Ncaa Basketball 2011: dwight howard

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Mail Week April 11 - 15: Cool Kobe and Jordan Inserts, etc.

dwight howard

In this mail week, I got a Shaq refractor and Dwight Howard wood auto for my main PC and cool Kobe and Jordan inserts for my side PC. Also got a nice patch for my trade baits.

Check out my mail week for April 11 - 15.

Just click on the image for a larger view.

The best card from this mail week is a Kobe Bryant 96-97 Topps Draft Redemption Redeemed card.

I also got my first ever graded Kobe Bryant rookie card: a 96-97 Topps RC graded BGS 9.5 (Gem Mint).

Another Kobe card I got is this cool 98-99 Skybox Thunder Flight School insert with a lens viewer.

Some Kobes are a 97-98 Hoops High Voltage and 97-98 Topps Inside Stuff.

On to the Michael Jordans.

I got these base cards and inserts:

94-95 Emotion #100 - MJ is wearing a jersey numbered #45 (check out the reason behind it)
93-94 Finest #1 - from the first ever premium basketball product
1996 SPX Record Breakers - hologram card where MJ actually winks at you
93-94 Upper Deck Triple Double
95-96 Finest Dish and Swish - Scottie Pippen is at the front (Dish). MJ is the Swish.

For my Shaq PC is a 05-06 Topps Chrome Refractor and for my Dwight Howard PC is a 05-06 UD Hardcourt Hardwood Signatures where the autograph is on wood.

Then, for the trade bait: a 09-10 Crown Royale Rookie Royalty Materials Prime patch card of the top three rookies from the class of 2009, Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings. Just leave a comment here if you have something to trade for it.

My White Whale: 1/1 Dwight Howard Autographed Jersey Printing Plate

dwight howard

In the world of sports cards, a white whale is a card that you have decided to be a must have for your collection. It might not be valuable to others but for you, your collection is incomplete without it.

However, acquiring it is very difficult because it seldom comes up and chasing that card might sometimes take you years.

Since I started collecting Dwight Howard in 2006, I've been wanting to add a card serial numbered 1/1 to my collection. Yes, a card that is the only one of its kind in the world. Although others might say that a 1/1 is not so rare nowadays, acquiring one might be difficult especially if the player featured in the card is Dwight Howard. Howard belongs to the upper-tier of NBA players and there are actually many collectors wanting his picture on a cardboard.

After five years, finally got my white whale. It's not just a simple 1/1 base card. It's a 1/1 with pieces of Dwight Howard's game-used jersey and his autograph. It might be on an ugly sticker but I'll still take it anytime.

This was included in last week's mail.

Dwight Howard 07-08 Topps Triple Threads Auto Jersey Printing Plate 1/1

FRONT

BACK

The card is a printing plate used to print other cards like the one shown below it which is serial numbered 1/9 and was included in my March 21-25, 2011 mail week.

NEXT TARGET: That elusive Shaquille O'Neal white whale - an autographed 1/1 or a 90's low serial numbered parallel card.

Mail Week March 28 - April 1: 1 of 1 Inserts and Autos, Carter Exquisite and Jordans

dwight howard

I have been literally flooded with mails this month.

While I really like my March 21-25 mail week because of the rare Shaq 90's inserts, nice Dwight Howard autos and Kobe 2nd year inserts, my mails for the past week is not too shabby either because, finally, my Dwight Howard white whale has arrived.

Check out my mail week for March 28 - April 1.

The centerpiece is of course the card at the center, a 07-08 Topps Triple Threads Printing Plate Jersey Auto White Whale 1/1.

Next one I got is this cool rookie card of Dwight Howard that contains a beautiful piece of patch.

However, that same patch is the reason why this only got a BGS 6 grade (Excellent-Mint). You see, the thickness of the patch made creases at card's surface as shown in red circles below.

Nevertheless, it still is a beautiful card. In fact, I plan to acquire as many rookie cards of this kind as I can from now on. The card is serial numbered out of 350 so, there are still 349 out there.

On to the Michael Jordans.

I can't really afford an original rookie card so I just have to settle with the Michael Jordan 86-87 Fleer Rookie Card Reprint. Or fake if you want to be more technical.

Also to be added to my Jordan side PC are these hologram cards from 96-97 Collector's Choice. This is an oddball set I must say as they are released outside the US. Becket value for this Jordan's Journals set is $50.

I also happened to chance on this beautiful set from the same seller, southsidestore1 of eBay so I also bought it to take advantage of the combined shipping. This is a 95-96 Fleer Flair Perimeter Power set featuring the top 15 outside shooters during the early 90's including the likes of Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen, Gary Payton, Anfernee Hardaway and Clyde Drexler.

