Week in review: Panic relief and the larger half

Before I show off a bunch of 1972 Topps cards that I believe you'll enjoy, have to relay a quick USPS story.  Well, I got another offer from repeat trade partner Mike (TCDB ID:49ants) who lives in CA.  2 for 2, quick and easy, with the key card coming my way being this Ichiro '09 Heritage Chrome

LOVE this card

His end arrives nice and quick, 4 days if I remember correctly.  I sent my end on the 12th of this month.  Mike sent me a message 10 days later, saying nothing had arrived yet.  Now I even paid the extra postage to send it as non-machinable, and was kind of surprised that my end hadn't arrived.  I replied and told him that I'd sent my end as always, PWE on the date that the transaction was updated.

I followed up on the 26th, 2 weeks after I had sent the envelope, asking if anything had arrived.  Nothing.   Now the panic starts to set in, as one of the cards I sent was a 2019 Topps black parallel, which would cost me a few bucks to replace.  Imagine my relief when he updates the trade on 29th as arrived.   17 days!  USPS trying to give me a heart attack!

OK, onward.  The larger half of my trade from Greg at the Collective Mind was a healthy lot of 1972 Topps.  So much so that I'm now above the halfway mark for the set!!  Let's take a look at the bounty.

5 sets of full page scans make up the first 45.  Most of these in the VG to VG-EX range, perfect for my collecting tastes. 

Trying to keep most of the scans reasonably even, I made the next scan just 6 cards.  Nice big rookie cup on the Steve Braun card, and the Sandy Alomar is a nice head shot in my opinion.

Had 11 horizontal cards, and it just worked out that there were 4 Rookie Stars cards and 4 team checklists, including the Yankees!  I remember when putting the '64 set together that the Yankees team card was one of the last, but certainly not one of the cheapest, so I was glad to get this one for this set out of the way early.

Billy Conigliaro was the last vertical card, so he wound up with the remaning 2 horizontal cards.  Love the AL ERA leaders card, all great pitching names, and the Ron Bryant In Action card shows something you don't see on cards much now (that I remember anyhow), and that's a bunt in progress.

Finally, a little Hammerin' Hank for you...

Joe Torre and Willie Stargell as well.   Great looking card, slightly miscut (you can see it plainly on the right hand side of the card), but I still love it.  This haul brings me up to 414 cards in hand, or just over 52% done.  A big lift which has made me a little more serious about completing the set relatively timely.  I'm sure that the high series cards will straighten me out quickly....

Greg, thank you very much for the trade, it really is appreciated!!   Look forward to the next one.

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert