Trade with Shellie from the middle child

I heard on the radio that last week was meant to be the most depressing week of the year. A comforting thought. They reasoned that Christmas was a distant memory, the overspend and indulgence of the period was hitting hard, we were all back to the grindstone, it was a while till the next payday, the Christmas chocolates were all eaten and the days were still dark.
Last week was a miserable, cold wet week.
Most depressing week-HA! A bounty of trade packages dropped through my letter box.
The second package, a stack of Red Sox comes from Shellie, a Colorado Rockies fan and writer of the blog The Middle Child arrived early in the week.
I haven't traded with Shellie before and it was great to find a destination for the Rockies cards mounting. Shellie sent a great selection of Red Sox old, new, needed and unknown. It will keep me busy for a few days.
Thank you 'The Middle Child'.

Trade with Ross from Sports Card Info

How sweet it is...
This Autograph Letter Rookie Patch #165 from the 2010 Topps Finest release is a beauty.
1 per mini-box and 'R' for Richardson. It is numbered 114/217.
Just one of the peaches that Ross at Sports Card Info sent me this week.
Knowing very little about the Topps Finest set or these manufactured patches and did a quick checklist search.
It has left me none the wiser and a little confused.
The checklist has Luis Dutango listed as card #165 on the autographed letter patch rookie cards and states the letter is for the players last name. Another quick surf on e-bay reveals 'S', 'O' and an 'E' of the same card. If I'm not mistaken there is no 'e' in Richardson. So is the checklist incorrect? Fully utilising my keen deductive skills I suspect the the 'R' is for Red Sox not Richardson. Fine by me it works both ways and doesn't diminish the card in my eyes.
Ross always sends cards from sets that never really see the light of day in the UK -Bowman Chrome, Topps Finest, Bowman Sterling, Topps Tribute.
All this shiny goodness.

Thanks as always to Ross, my first trade with anyone for a while and what a super trade it was.

1951 Topps Red Back

There are some cards that you just need to have in your collection. For me, the 1951 Topps, is a must have.
It is the first national baseball card set issued by the Topps Chewing Gum Co. of Brooklyn, New York and is overshadowed by the 1952 Topps set, which is regarded by most collectors as the first 'true' Topps baseball set.
I like the underdog sets such as these and 1950's Bowmans.
It was issued in two series, 'A' series known as Red Backs and 'B' series known as Blue Backs. The cards were designed to be used a baseball card game and came as two joined (but perforated) cards per penny pack, unfortunately they were packaged with a stick of caramel candy which often melted or was squashed to the cards. The Blue Backs are scarcer than the Red Backs and are considered more valuable.
Bowman and Topps were at logger heads when this set was first issued. Bowman claimed exclusive rights to players images and sued Topps and promptly lost. This paved the way for the now historic Topps 1952 set.
Although I have cards of the same design, which were an insert in the 2003 Topps set, I haven't been fortunate enough to obtain a real '51 Topps until now.
Just the one #2 Sid Gordon. Maybe I could find some unopened packs or a box to bust and bolster this fledgling collection.
Here's an Unopened box of 1951 Topps and another.
Oh well. It looks as if I will just stick with the one card then and hope for another affordable single or two to raise their heads on e-bay.

Topps 2011 Premier League Football Stickers

Firstly an apology directed towards Mr Waxaholic. Stickers are like a catnip to this poor man and I have started him on many a journey towards a completed album and desperately tried to help complete one before starting another.

I have noted the completed World Cup post, so its time to start another. What better way to tempt than to show a sticker I pulled from the first pack. None other than young Edwin...

There are 449 stickers to collect including 3D stickers.
In past sticker sets, Topps tried to include a variation on the sticker theme such as autographs and chase stickers, so this year it is a 3D sticker. The sticker albums include a pair of 3D glasses, the cardboard variety with one red lens and one blue lens. Not really breakthrough technology for a HD TV generation. There is a possibility that Topps has more of an understanding of the demographics for this product than I realised - men like myself, who love a sticker book and think that 3D glasses (and digital watches), although amazingly primitive are a pretty neat idea.
I purchased 6 packets from my local shop and here they are:

Pack 1:
#13 Manchester City Kit
#66 Scott Dann Birmingham
#93 Morten Gamst Pedersen Blackburn
#219 Alex Chelsea 3D
#251 Adam Johnson Manchester City
#262 EdwinVan Der Sar Manchester United

Pack 2:
#20 West Ham Kit
#99 Blackpool Logo
#230 Freddie Piquionne West Ham 3D
#252 Nigel de Long Machester City
#263 Jonny Evans Machester United
#386 Kieron Dyer West Ham
Pack 3:
#10 Everton Kit
#15 Newcastle Kit
#115 Brett Ormerod Blackpool
#223 Adam Johnson Machester City 3D
#381 Luis Boa Morte Westham
#388 Freddie Piquionne West Ham
Pack 4:
#40 Robin Van Persie Arsenal
#65 Stephen Carr Birmingham
#152 Didier Drogba Chelsea
#260 Manchester United Team
#261 Wayne Rooney Manchester United 3D
#302 Andy Wilkinson Stoke
Pack 5:
#12 Liverpool Kit
#129 Chung-Young Lee Bolton
#146 Florent Malouda Chelsea
#192 Bobby Zamora Fulham
#299 Matthew Etherington Stoke 3D
#382 Radoslav Kovac West Ham
#432 Enric Valles Birmingham
Pack 6:
#81 Blackburn Team
#100 Blackpool Team
#102 Matt Giles Blackpool
#150 Michael Essien Chelsea
#408 Mauro Boselli Wigan
#417 Stephen Ward Wolves
#444 David Meyler Sunderland

So Big B interested?