Over the weekend another card from the 2013 Topps Archives Gold parallel set showed up in the mail. This time it was Desmond Jennings, and as luck would have it, the serial number on the front matches the card's set number on the back. I think this is my fifth such card in the binder. It would be neat to collect a full set of cards with similar matching numbers, but with this set it would be impossible as card #200 doesn't have a corresponding serial-numbered copy. Even getting #'s 1-199 would be so close to impossible as to form one of those mathematical equations where the line approaches zero but never actually gets there. Google tells me it's an asymptote. I'm no trigonometrist, that's for sure.
I haven't been posting for the last few days, as my scheduled posts all ran out and the last few days have been somewhat hectic. I had a rather busy drill weekend with the Army National Guard, going up and down hills with my backpack and setting up Observation Posts to watch our other platoon's Observation Posts. After all that exercise I was wiped out, so on Monday I didn't do much of anything at all. Because I didn't do anything on Monday and I was out of the house all weekend, I fell behind on my homework, and because I was behind on my homework I had to try to catch up. So I didn't do much in the way of posting.
In fact, it took me so long between posts that more Gold Archives cards showed up in the mail. I am getting closer, but there are still more open spots in the binder than there are filled spots. And the 'white whales' of the set are still out there somewhere. On eBay right now there is a Bryce Harper going for $30.28 shipped, a Mike Trout packaged with some base cards and low-tier inserts for $56.99 shipped, and two Derek Jeters. There is a graded Jeter priced at $39.00 and an ungraded one that the seller wants $60.00 for. No thanks! It looks like Jeter's card can be found for under $20.00, and in the $12-15 range with some patience. The last few Harper auctions have gone for just a hair over $20.00, and Trout's card is still a pretty hot item, going for $35-40 with regularity. There were a few auctions for his card in June that went in the $20-25 range, but those days seem to be over for now. I will have to be patient. It's a lot of fun assembling this set and trying to score good deals on the cards I need, but some of these things are ridiculous. I'll have to hope I can pull Puig's card straight out of an Archives pack next year. Or I could try not to collect the set. The 2012 foils seem to go for a lot less than the 2013 foils, although they are seeded at pretty similar ratios (2012 is 1:12 packs and 2013 is 1:13 packs). I wonder if the print runs are similar? The lack of a serial number really depresses the 2012 prices. I hope the 2014 set doesn't have some ridiculous low numbered Gold parallel.
In fact, it took me so long between posts that more Gold Archives cards showed up in the mail. I am getting closer, but there are still more open spots in the binder than there are filled spots. And the 'white whales' of the set are still out there somewhere. On eBay right now there is a Bryce Harper going for $30.28 shipped, a Mike Trout packaged with some base cards and low-tier inserts for $56.99 shipped, and two Derek Jeters. There is a graded Jeter priced at $39.00 and an ungraded one that the seller wants $60.00 for. No thanks! It looks like Jeter's card can be found for under $20.00, and in the $12-15 range with some patience. The last few Harper auctions have gone for just a hair over $20.00, and Trout's card is still a pretty hot item, going for $35-40 with regularity. There were a few auctions for his card in June that went in the $20-25 range, but those days seem to be over for now. I will have to be patient. It's a lot of fun assembling this set and trying to score good deals on the cards I need, but some of these things are ridiculous. I'll have to hope I can pull Puig's card straight out of an Archives pack next year. Or I could try not to collect the set. The 2012 foils seem to go for a lot less than the 2013 foils, although they are seeded at pretty similar ratios (2012 is 1:12 packs and 2013 is 1:13 packs). I wonder if the print runs are similar? The lack of a serial number really depresses the 2012 prices. I hope the 2014 set doesn't have some ridiculous low numbered Gold parallel.
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In between working on my schoolwork I collated the stacks and stacks of 2013 Topps Series 1 and 2 base cards that I had all over the place. The Series 1 hobby box that is going to arrive with my Cryptozoic DC Comics: The Women of Legend box will only need to fill 21/330 spots in my binder, as those stacks of retail packs add up. The Series 2 box that will arrive in the same shipment will have to do a little more heavy lifting, as it will need to fill 208/330 spots in the set. I am still divided on whether to pursue the Topps Update set as part of my set. On the one hand it has some key cards like the Puig RC, but on the other hand that will be the fourth set with the same card design. I may decide to just skip the pack-busting and buy a set from one of the online case breakers who only care about the big hits. It may be a good idea to do that with all of the base Topps sets, as I get more thrills per hour busting packs of other products than I do the base cards.
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