John

The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 4 – Football

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Welcome to part four of my series diving into Upper Deck commemorative sheets. As with the baseball, hockey, and basketball ones, Upper Deck used the football sheets to celebrate specific events and sets as promotions for the brand. However, like the basketball ones, there isn’t a lot of documentation about the football ones out there … Read more

This Month on PostWarCards – December 2023

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Motivated by George Bennett’s incredible “Carpet o’ Cards” series on Twitter, I’ve decided to share photos of my hobby library the same way. So be sure to follow me there for a “Carpet o’ Hobby Library” series. The first three groupings I shared were the 1981-1990 Topps Baseball Sticker Albums, 1981-1989 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Sticker Albums, … Read more

The 1954 Blue Ribbon Set is a CFL Card Treasure

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Andy Malycky is a renowned Canadian football card-collecting authority who has literally written the book(s) on them. He describes the 1954 Blue Ribbon Tea CFL cards as “the jewel in the crown of Canadian football vintage trading cards.” While it seems the hobby has established that they weren’t actually issued with tea but rather with … Read more

The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 3 – Basketball

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Welcome to part 3 of my series about Upper Deck commemorative sheets. This one, dedicated to basketball, has been the toughest to organize, research, and write about since they seem to be the least discussed across the hobby of the four major sports. In fact, TCDB only has 1991-92 Upper Deck Basketball (with 12 sheets … Read more

The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 2 – Hockey

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After the success of their baseball set in 1989, Upper Deck jumped into the hockey card market with a 1990-91 release that they promoted with cards of Wayne Gretzky and Patrick Roy (cards 241A and 241B). However, just as they did with baseball, Upper Deck also promoted their hockey set in the early 90s with … Read more

Cards That Never Were – By Dave Sliepka and Theo Chen

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A couple of weeks ago, I shared a post called Celebrating the Reverse – Card Backs With Jim McLauchlin. In it, I shared a fantastic article from the September 1991 issue of Baseball Cards Magazine that jokingly presents the first quasi-annual Sy Berger Awards for Card Back Excellence (or Lack Thereof). Today, I’m doing something … Read more

The Upper Deck Commemorative Sheets Series: Part 1 – Baseball

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With their 1989 baseball set, Upper Deck brought the hobby its first premium product. They backed that up with another innovation in 1990 with the first major chase card. But Upper Deck also innovated in how they marketed their products. All the major brands put ads in hobby publications and sports magazines along with providing … Read more

From Sketches to Collections: The 1969 Topps Basketball Rulers

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I’ve noticed a surge in interest around the 1969 Topps basketball rulers lately. There are more collectors, increased sales, and a growing enthusiasm for the first basketball card inserts. In this article, I’ll provide a quick overview of the 1969 Topps basketball rulers, highlight a few notable sales, delve into the story behind the original … Read more

Exhibit Supply Co. Checklist Cards: Wrestling, Boxing, Football, and Baseball 

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From 1921 to the 1970s, Exhibit Supply Co. (ESCO) of Chicago, Illinois, released over 14,000 different cards. While there are numerous articles I could write to kick off my coverage of “Exhibits” here on the blog, covering various aspects of the company’s history, including the postcard-like design style, distribution and machines, and key sets/cards, there’s … Read more