Greetings Gnafia!
As I'm carefully figuring out how to utilize my allowance for August for my newly rediscovered hobby of baseball card collecting, I wanted to review/share with you what I believe is one of the neatest sets of baseball cards on the market.
Topps has, for the last 5 years, released a set called Allen & Ginters World Champions. The cards are printed on matte finished cardboard cardstock to give them a retro appearance. All of the art are hand drawn portraits and depictions resembling the original 1887 Allen & Ginter Tobbacco cards. This means they aren't as flash as the new cards, but they sure look really great. Since they're not a glossy finish, they take autographs on the card more readily for those people whom are interested in obtaining on-the-card autographs from their favorite players.
Not only is the base set highly collectible, what great product would be complete without utterly fantastic inserts? This is where Allen & Ginter truly shines.
They have short prints, parallels, and parallel short prints of their base cards, insert sets of some really neat subjects ranging from "Minds That Made The Future" which feature scientists and thinkers from different eras, "Floating Fortresses" (my personal favorite!) featuring famous warships from the age of sail through World War II, and best of all they have sets of framed relics and autographs.
To top it all off, many packs contain a miniature tobacco-card sized set with its own variations of short prints, parallels, and so on. IN ADDITION, each insert set may also feature a variation of the back, meaning you have to check front AND back to determine just how rare your inserts are! How fantastic is that?
But wait, there's more. Not only can you get some of your favorite baseball players in the base set, relics, autographs, and minis, but there are subjects whom are world champions in their own sports, like the Cornhole Champion of the World, a champion pingpong player, members of the US Women's Soccer team, and even famed boxer Manny Paquiao.
But by far the most unique thing about Allen & Ginters is the extremely rare DNA Relic inserts. There are unique 1/1 cards that contain an ACTUAL HAIR from subjects such as George Washington, Geronimo, JFK, and other really dead guys. Now, the odds of obtaining one of these cards is astronomical, but it's still hella cool.
Retail and Hobby packs go for $2.99 and contain 6 cards (5 if there is a framed insert) meaning they're in the mid-high range of cards. Of course, you can get value packs to get more bang for your buck, too.
All in all, I'm looking forward to August.
Until next time, Gnafia!
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