BDay dollar boxing

My daughters were out school shopping with their aunt yesterday and I'd planned to stay home and do some boring paperwork .. but I received an early birthday card from my brother in law. He's a wealthy SOB and I just saw that his company's stock did very well last week.. so I wasn't surprised at the amount of cash included in the very thoughtful card his wife picked out. And so I decided to take a trip to a card shop about 15 minutes away. 

This was my first ever visit to Card Cave Central in Union, NJ. Before I even walked through the door I noted how lousy the location was. This place is next to a dog groomer, with a tiny driveway that can only fit one car at a time. So if someone is pulling out of the Puppy Love Spa, you can't pull in to the Card Cave. Not a huge problem, except that this building happens to be right at the fork road split of a very busy intersection. It was an adventure... for my Uber driver. I'd actually tried to ride my bike there but Google maps sent me way out of the way of the familiar and I basically ended up getting lost in my own hometown. 

Once inside the shop, I was immediately greeted by two card tables, a shelf of old packs, and rows and rows of dollar boxes. I perused the nostalgia packs - more on those later - and went to work on the dollar boxes. Had I known this shop (or any shop) would have so many singles to go through, I'd have given myself more time. I only had two hours, and wasted one riding my bike in circles. 

There was no overarching sign that these were dollar boxes, but every top loader was marked with a price of between $1 and $5 (the occasional card was priced 50 cents - and one or two were not priced at all) I had more money than time and the old game plan of set filling had gone out the window. 

After about 45 minutes of picking up baseball and football boxes, bringing them to the table, and rifling through as quickly as possible I'd accumulated an ecclectic stack. Then I realized I hadn't seen the rest of the shop! 

To the left of the photo where a disheveled old man sat and griped about immigrants while opening a box of Allen & Ginter the shop put on his tab I saw some hangers of 2025 and 2026 Topps baseball cards above some rack packs and jumbos of 1987, 1988, and 1989 Topps. If they had any 1986 I would have grabbed them. 

Following the narrow walkway to the back of the store, I realized two things. The store is about 50% TCG - lots of non-sports cards encased and displayed. There were also boxes of loose Pokemon cards for 50 cents off to the right of my pic. And I'd wasted way too much time at the dollar boxes.

With about 15 minutes left I found another table at the back of the shop. There were dozens of mosnter boxes stacked on top of each other bursting with loose cards. Separated by sport and nothing else. No sleeves, no prices, no indication of set or year. I could have spent all day on those. Alas.

All in all I did not pick up a single set filler or sealed product - unless you count one $20 mystery pack. Card Cave's mystery packs are a lot different from J B's in CT. For one, they're more expensive. For two, they're one-sport only. Both advertise a guaranteed auto (at least I think JB's did?)  These guys put fewer cards in their packs and .. I will reveal my results at the end. 

When I got home I slid all of the cards out of their crusty old holders and scanned them by the price I paid. 

$5 cards 

There were exactly two two-row hockey boxes to look through and 80% of the cards were IP autographs of former Devils players. I managed to find some decent hits including relics of two defensemen with Devils ties. Larry Robinson is argubaly the second-greatest defenseman of all time. Jay Bouwmeester was a very highly touted prospect when this RC was released. He ended up having a long and productive career, but didn't quite become a star. Lyle Odelein was an enforcer, and a popular one at that. My wife used to excitedly shriek "Odie!" wheenver she saw him. 

$4 cards

I'm pretty sure this Barry Sanders Topps Fire is a base card but I don't mind. Staying in Motown, the Brendan Shanahan Heritage is a Chrome parallel #d/667. Two 1990s refractors round this out. I am now hoarding all 1999 Finest Refractors, including this Austin Kearns and a Robert Brooks I have incoming from TCDB. Robert Smith was toting the rock for the Vikings just as I was immersing myself in the music of that other Robert Smith. 

It warms my heart that current artists love The Cure - particularly Olivia Rodrigo, who has not only sang with Robert but released a single called The Cure.. which actually kinda sounds like The Cure. 😁

Anyway.. back to cards.

