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Happy Frank Zappa day

dayf — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:09:00 +0000

Ok, so Frank Zappa day was actually August 9th 2007. I'm not three years late, I'm just trying to create a new holiday. It's not like there's a decent holiday in August anyway. So what if such a holiday has no commercial potential, you don't need greeting cards or presents or candy or a gigantic feast with all the family over to sit around in your underwear all day drinking coffee and listening to all six volumes of You Cant Do That on Stage Anymore.

This is also a good time to share a card I got from the Dean of card bloggers, Chris Harris. Back in April, he did a bad, bad thing. Something I still can't bring myself to write about. But mixed amongst the horrors was something beautiful.

A Stale Gum original Relic. What could this be???

FRANK ZAPPA'S VISAGE LOVINGLY PRESSED INTO A DISC OF UNITED STATES CURRENCY AND SUBSEQUENTLY EMBEDDED INTO A CARD!

There's even card back legalese!

Congratulations!
You have received an authentic Frank Zappa squished penny. This penny was squished on a% a& authentic I-95 rest stop in Maryland.
1/1

It's 100% real, yo!

I considered MSPainting a Zappa card for this post, but really, the unique squished penny relic stands on its own. In honor of the best relic card I've seen this year here's my favorite Zappa song, featuring Don Van Vliet on growls.

That's the best guitar solo you will ever hear right there, folks. Enjoy the third anniversary of Zappa Day and celebrate this day as is the custom of your people.

Trade with Chris from Stale Gum

jackplumstead — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:05:00 +0000

All the blogging comes down to just one moment, the day you receive an official 1/1 Stale Gum autograph isn't doesn't get better than this.

Chris of Stale Gum, the home of the acclaimed 'On location box-break', whether it be in a cemetery, a stadium, an industrial site, a windy corner or even in his car, they are well worth a watch.

But for me this is what blogging about collecting is about - making contact with other collectors and trading. The exchange of 'I have something that you would like and I am willing to part with it'. I tried trading on forums and didn't have a great deal of success, a made a few trades but none to the extend I have made while blogging. Bloggers are generous, consistent and you end up trading again and again.

I sent Chris some Panini World Cup sticker packets and an assortment of any football related product that my local store carried.

Chris sent back a large stack of Red Sox cards and,

A relic and an autograph,

A sampling of Upper Deck 'soccer' cards, including a relative unknown named David Beckham,

and something that you don't see very often in this country- a girl on a football card.

Thanks for the cards Chris, a much appreciated and enjoyable selection. Rest assured the Thierry Henry card you returned inscribed 'cheating bastard' has gone to a landfill somewhere.

The Great Rod Carew Degumming Experiment

deal — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:17:00 +0000

Last week I opened a 27 year old pack of O-Pee-Chee baseball Cards over at A Packed to be Named Later. As you would imagine the stale gum was affixed to one of the cards, which happened to be a Rod Carew All-Star card.

There were a couple of comments on ways to remove the gum. One was to put the card in the freezer overnight. This is how we remove excess wax from a candle encased in a glass, so the approach seemed reasonable.

Rod Carew in Plastic Baggy - excuse the shadow - once again I would have failed Photography 101.

Rod Carew in Freezer sharing a shelf with a frozen water bottle, which will be needed while attending a 100 degree humidyfest game later this week.

The Results.....

Voila - minimal scarring. The gum remained affixed but less so I think. I left the card in the freezer for a week, mainly because I forgot about it. It was still pretty well stuck - I then hit it with the wave for about 15 seconds. That loosened it a little further.

In the end I stuck a knife under the gum and pried it off. The card looks better than the scan, it isn't mint, but it is acceptable.

2010 Topps Experiment II: Update #4 (Bipped!)

Thorzul — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:35:00 +0000

The latest offering for this experiment came from one of the best blogs out there, Stale Gum. Over the past few months, I've been Bucked by Chris, then Brewered, and now he's sent me some 2010 Topps. I am cautious.

Things started off fine with a nice big stack of Topps. I needed somewhere in the area of 50 of the cards sent, so that's a nice chunk getting knocked out there.
The Favorites:
#350 Bernie's Bash Brothers
More celebrating from Prince and Braun. This is truly a golden age for Brewers collectors. Let's not forget the late-1990s/early-2000s when there almost wasn't a single insert card of a current Brewer produced.

#649 Casey McGehee
The rest of the world says his name as "McGee," but in my household that thing has three syllables.

A choo-choo!

Ohhhhhh nooooooo, the choo-choo is headed right for the water. Oh the humanity!

