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A TCDB Surprise Card from mpdillard25!

Delivery Time! Play at the Plate Goodies from July!

As I prepare for my big move in a few weeks, I am desperately trying to get caught up with all my trade packages.  Yesterday, I posted a package that arrived only a couple of days ago - today...well...today's package has sat since mid July waiting for me to get to it!  While that might seem like it must be a worthless package, that assumption would be incorrect.  In fact, the package came from Brian over at Play at the Plate and it was chock full of Barry Larkin cards (one of the best kind of trade packages ever)!

In fact, Brian sent me 30 Barry Larkin cards - including quite a few that were brand new to my collection.  While all Larkin cards will eventually get their turn to shine in my ongoing Barry Larkin Collection series, I did want to highlight at least a couple of the cards that Brian sent my way.

First up, a 2000 Fleer Mystique card of Larkin.

Around 2000, Fleer produced what seemed like 2,000 different sets - and most of them had at least one or two ideas in them.  If I remember correctly, Mystique had cards inserted with a dark plastic cover on them that you had to peel off in order to see what card you ended up with.  Gimmicky for sure, but also kind of cool.  I wonder if Topps might do something like someday with their Ginter brand?

As I said, while Fleer usually had some interesting ideas, sometimes that had total flops.  One such flop was their Flair Showcase idea.

The set itself is actually quite nice, but from year-to-year, Fleer changed up the distribution ratios which makes collecting the entire set both frustrating and darn near impossible.  Luckily for me, I only want the Barry Larkin cards (and this particular Larkin card is quite nice)!

Heading to stranger pastures, here we find a Barry Larkin card with a completely destroyed pasture in the background.

Metal Universe is goofy, but I have to admit that I like it.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to make a scan of this card show up well...but you'll have to trust me that the background is a totally devastated field (or maybe a totally leveled forest, it's hard to tell for sure).

Finally, one more visit to Fleer - this time Fleer Ultra.

Brian sent me a pair of Larkin cards from the 2002 Fleer Ultra set that might look the same at first glance but in reality are different.  One is the standard base card while the other is the Gold Medallion parallel from the same set.

Thanks for the great cards Brian!  And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - check out my want list and make an offer!

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