Excitement Finding Elusive Low Dollar Cards to fill out PC

jlvette50

Hi All,

I was elated to see a card that I needed for my Longoria PC come up on Ebay in an auction last week. Starting bid was .99. I was able to get it for that price. It wasn't a rare card or anything, but one that I haven't come across before. It is a short print #'d to 99. In my stage of collection, it is very rare for me to find a card that I need that won't cost me decent coin now.

Thought I'd share here. It is the 2013 Topps Camo #103 card shown below.

Here is the rest of the series that I own. The rarest is the SN/5 mini black card. Only missing two 1/1's and the Topps Factory Set Orange #'d to 230. Hopefully that will show up next for me!

Getting this card that was #'d to 99 made me wonder how many SN 99's I have in my collection and how many I need to obtain to have all of the Longo's numbered to 99. (Focused on Longo's from 2006 thru 2015) I've been using the Beckett Player checklist as my main source of keeping track of my collection. I have 155 unique Longo cards numbered to 99 and I'm missing just 15. Here's the list of the ones I'm missing. I truly have my doubts that a couple of these actually exist, but nonetheless, I'll keep looking for them.

2009 UD A Piece of History Franchise Members Quad Red #FMKCLU Scott Kazmir/Carl Crawford/Evan Longoria/B.J. Upton
2009 Upper Deck Gold #360 Evan Longoria
2011 Bowman Platinum Relic Autograph Blue Refractors #EL Evan Longoria
2012 Topps Tribute Autographs #EL1 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps 11x17 My Hero #25 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Camo #330 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Trajectory Jumbo Relics #TJREL Evan Longoria/99
2014 Topps Triple Threads Unity Relic Autographs #UAJREL Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Upper Class Relics #UCREL Evan Longoria
2015 '52 Topps 5x7 Update #20 Evan Longoria
2015 Bowman Green #77 Evan Longoria
2015 Rays Topps 5x7 #250 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Allen and Ginter 10x14 #38 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Archives 5x7 '68 Topps Game Inserts #28 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Gypsy Queen 10x14 #94 Evan Longoria

Thanks for looking!

doubledragon

Very cool card. I love stories like this. I hope you find the others you need. Don't give up, you'll find them. Sometimes the waiting is the hardest part.

Stone193

Thanx for the post Jeff.

I enjoy where people are looking for variations of the same thing.

In my case, it's PEP Babe Ruth rings from around 1957 or so.

Just think? It's a reason to live!

jlvette50

@doubledragon said:
Very cool card. I love stories like this. I hope you find the others you need. Don't give up, you'll find them. Sometimes the waiting is the hardest part.

So true! Thanks DoubleDragon.

@Stone193 said:
Thanx for the post Jeff.

I enjoy where people are looking for variations of the same thing.

In my case, it's PEP Babe Ruth rings from around 1957 or so.

Just think? It's a reason to live!

Indeed! I enjoyed your PEP thread very much!! Cool stuff.

krisd3279

Wow! There are a lot of variations there!

Here is my rainbow of 2018 Triple Threads Donnie Baseball. I started on these a few months ago. I'm missing the ruby 1/1, amber #/199 and printing plates. I don't hold out much hope for the 1/1 or printing plates. I'm sure the amber will turn up eventually.

craig44

I love parallels!!

lawnmowerman

@craig44 said:
I love parallels!!

Indeed.
My wife is always ribbing me about them saying I'm a giant nerd haha. " So you have the base, the refractor, xfractor bla bla bla. What she doesn't realize is the fact that she's a giant nerd too because she knows all the terms and lingo😂

mrmopar

I have to believe many of the low $ cards with print runs under 100 copies are just buried in collections, sometimes owned by people who could care less and have never sold or taken the time to realize that they might have something very desirable to a couple collectors. I may be guilty of that myself, as I have never really sold singles and have 1000s of semi and star cards that were sleeved and boxed and never touched again.

I am amazed at how hard some cards #'d to 50 or 100 are to find later on. I realize in the big picture, a 50 card print run isn't much to satisfy the collecting interests of potentially thousands, but I still don't believe all copies are locked up in collections that are not for sale. Then again, you have the hoarders too that snap up multiple copies of certain for whatever reason they have, making it harder to find 1 when you need it for a set or a type card. I am guilty of this too in some cases when it comes to Steve Garvey.

jlvette50

@krisd3279 said:
Here is my rainbow of 2018 Triple Threads Donnie Baseball.

Great Cards! Nice runs! Thanks for posting.

@mrmopar said:
I have to believe many of the low $ cards with print runs under 100 copies are just buried in collections, sometimes owned by people who could care less and have never sold or taken the time to realize that they might have something very desirable to a couple collectors.

Great point!! I always consider the SN's to 25 and below to be the ones that are hard to find, but when you get right down to it, 99 printed cards are really not all that much in totality. Especially as time goes on, it makes sense that these are also hard to find.

frankhardy

Congratulations on finding that card. I know exactly what it is like to search and search for years for a seemingly common card and yet not be able to find it. I searched for several years for a 2001 Topps Chrome Refractor Fernando Tatis.

That card is literally less than $3 value and yet I looked for seven or eight years if memory serves me correctly. I searched eBay and every card website I could find nearly every day. This card was for my Cardinals game set collection. Then one day lo and behold I found a lot of about 100 or 150 cards from the same set. Sure enough the Tatis card was in the lot and I was able to get the entire lot for $150. I turned around and sold the rest of the cards for $150 the next week so I was able to get the Tatis card for free basically.

Ironically about two or three weeks later I was able to find a 3 card uncut strip that included the Tatis and I purchased it for around $30. Since then I have still kept that card in my saved searches on eBay and not a single one has come up for sale since then. And that is probably been 3 years ago.

