Ebay Theivery: The Grand Finale

So this post is coming a little (or a lot) later than anticipated.  I ended up being away from the computer all weekend, culminating in seeing Bob Dylan last night.  I'm a huge Dylan fan, and the show was by far the best performance I've seen him deliver since '06 or '07, so that was quite the treat.

But anyway, back to the cardboard.

I'll jut get the grand reveal out of the way.  Aki Iwamura Topps Platinum 1/1, in case you were wondering.  Iwamura's time in Pittsburgh was far from memorable, but it's a platinum 1/1.  I had been wanting one for quite some time.  I was outbid on the Nate McLouth Platinum 1/1 a few months back, and it ended for almost as much as I paid for the entire lot.  I'd imagine the valuable on this card alone is comparable, perhaps greater if the long fabled "Japanese bidder" contingency collects Aki.  Either way, I doubt this will ever leave my collection.

 But just when you thought we were done with the black and gold themes, there's more!  The Cutch Gold Mini is a nice pickup.  I'm not sure how I feel about these mini cards; they're a bit awkward in shape.  Slightly smaller than a regular sized card, yet significantly larger than the tobacco sized minis of the past decade, they are interesting, but I don't totally get the hype behind them.

 I actually ended up with 3 of these Harrison silk cards in the lot, though I'm only keeping this one.  This shot is by far my favorite Pirate photo from 2013 Topps/Update, even though even Zoltan couldn't prevent a historic late season collapse.

 Casey McGehee played so well in Pittsburgh that he will now be clubbing hr's in Japan this season.

 Grilli was a Pirate auto I didn't have, and I had been looking for a copy of this card for quite some time.  I'm really glad I didn't pull the trigger on one earlier.

 Topps has finally been kind enough to include some shots of the Pirates alternate black jerseys.  Accordingly, Travis Snider has decided to finally live up to his top prospect billing thus far this season.  Thanks Topps!

 I liked Nate McLouth until I met him in person.  Still, I've always had a soft spot for players that leave a team and then return a few years later (see Joe Randa).  These moves never seem to work out well, though.

 Like relic cards, press plates have really lost their appeal for me.  The Topps Mini plates seemed to be fairly easy hits, at least for a 1/1.  Still, a cool card to add.

I wanted to say something positive about Juan Cruz's time in black and gold.  I really did.  But hey, at least I liked watching him pitch for the Cubs.  He didn't throw 86mph then...

So there you have it.  Pretty nice lot, eh?  In addition to all this Pirate goodness, it also included another 20 or so cards that were either doubles of the ones scanned, or cards I already had.  When I get around to selling all those, I imagine the total cost on this lot will be in the single digits, and possibly in the black if a few set builders still need some of the black cards.  Not bad, if you ask me.