Trick or Treat!

So last week it was Halloween, not the most traditional Holiday here in Italy, but I decided nevertheless to "treat" myself a little with some ebay pickups...

Since there were no interesting 2013 Tribute Wbc ending during the festivities, I focused on other cards that were either from cool sets or that depict players I like.

And here below are some of the latest additions to the collection!

First, I'd like to proudly show a pickup that I made just a handful of hours before game 7 started (and we all know how it ended). It's the first card I ever bought from one of the highest-end products out there...I am talking about Topps Dynasty! And the player on this card turned out to be one of the leaders in the Cubs winning game 7...here's Jason Heyward

2015 Topps Dynasty - AP JH2

Please forgive the quality of the picture, but it's taken directly from the auction I won... but I can say that the card is absolutely gorgeous! It comes from a beautiful set, it is limited to ten, it features a sick piece of camo patch, and the player on it is one of the team leaders of the 2016 World Series Champions!

Btw the price on this card was also pretty reasonable, considering all the attributes listed above, so that's why I offered until the very last minute for it.

And since I broke the Dynasty taboo, why not try to win a second card from this product?

The next card has a less sick patch, and most importantly the player depicted is not very beloved after the PED scandal he was involved in. Probably PED is now a synonim for this player's name, so without further adue, here's the second Dynasty I recently picked up.

2014 Topps Dynasty - Ryan Braun

The price on this one ended up to be fair as well, and lower than the Heyward, so now I proudly own not one but two Topps Dynasty cards!

Another thing that I've been wanting from quite a long time was a Playoff Prime Cuts card.

So I decided to offer on a bunch of cards from the set, all of them were Hall Of Famers or very big names in the history of the game, and I ended up winning three cards!

2004 Playoff Prime Cuts - MLB22 Jim Palmer #'ed to 25

2004 Playoff Prime Cuts - MLB22 Jim Palmer #'ed to 50

2004 Playoff Prime Cuts - MLB49 Steve Carlton #'ed to 50

First of all, I love these cards!

Second, the old time patches are super cool!

Third I've been wanting a Jim Palmer auto for a long time and at the end of my Halloween spree I own two (at least two I should say)!

Fourth I don't understand why an autographed card should have a lower print run than a card that is both signed and comes with a cool patch!

I am extremely happy of these cards, and considering the very low price they cost me, I am even more happy!

So far I showed only encased cards, so to end this post I will show three more cards that I won during the "Holiday"...

2015 Panini Cooperstown HOF Induction - Jim Palmer

2012 Playoff Prime Cuts Century Gold - Josh Hamilton #ed to 25

2015 Topps Museum Auto Relic - Evan Gattis

Now this is a complete post! It has autos, patches, Hall Of Famers, High-end products (and three autographs of Jim Palmer)!

This Halloween feels like a Christmas to me, so it's definitely a treat for me!

I hope you like this last post, and the cards in it, and that you had a great Halloween!

Keep collecting and CIAO!

The wait is over!

Today is a great day for every baseball fan, maybe some fans are happier than other, but it is always a great feeling when a team is crowned World Series Champion am I right?
The title of this post refers both to the long time the Cubs fans had to wait before having the opportunity to celebrate their team on the top of the baseball world, as well as to the long time that passed (again) since my last post...

I know, I just published a new post Set fails pt1 , but that's something I worked on over several weeks, so it doesn't feel like something recently produced, but rather something that I kept aside until I had the chance to scan the last card and post the whole thing.

I feel like this post is the first in a pretty long time, and what better chance to post a new post than take advantage of the great assist (in the soccer meaning of the word) provided by the recently ended 2016 World Series?

This post could be the first of new series of posts (I know I keep starting new series that apparently are abandoned immediately after they are posted, but it's hard to put hands on new "material" to feature), because I will try to show all the relics/autos cards I have from the players that won the World Series less than 24 hours ago.
There will be obviously several players (probably the majority of them) without a card in this post, but maybe someday I will own a card of every player that ever played the game (wow that would be a dream). Also, please be kind if some of the players are featured in a uniform different from the cubs'blue, but that's the best I can do!

First, the pitcher that won the final game of the series, one of my favorite pitchers, and honestly I don't regret the fact that he left the Yankees to join the team that won the championship, so here we start with the Cuban Missle....Aroldis Chapman!

