McCovey Monday #77 - 2015 Gypsy Queen Mini Black 5/5

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of over 1200 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards every Monday.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

My latest McCovey pick up is one I honestly didn't think I would be able to add to my collection.  Over the past 3-4 years my collecting approach has changed, especially with McCovey.  As a supercollector, I went after every card of Willie's at almost any cost.  At times I spent up to $60 or $80 for a low numbered card, and auto or a 1/1 in my quest to have every Stretch in my collection.

Then a few things happened, first the number of rare cards started to exponentially grow. Second, my collecting focus expanded to all Giants cards.  Finally my wife did a little audit on how much I was spending on Paypal each month and I have purged it from my memory but I just remember it was shocking.  We mutually agreed to put me on a budget and I now load my monthly amount into Paypal at the first of each month.

I have come to accept that cards serial numbered as low as /5 will probably not be part of my collection and I am just fine with that.  With a house and 3 kids to pay for I am perfectly fine with that.  With the month of May coming to an end and some money in my Paypal account I threw down a bid of $15.55 on this card:

 This is the black border mini from 2015 Gypsy Queen.  I really like the black borders with Giants cards, they always look sharp.  In 2013 & 2014 the black borders were numbered /199 and in 2011 & 2012 they weren't numbered at all. When the checklist came out I was a little surprised and disappointed to see that the print run was limited to 5.

But as you can see, I have scored the McCovey so that disappointment is pretty much gone.  I ended up scoring this for $11.50 plus $2.25 shipping which I see as a fairly reasonable price.  Having already picked up the Base mini, the Mini Box variation, the Red /50 and the Silver /199 I am left with only needing the Gold /99 to finish off the McCovey rainbow minus the 1/1s.  Time to see if I can track down that gold!