Last year was an incredible year for The Rolen Collection! I was able to add more than one card per day for the year with 433 new cards added to the collection. I'm not quite sure what this year will bring me, but I'll continue adding new cards, hopefully picking up some monsters over the course of the next several months. As for this month, we're already off to a great start. Check out what I was able to pick up so far:
2005 Donruss - All-Stars NL Gold #AS-13, SN100. It was an absolutely insane year for cards back in 2005. With multiple companies still in the game, and the parallel explosion in full swing, Scott has around 1,400 different cards from 2005 alone. So, any time I can pick up a new one that I need from that year, I consider that a win. These Donruss All-Stars NL Gold parallel cards look amazing in hand. The front of the card has a really nice shiny surface. The back of the card outlines Rolen's outstanding season from 2004 which is arguably his best season of his entire career.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Base Autograph Red #BA-SR1, SN15. I really like the red foil that Leaf used on this card. Not only is it a team color match, but the foil is actually a holo-foil. So, like a lot of cards I have scanned here on the site, it looks even better in person. The one nitpick I have about this card is the sticker autograph. But, the price I paid for the card reflects the fact that it is a sticker auto, so I was happy to be able to pick it up this month.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Steel-Carbon Shimmer Purple #S-68, SN8. You wouldn't be able to tell from this scan, but in-hand, this card reminds me a lot of the 1998 Flair Showcase Row 1 cards. Which is a beautiful thing! I know I've said previously that I'm not a huge fan of the Leaf cards produced from 2019 to present, but once they started using photos of Rolen on their cards, that certainly elevated the collectiblity of them in my opinion.
2024 Panini Donruss Optic - Green #12, SN5. I actually purchased this card before Thanksgiving last year. I reached out to the seller on ebay to let them know I hadn't received it yet. We both inquired with the United States Post Office and we had nearly given up on hope that it would actually be delivered. I let the seller know that I can be a rather patient collector (I've had a card show up six months late before). So we waited it out. Well, it finally arrived and I'm pretty excited about finally having it in my collection! I don't typically "chase" cards that are numbered to 5 or less. But since I was able to pick up the 1/1 of this card, I want to attempt to build the complete rainbow. And for the price I paid for this card, it was definitely a steal to add it to the rainbow chase!
2024 Panini Prizm #40
With 29 different parallels released for 2024 Panini Prizm, I'll likely be chasing these for quite some time. With them still being so new though, the prices these are fetching still seems to be a bit too elevated for my tastes. Having said that, as I see them come up for a decent price, I'll continue adding them to my collection. Mostly because I think Panini did a good job with these.
2024 Topps Gilded Collection - Gold Framed Hall of Famers Autographs Rose Gold #HAFA-SR, SN50. I talked about the base version of this card last month. This Rose Gold parallel came up at a great price, so I was able to add it to the collection this month. Gilded continues to be one of my top 10 favorite new releases. The overall design and construction of the card says "high end" and with picking up just the singles I want, I don't have to pay those "high end" prices of the boxes.
2024 Leaf Press Pass Premium - Retro Base Reflector Prismatic Silver #RB-83, SN25. While these aren't my all-time favorite cards, they are pretty sharp looking. These 'Reflector' cards really shine. And the little swooping design element on the front of the card has some etching to it that is very reminiscent of those great 90s refractors. I think the other thing that will make these cards more collectible later is the fact that they weren't overly mass produced, which is evident by the low serial numbering on each card.
2024 Topps Five Star - Golden Graphs Blue #GG-SR, SN20. If you've been following my blog posts for any amount of time, I'm sure you'll notice a reoccurring theme with this card - patience paid off. I've wanted this card for my collection since the release of Five Star, but I did not want to pay too much for the card. Being numbered to 20 copies, I figured I could wait it out a bit and save some money. I was able to add this card to the collection for less than half of what it was selling for when it was released. When this one surfaced for sale, I knew I wanted this particular copy because of the nice bold signature. Some of these gold ink signatures can run kind of streaky, but this one is really sharp and clear!
2024 Topps Gilded Collection - Gold Framed Hall of Famers Autographs Emerald #HAFA-SR, SN25. I really like this Emerald parallel of these cards. The green just looks great surrounding the gold frame. Like the Rose Gold listed above, I am a big fan of these Gilded Collection cards. I'm a bigger fan of picking them up on the secondary market for far less than I'd pay if I was opening boxes of this product.
2024 Topps Archives - 1968 Topps Action All-Stars Autograph #68AA-SR. Even though this card has an incredibly simple design, there is something that I find appealing about it. The design is supposed to mimic that of the 1968 Topps Action sticker cards. This card is not a sticker though! I love that Rolen is represented here in his Cardinals jersey and you know I'm a big fan of the on-card autograph.
2024 Topps Archives - 1968 Topps Action All-Stars Autograph Red Foilboard #68AA-SR, SN10. I found this card on Facebook one night while aimlessly scrolling through posts. Another collector posted it in one of the groups I'm in and I sent him a message asking him if it was available. He quickly replied and set his price (which I thought was fair). A week later and it was in my hands! This card shares the same simplicity as the base version, but steps it up a notch with the red foil front. The foil isn't exactly "shiny" like a refractor, but it is a nice foil. I thoroughly enjoy the red team color match on this one. Being serial numbered to just 10 copies, I was a little worried about how long it would take to add this to my collection, but as luck would have it, it didn't take too long at all!
2024 Topps Archives - 1968 Topps Action All-Stars Autograph Gold Foilboard #68AA-SR, SN50. I picked up the base and the Red, I figured now would be a fine time to add the Gold parallel to the collection. The foilboard they used on these cards looks really flat in these scans. And they are somewhat flat in person as well. But they also have a nice shine to them in just the right light. Kind of a matte refractor; which I know is an oxymoron, but it just works. I really like this Gold version and it is a nice reminder of this Hall of Famer's eight Gold Glove awards over the course of his career!
2006 Upper Deck Artifacts - Printing Plates Cyan #85. As I was loading this card to the website, I noticed that the last card I added to my collection from 2006 was another cyan printing plate from another product. If you've been following along with my collecting journey, you know that I don't really go hard for printing plates, but I will add them to the collection when the price is right. I don't think I'll ever have all four of these plates, but it is kind of a neat addition to the collection considering this plate was used in the production of one of the cards I own.
2023 Panini Flawless - Flawless Autographs Emerald #FA-SR, SN5. When it comes to baseball cards, the color green has long been associated with rarity. This card is no exception. This Emerald parallel is limited to just five serial numbered copies. And like the other cards from the Flawless release, this card is thick! Even though there aren't any team names or logos on these cards, I can certainly forgive that for the simple fact that they had this card signed on-card. No stickers here! The nice bold blue autograph is perfectly laid straight onto the card!
2024 Panini Donruss - Purple Laser #12, SN49. Tracking down the few remaining cards I need for this rainbow has been quite the chore. There are a few parallels that I'm beginning to question whether or not they even exist at this point because I've not seen a single copy surface for sale. All of that aside, I really like this card. The technology behind the "Laser" parallel harkens back to the 90s; an era of cards that is near and dear to my heart. The other thing I really like about this specific card is the serial number. I've said before that I don't really care about a serial number when it comes to purchasing a card. But it's always a nice little treat to pick up a card that is "jersey numbered". This card being 17/49 fits that bill nicely!
Overall, this has been another great month for The Rolen Collection. I've got several more amazing cards that I'm really excited about on the way that I'll share with you next month. The only goal that I set for myself for this year is: have fun! Setting specific goals is never a bad idea, but I didn't want to handcuff myself by having specific goals for this wonderful hobby that I enjoy.
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