Finally a $2 card shows up

The 2020 Cutch SP Frenzy is finally consistently under the triple digit mark.  Coincidently the last card I purchased during that frenzy has arrived. 

It took 2 weeks for this card to show up.
It is the 2019 All-Star Game Foil Stamp parallel.

It only cost me $1.98 delivered so it doesn't bother me too much for the slow processing.  Keep in mind all cards purchased from COMC haven't shipped yet.

I will recap everything in a future post along with some of the other items I purchased that weren't card related.

You can revisit all the other items I purchased during the weekend of the frenzy here.


If you aren't familar with my 2020 SP Frenzy Challenge I took the funds available that could have been spent on buying the 2020 SP Cutch "swag" photo variant and instead used it to buy items I needed for my Cutch collection.  The real challenge was I could only buy cards at the height of the SP Frenzy when they were going for $200-$300 regularly.  This all occurred between the evening of June 27th to the morning of June 30th.  Roughly 48 hours was the stretch of this card going for on average $250.  A lot of the purchases were made via eBay, but there were also half a dozen purchases made on COMC.

Day 4 Mailings of SP Cutch Frenzy

I have been showing a lot of mail days relating to my Cutch SP Frenzy Challenge.

There are a few more PWEs that need to trickle in and obviously the COMC cards I purchased won't be here for many months at the rate things are going.

So let's get started with a classic card on CollectingCutch

The 2005 Topps Update draft pick card of Cutch.  I believe that 2005 Topps Update was the last Topps set to feature draft picks in their flagship release and we are all likely aware of what happened the following year with the Alex Gordon "Rookie Card".  I am always on the hunt for more 2005 Topps Update cards looking for them in the $3-$4 range.  The golds are numbered to only 2005 copies and I like to get them for under $20.

$17.98

I took advantage of the frenzy to grab another Big League card I needed.
This came via a PWE so I was able to save on shipping.

$1.99

A 1/1 for under $12?
Yup, I'm gonna do that all day.

Kyle Lohse gave up 3 homers to Andrew McCutchen in his career.  More on this in a future post.

$11.90


I thought I overpaid for this when it first hit eBay, but there were a few things going for it that I really liked.

It had a black border
It's got that great 1985 design
It has a pinstripe on the relic that is centered fairly well
It is numbered to only 199 copies.

As it turns out the average of this card is in the $20 range still with only a few having been sold or currently listed for sale.
$23.98


2020 Topps Series 2 has a great throwback image for Cutch's main flagship card and I went crazy grabbing as many parallels as possible during the buying frenzy for the SP. 

Unfortunately, my scanner doesn't pick up the foilboard very well.

$2.97

This brings the total for all cards purchased during the SP Frenzy in today's mail day to $58.82.  The collection added a limited print run gold prerookiecard, a 1/1, a black border pinstripe relic, and a few parallels.  This collection of cards cost only about 20% what the top rates were for the Cutch SP during the height of the frenzy.

Sales are starting to "settle down" on the 2020 Series 2 Cutch SP and the prices are typically ending up under triple digits.  I will continue to wait it out until they get under $40.

Chasing Unicorns among a Swag Frenzy

I have a few cards on my want list and I also have a few cards that I feel will never be attainable (2005 Bowman Chrome 1st Bowman Superfractor).

Last year I gave a list of cards that I wanted to focus on trying to get this year and I have been able to knock a few of them off in only half a year.  You can revisit that post here.

In the hours towards the end of the ESPN created Cutch SP Frenzy I had an auction ending.  I was able to secure a card that I coveted in my top 10 list and it ended for a very reasonable price.

Be hold, the glory of a Home Run Clear Vision card from 2013 Pinnacle.

Each positional player had 5 cards available for the Clear Visions Insert Set.

They varied in terms of rarity with Cycle being the hardest to get as it was a 1/1.  Singles are the easiest and fell in every couple packs (on average 1:5).  They got rarer with the more difficult a hit.  Doubles, Triples, and Home Runs round out the parallels to chase.  A Home Run parallel fell one per case on average.

This completes the non 1/1 rainbow.
Despite no logos I love this insert set and it has taken me 7 years to acquire the HR parallel which makes the hunt even more satisfying that it is complete.

I was able to get this card for only $14.55 during the late hours of the Cutch Swag Frenzy.

I will show off some other of my Frenzy SP Challenge cards tomorrow, but wanted to highlight this card in it's own post as it has been 7 years, a pandemic, and an ESPN tweet Swag SP buying frenzy to able to acquire and check it off.

Man am I super pumped about this card.

There aren't any other unicorns that I caught, but there are still plenty more awesome cards I grabbed in that crazy weekend of $250+ SP Cutch cards.