I still find it amazing to think about that a card that should be so common is like finding rare treasure. This card is not serial numbered. It is not a parallel refractor or anything like that. It is simply your basic refractor. The only thing I would add is that in 2001 they were called Retrofractors because the backs were made to look like old school cardboard.

doubledragon

I have to say, I love parallels myself. It gives you something extra besides base cards to hunt for. Plus, a lot of the paralells have really cool looking designs that you don't see with base cards. You get a really good feeling when a low serial numbered card pops out of a pack.

AFLfan

Very cool stuff. Lacrosse doesn't have a lot of parallel issues, but there are a few...

jlvette50

Knocked a couple more low dollar ones out in the past few weeks. Funny, seems to come in bunches. I think it's been well over a year where I hadn't been able to find any, and found three in a about a week or two span. Now I have 157 out of 170 Longo cards #'d to 99. (2006 thru 2015)

Here's the 2014 Topps Trajectory Jumbo Relics #TJREL Evan Longoria/99 and the 2014 Topps Camo #330 Evan Longoria. Got both for $1 each.

Here's the 13 left that I'll keep looking for.

2009 UD A Piece of History Franchise Members Quad Red #FMKCLU Scott Kazmir/Carl Crawford/Evan Longoria/B.J. Upton
2009 Upper Deck Gold #360 Evan Longoria
2011 Bowman Platinum Relic Autograph Blue Refractors #EL Evan Longoria
2012 Topps Tribute Autographs #EL1 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps 11x17 My Hero #25 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Triple Threads Unity Relic Autographs #UAJREL Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Upper Class Relics #UCREL Evan Longoria
2015 '52 Topps 5x7 Update #20 Evan Longoria
2015 Bowman Green #77 Evan Longoria
2015 Rays Topps 5x7 #250 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Allen and Ginter 10x14 #38 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Archives 5x7 '68 Topps Game Inserts #28 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Gypsy Queen 10x14 #94 Evan Longoria

jlvette50

Got one more recently, the 2015 Topps Archives 5x7 '68 Topps Game Inserts #28. Now leaves me 12 to go! Again, pretty sure some of these don't exist, but I could be wrong and I'll keep looking for the remainder! I've never seen the real oversized cards, 11x17 or 10x14. Anybody else seen these or have any?

Here's what I have left to look for.

2009 UD A Piece of History Franchise Members Quad Red #FMKCLU Scott Kazmir/Carl Crawford/Evan Longoria/B.J. Upton
2009 Upper Deck Gold #360 Evan Longoria
2011 Bowman Platinum Relic Autograph Blue Refractors #EL Evan Longoria
2012 Topps Tribute Autographs #EL1 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps 11x17 My Hero #25 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Triple Threads Unity Relic Autographs #UAJREL Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Upper Class Relics #UCREL Evan Longoria
2015 '52 Topps 5x7 Update #20 Evan Longoria
2015 Bowman Green #77 Evan Longoria
2015 Rays Topps 5x7 #250 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Allen and Ginter 10x14 #38 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Gypsy Queen 10x14 #94 Evan Longoria

JoeBanzai

It's always fun to not only pick up a needed card, but to get one for .99 makes it that much sweeter!

72skywalker

I know how everyone feels. I have been looking for a Whitey Ford 2015 Gypsy queen SP since 2015. I usually can pick them up at the local card show as they are released but I missed that one. I see them on Check out my cards.com but they are asking $15.00. It is only a $2-4 card. I was at a flea market last week and a guy had a bunch of cards separated out by player. He had a Whitey ford section (all modern cards of his, no vintage) but that card was in there. He was asking $1. I was stoked.

jackstraw

What is "TCDB"" in your signature?

jlvette50

@jackstraw said:
What is "TCDB"" in your signature?

Stands for Trading Card Database. I track/scan my collection there. (tcdb.com) If you search for "Longoria" there, most all of my cards have been scanned in there.

jackstraw

@jlvette50 said:

@jackstraw said:
What is "TCDB"" in your signature?

Stands for Trading Card Database. I track/scan my collection there. (tcdb.com) If you search for "Longoria" there, most all of my cards have been scanned in there.

Thanks!

jlvette50

Good mail day today. Got another SN99 off the list. Got 159 out of 170. Eleven left to go!!
2015 Bowman Green #77 Evan Longoria

2009 UD A Piece of History Franchise Members Quad Red #FMKCLU Scott Kazmir/Carl Crawford/Evan Longoria/B.J. Upton
2009 Upper Deck Gold #360 Evan Longoria
2011 Bowman Platinum Relic Autograph Blue Refractors #EL Evan Longoria
2012 Topps Tribute Autographs #EL1 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps 11x17 My Hero #25 Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Triple Threads Unity Relic Autographs #UAJREL Evan Longoria
2014 Topps Upper Class Relics #UCREL Evan Longoria
2015 '52 Topps 5x7 Update #20 Evan Longoria
2015 Rays Topps 5x7 #250 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Allen and Ginter 10x14 #38 Evan Longoria
2015 Topps Gypsy Queen 10x14 #94 Evan Longoria

hyperchipper09

Congrats on the Longoria hunt @jlvette50 . Yes. I love doing it. COMC & eBay are a huge help. Personal low cost elusives I've picked up on the journey:
Hardees 92/93 UNCSched.








Pacific Franz Tez

jlvette50

@hyperchipper09 said:
Congrats on the Longoria hunt @jlvette50 . Yes. I love doing it. COMC & eBay are a huge help. Personal low cost elusives I've picked up on the journey:

Thanks!! Awesome cards, love the Watters ND. Thanks for sharing!