Here's this month's roundup of items that have recently caught my eye as a buyer ...

--

GOING FOR THE GOLD
The Card: Shotzi Blackheart 2022 Panini Select WWE Gold Wave Prizm (/10)
The Price: Around the price of a blaster box at arrival
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This brand is my favorite of the Panini years for WWE, and in the case of this star who I collect I have seemed to found her rarities on the affordable side at times with this release. This is a perfect example of that with it being one of the rarest parallels in there but it cost me not much more than the price of a retail box. It was arguably underpriced, so I grabbed it quickly when I spotted it. Will I grade it? It's a possibility, though this release's centering issues can create some surprises (that aren't totally surprises) as I found out with a different parallel of this card. Poke around in Making The Grade last month for an example.
Grab a box right here: WWE cards are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

Continue reading →

For years now, I've said that every card has a story ... but, every once in a while, a celebrity's meandering tale has chapters you might not even know about and, in a few really rare instances, there might even be some cardboard to go with it.

That's the case for me with this card this time -- I'm a grizzled veteran collector who's seen plenty, forgotten even more and collected all kinds of directions as players come and go in the traditional sports realm. TV shows and movies come and go on other cardboard, too, and times just sometimes change for collectibles ... just like my sometimes-meandering tastes. But this one? It was something that's right in my wheelhouse as a Shotzi Blackheart collector and it's totally new to me so here we are. She's a pro wrestler and a unique, self-made character if you don't know -- find her in WWE boxes here.

Not that long ago, I spotted a set that had me doing a spit-take, then a double-take -- and all of that was followed up by picking up my jaw off the floor, a click to buy and then hoping that the stuff would actually arrive. In short, it was something I'd never, ever seen before -- or even seen in a photo anywhere at any time. It's a card set for Creepy KOFY Movie Time, a watch-along late-night TV series that ran several years on KOFY Channel 20 in San Francisco that celebrated the retro horror movie genre with a surf music-serving house band called The Deadlies, as well as regular characters for bits, guests for other segments and then a regular go-go dancer ensemble on stage at all times called the Cave Girls, which marked Blackheart's TV debut. The series came to an end just as her indy wrestling career was taking off and eventually took her around the world with WWE.

The card set is from 2013 -- the year before Blackheart's pro wrestling debut in the indies with Oakland-based edgy and irreverent promotion Hoodslam where she was aligned with the Stoner Brothers (a parody of a famous team) under a Missy Hyatt-inspired moniker for a debut match on ... April 20. (Get it?) This name, though, which she has used otherwise for the rest of her wrestling career and to this day post-WWE, originated before that -- "Shotzi" comes from a nickname based off a character in a musical called Starmites (and her role in a high-school production) and "Blackheart" was an ode to Joan Jett and her band, The Blackhearts.

That's here captured in this set with some eccentric characters that you'd expect to find with the genre. It was a show broadcast from a "cave" under the TV studio with a demon (Balrok) and a zombie (No Name) as its hosts. This card set came two years before her attempt at WWE fame as part of its Tough Enough reality show -- she made it but then didn't when they found she had a health issue -- and then seven years before her eventual arrival on WWE cards (2020) as an NXT star. In between was a busy indy wrestling run where "The Ballsy Badass" left her red hair behind in favor of her trademark neon green and crafted her horned-helmet, tank-driving ways that she rode right into WWE unchanged.

Now, what's my convoluted headline and that Tom Cruise cameo all about?

Continue reading →

Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals is to rip a little less and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... 

--

GOING HIGH-END ... 
The Card: Bo Bichette 2020 Bowman Transcendent (/100) -- Rookie Card
The Price: Less than some retail mega boxes ...
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: While this comes from one of the most-expensive brands ever made and he's a past All-Star, a bad season apparently prompts easy sell-offs these days and in this case I was a buyer. While I'd like his RCs from these releases in slabs (the frames and Chome-like surfaces here can show smaller flaws easily) this one was too cheap to pass up in comparison to slabbed cards that weren't even in elite grades. This cost me half or even a third of common asking prices for the graded cards with no obvious, blatant flaw to make it feel like it would check in lower ... though it's not perfect. It's a perfect start for me here -- I'll likely add more if The Big Bo Slide of 2024 keeps going. Why? I collect Bichette.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this one, but MLB boxes are here.

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

Continue reading →

Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals is to rip a little less and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ...

