2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Review

First, I would like to apologize for the delays in writing these reviews.  On a personal note, I got nailed by a minor medical issue, far from life threatening, but one that was sufficient to delay my efforts.  It's very difficult to write a review when you can not really see the cards or the computer screen.

Although I'm not totally recovered, things have improved and my eyes no longer look like I went 12 rounds eating jabs from either of the Klitschko brothers.

A 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen box has been sitting here and it's now sorted and ready to be discussed. This product has been another smashing success for Topps. While this box began in hobby stores at approximately the $80-85 level, boxes eventually pushed up to over $170 via major online outlets. And as I sorted through this box, the price gain became fairly obvious as I realized just how much value was realized from a box.  Collectors, no doubt, discovered the same thing.

While Gypsy Queen sure sounds like a strange concept for a product name, in reality the card design and the set concept is very similar to the very successful Allen and Ginter series that Topps has produced for the past several years.

It's a nice idea to use the older designs of cards and adapt more modern technology to those designs. And as the current box price shows, this is a major success.

Each box contains 24 packs with 10 packs.   Topps initially promised two autographs and two relic cards but some boxes were shorted--including the one we received  And yes, we will be sending in the required proofs of purchase for the second autograph.  The initial autograph shortage was the only downside to what we got out of our box:

Base Cards: 185 all different out of 300.  That's about 61 percent of the set.

SP''s: Jon Garland, Kila Ka'aihue:, Ian Kennedy, Nick Markakis, Mel Ott, Xavier Nady

Minis: When I was sorting through these cards, I never even realized that Topps had included a "bonus" back of Minis. That pack of Mini's was reminiscent of the original packaging of these Gypsy Queen cards back in the 19th century. Jason Bartlett, Carlos Beltran, Johnny Cueto, Josh Hamilton, Aaron Hill, Rogers Hornsby, Raul Ibanez, Ubaldo Jiminez, Josh Johnson, Colby Lewis, Evan Longoria, Ryan Ludwick, Brett Myers, Mel Ott, Alexei Ramirez, Ben Revere, Brian Roberts, Alex Rodrigu ez, Wandy Rodriguez, Chris Sale, Jonathan Sanchez, Tom Seaver, Hisanori Takahashi

Mini SP's: Christy Mathewson

Mini Red Gypsy Queen Back: .Jake Arrieta, Matt Cain, Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson

Mini Black: Felix Hernandez, Omar Infante

Mini Leather (#d to 10): Ian Kinsler

Framed Paper (Parallels #d to 999): Chris Carpenter, Ty Cobb, Tony Gwynn, Roy Oswalt, Pee Wee Reese, Frank Thomas

Future Stars: Yonder Alonso, Clay Buchholz, Starlin Castro, Ike Davis, Kyle Drabek, Desmond Jennings

Future Stars Mini: Starlin Castro

Great Ones: Mickey Mantle, Christy Mathewson, Thurman Munson, Frank Robinson, Tom Seaver, Honus Wagner

Great Ones Mini: Andre Dawson

Home Run Heroes: Johnny Bench, Prince Fielder, Mickey Mantle, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira

Home Run Heroes Mini: Albert Pujols

Gypsy Queen: Kara

Relic: Jorge Posada

Framed Mini Relic: Cal Ripken Jr

Autograph: Signed on Card: Jose Bautista

Even without that second autograph, that is still a lot of cards and with value to pull from a box.  Jose Bautista is a nice autograph pull considering his torrid start.

The player mix is a nice mix of retired greats and current stars. Overall a real fun box to open and one that constantly provided more value with each new pack opened. Let's see: Allen and Ginter, Gypsy Queen, what will be the next old concept that Topps will use for their products?

Rich Klein can be reached at Sabrgeek@aol.com