Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ...

BETTER THAN LAST TIME ...
The Card: Ja Morant 2019-20 Panini Chronicles Luminance #165 -- Rookie Card
The Reason Graded: Somewhere in a past item in this series there's a Pink parallel of this cool card buried in a post as it was one of only a few bummers I've had with a low mark -- one that was too low for my taste as I had apparently missed a rough edge. This time? Well, this was the one I didn't send in back then and that's because I thought it had an edge spot that I thought might nix a top grade ... but I was wrong again. With this card having an iconic photo -- one that makes it easily his best RC to me (I'm merely a casual NBA ripper) -- I threw it in a bulk sub to see how I'd do. It's an absolutely epic photo ... even though it was a missed dunk.
The Grade: CSG 10

Reality Check: This is a card with a pretty big volume graded -- and a good chunk of those checking in lower than mine. All in all, it's a win that takes away the sting from last time.

Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

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Have you seen the latest cool or interesting items on eBay? If not, you just might see some of those here. We’ll spotlight some items that have a story or just wow us with how much interest it might have — and we’re not just talking baseball cards, either.

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NEW CHROME
The Item: Ken Griffey Jr. 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Aqua Wave Refractor
The Price: $249.95 Buy-It-Now (or best offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I don't think this price is a solid one -- but as an early arrival on eBay it might get hit as this massive set (700 cards) could create challenges of easily finding any one name you're hunting, let alone a parallel of an iconic player with a solid photo and a team-appropriate parallel color. All those variables are why Junior bats lead-off here. The parallel rainbow isn't quite as vast as was originally planned for this year-later, delayed-but-now-here release, but it is one that will still create collector challenges if they dare to do it all. (I think some people might try sets given the convergence of Chrome and a Heritage-ish feel.)
Similar Pieces: 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary on eBay
The BlowoutCards.com Hunt: 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary

Keep reading for a few more interesting items ...

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What: 2022 Panini Gold Standard football cards
Arrives: Aug. 24
Box basics: Five autos or memorabilia cards per seven-card box (12 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Gold Standard drops for another season with the familiar golden touches and plenty more to chase for rookies (last year's players on mock) as well as stars of the past and present.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The pack: 2022 Panini Prizm WWE wrestling cards (jumbo pack)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (hobby and retail)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The packs: Marvel Comics seven-book $10 retail repack (two)
Where to buy: Walmart and other retail outlets often have these ... BlowoutCards.com for Marvel cards
First Buzz preview: N/A

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery for what was in these ...

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: The National is coming, MLB breaks, a question for player collectors, a rare insert set and pondering MLB's best SP.

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What: 2022 Donruss Elite football cards
Arrives: Aug. 10
Box basics: Two autographs and one memorabilia card per 20-pack box (12 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Elite arrives for a new season with its familiar foilboarded approach, plenty of parallels and patterns as well as new Rookie Cards (last year's players in mocks here) and more to chase.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2022 Topps Series 1 baseball cards (hanger box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview with checklist/SPs/more: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

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TRISTAR will have plenty going on at The National this year with all of the autograph signers, but that's not all -- the company also will have bonus bags for collectors who buy boxes from dealers at the show and bring them to its booth to open them.

Selected retailers will have your shot at getting a TRISTAR bonus bag at the show.

Three TRISTAR Hidden Treasures products are eligible for this one and bonus bags will include shots at autographed memorabilia pieces from Ken Griffey Jr., Ben Affleck, Mike Trout, Ted Williams and Shohei Ohtani for starters.

And that's not all.

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CLICK HERE FOR THE CHECKLIST

National Baseball Card Day is going global ... and it's going beyond baseball.

Topps revealed on Wednesday that Aug. 6 will be International Trading Card Day in hobby shops around the world with Major League Baseball stars in play along with UEFA Champions League soccer stars and even the Garbage Pail Kids on tap.

What will it mean? Keep reading ...

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Update: The Card Vault was the winner.

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The Final Four have been revealed.

America's Best Card Shop -- a four-month long competition presented by Loupe, which has joined forces with industry leaders such as Topps, the Miami Marlins and Blowout Cards -- nears the final step in selecting a winner as the Final Four were revealed on Wednesday from more than 1,400 candidates.

They are Baseball Card Connection (Effingham, Ill), The Card Vault (Foxborough, Mass.), Honey Hole Collectibles (Escondido, Calif.) and Real Sportscards (Champlin, Minn.) The winner gets a grand-prize package worth more than $50,000 as well as an exclusive Loupe streaming deal.

