2013 Museum Collection - A Mighty Fine Product

Typically I am not a huge fan of the high end releases.  While I have picked up a couple here and there for my players collection, Triple Threads has never exited me.  I usually appreciate the Tribute base cards and will seek out some parallels but again not much in the way of excitement from that set.  Back in Upper Deck's heyday, I did enjoy Exquisite but it was way too out of my price range, even base cards were going for more than I wanted to spend. It was a pretty quality product but the box price and resale price made me less than a fan.

Over the past 2 years, Topps has released Museum Collection and I am a huge fan.  Last year I actually bought 4 packs of the stuff (the equivalent of 1 box) and pulled a Griffey Jr. Auto/Relic that I quickly sold on eBay to actually make some money for once.  This year I bought a pack at the LCS and scored this beauty:

It is numbered out of 30 and even though I am fairly certain that I wouldn't get my money back on the pack, this is the kind of relic that should be in a high in product.  Great color, design and a huge bat piece.  This has replaced another Schmidt relic in my HOF collection until I score an auto of his.

The product does have some less than stellar hits but to me that keeps the price down.  Another thing I really like is the design of the base cards.  The photography is typically quite nice and I appreciate the border and overall design.  They have a few parallels of each card which makes player and team collecting a little more fun.  Recently I have scored these Giants base and parallel cards on eBay and at the LCS:

I am not sure where the 424 serial number came from but I have been able to pick up 3 bronze parallels from the Giants team set.  As of now the Green parallel of Juan Marichal is the lowest numbered card I have but I plan to keep on seeking out more of these parallels.  I like the mix of current players and past star players.  I also think the orange in McCovey and Cain's cards look very nice.

Speaking of past star players:

Two of my favorites and two guys I player collect are in the base set.  The green parallel on the Rickey card goes great with the A's uni and the gold Reggie jersey stands out.  I love it when these two players are in their A's uniforms on new releases.  As you can see, I picked up two of the Reggie bronze parallels so if you would like one, drop me a note for a trade.

The autos in Museum Collection can be found on the secondary market for a very reasonable amount.  I may have even overpaid for this one but jumped on it at $8 to take advantage of combined shipping:

 I am very happy Vida has made a return over the past couple years.  While it isn't a new photo, this one does fit perfectly in with this product.  I also greatly appreciate the on card autos in this product.

Finally my last pickup...

For only $6 on my LCS's bid board I scored this HOF auto of Billy Williams.  I had a really nice Williams auto in his Cubs uni but traded it to a friend on my message boards as he needed it for a set he was putting together.  I got another Williams auto in return but in that card he is in an A's uniform and it just didn't look right. Now I have a new Williams card for the HOF collection.

This is my favorite high end product of all time and I can't wait to pick up a few more of my players and of the Giants.  I will also keep on the lookout for some more autos, the on card auto and great design make for a great card!