BLACK FRIDAY COMC PICKUPS - PART 50: ANOTHER KING

NOW WE REACH THE OLDEST CARD I PICKED UP ON THE CARD BUYING BINGE. SADLY IT WASN'T A NINTEENTH CENTURY CARD THIS TIME. BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, IT IS A CARD OF AN ACTUAL KING RELEASED DURING HIS REIGN. THIS IS THE ROYALTY VERSION OF FINDING A T-206 HALL OF FAMER AT LIKE ONE-ONE THOUSANDTH THE PRICE. THIS ONE IS BEING POSTED OUT OF ORDER BECAUSE TOPICAL

1908 WILLS PORTRAITS OF EUROPEAN ROYALTY H.M. KING EDWARD VII

I GOT A WHOLE-ASS KING THAT'S 115 YEARS OLD FOR SIXTY CENTS, YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT WITH A STICK. IT'S A COOL BLACK BORDERED CARD TOO, I'VE COVETED MAYO CUT PLUG CARDS FOR A LONG TIME BUT THEY ARE SUPER PRICEY. EVEN THE REPRINT SET IS KINDA OUT OF MY PRICE RANGE.  ANOTHER COOL BLACK BORDERED VINTAGE SET IS THE OGDEN'S GENERAL INTEREST SET FROM 1901. I SEE A BUNCH OF THESE IN THE GREAT PRE-WAR CARDS BLOG AND REALLY LIKE THEM AS WELL. I HAD NO IDEA THESE WILLS'S CIGARETTES CARDS EXISTED UNTIL ONE FELL THE THE BOTTOM OF THE LOWEST PRICE ALGORITHM. I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF MONARCHY, BUT I LOVE FINDING CHEAP STAR CARDS IN THE BARGAIN BINS AND THE GUY WHO GOT THE HERO NUMBER 1 IN A SET DEDICATED TO ROYALTY DEFINITELY COUNTS

JUST LIKE THE NEW CHAP, KING ALBERT EDWARD 'BERTIE' THE VIITH WAS THE OLDEST MALE CHILD OF A QUEEN WHO RULED FOR A LUDICROUS AMOUNT OF TIME AND BECAME KING WHEN HE WAS OLD AND BUSTED. BERTIE LIKED THE WOMEN AND REPORTEDLY HAD AN AFFAIR WITH CAMILLA PARKER-BOWLES' GREAT GRANDMOTHER IF WIKIPEDIA IS TO BE BELIEVED, WHICH IT SHOULDN'T. IT ALSO APPEARS THAT HE HELPED POPULARIZE THE HORRIBLE COLLARS ON DRESS SHIRTS WE HAVE TO WEAR TO WEDDINGS AND JOB INTERVIEWS WHICH MIGHT BE THE WORST THING HE DID IN HIS REIGN. THERE ARE WAY WORSE MONARCHS OUT THERE AND AND HE HAS A WHOLE ERA NAMED AFTER HIM THAT IS VERY POPULAR ON PBS SHOWS. IF I MISSED ANY HORRIBLE DREADFUL EVIL THINGS HE DID, FORGIVE ME, I WROTE THIS IN A PANIC AT THE LAST MINUTE WHILE HOPPED UP ON INSTANT COFFEE. I ASSURE YOU I AGREE WITH HOW VILE AND ROTTEN HE WAS AND THAT WHATEVER HE DID WAS VERY BAD. ANYWAY, IT'S A COOL LOOKING CARD WITH A LOVELY BEAT UP BLACK BORDER. MAY KING CHUCKLES' REIGN BE AS PEACEFUL AS BERTIE'S, ALTHOUGH JUST LOOKING AT CURRENT EVENTS WE ALL KNOW THAT AIN'T GONNA FUCKIN HAPPEN

Two Amusing YouTube Sportkings Case Breaks

This break is epic. I'm going to use the "Steve Young Diaper" line every time I pull a crap jersey from now on.



It's actually kind of sad watching this guy go from being so excited about Dr. Price's new product to seeing his blood pressure rise after pulling the duplicate Poker player jersey card.



This one's a bonus, I found it searching for Sportkings on YouTube after I wrote the post. This guy busted six cases of the stuff. Check the sidebar, there's five more videos of busting Sportkings. I've only watched the first one so far.



These case breaks are pretty cool, it's like I get to bust some one else's wax while they pay. This kind of confirms what I originally thought about the product. The set's ok, the hits are nice, but no freakin' way is this stuff worth $400 and up for a pack. I am thinking about trying to pick up a Dominique card from the set if I can find one cheap. Heh. I just realized that the cost of all these boxes cost WAY more than my first four cars. I need to find 2 more case breaks so they all equal the price of the car I've been driving for the past 5 years. 140,000 miles or a near set of Sportkings and a bunch of random relic cards? You decide!

People Done Lost They Minds

Ya know that new Sport Kings retro set that's coming out? That really cool one with the autos and jerseys in every pack and such? Well, The Brill Report has some inside dope on the pack price. It's a wee bit on the high-end side. Like maybe FIVE HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS PER BLOODY PACK FOR SEVEN LOUSY CARDS high side. The thing ain't even licensed, they have to airbrush out all the logos or go to jail! Ok, maybe not jail, but anyone who charges 500 smackers for a pack of trading cards that isn't a) a 1952 Topps High Series pack b) an 86-87 Fleer Basketball pack c) a 1910 pack of Sweet Caporal cigarettes with WAGNER PITTSBURG peeking through the wrapper or d) a pack of 1988 O-Pee-Chee hand delivered by a 500 dollar hooker with a huge rack ought to go to worse than jail. Detroit, perhaps. Seriously folks, let's put this in perspective.

A quick search for "Sport Kings" among completed eBay auctions shows that for less than the price of one pack (that's 7 cards printed in 2007) you could have gotten:

An Original 1933 Sport Kings Ty Cobb graded PSA3

or

An Original 1933 Sport Kings Gene Sarazen graded PSA5

or

An Original 1933 Sport Kings Jack Dempsey graded PSA7 Near Mint.

or

An Original 1933 Sport Kings Max Baer and Joseph Lopchik and Howie Morenz and Ace Bailey and Carl Hubbell and Jack Dempsey and Bill Tilden (that's 7 cards printed in 1933)

And with all that you get some change back in the transaction. Still, I can see you're not convinced. "But Dayf..." you say, "Those cards are old, and not in mint condition, and these are brand new shiny packs with parallels and relics and autographs, oh my!" Ok then. One last whiff of reality for you.

Imagine you're this guy. You just bought 3 whole packs (21 cards!) of the most sought after super premiest, ultra dreamiest, pantsy creamiest high falootin top-end product on the market. Period. It's all yours. And there's only 4500 packs of this stuff in existence! You have .00067% of ALL the '07 Sport Kings cards IN THE WORLD in your hot little hands! However, for the same money or less you could have gotten a PSA6 Hank Aaron rookie card instead. Or a PSA8 Jim Brown rookie. Or perhaps a PSA5 Christy Mathewson T206 card. Or even a BCCG10 graded Michael Jordan rookie.

But if you really had your heart set on Sport Kings, then for just a little more than those three packs, you could have instead gotten an Original 1933 Sport Kings Babe Ruth. That's right, the Babe. Vintage. From 1933. Think about it.

Yet, I'll be willing to bet not one of those Sport Kings packs goes unsold. People done lost they minds.