Question:

I pulled two Case Keenum 2012 Bowman Football cards from the same blaster. I am not sure which one is the base and which is the variation though. Can you help?

Answer:

Nice cards. The base card is the one where he is holding the ball up by his ear in the white jersey. The variation is the dark jersey. Let me know if you have any other questions. Here is a list of the photo variations from 2012 Bowman Football.

Question:

1). I decided I want to send a few cards to Beckett and I saw on your video that you also sent cards into Beckett before. My cards are in hard plastic top loaders to keep them protected. Can I send the cards I want to have graded in these top loaders or should I send them in a durable sleeve?

Answer:

From what I've been told is that 'normal' or cards that aren't overly thick are best sent in via a Card Saver I or Card Saver II type case. If the card is too thick or cannot work in that case, you can send it in another case.

Question:

2). On the Beckett submission sheet, it says Qty. when filling out information on the cards you want to be sending. What does that mean exactly?

Answer:

That means if you were to send in multiple versions of the same card. For example if you had 10 of the exact same card, instead of listing them all .. you can just write 10 in the QTY. If you only have 1 card, you can just put a 1 in that box.

Question:

3). Below the filling out section on the form, there are two boxes with statements asking if you just want your cards just to be authenticated. Should I mark one of these boxes or just ignore it?

Answer:

Typically this is just for people who want the card to go in an "Authentic" slab ... and NOT be graded. This option is sometimes used by collectors who have a really nice card, but not in great condition. For example, you might have a really nice vintage Mickey Mantle card that is not in great condition. The card could be fake, so to authenticate it you send it in to Beckett and they slab it "Authentic' without grading it. It makes highly faked cards easier to sell. You can do the same on an autograph card...or other cards. You'll want to ignore this feature for now if this doesn't fit into what you are looking for.

Question:

Hello I am a new collector I currently don't have much but I want to sell some things, any advice would be appreciated.

Answer:

Hi, thanks for the e-mail. eBay has long been one of the best places to sell cards because it has so many buyers. The fees run at close to 20 - 30% after the sale, so you'll want to keep that in mind. Considering you want to start small - that's a good thing, and I would just start by experimenting with different cards you have. Just make sure you always ship things out quickly and you shouldn't have too many problems selling on eBay.

If you can't sell on eBay, or want to try something different, the forums and other places I have listed on this page should help you out too: http://sportscardradio.com/index.php/sites-we-like

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

Question:

I pulled a Buster Posey red championship materials card from 2012 Topps Tribute Baseball, which are suppose to be numbered to 10. Oddly mine was numbered 1/4. I never heard of this and was wondering if you did.

Answer:

Nice card. The only thing I can think of is they only had a limited amount of a Posey jersey left - and they just didn't have enough to complete the red parallel #/10. Perhaps some other players had the same issue - but the Posey is the only one I've heard of.

That's the only thing I can think of. Topps customer service will probably not be aware of such a thing - as the parallels with print run were not listed on their checklist and by and large that is the only thing the customer service reps go off of.

Question:

If I want to buy a box for my kid and I want a particular player, can I buy a box that tells me what players might be inside? Does the serial number on the front of the box tell you?

Answer:

From what I know, there is no 100% way to know what players are contained within a box. While more popular players tend to have more cards, you cannot tell if they are in boxes based on the serial #. My guess is that serial numbers on boxes is more used for licensing and inventory control more than anything - and is for the most part random.

I would suggest checking out card stores/shows, eBay.com or COMC.com for buying single cards of a particular player for your son. If he wants a box of cards, explain to him that the contents are random, and he might not get any of his favorite players, but sometimes the mystery of that makes opening the box fun.

Hope that helps, and if you have other questions, please let me know.

Question:

Is Panini not making gridiron football for 2012?? I cant seem to find anything on this set.

Answer:

Thanks for the e-mail, and good question

Last year, Gridiron Gear came out during December, so it's still a little early to know if it got bumped by another set. Also, I think Panini only has announced a handful of sets, so more should be on the way as Football season/practices are beginning. Keep you eyes open, my guess is you'll hear something by August if they are releasing the set in 2012.

Hope that helps, thanks for the e-mail

Update: Panini posted this preview on June 29, 2012

Question:

Do you know what the print run was for the normal Autographed cards in 2005 Bowman Chrome Baseball?  Also, did Justin Verlander get a Superfractor from that set?  I have read that one was not printed for him.

Answer:

Great question, thanks for the e-mail.

I sure wish I was better at setting up the math problem, because I think you could get much closer to the right answer. If you know anyone, like a math teacher or someone that's good at solving stuff like that, I suggest you run the numbers by them and see what an expert says.

However, I'll give you the facts I gathered, and it might help you get close to the right answer with a better number cruncher.

23 Autographs in the set
1 Per Box
12 Boxes Per Case

We know each player has:
500 REF
225 XRef
150 Blue
50 Gold
4 Plates
1 Superfractor
------
930 Signatures Just For The Parallel Sets Needed

I'm going to assume that the base auto's are between 2-3x's harder to pull than the average parallel card. That wold mean between 1,860 - 2,790 exist. If I have time, I'll try to find a case break, or a written review of a case break - then you could see how many parallels vrs regular auto's were pulled. If you pull 6 parallels and 12 regular auto's in a case, you could assume that they are 2x's easier to pull than normal cards. The more cases you could see opened the better.

You could run those numbers by a better mathematician and they could probably help you better than I could.

As for the Justin Verlander, I went to Beckett's website and searched for "2005 Bowman Chrome Justin Verlander" and they have an autograph Superfractor listed. Not that every piece of information is correct on their website, but I would think that a key card like that one - if there was concrete proof that it didn't exist, they wouldn't list it on their website. There are so many collectors, many who buy cards and never sell them. I know a guy that's literally had to move to a bigger house because he had too many 3,200 ct boxes in his house. My guess is that the Justin Verlander auto superfractor card is sitting in one of those collections - or even still in a pack because cases/boxes are still available.

Hope that helps a bit, sorry I couldn't give you any 100% answers, but those are usually the best questions. Thanks again.

Question:

I pulled an Albert Pujols 2001 Fleer Platinum RC card, short-printed to 10/21.  Being young an not knowing any better, I got the card signed by Albert.  I know that unsigned it carries good value, but I was wondering if you had any ideas on how I could make the card marketable again.  I have had the suggestion of getting the signature authenticated.

Answer: