After recently finishing the 1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold football card set, I grabbed this uncut sheet because…why not.

The highlights are two rookies of Terrell Davis, Warren Sapp, and Curtis Martin. Pinnacle went bankrupt in 1998 and I’m willing to bet this was sold off at that time.

It took a year, but I pieced together the entire 135-card 1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold football set.

These cards are parallels of the base set and were inserted 1 in every 5 packs. What drew me to this set, aside from the beautiful golden-rainbow finish, is that it features photos from the 1994 season, which was the NFL’s 75th anniversary season that saw teams use a variety of throwback jerseys.

The print run for this set is estimated to be just short of 2,000 copies per card. I’d venture to guess I have 1 of maybe 50-100 complete sets.

This is the first complete set I’ve put together since the 1996 Score football set 30 years ago, and that’s a big deal for me. As someone with bipolar disorder, I have a collecting history that matches my life choices: I get deep into something for a little while then get bored and move on, and that explains why my card collection features tons of deep but abandoned chases. I broke that streak by committing to this chase, despite the dozens of individual purchases needed, and I completed it.

Time to rest.

Today I received one of the coveted Mantel Hobby Award trophies made by Ghostwrite and limited to 35 copies.

Did I win it by creating a popular collecting platform? No.

Did I win it by operating a hobby shop? Nope.

Did I win it as a result of widely-recognized industry expertise? Definitely not.

I won it by being randomly selected in the recent Mantel contest. Money won is a lot sweeter than money earned.

I accept this award on behalf of Mantel Nation. This one belongs to the people!

I’m putting together the 1995 Topps Power Boosters 1,000/3,000 Yard parallel set. I have 31 of 41 cards in hand, 6 in route to me, a winning bid for 1, and 3 of the remaining 4 don’t have any copies for sale online. I’m hoping to complete this set soon. Let me know if you have any of these cards:

#6 Natrone Means

#15 Ben Coates

#35 Jim Everett

2025 had its ups and downs, both personally and on the grander scale, but it was a year of hard-earned lessons that I believe will prove valuable in the future.

I have three collecting resolutions for 2026:

1. Gather the remaining 7 cards I need to close out the 1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold football set (my Jerry Rice is pictured here). It’ll be the first set I’ve hand-collected since 1996 Score football almost three decades ago, and it goes toward my greater goal of collecting in a more focused manner.

2. Finish collecting the other half of the 1995 Topps 1000/3000 Yard Power Boosters football set, of which I currently have 18 of 40 cards remaining.

3. Launch a collecting-focused podcast that has a unique theme that I believe will resonate with a wide audience. It’s still very early in the planning stages and I’m open to the possibility that I abandon the idea, but if things go my way I hope to launch it this time next year.

Excelsior!