Show Box 3- 2016 Gypsy Queen

Gypsy Queen is a set I fell in love with in 2013 when I started collecting again. Then I very quickly fell out of love with it in 2014 when it became more expensive without delivering better quality content. This is a product that should be no more than $80 a box. I would say $70 but since most of the autos are on-card it does merit an extra bump. GQ is a low-mid end product that sells at a high-mid end price. As such I haven't bought a box since 2013. But at the show..I dunno, it just caught my eye. Maybe it's because Cal Ripken is the cover boy this year and is a PC player of mine. So for whatever reason I took the plunge and bought a box, 

Purple Frame parallel 224/250

218/250

108/250

167/250

02/50

The Glove Stories inserts have always been mildly interesting but I really like this one of Billy Burns. Dark borders on cards are a favorite of mine so this one looks great to my eyes.

1998 me would have gone insane over this card.

As I slow-revealed this card left to right I saw the D-backs jersey and the P in the signature and thought "Yes! Goldy!" But then I saw the RC logo. -_-

Green parallel 11/99

Pulling a color auto from GQ is a pretty rare feat for me. As in, this is the first time ever.

So this was a bland box, I think. The McGwire relic was nice as was the gold Hank Aaron mini. But overall it was typical GQ. About $20 worth of content from a $100 box.

Meh.

Show Box 2- 2016 Diamond Kings

So I was a big fan of Panini's resurrection of Diamond Kings last year. As such I was really looking forward to this year's release. My first box did not disappoint. 

Image variation

I was a big fan of the design of last year's base set and a HUGE fan of the cardstock they used that gave a canvas type feel to the cards. I think this year's set looks even better!! This might be, in my opinion, the best looking baseball card set I've ever seen. 

Image variation

The cards are so gorgeous.

Artist's Proof #05/99

Framed Parallel

#90/99

Now this card has me so confused. According to the checklist the framed cards numbered /99 are blue. The framed cards that are black are /1. This card is /99. The frame is black. I don't have a problem differentiating blue and black. It's black. My scanner made it a little brighter than it is in person. It's definitely black. Looking at eBay doesn't really help with this particular card but other /99 examples look a lot more blue to me than this one does. So I am wondering if perhaps this one was an error that received the wrong color frame. Any ideas?

The inserts were a the weak link in the 2015 version of DK. This year Panini knocked it out of the park. 

#78/99

I love pulling PC hits!!

Woo!!

Already redeemed. These don't appear to be live yet but Arrieta autos from Donruss are live so I don't expect these to take too awful long.

So like I said at the beginning this box did not disappoint. I know I most likely got a better than average box hits wise. But regardless of the hits Panini has produced another stellar edition of Diamond Kings. Topps will rue the day that Panini gets a full MLB license if they continue to churn out gems like this.

Show Box 1- 2015 Bowman Chrome jumbo

This was actually the last box I bought. It was the last box the dealer had and he had just taken off the shrink wrap to sell individual packs. He was selling the packs for $15 each. I asked him how much he wanted for the whole box and he sold it to me for just $120 because the box was already open, despite all the original packs being inside. This is $30 below the current Blowout price and a whopping $50 under his per pack price!! Definitely a good deal in my book!!

Refractor #065/499

Refractor #118/499

Refractor #444/499

Purple Refractor #226/250

Blue Refractor #065/150

Blue Refractor #104/150

Base Auto

I pulled a J.D. Davis blue auto from the last chrome jumbo I opened.

Base Auto

Refractor Auto #056/499

Purple Refractor #064/250

Green Refractor Rookie Auto #77/99

Overall I was pretty pleased with this box, especially at the price I got it for. Three color autos is, I believe, better than normal. I'm pleased to see that all four of the prospect auto players have nice looking signatures rather than completely illegible scribbles. And I really like the Rasiel Iglesias green RC auto. Falling at 1:503 packs the green RC autos fall about one in every 5+ cases. So this was a nice card to pull, particularly of one of the lone bright spots on a bad team. 

Show Singles

Last weekend was another show in Charlotte. This is the last one that will be at the Metrolina Expo Center as the facility has been sold and the new owner is demolishing the building. Future shows will take place on the east side of Charlotte, a much further drive for me. Hopefully I'll still be able to go.

Anyways, here are the singles I picked up.

Another addition for the HoF relic PC. This card actually has quite a few creases, as you can see in the scan. I don't mind though as I was able to get it super cheap.

I believe Hoffman will make the Hall in the next couple years so this is a preemptive addition. He may actually be the first pitcher with a losing career W-L record to make the Hall. Not sure about that.

#118/375

And another preemptive addition. I hope Vlad gets in soon. I always liked Vlad for his ability to hit anything. The pitcher could throw the ball into the dugout and Vlad would still get his bat on it.

#005/175

Troy Glaus won't make the Hall but I picked up this relic as well because I really like the design with the little rubber home plate. 

Always nice to add another Braves auto even though Cory has been with the Angels for a few years now.

And lastly I snagged this 2012 Bowman Platinum auto of 2015 Gold Glove Award winner Kole Calhoun.

Boxes from the show coming soon!

Redemptions Fulfilled

Well...it's been a month since my last post. I haven't had much time to put anything together until today. But just because I haven't posted in awhile doesn't mean I don't have a bunch of new cards to post about!! First off I've got two redemptions from Topps that were fulfilled pretty quickly.

This is a pretty horrible signature. 

#254/353

I was a little bit surprised that I got this one since it's from 2013 and Topps really likes using Machado autos as replacements. But they sent it to me less than a month after I entered the code.

They also sent both of these cards together, which was nice. And with these two in my hands I now have a completely clear Topps redemption que!

Lot's more cards to come!