I try to keep my eye on the listings for Japanese wrestling cards, because it seems like there is always something interesting up for sale. There are a handful of regular sellers who cycle their listings over and over, but every so often a new player enters the fold with an item or two. Recently a seller in Japan posted a few listings featuring two of my favorite exports from that country, BBM True Heart wrestling cards and SEGA Card-Gen baseball cards. I've purchased a few things from him before, most notably one of the prize items in my collection, a complete set of 2013 SEGA Card-Gen baseball cards that I am still trying to finish blog posts for. This time I came away with just two items, one wrestling card and one baseball card. I'm showing the wrestling card first.
This one hails from the recently released 2016 BBM True Heart Japanese Women's Pro Wrestling card set. The wrestler is Cassandra Miyagi, who is affiliated with the SENDAI Girls Pro-Wrestling promotion. I haven't seen much of her work in the ring; I've got a match between her and Rabbit Miu bookmarked to watch but I haven't made the time for it yet (edit: it wasn't the greatest match I've ever seen, tbh). I bid on the card mostly because she went above and beyond on her autograph, covering most of the card with doodles. She definitely did more than just a couple of scribbled initials. Her hairstyle / makeup is pretty distinctive, which really sets her apart from the other SENDAI wrestlers, who as far as I can tell are pretty traditional as far as ring gear goes. Although I can't say that I really have contacts in Japan because I don't have any real relationships with these sellers, it is nice that a few eBay sellers and webstore owners have made it possible for me to get items like this for my collection.
Great signature! I'm on the Japanese auction sites several times a day. Yahoo Japan mainly. I ship over stuff every month or two. If you are ever looking for anything give me a holler.
ReplyDeleteI've browsed the Yahoo! Auctions a little bit, but it seems like the fee structure for Buyee or other middlemen is more than the items are worth to me. Command Bolshoi has got a couple of autographs on there right now from years that I don't have yet.
DeleteThat is definitely true for the lower priced items. What years are you looking at? I'm bidding on some stuff over the next few days and Jauce gives a discount if I win two auctions within 24 hours of each other.
DeleteI'm looking for 2004-2008, and anything 2002 or earlier (if it exists). I think the ones I saw on there recently were 2005 and 2007.
DeleteI am wondering, is her signature on the card or did she just doodle? I love the doodles, that alone makes it a card worth having in your collection.
ReplyDeleteI think she may have written her name or part of her name, but if she did it is incorporated into the doodles. Either way it's ink from a pen that she was holding. I like it when the wrestlers take some time to draw other stuff on the cards.
DeleteThat's a good question....is this how she signs everything or did she just doodle on this card? I bet she is quite a character in the ring.
ReplyDeleteI went and searched out pictures of a few copies of this card. She keeps to the same theme for all the ones I've seen, but there is some variation to it. I think that scribble up at the top of mine was a mistake that she scratched out.
DeleteWhoa. This is amazing! It's more of a sketch card than an autographed card. Congratulations on the pickup.
ReplyDeleteI knew I needed to add this one if I could because of all the ink she put down on it.
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