1:288 Piazza Pickup!

Ultra used to be a great brand.

Then Upper Deck got a hold of it.

And then it died.

Anyway, Ultra always had a bunch of great inserts all at different rates. Anywhere from 1:4 to 1:36 to 1:288 and anywhere in between, all with great designs and checklists regardless of the insertion rates.

As a part of my recent spree, I scowered ebay for some rare inserts (1:100 or greater) to see if I could grab some on the cheap(ish). I was able to find quite a few actually, including a 1999 Metal Universe "Platinum Portraits" which were inserted every 300+ packs or so.

I bid on it.

I lost.

Most of the others I ended up losing by $0.50 when some douche sniped me out with 2 seconds to go. I hope they have flood insurance, 'cuz that's what the witchdoctor said they'd do to them. So worth the expense.

I did manage to pull one out though, with a 1999 Ultra "Diamond Producers". I'm including a picture below. As a warning, you might want to go grab some sunglasses before viewing...

Bling bling mother fucker!!!

OK, maybe I built that up a little bit, but still a very shiny flashy card. I honestly knew nothing about these cards, except for the insertion rate, so there were a few neat surprises once I finally had it in hand. First off, it's plastic. I have mixed feeling about the plastic cardboard. It seems they can either be done really well, or really poorly. Kindda like the carboard cards. I have effectively just chased my own tail. I feel accomplished... odd.

Secondly, it's embossed. They way a card feels can make or break for me. I like it when it's got a little something different to it, whether it be embossed, different stock, framed, etched etc. It's something to make you slow down a bit and really check everything out as opposed to skipping through because it all seems like the same thing.

Third was the light diffraction of it all. I had no idea it was like that, even the ebay picture didn't leave any hints. I just assumed it was all foiley and such. When I saw it, I was starring at it and tilting it to catch the light differently like and idiot for what seemed like no less than 20 years.

So that's the last of the Piazzas I picked up recently. I still have to re-photo some of the Wrights but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Also,the trade bait from the last post has gone untouched. WHY!?!?! Hook line sinker, let's make a deal!!!

(...Joe)