Our Preview Of 2012 Topps Allen And Ginter

Hard to believe but 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter will be the 7th release of this homage the old tobacco brand from 1870's.  As usual, Topps uses Ginter to provide some latitude and levity, to go out on a limb and try some unusual stuff that goes beyond baseball, which is probably why Ginter does well year after year. 

This year the base set comes in at 300 cards, with an additional 50 SPs.  There are 350 base mini parallels with an additional 50 minis found exclusively inside Rip Cards, bringing the total to 400.

The inserts are what really separates Ginter from the rest.  Besides the Baseball insert, What’s In A Name, this year collectors will be going after Worlds Greatest Military Leaders, Mans Best Friend, Giants of the Deep, Culinary Curiosities, People of The Bible, World’s Tallest Buildings, Historical Turning Points and Musical Masters, which feature classical composers such as Mozart and Beethoven.

Specialty cards include the return of the rip card, framed silk cards, Original Artists’ Sketches and replacing last year’s Flora of the World, which allowed you to plant the card and grow a plant, is Colony In A Card that contains Artemia Salina, saltwater brine shrimp, Topps’ version of Sea Monkeys.

All of the standard hits, autographs & relics, are framed mini cards with a great looking black border.  Harder to find hits will be cut autos that include signatures of Dick Clark, Ernest Borgnine and Desmond Tutu, and 1/1 DNA relic cards of Charles Dickens, JFK and Napoleon.

Ginter will be released in Retail and Hobby versions.  Hobby boxes of Ginter 24 – 8 card packs with a guarantee of at least 3 hits that can be any combination of relics, autos, rip cards, book cards, etc.  Exclusive to hobby boxes will be plenty of Cabinet cards, box toppers and, if Tier One is any indication, the monster hits, 1/1 Ginter Book Cards, some that include 2 bat knobs in one book.

The hobby release date is July 11th and retail packs are already on the shelves in some areas.