Inserts mania

I won an ebay auction the other day for some Blue Jays inserts. All 110 of them were listed, so I knew what I was getting (no more blind dates with forgettable cards).
I'm starting to get familiar with a lot of base sets from the past 15 years, but I'm still seeing a lot of cards for the first time, especially when it comes to inserts and parallels. I have to admit that I jump up and down a little higher when I get a serial numbered card, even if it's out of 2000. Makes me feel a tiny bit special, knowing that I share that card with just some happy few (happy few who are more than happy to put them on ebay, hoping for a jumpy foreign (usually Canadian) guy to bid on those still overproduced cards).

I'm just not used to serial numbers. Back in the day, you were more than thrilled to pull an Elite insert from 94  Donruss packs. And they were numbered to 10 000...And now, everyone and his grandmother has a printing plate in his collection (maybe one day my grandma and me will have one...).

I still scratch my head over parallels. It takes me forever to make researches and look them up online or in my Beckett issue. It's only when trading with the Dutch card guy that I saw that those A&G minis had different backs. I don't quite see the point yet, but who knows, I might come to embrace them.

Talk about taking a concept to a whole new level...this is actually my very first 92 Topps gold. The 93 is my favorite parallel set ever (with electric diamond), and I like the black one. But even my scanner can't begin to comprehend what is up with all that glitter and foil and whatever you might call all that glossy glistening. I'm pretty sure I can blind someone with them, I'll have to be careful.

Scratch that. 92 Leaf Black gold is definitely my favorite parallel set. So elegant AND badass at the same time.

On the other hand, did they really need to make a parallel set of Topps total ? The other three are Refractors. They sure are shiny. Roy deserves to be extra shiny. The Turkey Red is even serial numbered, btw *drool*.

I really like those triple fold inserts. The minis are nice too, with a whole bunch of different very confusing backs.

I already had a couple of those, and I've always been fascinated by them. Embossed plastic cards made to ressemble credit cards. What's not to love ? Always nice to be reminded that you'll never own a platinum card...

I do not know what that Bowman card is. A retro/Future insert ? I didn't know there was a McDonald's/Donruss MVP set, but I love it already. It's actually a great base design.

Maybe, just maybe did Upper Deck go a little over the top with their silver foil supply there. Maybe. The jury is still out.

And finally, the mandatory GU and relic. It took me a few seconds to realize that the Delgado one was a GU card. Took me a while to find the picture of Delgado alltogether...nice card though. Discreet, but nice. The frame on that A&G is God ugly, but I really like the fact that you can actually touch the wood (yeah yeah, I know...that's what she said).

So all in all, a nice package (yeah yeah, I know...). I shall now look at all my serial numbered cards and see if there's a secret code I can decypher.