Holiday Season and Envelope Hoarding

 With the Holiday season fast approaching I thought I would post more pick-ups from Swap Shops and a small card shop. I also will not be opening my through the mail autographs I get back until I get a nice number back, I will be hoarding them. That will give me more of a surprise but that word: Anticipation is making me wait. I wonder how long I can go with not opening the letters.

Let's start with this pick-up from the consignment shop or as I call it the swap shop.

This card is the 2004-05 In The Game franchises Gilles Gilbert Autograph card. Gilles had easily one of the nicest looking autographs. The letters look exactly like what we saw in our first years of school above on the wall.

This card is the 2007-08 Artifacts Auto Facts card of Phil Kessel. I grabbed this one for $3. I am not a huge fan of Phil's as he is not a very good signer through the mail. His Sister was a very good hockey player but she is impossible to get through the mail. It's ok as either have great looking autographs so to others this may of been a good deal but to myself I would not have paid $5.

This is the 2010 Upper Deck World of Sports card of Cassandra Poudrier. I sent her 3 of these cards and she signed them and she even added a very nice note.

I found this card in a stack of auto's by cartoonists. Mort Drucker did many Mad magazine covers and the artwork for a lot of the stories. He was amazing and he actually added this card and signed it for me. I was a Mad magazine reader growing up and yes I had a subscription right up too the time they stopped production. They still do magazines but most are just from older issues and the price of each magazine is around $15 so I just pass and go and read some of my older issues in my own archives.

This is a 2007 Topps Santafied Autograph card and I thought it was time of the year to show the card. I was thinking if I was to purchase a base card of Santa Claus as to where would I send it, to get it autographed. Then it just hit me, why the Northpole I would say.

And finally I wanted to show one of my drawings I did. This one I did back in the fall of 2024 as you can see the fall foliage colors. Of course I did add more reds and oranges but like Bob Ross always said, it is your world to add and change things and that is what I did with the leaves and bushes. This is the covered bridge and the bridge is very close to where I grew up. These make very nice gifts as I had prints made and they were done by a printing company. They are printed on a gloss type of paper almost like poster but very sturdy. That one took me around 17 hours to do. Some mistake it for a painting but it is a drawing in colored charcoal.

I will not be opening my mail until I get lots to open, yes it will be difficult with waiting and wondering but that is what it is all about and it is much better than opening any Upper Deck boxes because you may not get an autograph card but with these I know each will have an autograph. Until next post, Stay safe and Happy Collecting!!