmas movie quotes for now and get right to the card. With a print run of only three hundred, this card is fairly rare. Also, once a Hardaway fan gets a hold of the Tribute Auto, they rarely let it out of their collection. There's good reason for this. Upper Deck's SPx line debuted in '96 and the early SPx card designs are highly regarded by collectors. These were die cut sets that featured hologram technology on every card. No matter what the sport, it's always fun to bust open a box of the '96, '97, or '98 SPx products.

During the mid to late 90's, Hardaway was one of UD's most important spokesmen. Behind The G.O.A.T., no one was more important to UD's basketball product than Mr. Hardaway. Because of this, UD and UDA featured Hardaway in many sets and UDA products. One of those featured cards was the '96 UD SPx Hardaway Non Auto'd Tribute card inserted into pack at a rate of 1:95. UD also inserted a Michael Jordan Record Breaker card into packs at a rate of 1:75. Since it's such a cool looking card, I included it here in the post for your viewing. UD also inserted trade cards into packs that could be redeemed for the corresponding Jordan or Hardaway auto. The Hardaway Trade auto is an auto'd version of the SPx base card and can be seen here. Although the Trade auto is nice, the Tribute auto is a bit different.

The Tribute auto was not available from packs. Actually, the only way you could obtain the card was through Upper Deck Authenticated. UDA is simply UD's memorabilia division. These three hundred Hardaway Tribute auto's were sold to collectors through UDA catalogues and the scarce brick and mortar stores. As previously mentioned, I've been searching for this card for almost three years. Since that time, I've only seen three of these for sale. The first did not have the matching COA. The second sold for well above my price limit. The third is the card you see in this post. Like I said, Hardaway collectors don't let go of this one. It's been at the top of my wish list for a longtime, and I was finally able to add it to my collection recently. I'm certainly excited about catching my whale, but that also means the next whale is being hunted.

So that's my white whale story, what's yours? I would love to hear about any white whale you've caught or are currently chasing? Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

As I'm sure you're all well aware of, I love 90's inserts 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, but it seems there are also a number of other collectors assembling the set. Many of these cards sell for above their book values. Not by much, but enough to make it difficult to put the set together quickly. I'm used to the half priced cards on eBay, so $5 or $10 over book value is expensive to me.

The set has all the usual 90's suspects including Grant Hill, David Robinson, Charles Barkley and John Stockton. Of Course, the Michael Jordan is the most sought after card and fetches the highest price tag of $100 to $125 (checkout this overpriced BIN Jordan Court Masters). The Hardaway is the gem of the set for me. His cards are easily my favorite to collect (click here), and the Court Masters PSA Graded 10 is a very nice addition to my "Penny" Hardaway collection.

The other three cards in the set I've been able to secure are of Juwan Howard, Reggie Miller and Shaquille O'neal. I'm not a huge fan of graded cards. Basically, I only search out graded cards if I'm looking for a vintage card. The reason I have three graded cards in the start of this set is solely due to price. Most of the time there are 3 or 4 cards from the set listed at the same time by one seller. In order to keep shipping costs down or to get a jump on completing the set, collectors are driving the bid prices up by zeroing in on the multiple listings. I bought all four of these cards from sellers who only listed one Court Masters card at a time. Three of them just happen to be graded.

Either way, these cards are fairly rare with an insertion ratio of 1:180. The set isn't cheap either at $450. So I'll try to grab these awesome acetate cards anyway possible, graded/ungraded, trade/buy, whatever. I have a ways to go with 11 more cards in the set, but hopefully I'll be able to update any progress soon.

Image Courtesy of: kicksonfire.com

There's no questioning the design and performance of Nike's basketball kicks, but lets face it, a lot of Nike's success stems from its ability to pump out great marketing campaigns. Case and point, the mid 90's Lil' Penny character to market the Nike Air Penny line. I became a hoops fan because of "His Airness" way back when. I converted to Knickerbockerism somewhere toward the late 90's, early oughts, but somewhere between MJ and the Knicks conversion is Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway. I guess it's all tied together and makes sense. MJ tortured the Knicks and "Penny" tortured Jordan every now and then (Would've been longer if not for injuries.):

(Nike Promotional Poster)

The Nike Air Penny kicks themselves were truly a work of fashion and sneaker art. The swede texture and detailed stitching gave these kicks a refined looked that was only enhanced by the Orlando Magic blue and white colors. The visible Air Max heel sole screams 90's and the white outer sole was unmistakable going up and down a basketball court. These were obviously some stylish kicks, but they were also comfortable. I had a pair and really enjoyed the fit of the mid-sole. However, I did have one complaint. Not everyone gets a new pair of their own shows like Jordan or Penny would have before every game. The bottom tread on the white portion of the sole would tend to wear out and lose traction. Despite this performance flaw, these are some stylish kicks and just so happen to be rumored for a 2011 Spring retro release. You can bet this collector will be first in line to pickup my second par of Air Penny kicks in two decades.

- (Third part and RSS feed readers, click here to view videos/media)

1. Checkout those Nike Air Jordan XI's. The Jordan XI's might not only be the best Jordan kicks ever, but they might just be the best basketball sneakers of all time.
2. The 90's featured some great trading card technologies, but UD mastered the art of the hologram and subsequent holoview. The background on this card is truly awesome.
3. That's one cool picture of "His Airness"!

                                       '95 Topps Finest Refractor                '97 Z-Force Slam Cam

                                 '95 UD SP Championship Die-Cut      '99 TSC Triumvirate Luminescent

As many of you already know, I collect a lot of different players, sets and sports, but Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway inserts are right at the top of that long list of collections. I was a huge fan of the Nike Penny kicks back in the mid 90's as well as the Shaq/Penny led Orlando Magic teams. You can be sure I'll also do a Hardaway sneakers post to add to the Kicks Series, but that's for another time.

As for the cards, I'm not sure which I like best of the four. Each have their own attributes. The TSC Luminescent and Topps Finest Refractor look great throwing back all the colors of the spectrum. The Slam Cam card also has a nice shinny look to it as well (I am very slowly putting the '97 Slam Cam set together), but I really like the Championship Die-Cut card. "Penny" is sporting a pair of Nike Air Up Highs for the first time as a Nike spokesperson. Aside from the die-cut aspect of the card, Upper Deck also utilized a unique rough finish for the surface. It's really a beautiful card.

I have a few post series going currently that highlight some of the player collections I'm building and the "Penny" cards will be added to the series list. Luckily, I have a pretty decent collection already and wont have to wait until I can buy a new card like with the struggling Warren Spahn Series. So stay tuned for a few more Pennies For Your Thoughts and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

I love acetate cards. It's easily my favorite trading card technology even though I've been cheating on it with refractor cards lately. Acetate is basically the name given to cards that are produced by encasing or printing an image on a translucent piece of plastic. The heyday for acetate cards was in the mid 90's. Unfortunately, trading card companies have gotten away from this technology which really is a shame. No doubt, I'd love to see a company come out with some acetate inserts featuring some of the modern day superstars, but I'll continue to also hunt down some of the better acetate cards of the past.

One of my favorite acetate cards also happens to be #15 on my PC Top 25 Countdown. The '98 Metal Universe Titanium Anfernee Hardaway is really a tremendous card. It not only features Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, but Michael Jordan as well. Actually, many collectors pick this guy up because of MJ's presence. That's made the modestly valued card sell for almost double its $15 book value. It's not uncommon for this card to sell for $20-$25 dollars. That's pretty good during a time in the hobby when most cards fail to even reach their book values on the secondary markets.

For me, the Hardaway (with Jordan) is the gem of the set. I'm a huge Hardaway fan and collector, and consider this Metal Universe Titanium one of his best inserts. As many of you know, I'm a huge 90's insert nut as well. That means I'm currently attempting to put this awesome looking set together along with every other 90's insert set (or at least it seems like that).

I recently doubled my ’98 Metal Universe Titanium collection by adding the Antoine Walker, Juwan Howard (K. Garnett in background) and Kerry Kittles (A. Hardaway in background). I also have the Marcus Camby and Ray "Jesus Shuttlesworth" Allen cards from the set. I really like the J. Howard, but the Hardaway with MJ in the background is still my favorite of the six in my collection.

With six down, I have fourteen more to go. If I really concentrated my time and funds on putting the set together, I could probably put the rest of it together relatively quickly with the exception of the pricey Jordan and Kobe cards. I have too many sets I'm putting together right now though, so this one might take me some time. These Metal Titanium cards are fairly common. They were inserted into packs at a rate of 1:72. That’s really not too bad, and there usually are a few different auctions featuring these cards every week. Unfortunately, A few of the cards can get a little expensive (’98 Pippen Titanium completed eBay auction,’98 Jordan Titanium completed eBay auction, ’98 Rodman Titanium completed auction).

Although it's going to take me a while to put the entire '98 Metal Universe set together, I'm pretty happy to have what I consider the gem of the set in my collection. That's why this "Penny" Hardaway Metal Universe Titanium acetate card is #15 on the Hoopography Top 25 Countdown.