2015 Topps Triple Threads

2011 Bowman Chrome Auto

2016 Topps Museum Primary Pieces

2014 Topps Tribute Forever Young Relic

2015 Topps Tribute Relic

2015 Diamond Kings Mini relic

2012 Topps Triple Threads Relic Auto

It's nice to notice that 5 cards from the above selection have the exact same pose/picture...come on Topps! Some variety in the pictures selection could be much more appreciated than ultra sick one of one patch auto printing plates (or not?).

The second player featured in this post is a "paisan" of mine, and I'm very proud that an Italian player will wear the ring of the World Series Champion.... I'm obviously talking about Anthony Rizzo!

2014 Topps Triple Threads Unity Jumbo relics

2013 Topps Tribute WBC Auto

2013 Topps Tribute WBC Auto

I wish I had more cards of this young (and Italian) player, and hopefully after all the hype following yesterday's game I will be able to pick some more up!

The next player has been named MVP of the World Series, so he definitely deserves a spot in this post...here's Ben Zobrist

2014 Topps Tribute to the Pastime Auto

Well, that's all for the MVP...I know he is not even wearing the Cubs uniform, but what can I do?

From now on, I will list all the cards I have of other players of the World Series winning Chicago Cubs!

Jason Hammel

2005 Donruss Elite

Chris Coghlan

2011 Topps Triple Threads Relic Auto

Chris Coghlan

2012 Topps Golden Moments Auto

Dexter Fowler

2012 Topps Triple Threads Relic Auto

Jason Heyward

2015 Topps Tier One relic

Jason Heyward

2015 Topps Tier One New Guard Autographs Bronze

Tommy La Stella

2014 Topps Supreme Simply Supreme

Miguel Montero

2013 Topps Tribute WBC Autograph

Miguel Montero

2013 Topps Tribute WBC Prime Patches Green

Miguel Montero

2013 Topps Tribute WBC Prime Patches Blue

Miguel Montero

2013 Topps Tribute WBC Prime Patches Base

....and that's all I have! I wish I had cards of Kris Bryant, Addison Russel and Kyle Schwarber, but unfortunately so far they were out of reach, and probably it will be even tougher in the coming months...

I hope you liked this long and very crowded post, I am pretty sad because there won't be any more baseball games until April, but I will do my best to use the coming baseball-less months to improve my collection, so stay tuned, keep collecting, and congrats to the 2016 Chicago Cubs!!!

CIAO

Set fails pt.1

What's set fails?

Basically a review of some of the sets that I consider to have failed in the collectors market or community.
The concept of failure in this case is basically derived from the lack of reference to these sets in the blogs I read, the scarcity of cards posted on Instagram (where I'm a very active member) and even the difficulties a collector will face in tracking down the cards comprised in these sets.

The best part of it, is that I will show the cards I own from these sets (like I do in the show and tell series of posts), to prove that at least I gave these sets a try....

For the first episode of this new section, I picked up a product issued by Topps in 2011, and that had no further issues, apparently because the market didn't received it very positively, or maybe because it was replaced by a similar product, that proved to be more successful (in my opinion it's been replaced by Museum Collection).

The set I'm about to present is 2011 Topps Marquee!

This product was sold in boxes containing 4 mini boxes, each one with a single pack inside (first resemblance with Museum collection), and every pack offered 5 cards.
So far nothing strange.
As far as I know, this was the first Topps product to feature metal framed cards (second aspect recycled in Museum).
The set offered a wide range of signed and relic cards, the most notable probably being the "Titanic Threads Patch relic".

But don't worry, I won't show cards from this sick subset, instead I'll show 5 cards, that's all I have... I think this might be useful to have a flavor of what the subsets were like...

2011 Topps Marquee Monumental Markings Autographs

MM-BWA Brett Wallace #ed to 570

MM-DS Drew Stubbs #ed to 570

MM-JT Jose Tabata #ed to 570

2011 Topps Marquee Gametime Mementos

GMQR-46 Nelson Cruz #ed to 199

GMQR-5 Mark Teixeira #ed to 199

That's everything I have from this sometimes forgotten and sometimes obscure set.

I am very well aware that is not a ton of cards, but probably even if I showed more the fate of this product wouldn't change.

Maybe in the future I'll try to find some more cards from Topps Marquee, but now it's time to end this short but at the same time veeeery long post (it took me several weeks to complete it due to a long list of reasons), and focus on what could be the next set to feature in this new series... Set fails!

Keep collecting and see you soon!