29 August 2017

2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Kate Upton Autograph

I have a long and somewhat painful history with this particular card. Shortly after returning to collecting in 2013, I discovered Topps Allen & Ginter. One of the best things about the product line is the non-baseball autographs and relics. While not every signature or swatch is of interest to me, each season there are a handful of subjects that I mark as targets for my collection. My main target for 2012 was Kate Upton, who had an autograph and a relic in the set.

I eventually acquired a relic and an autograph, as well as a mini printing plate, but I ran into money trouble and wound up selling the autograph and the plate, breaking even on the plate and taking a decent loss on the autograph. Yuck. Ever since I sold it, there has been a hole in my collection.


There are usually one or two copies of Upton's autograph card on eBay, but the prices on them are uniformly higher than I want to spend. One popped up earlier this year, though, at a fairly reasonable price. I waited and waited on it, and eventually the price came down to the best price I've seen in a while. I was able to purchase it and add a copy of this card back to my collection. It still probably cost me more than I should be paying for a trading card, but sometimes we do crazy things for the sake of 'completing' our collections.

20 comments:

  1. Now if that plate would just come back up for sale!

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    1. I'm not too worried about the printing plate. It was mostly an impulse buy at the time. I was chasing after the relic card and the autograph.

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  2. Congrats! Beautiful looking card.

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  3. Great looking card! Her signature is better than most athletes. Congrats on filling the hole in your collection.

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    1. She does have good pen(wo)manship. I was very happy to add another copy of this card to my collection to replace the one I sold.

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  4. One of the nicest signatures I've seen on a card. It suits her.

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    1. I think the nice signature really makes the card so much better.

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  5. Yum. Sometimes you just have to say, "what the fudge".

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    1. Yeah, there are some cards that just nag at you until you break down and get them.

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  6. I want a copy of the Anthony Bourdain auto from Ginter, but can't find it at a good price. Congrats on the Upton auto. I would much rather have her auto than Justin or Melvin :)

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    1. My eBay saved search was vague enough that I saw a whole lot of the Upton brothers over the years. I think I pulled a Bourdain relic, but not the auto.

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  7. Was just saying on Night Owl's post that I still want the rest of the Kates and Erin Andrews from that year.

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    1. I thought it was funny that his post went live a couple hours before mine.

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  8. How long until you add the Erin Andrews?

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    1. I don't have any plans to chase that one at the moment.

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  9. congrats! a card I hope to one day own myself.

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  10. Awesome card. I would love to own one someday

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    1. It was definitely a bucket list card for me!

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