--

THE FORCE WAS STRONG ... 
The Item: Daisy Ridley autographed Star Wars: The Force Awakens IMAX 3D ticket (/500) -- BAS Authenticated
The Price: Less than a couple Chrome boxes
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The next Star Wars film is in pre-production -- Star Wars: New Jedi Order coming in 2026 -- and it apparently pushes forward more than a decade from the last film with Rey Skywalker its main character. Hearing that much alone got me thinking I should really track down a Ridley auto now vs. later -- she has signed a lot but prices are perhaps softer now than they may have been in the past. Well, at least in theory ... she's seemingly always been expensive. So here we are. I had a few rules for looking here -- I wanted a full-name sig for sure, an on-card auto and a decent presence/feel for the item ... whether it be an item, an oversized photo or something else that might display a little better than merely a card. I wanted something clean and unique but also safe for a price that I'd stretch a little to get to since she's pricey. I opted for a seemingly Fanatics-adjacent seller where a number of big-ticket items reside without the massive prices that can come with those names and opted for this oversized commemorative ticket for an IMAX showing in Chicago -- only 500 numbered tickets made for each week of the promotion per location in late 2015 and early 2016 during its first run. I don't do a lot of tickets, but I liked the promotional twist and serial-numbered volume here (albeit it's only limited to 500 per venue) and then it being signed and encased gives it a nice feel in an oversized slab. This was substantially discounted by a third or maybe half of a typical price (they have a few) so I bit. Unsigned, it's not a pricey item but this felt cooler to me for its price than a lot of pricier certified auto cards.
Grab a box right here: Star Wars boxes at BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

Continue reading →

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 ...

THERE WERE NO GUARANTEES ... BUT I'LL TAKE IT
The Card: Joe Namath 1973 Topps
The Reason Graded: It's almost Super Bowl time and while I don't really collect any of the names who are going to be in this year's big game, I do collect names who helped make the big game in the past ... and this freshly graded card is a big one in my eyes. It's Namath's final card made by Topps during his career and I found it raw on COMC with is razor-sharp everything -- especially compared to other copies out there -- and decided it was not only grab-worthy, it was also slab-worthy with centering and only one corner with lightness and color immensely minor spotting on the front being the only issues. This one looked very strong for a vintage card so I submitted it for immediate grading directly via COMC, too.
The Grade: CGC 7

Reality Check: I had visions of a higher grade, but the card backs here have dark ink and corners on the backs can be spotty ... and I think that's a reason this one graded lower than I had hoped. But, at the same time, it's a pop-six card with only five CGC 8s grading higher -- and nothing above that. That actually puts this card among the elite for graded copies of this one ... and that's not a bad thing with my total cost here under $30. (The slight spot on the bottom left corner of the card bugged me ... until I realized it's some funk on the surface of the plastic slab, not the card or inside the slab. That's something I hadn't run into with CGC's generally crystal clear and clean slabs.)

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

Continue reading →

Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals is to rip a little less and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ...

--

IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON ... 
The Item: Paul "Bear" Bryant cut autograph (BAS authenticated)
The Price: Less than a lot of new hobby boxes.
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This pricier (for me) pick-up actually came in the last week of last year but I decided to hold onto posting it here until it's the right time -- and since football season is upon us, well, that means now's the time. In the fall of 2019, I bought a starter auto of this legendary Alabama Crimson Tide coach who before Nick Saban was easily the greatest in school history (right now, it's perhaps a toss-up) -- that one was an inscribed nickname-only auto -- for a lot less as it was a cut from a paperback book. This one? It's signed on thick, red paper (almost a light cardboard stock) and I know exactly where it came from -- a 1975 copy of his autobiography, Bear: The Hard Life and Good Times of Alabama's Coach Bryant. I have a clean-but-ratty copy of that book somewhere in my stash from an antiques store find 20-some years ago, but when this popped up from a West Coast mega-dealer of vintage (and selected modern-player) autographed stuff and plenty more I bit. I actually prefer the cut auto feel here in its case vs. the full book as it can be viewed when you find it vs. tucked behind a cover. A lot of Bryant autographs are found these days -- 40 years after his death -- are on signed copies of this book or on a style of autographed photo or two that is nearly always found inscribed and dated to fans or boosters from back in the day. While a photo (preferably slabbed) would be nice, this is a better, simpler item. Authenticated photos can cost less but look iffier depending on condition. I like this one -- and it's card-like feel -- and, heck, I might even do more. They are out there and findable.
Grab a box right here: College football boxes

Keep reading for more interesting items ...

Continue reading →

What: 2019 Historic Autographs Limelight Signatures
Arrives: Oct. 30
Box basics: Two celebrity autographs per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Historic Autographs turns its spotlight to celebrities from the past with a release that will include stars from music, movies and TV.

Keep reading for more information.

Continue reading →