02 September 2011

diamond topps redemption time - can i leave negative feedback?

so, i got suckered in to buying a few packs of 2011 topps.  i also wound up buying a couple of those 4-pack blisters with a visible (and thus guaranteed) diamond redemption code.  well, i had extremely good luck in pulling additional codes.  i wound up with 12 or 13 of them.  after some wheeling and dealing, i recently had the cards shipped to me.  one of them has already been featured (the 1977 bill travers upgrade), but i'll show the rest here.

but first - a gripe.  12 cards shipped.  topps charged me $8.95 or something like that.  when the cards arrived, there was $2.07 worth of postage.  i don't recall if there was even delivery confirmation.  not quite a "giveaway".  i am thinking the only category i would give them 5 stars in is in shipping time. the cards came pretty quickly.  were they as described?  well, there was the disclaimer about the condition of the cards on the website, so i wasn't quite sure what to expect, although i had good luck with my cards from last year's promotion.

no to the cards.  one of my first redemptions resulted in a freddie freeman diamond die cut which i flipped for die cuts of both hanley ramirez and joe mauer.  the mauer then got flipped for this one, clayton kershaw
i spent the rest of my redemption time trying to fill holes in my want lists.  sadly, noone wanted to part with their 1966 bart shirley rookie cards or their 1967 al ferrara cards.  so, i wrangled some 1971 needs.

julian javier
cost me a 1967 jose tartabull card.  i had pretty good luck getting vintage cards with my codes, which made trading a lot easier.
clete boyer
cost me a 1967 denis menke card.  i found that trading for braves players was easier when using another brave as bait.

nate colbert
came my way for 2 cards - a 1969 astros rookies and a 1977 rob belloir.  i had redeemed the '69 card, and the belloir was part of a 20 card haul i got for that hanley ramirez die cut.

this 1971 dave giusti
was made mine in exchange for fellow pirate bob allen's 1964 card. 

and to finish up the black borders, i got this gary wagner i needed
in that aforementioned hanley ramirez deal.  it's the only card in that trade that i kept, actually.

on to another set i am collecting, 1973.  here's a former dodger bob bailey
who i got for a 1975 dan driessen (acquired for the hanley) and a 1975 phil niekro.

bailey's teammate, mike jorgensen
was obtained straight up for a 1973 dave goltz i redeemed with a code.

i was getting bored with the site, so i wound up with this bernie williams
in exchange for 22 cards, including most of the other cards from the hanley trade.  they were ranging from a 1977 mike ivie to a 1978 steve swisher to a 1995 curt schilling.
for this braves team card
i traded another card from the hanely deal, a 1968 tony cloninger.  a brave for braves.  including a little person!

finally, and just because, i picked up this 1974 bobby valentine card
for my 'confused' 1970 harry walker.

in all, i'm please with what i received, even if i paid too much in shipping.

8 comments:

Play at the Plate said...

Is your Kershaw card damaged or is it just the scan?

SpastikMooss said...

I was gonna ask the same question, especially the bottom left corner, the top right diamond, and the lower right side of the card in general.

gcrl said...

Yeah that's how it showed up. I haven't looked too closely though. Is there a protective film on these things? That might be what's going on in the lower left.

Captain Canuck said...

I can't believe you got rid of the Freeman....

SpastikMooss said...

No idea if there's a film - yours is one of the first I've seen in hand. Maybe? lol.

gcrl said...

Believe it or not, I considered holding on to freddie.

Greg Zakwin said...

I own a Kershaw myself, and they do come with a protective layer over the card. An excellent pickup, by the way!

night owl said...

Yes, the cards come with a protective film, like Finest (but not nearly as difficult to remove).

I love my Kershaw diecut, as well as Ethier and Robinson. Won't somebody trade me a Koufax?

I'd trade a boatload of Freemans for snazzy Koufax card.