Cutch SP Challenge Day 3: Immaculate Savings

Day 3 of the 2020 SP Cutch Frenzy Challenge delivered an awesome card for the Cutch collection that I didn't already have.  It was an immaculate haul and helped offset some of the prices I overpaid for the two 2020 parallels (vintage and fathers day blue) due to the relatively new release.

If you aren't familar with my 2020 SP Frenzy Challenge I took the funds available that could have been spent on buying the 2020 SP Cutch "swag" photo variant and instead used it to buy items I needed for my Cutch collection.  The real challenge was I could only buy cards at the height of the SP Frenzy when they were going for $200-$300 regularly.  This all occurred between the evening of June 27th to the morning of June 30th.  Roughly 48 hours was the stretch of this card going for on average $250.

I was able to knock out 1 card on my top 10 list during that time and also was able to add an on card autograph too.  These are both pretty sweet adds to the collection if you asked me.

I had the 1/1 version of the autograph you're going to see below, but being able to add another on card autograph with a print run of ONLY 5 COPIES to the collection seemed like a good move.

People can hate on Panini for not having logos, but when they choose images like this, it's not as noticeable as other images they choose to use. The piping is still noticable on the pants for the team colors and the helmet is turned at a way that you can't tell the "P" is missing.

The card was purchased through an eBay auction via Seven Out Cards & Collectibles

It came shipped incredibly well and I highly recommend them for any future auctions they have.

The card ran me $38.25 delivered.
This brings the totals for the SP Frenzy Challenge to $83.14

That may sound like a lot of money (and it is), but that is still only ONE THIRD the price the 2020 SP Cutch card was getting at the height of the frenzy.  I still had over $160 to play with for getting cards I need during the SP Frenzy Challenge.  I'm still waiting on my COMC order (obviously) and about a dozen other eBay purchases to roll in.

Cutch SP Challenge Day 2

I got some more packages in the mail Friday and they all relate to the 2020 SP Frenzy Challenge.

I said I wouldn't go after the SP and pay $275 for one card that on average could be available 1 in every 7 packs.

Nope.

Not gonna do it!

I did grab a foilboard parallel from 2020 Big League release though.

It cost me $3.25

Did you know that only 100 of these Foilboard cards exist? Only 3 have sold.

Did you know that there is likely 2,000+ of the McCutchen SP out there?  87 have already sold on eBay

Which one should have the ridiculous premium attached to it?

I also grabbed the 2020 Topps Finest Bryan Reynolds "The Man" insert.  This insert card has a nice layer of pink which I think could come in handy for October.

It has an Andrew McCutchen cameo on the back.

And...it only cost $2.65 shipped.

I also snagged another 2020 parallel I needed.

This is the gold parallel numbered to 2,020 copies (similar print run as the SP everyone is chasing)

This card cost me only $1.99

Yesterday's mail day cost only $7.89.  I feel like I got better value out of these cards than the father's day and vintage stock from Wednesday.

That brings the total to $44.89 for these 5 cards.  Not great, but the two best cards will really bring the prices down for the wntire project.

The First Wave Arrived Today

Over the weekend sales of the McCutchen SP went from $60 to almost $400 in less than 24 hours.  It was absolutely insane to see the hype and frenzy that surrounded that card all due to ESPN, Cutch, and Dick Allen's tweets.

I never put much into social media influencers and thought it was all a scam, but damn if I didn't see something like it first hand.

The average price of the cards at their highest selling point was almost $275.

Similar pricing spikes occurred around Memorial Day for the Project 2020 cards.

I refused to pay over $200 and certainly not  $275 for a Short Print photo variant

For
A
Card
That
Comes
1:7 Packs

Mind blown!!!!

Rather than use that money to be caught up in the here and now, I used it to only buy Cutch cards I needed from COMC, eBay, sportlots, and artist sites.

Over the course of the next week (I'm guessing) I will show off the cards and items I bought during that 24 hour frenzy.

Some of them I have been after for a LOOOOOONG TIME.  I will provide screenshots of the receipts too.

One of the cards is a unicorn I've been chasing for 7 years!

Now let me preface and say that I overpaid for some of these cards.  This isn't how I normally collect, but I wanted the challenge to be genuine and only purchase cards over the weekend of the frenzy.

The first batch came today and it's a pair of 2020 Topps Series 2 parallels.

On the left is the Father's Day variant numbered to 50 copies.  I really like the baby blue color on this card in particular because it matches up nicely with the Powder Blue uniform of the Phillies.

Speaking of powder blue uniforms, I also got the vintage stock and logo parallel.

This parallel is numbered to only 99 copies.

First 2 cards
$37.00