The Anatomy of an Extremely Important TCDB Trade

Well, it was important for my Rafaela collection anyway.  I traded a rookie(ish) card of a certain superstar that I had no use for (any guesses?) and added a bunch of Rafaela cards.  The other party is a Red Sox fan, but is willing to move cards of them in the right deal.  After a little negotiating, I got most of the cards I wanted.  He took one Rafaela out (the Stadium Club Sepia I showed a couple days ago that I bought after the trader took it out) and there were a couple of other cards he did not want to include, but I got most of the cards I really wanted.

This was the focal point of the trade.  This is the 2023 Panini Immaculate Clearly Immaculate Signatures Red card.  It is an autograph serial-numbered to 35.  This is the card I identified as my top priority in the deal, but he had a lot more Rafaela cards that I needed.

Most of the above cards are base cards, but there are a few parallels and inserts.  The big ones are the middle row left is the Lunar Glow Refractor of the 2023 Bowman Chrome Prospects card, and the bottom row left is the Green Ice Prizm from 2023 Panini Prizm.  I love the Panini Prizm parallels.  I will definitely be grabbing more of them.  The bottom row right card is the Rookie of the Year Contender card.  Rafaela did not end up getting any ROY votes in 2024, despite a decent year at the plate that saw him hit 15 homers and steal 19 bases while playing great defense.  Wilyer Abreu was Boston's best rookie in 2024.

Here are the rest of the Rafaelas, including a couple base cards and more inserts/parallels.  The top row are base cards.  Then we have the Donruss Optic Holo, Topps Flagship insert, Bowman Draft Invicta insert and the Rainbow Foil parallel.

So, 16 new Rafaela cards in just one trade.  But, that was not all, the trade included one more card:

I was surprised the other party left this card in the trade given Anthony's rise to stardom this year.  I was absolutely thrilled to add this Roman Anthony card.  He is going to take off in my collection real soon.  

All of that for a rookie year card of a superstar player.  I don't know where the values lead, maybe I gave up too much, but I am perfectly happy with this deal.  I have been offered several other packages for that card, but none of them came close to this one.