Thursday, August 27, 2020

2005 Topps All-American Gold Chrome Refractor #51 BCS Graded

      




Today's card is a 2005 Topps All-American Gold Chrome Refractor #51 of Herschel Walker, with the Georgia Bulldogs.

You'll notice you don't see many 3rd party graded cards at the Hoard.  I don't really care for the idea, for multiple reasons.

First, I just don't like a process where a one number(or even less) difference in grading can account for multiples of 10 or more in the value of a card.

With several of these cards coming across a so called expert grader's desk every day, they can't possibly have more than a minute or two to assign a grade and move on.

PSA and Beckett are probably the two biggest third party graders.  I've read plenty of stories where some has received a grade of say, 8 on a card, then resubmitted it, to another grader, or sometimes even the same grader, and it magically becomes a 9.

Secondly, the grading process is not cheap.  I'd rather spend that money on the cards themselves.

Finally, graded cards take up way more storage space. I guess you could make an argument regarding protection, but if you're careful, you can keep your raw cards in good shape.

So why did I add this graded card to the Hoard?  Simple.  I didn't have this particular Walker parallel.  This Gold Chrome Refractor is serial numbered to 55, with this example being #20.  The serial number can be seen on the card back, to the right of the cartoon.

I've been known to pick up graded cards I need, and crack open the case, but here, I left it as is.

I'm not sure exactly why, maybe because it's in a fairly high grade.

Here are a couple vertical views of the card in the holder:




Sunday, August 16, 2020

2011 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Veteran Signatures #SS-HW

      


Here is a nice looking Herschel Walker autographed card, which I'm pleased to add to the Herschel Hoard, after a lengthy search.

This is from the 2011 Upper Deck Sweet Spot set.  There was a set that contained NFL rookies of that year, and also a subset of college legends, called Veterans Signatures.  I believe there were 49 cards in that subset.

The cards are different in that there is a raised plastic helmet on the card surface, which each player has signed.

Each of the cards in this set is serial numbered to 50, with this example being #13.

The back of the card looks like this:


Herschel also made the cut in two other subsets.  The first is called Veteran Signature Variations. These cards are serial numbered to 30.   The second subset is called Rivalries Book Cards.  This set features two college stars from rival schools.  In Herschel Walker's case, he's matched up with Bo Jackson from Auburn.  The dual autographed cards are serial numbered to 25.

I hope to be able to add one or both of these card to the Herschel Hoard in the future.