The first of the 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter trades started rolling in last week. One of the first packages to grace my mailbox was an envelope courtesy of Brian over at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary. Brian opened up a box of Ginter and was mostly unimpressed with his haul...which ended up being a good thing for me since he sent many of his goodies my way!
I happen to like this year's edition of Allen & Ginter quite a bit - especially the minis. Quite honestly, only the First Ladies are even mediocre to me...and the backs of the First Ladies cards have all been fairly informative which makes me like set more than I otherwise would have.
The other mini sets are all top-notch in my book. Heck, even the what-could-have-been-boring "Magnates, Barons, and Tycoons" set looks good thanks to the money-like color scheme and dollar signs in the set logo. For my money, Topps outdid themselves with the actual design of most of this year's mini sets.
Another excellent design is the Birds of Prey - there are actually three bird shadows that appear in three of the four corners of the card - but since they are all different (both in shape and size), the design element works out beautifully! This particular design is the least symmetric of any of the minis, but it might possibly be the best design out of the entire set!
The Mythological Menaces set is another mini set with a nice design, though the actual subject matter of this set and Menagerie of the Mind (a full-sized insert set this year) seem to be a bit too close to the same for my money. I think Topps should have stuck with one set or the other...perhaps pushed whichever set it decided against off until 2016.
In addition to the minis, Brian also threw in a relic of Micheal Morse.
I was thinking about trying to collect the entire framed relic set this year - the purple frames look really nice with the card design! However, after realizing that at least one other blogger (Matt from Bubba's Banging Baseball Bits) was also going for the entire purple frame relic set, I decided that I would give up on that goal.
Finally, we end with a bonus card from Brian - a very white-heavy design of an Austin Kearns autograph from Upper Deck.
I think Topps did a much better job with their Ginter designs this year than normal...and the Ginter designs are even more impressive when you compare them to other sets (such as the Upper Deck card above)!
Many thanks for the great trade Brian! And, as usual, if anyone else would like to trade, check out my want list and make an offer! I also have now updated my 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter FOR TRADE page as well if you are still working on your set (including inserts)!
I happen to like this year's edition of Allen & Ginter quite a bit - especially the minis. Quite honestly, only the First Ladies are even mediocre to me...and the backs of the First Ladies cards have all been fairly informative which makes me like set more than I otherwise would have.
The other mini sets are all top-notch in my book. Heck, even the what-could-have-been-boring "Magnates, Barons, and Tycoons" set looks good thanks to the money-like color scheme and dollar signs in the set logo. For my money, Topps outdid themselves with the actual design of most of this year's mini sets.
Another excellent design is the Birds of Prey - there are actually three bird shadows that appear in three of the four corners of the card - but since they are all different (both in shape and size), the design element works out beautifully! This particular design is the least symmetric of any of the minis, but it might possibly be the best design out of the entire set!
The Mythological Menaces set is another mini set with a nice design, though the actual subject matter of this set and Menagerie of the Mind (a full-sized insert set this year) seem to be a bit too close to the same for my money. I think Topps should have stuck with one set or the other...perhaps pushed whichever set it decided against off until 2016.
In addition to the minis, Brian also threw in a relic of Micheal Morse.
I was thinking about trying to collect the entire framed relic set this year - the purple frames look really nice with the card design! However, after realizing that at least one other blogger (Matt from Bubba's Banging Baseball Bits) was also going for the entire purple frame relic set, I decided that I would give up on that goal.
Finally, we end with a bonus card from Brian - a very white-heavy design of an Austin Kearns autograph from Upper Deck.
I think Topps did a much better job with their Ginter designs this year than normal...and the Ginter designs are even more impressive when you compare them to other sets (such as the Upper Deck card above)!
Many thanks for the great trade Brian! And, as usual, if anyone else would like to trade, check out my want list and make an offer! I also have now updated my 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter FOR TRADE page as well if you are still working on your set (including inserts)!
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