A HUGE Ginter Trade w/ Matt: Part III: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Modern World, and the Natural Wonders!

Happy Wednesday everyone - and in honor of the third day of the work week, let's take a third look at the huge package full of Allen & Gintery goodness courtesy of Matt.  If you missed either part 1 or part 2, I encourage you to check my blog's archives.  For now though, let's look at part III!

I'm a huge fan of the Allen & Ginter's line of cards...and for most years that means not only do I want to collect the entire base set (which I have already completed from 2006 to 2014), but I also usually try to complete the majority of the insert sets.  For some years, I go even further and try for the full mini parallel set...and if I was feeling particularly ambitious, I also have gone for a number of box topper sets from various years of Ginter.

One such year that I'm still working on is 2013.  Matt hooked me up with a few different box toppers from the Wonders of the World set.  I love the Wonders set because it's 21 cards in size - 7 cards for the original 7 Ancient Wonders, plus another 7 cards each for the Modern Wonders and the Natural Wonders.  Great stuff (even if some of the photographs that Topps used are pixelated something terrible).

Beginning with the Ancient Wonders, Matt sent me three of the four that I was missing.  The first was the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

The best thing about this insert set (along with many of the other Ginter insert sets) is that it gives me a chance to learn about things that I probably wouldn't even think about otherwise.  Other than knowing that Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was an Ancient Wonder, I really didn't know anything about the temple.  A quick glance at the wikipedia page reveals some of the history of the once magnificent temple.  It's a shame that people from all walks of life (and across all parts of time) often have no interest in saving great historical buildings.

Matt also sent along the cards for the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.  Given the three Ancient Wonders cards (plus the three that I already owned), I'm now happy to report that I'm only in need of one more Ancient Wonder (The Great Pyramid of Giza).  Amazingly, the only card I'm missing celebrates that only Ancient Wonder that is still standing today.

My own collection of the Wonders of the World set was much fuller prior to the trade with Matt in regards to the middle third of the set (the Modern Wonders).  In fact, Matt sent me one of the three cards that I was missing (the two I'm still missing are the Itaipu Dam and the Panama Canal).  The card Matt sent me?  

The Golden Gate Bridge!

Of the seven modern wonders, I've seen the Empire State building which is cool but I've actually crossed the Golden Gate Bridge once!  It's always fun to get cards showing places that I've been - it's like getting a postcard in a box of baseball cards!

That brings us to the final three box toppers that Matt sent - the three belonging to the Natural Wonders.

Prior to the trade with Matt, I was missing four of the seven - now I'm only missing one (Paricutin Volcano).  Matt sent me the Grand Canyon (which I've visited once), the Great Barrier Reef (which I haven't ever seen despite being in Australia once), and the Harbor of Rio De Janeiro.

Of the three, I most want to see the Harbor of Rio de Janeiro!  From everything I've ever seen or read, it sounds magnificent (though sometimes polluted which is a bummer).  I think this is a site that is deserving to be on my bucket list!

That concludes the large card portion of the giant trade envelope - but I've still only scratched the surface of what all was in the package.  Since this post has been otherwise devoid of cards featuring actual baseball players, here are three Reds' minis that Matt sent my way - in 2013 I decided to focus on the box toppers and then only the Reds' minis rather than the full mini set.  In hindsight, that was a good choice since I still haven't even acquired all the Reds from the set!

Many, many thanks for the great package of cards Matt!  There are still a few more cards to go including some more mini inserts and a nice pile of framed relics!  Stay tuned for those at a later date!