A long overdue Thank You

Because of moving and storage I didn't post much in 2021.  Along the way there were a few gifts that got overlooked.

Ray from All Cardinals All the Time sent me a 3 card random act of kindness over the summer and they were all 2021 Topps Chrome needs for the collection.

The prism refractors are absolutely beautiful. 

This is the base card from 2021 Topps Chrome.

My favorite though is the 2021 Topps Chrome sepia refractor.  The old time looking photo with new technology really make the etching on the card stand out.  It is just a great looking baseball card.

Another act of kindness came via Fuji who sent my girlfriend and I a case of Cactus Cooler, a drink that she loves that we can't find in NJ. 

I forgot to take a picture of it so the above image is a stock photo from Google.

Last, but certainly not least is a card that blew me away.  One of my followers on Twitter sent me this amazing one of a kind 1/1 from 2021 Topps Sterling

If you use Twitter please give Chris a follow @ItsRuffles318

Thanks to everyone who has followed the blog throughout the year despite not daily content.

Some miniature savings

I get so confused with what minis I need and what ones I have based solely on memory.  The regular standard size cards I can look at and instantly say yup I have it or Ohhhhhh I need that.

For whatever reason I always have to cross reference my spreadsheet for the minis.  There was recently a 2011 Gypsy Queen sepia mini numbered 1/99 listed but with Allen & Ginter in title.

I checked my spreadsheet and saw that I didn't have this one.  I also checked my Gypsy Queen mini post earlier in the year to verify.

The card was listed as an auction with 99 cents opening bid and a buy it now $4.99.  I contemplated hitting the B-I-N but chose to let it end naturally as an auction.

6 days passed.

I was the only bidder as seconds ticked down towards zero.

A little bit of patience saved me $4.
And now I have this mini in hand with some miniature savings.

How often do you see something with just a fraction of price between auction and B-I-N and just naturally go towards the B-I-N instead of trying to save the extra few bucks with the risk?

Stadium Club Parallels

With all the high end cards I have been buying there are still lots of parallels I need from 2017 Stadium Club.  A few weeks ago I showed my 3 Stadium Club Parallels from 2016.

Now it's time to show (sadly) my only 2 parallels from 2017.

So far all I have is the 1st Day Issue (/10) and Sepia.  I am still in need for the base, black and white, black foil, gold foil.  If you have any of these and are willing to work out a trade hit me up.

Does anyone have any of the other parallels or even the base?

Gypsy Minis

With Gypsy Queen set to release this week, let's take a look back at some prior years cards.  All week I will be showing Gypsy Queen cards including some super rare and mega (and mini) hits.

One thing I always liked about Gypsy Queen was the minis.

I won't get any satisfaction from the 2017 release because Topps has pulled minis from the release.

Here are all my Gypsy Queen releases by year

2016

The red is by far the rarest of my minis I own for this year.  It is numbered to only 5 copies.  I also have the gold/yellow on it's way.  Still need the regular and green though (/99).


2015

I really liked the design for this year.   In terms of the minis I have the base, silver, and photo variant.

2014

Another year with photo variants.  I also have the black, regular, and sepia variant.

2013

This year's collection I have so far features a black, sepia, base, and photo variant of Cutch.

2012

I have the most minis from 2012.  The base, Straight Cut back, sepia, black, and photo variant along with

The Sliding Stars insert mini

2011

The begining of it all.  Only a Gypsy Queen Red back and base have entered my collection so far.


Here are the backs of all the base minis

Will you all miss the minis from Gypsy or do you prefer minis to only be in Allen & Ginter?

Chrome Surfboards

I forgot who dubbed 2012 Topps as the surfboard set, but ever since reading that I have associated that name with 2012.

I just picked up my 7th parallel of 2012 Topps Chrome card #38, Andrew McCutchen.

Cutch was a first time All-Star in 2011, but as you can tell by the stats on the back started to fall apart in the second half.  He finished the season with his worse average .259.

I still need the Superfractor, Black, Gold, Red, and Atomic.  If anyone comes across any please let me know.  I realize these are all hard to come by.