28 July 2016

N20 Allen & Ginter Prize & Game Chickens 26: Japanese Bantam

I found some 2016 Allen & Ginter yesterday, but a couple of weeks ago I found another card toward my N20 1891 Allen & Ginter Fifty Prize & Game Chickens set build. These cards are over 125 years old, and I've now officially moved over the 50% completion mark on acquiring the set. I got this one on eBay, and it's a pretty nice-looking example.


The bird on the card is a Japanese Bantam, which is a true bantam breed, meaning that they have no regular-sized counterpart breed. They carry their tails in an upright manner and are bred with a variety of feather colors. There are frizzled Japanese Bantams, too, which means that their feathers curl around, giving them a windblown look.

Photo of Japanese Bantams from the breed page on FeatherSite
I think these are a pretty cool chicken, and I wouldn't mind having a couple around if I ever get a backyard flock off the ground. This is one of the cards from the set I was really looking forward to obtaining, and I am glad I was able to get such a nice example.

Not much on the tourism front today. I did go to Maverick's again to get a top loader and sleeve for my 2016 Allen & Ginter hit. I decided to list it on eBay right away so I could catch some of the initial rush as set and player collectors try to get the cards they want for their collections. I didn't really want to buy a whole pack of top loaders and a whole pack of penny sleeves, and the guy behind the counter gave me one of each for my card. I thought that was pretty cool. I picked up a couple packs of Topps Star Wars: Evolution while I was there, but didn't pull any cool hits or character cards that blew me away. They are pretty nice-looking cards, though. They have display cases with LEGO kits that have been assembled and are being sold as-is at a steep discount. I was looking at a set yesterday that really tempted me and today it was gone. The price was really good, so I'm not surprised it was already sold.

One thing that really bugged me for the first few days I was here was that on the horizon the sky goes all the way to the trees. Where I'm from in Idaho there is almost always a mountain range or some hills in the distance in every direction, so there is something between the trees and the sky. It's just one of those things that you don't even notice until you actually see a horizon with no mountains in it.

4 comments:

  1. Nice looking chickens. I can see why you really wanted that one. It's one of the closest matched between card and reference photo as well, I think.

    I remember the first time I went to Ohio. The overall flatness was actually a bit disorienting after being surrounded by the hills and valleys of upstate New York my whole life.

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    1. It is a pretty nice card. I try to match the bird photos to the cards, but sometimes there just isn't a really good picture that fits. I think in some cases the breed itself has changed over the last 100+ years.

      I am getting used to it, but at first the skyline just seemed wrong. After I figured out it was because the mountains were missing I felt a lot better.

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  2. Don't come to P-town then. Corn and beans for as far as the eyes can see. Maybe a rooster or two though!

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    1. I'm sure I would be fine after a day or two. I mostly just had to figure out what was missing. They sure have some nice thunderstorms out here. We get them on occasion where I live, but not like this. I could watch a thunderstorm for hours as long as I don't have to be out in it.

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