#492 Brian Wilson

Topps needs to do a special Brian Wilson card where he poses in a bathrobe, mimicking the Annie Leibovitz photograph. Too good of an opportunity to pass up.

There was also a big stack of Topps Attax, only one of which I am keeping.

Awww, crap, Bipped again! I know this calling card.

Dude sent 57 1987 Topps Andres Galarraga cards. I chose to make a tree out of them. Merry Christmas, motherfucker!

Wow, that was quite the kitchen sink post, as in everything but.
Thanks, Stale Gum.

Stale Gum and the VOTC- ONLY on Card Corner Club Radio

Rob- AKA "Guido" — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:34:00 +0000

Join Stale Gum's very own Chris Harris and myself this Friday at 11pm CST for a brand new episode of the Card Corner Club Radio Hour. Listen live, call in with a comment or question and win free swag.

Thank you to Chris for being willing to participate in my co-host's (Doug Cataldo) abscence. Chris has been a listener from the start as evidenced by his active participation in the show's live chat room.

So come join us as we talk about The Hobby we love.

Thank you to all that responded via this blog, Twitter and Facebook.

A bipping sponsored by Stale Gum

Covered in Wrappers — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:06:00 +0000

Some of you have have read Chris' blog asking for an all out bip attack/war of some sort against some bloggers, myself included. I was a little worried how this was going to turn out, and since I already have plenty of crappy cardboard I wasn't looking forward to 200 Bip Roberts cards in my mailbox.

It didn't exactly work out that way, and honestly I think this was the best bipping EVER. I would like for someone to top a bipping of this caliber. Here are the cards, which have made nice new home in my PC.

2009 Topps Unique Prime Patches Robbie Cano /99

Thanks to Stale Gum for the BEST bipping. The Cano card made my day.

A Gentleman’s Bip: Stale Gum Edition

Thorzul — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:48:00 +0000

Follow Up to “How Relic Cards Should Be Made”

Play at the Plate — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:41:00 +0000

A few days ago I posted this about how manufacturers might get collectors excited about relic cards again. Chris from Stale Gum correctly noted that one of the cards I mentioned, the Scott Rolen E/X Wall of Fame card, didn't actually contain a piece of wall from the Vet in Philly. It was a piece from Milwaukee County Stadium. I later found another card from that same release, Jim Edmonds of the Angels, with the same blue piece of wall. I forgot to scan it, but it looks just like the piece from the Rolen card. While I appreciate knowing which stadium the wall piece is from, I don't like the way they used it for other players from other teams. A generic piece of wall, with no connection whatsoever to the player on the card just doesn't make sense to me. It would be like using a Matt Kemp bat to make bat "relics" of any player you want. Sure, it's game used, but not attached to anyone but Matt Kemp.

It reminds me of all the ridiculous relics that show a player with one team and the jersey piece is from a former team.

Here is another example of a card that shows where the relic originated.

This is a 2001 Leaf Limited Todd Helton Lumberjacks bat card, #354/500.

They show the actual bat the ultra small piece of bat came from and I think they could have gotten 1000 or more bat pieces this size out of that bat. At least with the photo, I know they had access to a Todd Helton bat to get this piece. Still, I'd like to know a little about the bat like when it was used.

The card manufacturers have to do something to give some value to the "hits" they put in the products. Knowing more about the hits we pull is one way to do that.

We’re not going to take it anymore!

Chris Harris — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:37:00 +0000

New Enemy, New Assignment!

Thorzul — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:15:00 +0000

The timing couldn't have been worse. My announcement regarding the new Beckett wrapper assignment was posted within minutes of the breaking news regarding the Upper Deck case. These things happen.

Thursday afternoon, Chris Harris from Stale Gum contacted me with a suggested change in our plan of action. Working together, we hammered out a plan regarding a new target: Major League Baseball Properties.

Much has been written about the recent proceedings, so I don't feel a need to go into specifics here. I'll get down to brass tacks. Here is what we need you to do.

1. Print out the MLBP Manifesto below. I believe you will find it competently crafted.

2. Sign the Manifesto and add your blog address, if applicable.

3. Gather any number of 2010 Upper Deck cards, and enclose them with the Manifesto in a package sent to:
Major League Baseball Properties
Attn: Ethan Orlinsky
245 Park Ave
New York, NY 10167-3000

Send this as soon as possible. MLBP needs to know how much of a slap in the face this is to collectors. They are going to get, as Chris put it, "Upper Decked." (No, not the kind you're thinking of.)
Cancel the Beckett action, there's a new enemy worth our ire.