Thursday 14 October 2010

1999 Skybox Molten Metal Xplosion inserts

I was watching a number of items from one seller, who was off loading a few cards mainly from brands such as Pinnacle, Skybox, Score and Fleer. I was intrigued by the of number of more 'interesting' cards advertised as inserts, however the seller was asking ridiculous prices and not surprising very few, if any, were snapped up by collectors in the UK.
Patience however is a virtue.

I'm not sure what to make of these baseball cards, if you can call them that. They are more like a printing plate.

They come from the 1999 SkyBox Molten Metal set.

The 1999 SkyBox Molten Metal set was issued in one series and distributed in six-card packs with a suggested retail price of $4.99. The set features 100 of the game's top veterans in the Metal Smiths (cards 1-100) subset with an insertion rate of 4:1 pack; 30 of today's power hitters in the Heavy Metal subset (101-130) inserted one per pack; and 20 of 1999's hottest rookies in the Supernatural subset(131-150) with an insertion rate of 1:2 packs. The cards are silver-foil on 24-point stock and enhanced with additional holofoil and wet laminate.

These cards are from the SkyBox Molten Metal Xplosion parallel set
Randomly inserted in packs at the rate of one in two, this 150-card set is
parallel to the base set printed on metal stock with added etching, rounded
corners and foil stamping. A promotional card featuring Kerry Wood was
distributed to dealers and hobby media several weeks prior to the product's
national release. This unnumbered card can be readily identified by the text
"PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE" running diagonally across the back.
Although it wasn't the sample card that I was able to pick up, instead 7 'metal ' cards:
#15 Ruben Rivera Padres
#24 Sean Casey Reds
#32 Ray Durham White Sox
#34 Richie Sexson Indians
#75 Eric Karros Dodgers
#145 Sammy Sosa Cubs
#146 Kerry Wood Cubs

Not sure which genre of collecting to place these. Oddball, gimmick, parallel, inserts, alongside printing plates? At first I thought that Skybox must have had a hell of a time disguising these to ward off would be pack searchers. But the weight of these cards is not dissimilar to some of the blanks inserted in more recent Upper Deck products, roughly 3-4 regular cards.

Sunday 10 October 2010

2010/2011 Match Attax Football

They're back. Slightly different but still collectable.
This year there are 465 cards to collect. Thankfully for those of us who like cards in a nice tidy order, Topps chose to number the cards - in the top right hand corner.
Of the 465 there are 360 team base cards, that is 16 base cards and 2 foil cards for each of the 20 Premiership teams. Plus 20 manager cards and 1 referee card!
Topps introduced a further 'chase' card set called Showboat foils. There are 20 Showboat to add to the 60 Man of the Match rainbow foils and 4 100 club rainbow foils.
There are 5 limited edition cards scattered around 1 per in collectors tin, collectors magazine, starter packs , 'Lucky Packs?' and an edition of Match magazine.
Some retailers have Club Crest foil cards in special 7 card packs.
There is also a 100 signed silver foil Rio Ferdinand cards and 1 signed gold card. Good Luck finding those!
I purchased 6 of the retail card packs, which contain 6 cards and a foil team crest.

Pack 1:
#68 Brett Emerton Blackburn Rovers
#102 Ricardo Gardner Bolton Wanderers
#321 Frederic Piquionne West Ham
#324 Carlton Cole West Ham
#369 Damien Duff Fulham Showboat
#447 Alex McLeish Birmingham City manager
#R9 Fulham Crest
Pack 2:
#19 Brad Friedel Aston Villa
#66 Keith Andrews Blackburn Rovers
#207 Ji-Sung Park Manchester United
#213 Javier Hernandez Manchester United foil
#295 Pablo Ibanez West Bromwich Albion
#352 Greg Halford Wolverhampton Wanderers
#R1 Arsenal crest
Pack 3:
#20 Carlos Cuellar Aston Villa
#49 Keith Fahey Birmingham City
#58 Gael Givet Blackburn Rovers
#81 Stephen Husband Blackpool
#194 Yaya Toure Manchester City
#457 Chirs Houghton Newcastle manager
#R11 Manchester City crest
Pack 4:
#10 Jack Wilshere Arsenal
#271 Heurelho Gomes Tottenham Hotspur
#269 Frazier Campbell Sunderland
#312 Daniel Gabbidon West Ham
#360 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake Wolverhampton Wanderers
#365 Charlie Adam Blackpool showboat
#R17 West Bromwich Albion crest
Pack 5:
#65 David Dunn Blackburn Rovers
#164 Paul Konchesky Liverpool
#177 Ryan Babel Liverpool
#199 Edwin Van Der Sar Manchester United
#335 Hendry Thomas Wigan
#355 Matthew Jarvis Wolverhampton
#R8 Everton crest
Pack 6:
#134 Jack Rodwell Everton
#145 Mark Schwarzer Fulham
#246 Rory Delap Stoke
#332 Ben Watson Wigan
#410 Fernando Torrez Liverpool Man of the Match foil
#454 Roy Hodgson Liverpool manager
#R13 Newcastle crest
I have no affiliation to any premiership team, so for the fourth year running I will collect the whole base set.
Through the contacts I have made in the USA, Fulham appears to be the most popular team amongst American collectors followed by Everton. Wondering whether Liverpool will rise in popularity if the Boston Red Sox owners planned purchase of the club goes through.