In 2011, Topps celebrated 60 years of making baseball cards by hosting a huge Diamond Giveaway Promotion that involved collectors pulling code cards out of packs, redeeming them online, and collecting/trading virtual cards with other collectors. At least... that's what I took from reading this article at the Cardboard Connection: Topps Diamond Giveaway Goes Live.
I wish I could share my personal experience from this program, but the problem is... I rarely bust any new products. I'm sure I've opened a few packs of 2011 Topps baseball, but it most likely after this program had expired.
However... I do remember all of the hype surrounding the 2011 Topps Black Diamond Diecuts which were serial numbered to 60. They were very popular and prices were so outrageous that I didn't bother trying to obtain singles for my collection.
Fast forward six years to a few weeks ago. That's when Jason over at Clyde's Stale Cards reached out to me and asked me if I was interested in the Tony Gwynn from this set. After a few emails... it finally arrived in all of its glory:
2011 Topps Black Diamond Diecut #DDC75 (#'d 58/60)
This is one of those cards that doesn't scan very well. At least not on my scanner. You truly cannot appreciate this card's beauty unless you're holding it in your hands. This card is thick, shiny, beautiful, and fairly scarce depending on your point of view.
Historically prices of diamonds have held their value over the years, so I'm very excited to finally get my hands on this card. Although this card's value doesn't really matter to me... because like Shirley Bassey says... diamonds are forever... which means this card will be part of my collection for the long run.
In addition to this sweet addition to my Tony Gwynn PC... Jason also generously sent me these three unopened packs:
I've never seen these before, but they're 2012 and 2013 Bandai Owner's League packs. Normally, I'd tear into these... but I decided to keep them sealed and add them to my Japanese Baseball Card Pack Collection.
Thank you so much Jason for these awesome additions to my collection! You never responded back with your Paypal account, so I went out and picked up a few nice cards for your Matt Williams collection.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
11 comments:
I love these die-cuts from Topps. I have a bunch of the Rays and Cardinals from the set, but I have never picked up one of the black parallels. Very nice card, need to find one of these.
I forgot there even were black parallels. Crap, I'm gonna need to start looking at some point...
Great looking card!
Jason is a good man!
It was a great program. In addition to these exclusive cards, you could also pull actual Topps cards that you could trade or have delivered.
Beautiful card. Stay high and dry my friend.
I remember the die-cuts well, too. Congrats on tracking down the Gwynn!
I've never had the self-discipline it takes to leave packs unopened. My hat's off to you!
Snorting Bull & Scott Crawford - From what Jason mentioned, there's a guy on eBay right now who is breaking up his set. I'm debating on picking up the Kurt Suzuki for my collection. The only thing that's holding me back is the $4 he's charging for shipping. That's insane.
Daniel & Wes - 100% agree
TLC - Actually... maybe I did participate in this program. I vaguely remember having a few 80's cards in my portfolio.
John Miller - Thanks buddy. Thankfully it hasn't rained in a few days.
Nick - Thanks Nick. All of the credit goest to Jason though.
Commish - Lol. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll have a huge wax busting party.
I remember being able to trade up for a Cano and Rickey Henderson card...one of the exciting moments in my collecting life
I missed the set completely. Thanks for putting it on my radar! I can see at least ten cards from the checklist of 155 which would be nice to add.
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