2022 trade package #17: the Diamond King

You all know I love trading, possibly as my favorite part of the hobby. Pair that up with shows and you've got a one-two punch of collecting fun!

A few weeks ago I posted my recap of July's show and that included the usual array of trade bait. One of those items was a '91 Topps Desert Shield of Twins P Scott Erickson that I scored for just a buck. Not long after, Kevin, who blogs as the Diamond King, let me know he wanted to make a deal for it. Great!

I looked through his posts from earlier this year to get an idea of what I might like for it and found something that would be perfect: Derek Jeter's bronze base card from 1996 Finest. It would be the last one I needed to complete the 220-card bronze part of the set (I'm not chasing the rarer Silvers and Golds), and was something I couldn't find a reasonable deal for online, buying or trading. So that was perfect!

Here's everything Kevin sent my way:

I would have been perfectly happy with just the Jeter but Kevin was nice enough to include a few Verlanders I know about and some other cards that were nice surprises! Of the Verlanders (four many!) my favorite is easily the 2015 Elite Inspirations parallel. It's shiny, die-cut, and numbered (/65) so what's not to love? The others are parallels as well: 2017 Topps Gallery's Canvas, 2019 Topps Fire's Flamethrowers Gold Minted, and 2020 Donruss's Highlights Rapture. Seriously, Panini and Topps have so many color/pattern variations I can't keep them all straight! These are some great looking cards, though.

And from basketball we continue the parallel them. Three point machine Duncan Robinson can be seen on 2019-20 Hoops Premium Stock's regular Prizms version, which I believe is sometimes referred to as "Silver" if not just "Prizms." And recent HOFer Chris Webber shares his 1999-00 Finest Double Feature insert with former three-year teammate Jason "White Chocolate" Williams. These cards could be Refractor-ized either in full or on either side, and in this case you might be able to tell that Williams' side gets the coveted bending of light, but I think it's a cool Webber card either way.

Kevin, many thanks for reaching out to make this deal, finishing my '96 Finest (bronze) set, and sending me some other great stuff with it! It looks like this was just our second trade since I've been blogging, and first since June of 2013, so I hope we don't wait so long to make the next one!

Up next is another blogger trade I'm excited to show off with a very cool surprise hidden inside.