>> CAST YOUR VOTE FOR THE WINNING SHOP RIGHT HERE

"We were overwhelmed by the response to Loupe Presents: America’s Best Card Shop," said Loupe founder and CEO Eric Doty. "A vast majority of the submissions came from customers who wanted to nominate their favorite LCS, which is exactly why we started this initiative. It proves that the foundation of the hobby is in community ties and the personal relationships that are forged over sports cards. It was really cool seeing how many collectors made the effort to help out the people who run their local card shop."

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What: 2022 Topps X Lauren Taylor baseball cards
Arrives: Today for the first week-long wave
Pack basics: Five cards and one chase card per single-pack box ... or five cards and one chase card per five-pack box.
Checklists: Wave 1 Wave 2
Order: Via Topps.com; Click here (when available)

What's buzz-worthy: Project 2020 and Project70 artist Lauren Taylor returns to cardboard with her own collection of cards released over at least two waves beginning today.

Keep reading for more info and a gallery for this one.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The pack: 2022 Donruss baseball cards (jumbo)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery for this one.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2022 Leaf Draft Football blaster box
Checklist: Click here
Where to buy: It's a retail release ... BlowoutCards.com for more 2022 football

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of images.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: A big stolen/lost card, talking Panini PhotoGenic, The National, MLB pulls, pro wrestling chatter and who in the NFL matters in 2032?

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What: 2022 Onyx Vintage College Football cards
Arrives: Oct. 28
Box basics: Two on-card autographs per four-card box (24 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Onyx enters its second season of college football releases in the new NCAA NIL landscape that allows players to make money on their name, image and likeness and that means the Vintage line is once again going back to school to present new Amateur Rookie Cards and autographs.

Keep reading for more info and a gallery of images.

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What: 2022 Topps Triple Threads baseball cards
Arrives: Dec. 16
Box basics: Four hits in every two-pack box (18 boxes per case via two inners)
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Triple Threads is back with its familiar format, a new batch of rookies and plenty of star power from the past and present all in one spot along with the return of All-Star Game Relics.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The pack: 2022 Panini Prizm WWE wrestling cards (jumbo pack)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (hobby and retail)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

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If you're looking to replace your unfulfilled redemptions at The National this year, Panini America recommends that you sign up for a spot now to save time at the show.

The National begins this time next month (July 27-31) in Atlantic City, N.J., and for non-expired redemptions that that have been in the company's system for at least 120 days Panini will be doing its annual trade-in at the show that helps clear out its  backlog faster.

The company noted registrations should be done at this link. 

"If your plans change and the time you initially reserved doesn’t work for you any more, you can always change to another open time slot," said the company's announcement. "But only if you pre-register between now and July 11. And only if you hold a non-expired redemption where the ticket has been open for a minimum 120 days."

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

>> Click here to buy cards on BlowoutCards.com

YourDozen.com is back for another week with free cardboard up for grabs to one lucky winner. This time, we're predicting Saturday MLB and WWE Money In The Bank action only and you have until 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday to get your picks and predictions in. (Do it now -- one of the tiebreakers is who entered first.)

This week's prize is a mystery once again and it could be revealed at any time between now and then. Or, it may only be known to the winner, which could be you ... if you take the minute to make 13 simple predictions at the link below.

>>> CLICK HERE TO ENTER <<< 

Did you get in on last week's action? Check the leaderboard and contact fish@blowoutcards.com to claim your prize if you're the winner.

How does it work? It's short and simple. Register and you'll get a dozen questions where your answers will be compiled and compared to others. Whomever gets the most correct gets the prize -- or at least a shot at it if there's a tie.

The goal with YourDozen.com? Have a little fun and get free stuff into some of your hands.

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Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

>> Click here to buy cards on BlowoutCards.com

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Remembering Collector's Edge, talking WWE chairs, The National, the prospects panic button, it's a Wander Franco card and "d0 Wonderlic scores affect card prices?"

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: The LeBron James Triple Logoman ends at $2.4M, new pulls, talking NFL parallels, MLB chatter, a WWE haul and more.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Logoman chatter, autographed books, NFL, a simple question, Star Wars Sapphire and The National.

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What: 2022 Pieces of the Past Historical Jumbo Edition
Arrives: July 18
Box basics: Four hits per 12-back box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Pieces of the Past takes on a big approach with more than 100 subjects, plenty of hits and even hot boxes appearing one per case.

Keep reading for more info and a selection of images.

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What: 2022 Topps Star Wars Chrome Sapphire Edition
Arrives: Sold out today on Topps.com (online-first release)
Box basics: Two parallel cards per box
Checklist: Click here
Order: Click here (when available)

What's buzz-worthy: The first two series of original Topps Star Wars cards from 1977 get Chromed with a Sapphire treatment in this release that will pack two parallels per box.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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