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

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LEGENDARY INK
The Card: Ichiro Suzuki autographed 2001 Topps Rookie Card (BAS 10 auto)
The Price: Not as much as you might think ... but also not that cheap.
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: Clean copies of this iconic Topps flagship Rookie Card are not easy finds in general with the boxes and sets likely bricked now if they remain unopened -- that means the gloss will be snowy if you're lucky to peel the cards apart at all -- and then the dark green border and high-gloss on soft stock here is always going to be problematic. When I spotted this card among many where Suzuki has signed for literally years (Mill Creek Sports) without a premium price, I bit on this just before his Hall of Fame results hit. (We all knew he was going in ... but I didn't know if his prices were going to rise.) This copy is super clean vs. many cards out there with some very light roughness on maybe one edge and a light touch on the bottom-left corner ... but some of what's seen in my photo is just how the light is reflecting. I generally don't do a ton of bigger buys for my collection, but this one's cost wasn't that much more than some of the hot and plentiful new release hobby boxes. I went with a safe and iconic bet for my (for me) premium spend and went with the sure thing on an iconic card for a living legend. I pulled his ink once from an unlicensed release -- and it was in one of my earliest Making The Grade posts here -- but a signed RC means I'll likely never need to sweat his stuff again. (Might window shop, though, or bite if price is right for a nice certified.) One more fun part of my card? If that label had a simple added line of Beckett/Fanatics witnessed instead of signed for Mill Creek and then slabbed, the price likely would be double what I paid. I wouldn't pay that -- and this one is a win in my book.
Grab a box right here: Nothing for this ... but MLB cards are here.

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Vinyl toy blind boxes ain't seen nothing yet.

The memorable characters from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction will be hitting stores soon as 3-inch figures found in packs with a number of characters and a number of still-unknown chase figures to be found.

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The Upper Deck Gallery's latest offering includes some of the most-iconic characters in recent film history as part of a montage print for a film that would carry the same gravitas.

The film is Pulp Fiction and a pair of prints by artist Dave Perillo are the latest creation from the company in a series of pieces featuring past films and comic book characters.

“I was super excited for the opportunity to work on this project for the Upper Deck Gallery, especially since Pulp Fiction is one of my all-time favorite movies," Perillo said. "It is such a fantastic story filled with so many unique characters. I love how the movie has a retro quality to it without really specifying when it takes place. My goal was to translate that into the print, hopefully doing it justice.”

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