No, Sombr...I said back to cards

The majority of my pickups were $1 to $3 each. Here are the $3 cards:

Yes, I picked up a vintage non-sports pack. My inner child would have wept if I didn't bring home Alf.  Dennis, shout at me if you need this Griese/Terrell card. I had to take it home just in case.

I swear I'm not a fan of Tampa teams - I just happen to like their colors and players. The Bowman Youk is a RC I was shocked I didn't have. Another SP Authentic Future Watch on-card AU rookie? Yes please. Robert Nilsson didnt do much in his brief career; I remember him mostly for being traded to Edmonton in the Ryan Smyth deal. The Lanny McDonald is a second-year Topps card and the Ripken pink prizm crystal shard thing is also for Dennis. But the highlight here is that '71 Ted Williams. It's in really good shape, typical corner wear but no creases! I was over the moon when I saw that one. 

$3 football cards here including a Packer hit and a couple of SN'd cards. Joe Flacco is numbered to 299, while the disco Dawson Knox is numbered to 25. My buddy Baseball Brittie would tell me to flip that one. Perhaps I will, once football season is well underway.

$2 cards here including a refractor for my Mikaela Shiffrin collection (I also picked up an Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito for my daughter - to pair with her Ilya Malinin and Alysa Liu cards.) The Trevor Letowski relic was rattling around in a top loader that was wayy too big; I almost didn't buy it but there didn't seem to be any damage. Gotta grab a piece of that kachina jersey when I can. Also the red Devers on the bottom right is numbered to 75. And an unlicensed base card of Raffy was the same price. So random. 

$2 football

I mainly focused on football for this trip, because I recently made room in my boxes by splitting a PC binder into two smaller binders (I'll explain in a future post). I had a feeling that Sterling Sharpe looked familiar; turns out I already had the Trophy collection parallel (and the base). Couldn't risk leaving it there and didn't have time to check my collection on TCDB. "Tuddys" is a dumb word, but I loved watching Aaron and AJ. I'm not a Texans fan but General Mills does have some sharp looking cards. The CJ Stroud is a Clearly Donruss. No sure if those are parallels or a separate base set. 

On to the dollar cards. Very random mix here; I did not have time for any basketball boxes but some stragglers made their way into other sports and Van Vleet made his way into the stack. There's also a Sunset parallel of the newest New Jersey Devil and a base version of the Shiffrin above. Why did I pick up a duplicate Dickerson league leader card for a dollar? Because it was the only card of a PC player I saw in the dollar boxes. I was hoping for Marinos and McCaffreys and Cunninghams (not Sophie) and all I got was endless rows of Derek Carr. Sigh...

Also, the Hasek Premier Pad Men is a neat one - but not as cool as the Holoview of Niklas Sundstrom. A '90s hologram die cut insert I'd never seen before, for a buck? Even if it's a Ranger, it's an easy 'yes'. Fuji, do you need this Rickey team leader? It's in really nice shape. Bit off-center though. 

$1 football here. Mostly Packers, with a pair of Chiefs and a Saint mixed in. I know Donte Stallworth was lousy on the field (I once heard him referred to as "Stink-worth" which was kinder than what I would have expected considering how easy it would be to add the suffix -less to his name) and off the field but I'm a sucker for all 2002 Topps Pristine singles.  The Leo Chenal RC is a Red Lazer parallel #d/150. Sticking with our theme of football players with lead singer names, we have Mr. Brightside rounding out the group. 

Last but not least, sone more dollar cards and a few that I managed to find while zooming through the loose boxes at the back. I'm kicking myself for not having more time since there were more PC player finds here - Marino, King Henry, KB... and a Verlander for Dennis. Now I know for next time.

Finally, let's crack open that football mystery pack. Was it worth the $20? You decide:

Hmmm... that Sehorn hit would be more appealing to me if it were licensed. Same for the Kyren Williams auto and the Anthony Munoz green parallel #d/99. I think the only card I would have purchased on my own would be the Tet McMillan Chrome RC - though this particular Tet is off-center. 

I might buy a baseball mystery pack next time I'm there, but I've got a bad feeling I'll end up with some unlicensed autos there, too. 

Everything here totaled about $167, leaving me with about $33 in birthday money. I'd actually pre-spent it on an item that cost right around $30. You'll see that post on my actual birthday. 

Thanks for reading!



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