My first Mini Metal !!

I recently saw an opportunity to get my hands on a Metal Mini from this year's Allen & Ginter. I did encounter a small issue around shipping costs but Daniel at Better Than Beckett was very happy to help me out (thanks !!!) so a cool Metal Mini arrived in my mailbox last week. Meet Metal Rizzo !!!!

Daniel also included some extra cards including these cool minis !!

Daniel found me two Glavines !! Awesome !!!

A few Verlanders were also included !!

That's it for today, thanks Daniel for your help in getting my hands on my first metal mini !!!

Ripping it....again !

As some of you might know, I received a 2nd RIP card through a group break recently. Of course, I need to RIP it !! Here's the card of Teheran that I received.

Clearly, the back is not as nice anymore as I ripped it !! Here's what I pulled....

yes, the black ones to cover up the real prize :-) Here's what was inside...

A Chris Davis mini, a high-numbered one (382) which makes it rare, although I have no clue how rare. That's it, again no Glavine red auto :-)



Thanks for visiting my blog today !

Loot from Cracking Wax !!

Topher at Crackin Wax recently hosted a group break, breaking lots of Allen & Ginter. Part of the proceeds went to charity as well so absolutely no reason to not participate (in the end $1,200 was raised for charity, well done Topher !!). I grabbed the Braves hoping for some Glavine hits !! Here's the loot !

First up, minis !!!! I am trying to complete the minis sets again, a huge but fun task. Still need to finish previous years but if you have any extra minis to spare I am always happy to trade !!

My goal was to get some Glavine cards, well here they are ! Although I was hoping for a Glavine auto or low-numbered mini :-)

The best loot of the break, from a Braves perspective, was a RIP card !! Most of you followed me Ripping my first ever RIP card a few weeks ago. So to get my hands on a second opportunity to RIP one is awesome !! I will RIP this one and of course dedicate a seperate post to the event !!

In addition to the RIP card, my "hit" of the break was this McGann relic. I thought he is playing for the Yankees so maybe we see him in A&G in a Yankees uniform in a few years ! This one is for trade !

I think some bonus packs were also included in the break as I also received a Topps Series 2 insert and a few 2014 Archives cards.

Let's finish with two more cards !! I actually pulled an Auto, some Twins fan, probably keep the card as he also likes Nirvana and the Pumkins :-))

That's it, another cool break, looking forward to next year. Thanks very much Topher !

It's Tiny !!

Last night Tom at Waiting Till Next year asked me to show the "mini mini" in context, i.e. side by side a regular mini and a RIP card. So here we go !

It's tiny isn't it ! Note that the middle one is already the size of a regular mini !

Thanks for visiting my blog today and by the way, both my 2014 A&G and Series 2 Want Lists are live so let me know if you would like to trade !
 

To RIP or not to RIP ?

As you all might have read in my previous post(s) the best pull of my 2014 Allen & Ginter boxes was a RIP card, a RIP card numbered to only 5, a RIP card that is of a team whom a lot of you support !

Here it is, #3/5 Ramirez / Gonzalez Dodgers Double RIP card !

So the key questions of course is: To RIP or not to RIP this double-RIP card. Clearly, this card is worth more unripped in case I would like to sell it. I noticed the same card for $599 buy-out on eBay. However, I get a little nervous when selling high-end cards through eBay as I have no way of tracking them properly, hence the buyer can always claim they never received it and I have to refund the amount. Still, I could take this gamble....Second option is to trade although it will be so hard to find a proper trade around this with cards in return that I actually like (but do let me know if you have anything in mind). Third option is to RIP it !! I did here some stories that actually low-numbered RIP cards have crapy minis in them. But then again, if I trade it and all of a sudden it had a awesome card in it I am not sure I could cope with that :-)



What do you think I should do ? Trying to make a decision by this weekend !!

Allen & Ginter Box 3 !

Time for the final Box, box 3 of my Allen & Ginter break ! Clearly box 2 disappointed but this one is going to make up for that !!!

Let's start with the box topper. This time not a large card as is usually the case but actually a tiny little envelop !! I had no clue what I was going to find in there as I had never heard of these so I was very excited. Here's what I got !

All these red minis are numbered to /33 and look pretty cool. Still making up my mind if I am going to chase these or not (probably not, too much to chase already !)

More minis in the rest of the box, including Robin Hood and a cat or a Sphynx as they call it !!

 More Pastime, here's Glavine !!!! and Trout !

Another cool Fields of Lore card, love the way these look !

