Two steps forward, one step back - Airport Trading Card Update

Two months ago, I was 10 cards short of completing the Airport Trading Card Master Set.  Over the course of the two months, my collection grew by 10 cards.....but the Master Set also grew by 10 cards....son of a biscuit.  So now there are 82 cards in the Master Set and I am at 72....still 10 cards away.  Oh well, this set has been really fun to chase down.  There are several airports that are going to be next to impossible to find cards for, and if they ever pop up on eBay I can see a bidding war commencing.  Here are some of the latest acquisitions to my collection:

 I have never been through RDU, but they were kind enough to send me a free card.  Thanks RDU!!!

Our neighbors to the North in Ottawa are awesome.  They sent me the entire run of the YOW cards.  Thanks YOW!!!

I can't even imagine trying to hit up these three airports without living in the area.  The nice folks at MAC sent me cards of the airports they manage.  Thanks a million!!

From the southern state of Texas comes this ELP card.  Thanks so much ELP!!!!


Thanks for stopping by and I hope others are knocking out some of the hard airports.

Update - 1974 Japanese Yamakatsu Bruce Lee & Chuck Norris Mini Cards

This was a good month for me in working toward my 2018 Collecting Goals in terms of my 1974 Bruce Lee Yamakatsu sets.  I was able to knock out a large portion of The Way of the Dragon set checklist with 22 nice looking mini cards.  I was also able to add a few cards to the Green Hornet set as well.  Bring on the furry-chested Chuck Norris (aka Colt) and some great 1960s vintage Bruce Lee as "Kato" in the Green Hornet.  Is there anyone else collecting these?

c1901 Japanese Woodblock Sumo Wrestling Menko!

A few weeks ago I showcased an early 1900s Japanese Woodblock Baseball Menko.  In total there are close to 50 menko in this entire set including famous actors, sumo wrestlers, children playing games, and folklore story scenes.  I've since narrowed down this set to likely 1900 or 1901....more likely 1901.  It's hard to describe in detail how gorgeous these woodblock menko are with their vivid colors and gold gilding.  Absolutely beautiful.  In this set are at least 8 sumo wrestling menko...I'm trying to confirm several more that I have as coming from this set or another one.  Right now I'll base the sumo subset off the January 1901 banzuke for cataloguing purposes.

Yokozuna Konishiki. Sumo's 17th Yokozuna, but was actually more dominant before he attained the rank of Yokozuna.  He retired in 1901.

Ozeki Umenotani (Future Yokozuna).  The great rival of Hitachiyama and was promoted to Yokozuna at the same time.  They brought sumo into the modern era along with increased popularity!

Sekiwake Hitachiyama (Future Yokozuna): The great rival of Umenotani!  He eventually went on to head the Dewanoumi Stable and train three Yokozuna himself.  At the time of his death, he was the most successful and influential Yokozuna.

Sekiwake Araiwa (future Ozeki):  Not a particularly dominate Ozeki.  He retired in 1909.

Maegashira Sakahoko: He bounced around the high Maegashira-ranks and sanyaku ranks before retiring in 1907.

Hidenoumi:  I haven't been able to find out anything about this wrestler, but he could have been part of the Osaka Sumo Association.

Yokozuna Hachijin: He was a Yokozuna in the Osaka Sumo Association although he retired in 1874 and headed up that organization until 1899.

Abunomatsu:  I believe this gentleman was a gyoji looking at his hair style.