The Raz Card Blog Sends Ginter! (More Relics!)

 After a fairly long dry spell at the mailbox, the past couple of weeks have seen an influx of packages arrive at the casa de Nachos.  One of my more recent envelopes is from Chris over at The Raz Card Blog.  Chris had posted some of his 2020 Allen & Ginter hits on Twitter and I happened to see his post and commented that I'd be interested in trading for some of his cards.  

That's really all it took as a couple of days later my mailbox held a number of new 2020 Ginter cards for my set including two more of the framed relics!  

The Piazza picture could almost pass as a Panini shot since the Met's logo on his helmet is all but hidden buy the glare in the picture.  I used to pull Kershaw cards right and left (and pretty much sent them all off to Night Owl) but this year that Kershaw relic eluded me so I'm happy to be able to knock that one off of my want list as well!

In addition to the relics, Chris also sent along some base cards, a couple of Eugenio Suarez minis (but I'm typing this post right after the Reds got shut out for the second consecutive playoff game so I'm in no mood to show any Reds cards at the moment), and a few mini inserts.

Mini inserts are always appreciated so those get shown off for sure!

First up, a Booming Cities card of Riyadh.

I have a student who is Egyptian and I've been talking to her for the past couple of years about setting up a trip for me to visit her country (and have her serve as my guide of sorts).  Riyadh is in Saudi Arabia but Egypt is probably as close as I'll ever get to Saudi Arabia...kind of hard to plan travel trips to the Middle East in general but even more so right now in the time of Covid-19.  That being said, seeing the Great Pyramid is one of my bucket list items so if I do get the opportunity you can bet I'll do everything I can to make it happen!

Speaking of places I'd like to go, Portugal is another country that I'd love to visit someday but has thus far eluded me.

According to the card back of the Moorish Castle, it's a popular tourist stop in Portugal now so perhaps I'll make it there someday as well!

The third set that Chris helped me out with doesn't exactly feature a place that I may visit someday but instead features a bug that I see fairly consistently all summer long:  the ladybird beetle (aka the ladybug).

I didn't know this, but according to the card back the ladybird beetle is actually not a bug and thus the more common name "ladybug" is a bad name for the critter.  I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything other than "ladybug" though for this little guy so I guess the proper name hasn't stuck, at least not around where I live!

And finally, last but certainly not least, a card that celebrates the Safari!

This set celebrates the African safari - another area that I'd love to see with my own eyes someday.  I'm not really a bird guy per se but the Gray Crowned Crane does look pretty cool (fun fact:  the Gray Crowned Crane is the national symbol of Uganda).  On a completely different note, what's with the old school camera in the corner of the card for the design layout?  Do the Topps designers still live in the early 1990s?  Seriously, when's the last time anyone saw a camera that looked like that?

All questions about the use of the camera clipart aside, this was a tremendous mail day package from Chris (thanks again)!  I'm slowly but surely whittling away at my 2020 Topps Allen & Ginter want list so if you happen to have anything I need please let me know and hopefully we can work out some sort of trade.  I've got plenty of my own 2020 A&G available as trade bait as well, so if you are collecting anything from the set be sure to check that out and who knows, maybe I can help you out!