More inserts ! First up, Moscow...clearly in the Netherlands we are not happy with the Russians today after what has been happening in the last week or so. I read a statistic that as a % of population the events of last week had, for us, a higher death toll as a % of population compared to 9/11 (because we are a small country of course). Anyways, let's not compare tragedies as they are all incredibly horrible and should not happen in the first place. Let's turn to the positive and point to the cool Natural Wonder card and a nice Festivals and Fairs card.

Now let's move to the hits of the box, meet Fielder and a guy named Riess, apparently a poker player. Both are for trade !

Now let's turn to the best card of the box, a RIP card numbered to only 5. Given that this is my first (and likely only) RIP card I will ever pull I think it deserves a seperate post. This should also help to discuss the question: To RIP or not to RIP !!

Is this a proper cliffhanger or not :-)) hope to see you back tomorrow for the RIP card discussion !!

Allen & Ginter box 2

After I showed you the loot from Allen & Ginter box1 it's time for box 2 today ! Let's start with the disappointment: 99% of basecards and 95% of the inserts were the same as in box 1. Clearly not a great way to start collecting this year's set and not helping me much on my way to complete the set. But, as said in my earlier post, plenty of stuff to trade !! With the insert also largely the same let's focus on the fun stuff !

Let's start with the box topper, McCutchen. I like these box toppers and have a Kershaw on the way as well !

Next up, the 5% of inserts I did not find in box 1 which is a Field of Lore card. This one is from Wrigley Field. I was lucky enough to visit Wrigley Field last year, a cool experience. Hope to get my hands on the other cards from this set as well !

Next up a bunch of minis and yes, that's a black-bordered Glavine !!

Now let's move to the "hits" of the box, here's Tulowitzki and Posey, both for trade !

The last hit of the box was a framed auto of Kelly, a nice looking card if I may say so !!

That's it for box 2, a bit disappointed in all the base cards and insert but this will be compensated by the RIP card that I pulled from box 3, more on that tomorrow !!

Ginter Arrives across the Pond !!

I have been swamped with work, family and world cup in recent weeks so posting has been very modest. Hopefully things will accelerate from here, at least until my holiday in two weeks time !!

Best break of the year for me is always Allen & Ginter, closely followed by Gypsy Queen. Like each year I try to get 3 boxes of A&G and this year was no different. They arrived yesterday so let's have a look at what I pulled. As boxes 2 and 3 had almost exactly the same base cards (thanks Topps!) I still need plenty of regular cards (bad news) but also have plenty to trade (good news!!). The other good news is that I did pull my first RIP-card, one numbered to only 5 and from a team that a lot of you support so stay tuned for that one, maybe I will dedicate a seperate post to that one all together !!

As I am always 1 to 2 weeks behind everyone else let me not bore you with the base cards and focus on the inserts and hits. I do think they did a good job with the base cards this year although the non-baseball stuff is less exciting than previous years, in my view. Let's kick off !! The first box contained a box topper ! I pulled a Landmarks & Monuments. Although it's a hassle to store these properly I do love these and will try to complete the full set !! Meet Jefferson below !

Best insert for me this year is Pastimes. These cards really look nice, have a look at Ripken and Smoltz !!

After Pastimes, the best insert set for me is Air Supremacy. They are really cool looking cards. To me it would be really awesome in case Topps does a set of historic locomotives/trains for next year's A&G !! So Topps, in case you are listening :-))

Another one of the inserts are the World's Capital's, fairly nice looking cards.

Two more insert sets, Festivals and Fairs and Natural Wonder !

Minis !! Always love the minis and will chase all the sets and subsets !! Here are a few I pulled, including some of the mini inserts !

Let's have a look at the hits ! Here are two, Gonzalez and Zimmerman. I have the feeling I have been pulling a bit too many Zimmerman relics the last few years. Both up for trade !

Last hit of the box was a framed-mini relic iof Longoria. I like this years framed minis given the colour combinatiojns they have chosen.

I want to finish with something "strange" which is a regular base card without a number. I no we have had this with minis for years (apparently there are only 50 of these minis each) but never seen them for base cards. Noticed Night Owl also talking about this last week. According to the blowout forum all Jennings are missing a number and missing number 114. Might have something to do with "crack the code" contest.

That's it for box 1, box 2 and 3 posts should appear soon with one of them containing the first base card I ever pulled, from a team a lot of you are supporting !

In case you want to trade some A&G let me know, my want list should be up in the coming days!