When the player you collect hasn't had cards produced since the 2010-2011 season, it can be a blessing and a curse.

Blessing - fewer new releases to track.
Curse - fewer new releases from which to acquire cards.

This has a few direct results:
1. I get a little flare of OCD and start acquiring duplicates of cards I like a lot - particularly patches and on-card autos, very low numbered parallels, and the like.
2. I get really excited to add new cards and fill in a space on the wantlist.

In support of #2, I present:


The Murad Leather 1/1 completes the rainbow for me of that set (minus printing plate, though I am close on those as well). I'll have them altogether in the gallery area soon. I missed out on this card the only other time it was available, about three years ago, when it went into the collection of someone who was attempting to build the Murad Leather 1/1 set. 

The RC auto printing plate from Topps Tip-Off, well, this is where I veer off the path taken by a lot of player collectors. I love printing plates - signed, unsigned, rookie year or not. CDR doesn't have many cards, in the grand scheme of things. His rookie year carries the most, obviously, and he was even left out of a number of those 08-09 sets. So, when something like this RC auto plate comes up, I pounce (specifically, in this case, I negotiate, I wait, I negotiate, then I pounce). 

I'm looking forward to giving both these cards very good new homes to start off 2013.