For my Shaq PC is this 99-00 Black Diamond FINAL CUT parallel card serial numbered 001/100. Yes, the first card in the series so this is somewhat special. It also happens to be my first Shaq card to have a 001/** serial number.

Just a side note, my Shaq card to feature the last number in a series is this: 1995 Classic Five Sport Hot Box Autographs 655/655!

Speaking of special serial numbered cards, I was able to buy this lot at hobbykings composed of:

2003-04 UD Manu Ginobili Green Reflections #20/100 - Ginobili's jersey number
2009-10 Absolute Steve Nash Spectrum #1/25 - first card in the series
2009-10 Absolute A.J. Price Spectrum #25/25 - last card in the series
2009-10 Absolute Kevin Love FF #42/100 - Love's jersey number
2007-08 Stadium Club Jason Kidd jsy #280/499
2003-04 UD Reflections Jason Kidd Gold #47/50
2005-06 Finest Refractor Chris Bosh 323/349

What's even more special with the Ginobili and Love cards is that they are serial numbered to both player's respective jersey numbers.

Cards like this typically carry some premiums as they are considered as 1/1s by hardcore player collectors.

Last but not the least with this mail week is the redeemed card for a 09-10 Exquisite Collection Vince Carter Buyback auto.

I redeemed it last July 22, 2010 along with 2 Dwight Howards and 1 Chris Paul. So after 8 months, Carter finally signed but not Howard and Paul. :-(

So there you go. I hope you enjoyed my mails as much as I do.

Mail Week March 21-25: Shaq RARE Inserts, Dwight Howard Autos and Kobe 2nd Year Inserts

dwight howard

I think this is one of my best mail weeks because I have added something to my Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard main personal collections as well as to my Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan side PCs.

Check out my mail week from March 21 - 25, 2011.

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BACK

Finally, I got my first Flair Legacy parallel card. This is from the first edition, the 96-97 one and is numbered 058 of 150.

I also got the 97-98 Flair Row 0 card which makes my 97-98 Flair base set complete from Row 0 to Row 3. It is numbered 179 of 250. Check out my 97-98 Flair rainbow set.

The 95-96 Flair Hot Numbers is actually my second one. I decided to get multiple copies of this card because it is really beautiful and sells well. Good as a trade bait as well.

Thanks to irv*2010 of eBay for these beautiful cards.

The top card is a rookie-year card, 04-05 SP Signature Edition Rookies Incorporated. This is only graded as 8 due to an 8 grade on the edges and 7.5 on the corners. Still, the autograph is graded as 10 and is on-card. This is only RARE as only 100 cards were ever produced.

The bottom card is from 07-08 Topps Triple Threads which features 3 jersey swatches, one of which is a patch. The autograph is sticker but since this is pretty limited and is the first numbered (1/9), I will take it anytime.

Thanks to dhmhoops of eBay.

Bought this lot from kamino of NBA Cards Philippines primarily for the 2nd-year Kobe inserts.

The shiny Planet Metal insert is really beautiful to look at in person.

Shaquille O'Neal / Dwight Howard 08-09 SP Rookie Threads Dual Threads Patch Card

dwight howard

Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard are two of my most favorite NBA players.

Both have similar power games, are funny, charismatic and both donned the Superman persona.

A dual autographed card featuring these two is my dream card. However, that will remain a dream because none have been produced. Blame that for Shaq being a Topps exclusive while Howard, an Upper Deck exclusive.

With Panini being the sole manufacturer of NBA cards nowadays, it might still be possible. For the meantime, I settled for the next best card available, a dual patch card.

This is my first patch card featuring them both and I intend to collect as many as I can.

Shaquille O'Neal / Dwight Howard 08-09 SP Rookie Threads Dual Threads patch card.

Both patches are multi-colored with multiple breaks. It's more beautiful in person.

Got this off eBay.

My Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Buyback Redemption Cards

dwight howard

The 2009-10 Exquisite Collection was Upper Deck's last Exquisite release (for now at least) after Panini was able to grab hold of the NBA sports cards licensing monopoly.

In the product, Upper Deck bought back old Exquisite cards from the previous releases and have them signed by various players.

Redemption cards were then issued for these buybacks.

I was able to purchase four of them off eBay:

DWIGHT HOWARD 2009-10 NBA EXQUISITE 08/09 BASE CARD PARALLEL NO #ING CD#3

DWIGHT HOWARD 2009-10 NBA EXQUISITE 06/07 BASE CARD NO #ING CD#30

CHRIS PAUL 2009-10 NBA EXQUISITE 06/07 BASE CARD NO #ING CD#27

VINCE CARTER 2009-10 NBA EXQUISITE 06/07 BASE CARD NO #ING CD#25

I then set to redeem them at Upper Deck's redemption page.

After some simple steps, I was given a listing of the redemption cards in your account with Status for each player as: Athlete committed to signing soon, please be patient.