Box Break : 2013 Archives

Allen & Ginter, Archives and to a lesser extent Heritage are the three sets that brought me back to collecting. Having missed entirely the first decade of the 21st century, those were new to me and I really liked the idea and execution. I'm a little over them now, as I've discovered the joys of true vintage, but I still enjoy adding them to my collection.

I know some of you hate Archives for a lot of very good reasons, but I just like the paper stock, general feel, and the inserts are pretty cool.

I usually never buy a box of cards for more than $50. Mostly because of shipping charges, because a $50 box comes out quickly to an $80 one. As a general rule, I don't want my cards to cost me more than .10 ct on average (it's easy to achieve when you buy $15 boxes with  500 cards in them), but when I saw a box of 2013 Archives on a french website that sells some baseball wax (but mainly basketball, of course), I decided to pull the trigger, especially since the box was $80 shipped. No extra shipping and handling, no customs to handle, no waiting for a couple of weeks. I'll treat myself to a nice valentine gift.

You all know them by now, of course (I'm very late to the party), but here are some nice base cards. Even though I enjoy seeing players on older designs, I find it weird to put players in the lineup who actually had a card from that year. Ah well.

Ryno looks awesome in a 72 frame.

Griffey !

Look at how happy McCutchen is. He could play in a commercial for dog food.

Now, for a look at my "hits"

A couple of very good pitchers on very shiny SN cards. Very strange to see 1990 Topps in shiny gold.

Those are the SPs. Which explains that those are not from the 4 main designs (except for Frank White).

I have absolutely nothing to say about those All Star inserts. Hold on. I do : the backs tell interesting stories (phew).

1969 stickers. Not a bad Yankee lineup.

A stadium CLub triumvirate. I would've preferred the middle guy (Griffey), but you get what you get. That's also one very shiny card.

 I like the idea of using designs from other sports, such as the 72 Basketball set.

 Those are from a football set, apparently

Ooooh, a redemption card ! Now all I need to find is an LCS within driving distance that still carries the giveaway packs !

And finally, the main reason I got that box in the first place : Fan favorites autos ! I absolutely love those and I'm quite happy with the two that I pulled. I'm planning on chasing as many as possible.

So all in all, the box was ok, but nothing too impressive. I only got the basic cards with basic odds (nothing over 1:24). No relics, no printing plates, no triple autos, no mini framed autos etc etc. At .30 cts per card, it's a little too much in retrospect, but I still really enjoyed ripping open those packs, I don't regret it one bit. Which is a good thing, as this probably will be the only Archives box I ever buy (I'll save that sentence for further reference).