Delivery Time! Do Card Trades Deserve Interest?

Back in November of last year, I sent Bert (over at Swing and a Pop-Up) a couple of Topps Archives cards he wanted.  In return, he said he'd find something off my want list.  It was a simple trade that I didn't think much of at the time.

Flash forward to February (yeah, I'm behind in posting my trades on the blog) and an envelope arrives in my mailbox from Bert.  In it was a note saying the contents of the envelope were for the cards I had sent him a few months prior.

What did my two Archives card that I sent Bert net me?  A veritable treasure trove of goodies...and way, way more "value" than the Archives cards I sent Bert's way.

Before I show off the cards, I have to ask:  Does a delayed trade package "deserve" interest?  I don't know if that was Bert's intent, but he went way above and beyond what was necessary for what I had sent him!  I think adding in some "interest" is nice, but not required (unless maybe you take something like 6 months to send an agreed upon trade package).  What do you think?

While you ponder that question, let's take a look at the cards that I can now happily add to my own set binders!

First up, a single Topps Gypsy Queen base card from 2013.

The GQ base cards have been tough to come by - I still need 24 more to complete my set.  This particular card is quite nice - the colorization that Topps did looks really good (and the card "pops" nicely when you look at it in hand).

In addition, Bert also sent me a trio of white bordered paper parallels.

I like the white bordered cards quite a bit (even though I'm still missing a ton of 'em).  If I ever do finish this set, it will look really snazzy in the binder!  As for the three that Bert sent my way, it's an easy choice for "best":  Ernie Banks!  That's a great looking card - one in which I can't find any faults.

Although the four Gypsy Queen cards above were all appreciated, in some ways the real prize was the final GQ card in the package...

Yeah, it's Ryan Braun and no one likes him anymore, but that's not the point.  This happened to be one of my Elusive Eight cards - it was the final card that I needed for the Sliding Stars insert set!  I'm extremely pumped to be able to cross an entire set off my want list!

Finally (remember I said that Bert was extremely generous), he included a pair of brand new Barry Larkin cards for me!  One was a somewhat generic Upper Deck card (but one I don't think I owned until now) while the other was an amazing Pacific card (which is extra awesome as I'm now searching for all things Pacific)!!

Thanks for the great trade Bert - and for your amazing display of generosity!  As for anyone else, if you'd like to complete a trade (big or small) be sure to check out my want list and then make an offer!