When it comes to delivering hard signed content, Topps’ retro slate of products rarely under delivers. Ginter has been a top product for more than a decade. Heritage is something that collectors rabidly chase year after year. Gypsy Queen has been under appreciated by collectors when you look at the other examples in this line of sets, but man, the cards have never looked better over the last few years. On card autos, great signed relics, and some really cool content all around. Its like Ginter with straight baseball. That might actually be the one thing that is holding this product back, it just isnt what the others have become.
Here are some of my favorites from Gypsy over the run:
2015 Gypsy Queen Mike Trout Red Auto BGS 9.5
2012 Gypsy Queen Sandy Koufax Auto
2015 Gypsy Queen Masahiro Tanaka Hand Painted Patch Card 1/1
2014 Gypsy Queen Bryce Harper Mini Auto 5/5
Unfortunately, I really dont like the look of the base and the autographs this year. There are some other cool cards in the preview, but the overly ornate artwork just doesnt do it for me like it has in years past. I really like that Posey laces autograph and the Syndegard tri book, but the rest look terrible. Considering this is more of a combo set collector product and high end hit chaser release, its kind of surprising they are rolling with the same format give or take.
I would actually be pretty curious to see what Gypsy would look like at either extreme of the spectrum, either going super premium or super low end, maybe incorporating a digital element similar to what we saw with the Bunt product from a few months ago. Bottom line, I really like what this set has been over its entire run, but it just hasnt lived up to what we are seeing on the fan base for its brothers and sisters.
Because Topps already has a stable of awesome products in this area, and Gypsy could be an opportunity to take some big risks to differentiate the offering. The cardinal sin of this hobby is overusing a particular idea or type of card, and I think we could be getting well past that point with the strategy that they are using for right now. Without being truly innovative, its hard for collectors to justify ANOTHER expense in this area, and this is a chance to make a retro splash.
Check out the goods:
