Byron Browne TTM Return and Dave Stewart Mail-In Signing

I received just one ttm return today.  Byron Browne signed his 1966 and 1968 Topps in blue ballpoint, and 1970 Topps in black sharpie.

I sent to him about three years ago and he signed his 1967 Topps in blue sharpie and 1971 Topps in blue ballpoint.  I'm not sure why he mixes up the ink he uses. Maybe he's trying to make the cards look as nice as possible, or maybe he thinks a certain type of pen will be easier to use on different cards, or?  In my latest request, I think the blue ballpoint looks nice on the 66 Topps and not bad on the 68.

I also received a return from a Dave Stewart signing, where I requested his signature on his 1982 Topps.  I'm surprised I didn't have any autographs from him in my collection yet.  Probably because the 82 Topps is his rookie card, and I haven't really been spending too much on my set collections from the 80's, at least until I started on the 82 set last year or so.  

I've concentrated on the Hall of Famers and stars in the set so far and haven't really done too many mailings to the more common players.  I only have 62 signed cards from the set so far.

I think I have sat down and started sending out to the common signers in the set only once, so that was maybe 10 requests or so.  I need to spend a lot more time on it.  I can also include cards from the 79, 80, 83, 85 and 87 sets if the players are included in those, so I can potentially get a lot of autographs by doing this.  

However, whenever I start on the players from the 80's and later, I find myself missing the vintage cards and players and get drawn into sending out those requests knowing that those players won't be around forever.  I even go so far as to buy more vintage cards, even though I already have them signed.  I justify them as "upgrades" to black ink, off-center cards and cards that got beat up during mailing.

Speaking of which, I just sent out a request to Dick Simpson that included his 1965 Topps that I just got signed by Jose Cardenal.

The last time I tried to complete this card it came back from Cardenal just fine:

But the round-trip to Dick Simpson was pretty tough on the card.  It didn't get torn or creased, but the color-loss was very pronounced.  This can be a problem with the vintage cards.  Sometimes, a player will return the cards they signed inside the folded-up letter that I wrote, and you can see the color of the card get transferred onto the white paper of the letter.