Let's Temper Our Expectations...

Alright, for all of those who have started typing away and entering Topps "Diamond" Giveaway (why did he put quotes on diamond? Read and find out...) I just wanted to warn everyone to take a second and go read the official rules for some travashamockary that's going on. We've been led to believe that the "diamond" part of this deal involved actual diamonds. Even the bling bling ring that Chris Olds is pimping out over on the Beckett blog looks rather blingy with diamonds, but I warn you all, looks can be deceiving. The Approximate Retail Value of the 60th Anniversary ring is $200, which makes me think those "diamonds" on the ring are actually cubic zirconium or just mirrored glass. There are true diamond solitare rings that are part of the instant win category worth $10,000 each, but both the 60th Anniversary ring and the diamond solitare are at 1:1,500,000 odds of winning instantly. It is not clear if the "prize baseball cards", i.e. the ones with the diamond embedded in them, are real or fake diamonds, but they are valued by Topps at $100 each. So, there's that...

I did all of my "diamond digging" for the 17 codes that I received via my two boxes, plus the 1 extra card you get when you hit 5 rings, for a total of 18 digs. I unlocked 16 individual rings, 3 prize levels - the free SkinIt telephone skin, the $10 gift certificate to ShopTopps.com and the free card & dig. My free card was a 1996 Jeff Bagwell... woo... hoo... So here's a screen grab of my rings:

There are three categories: MLB Teams, Legacy Teams and Player Rings. So it was cool to get the Astros and Nolan Ryan rings. The Expos and Senators rings look cool too. I figure with series 2 and some trades, there's an outside shot that I can get to 45 rings and the free anniversary set, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. I think I may have gotten lucky in that I only got 2 duplicate rings as well, who knows... anyone have any experience with doing a bunch of digs and getting few or lots of duplicates? It's an interesting concept and all, but once I get the few cards I want shipped, I'll be done with Diamond Topps "Giveaway".

Alright everyone, there's my obligatory post on 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway... oh yea, and I forgot to mention, there's no trading until April 1st so there'll be a lot of sitting around since a vast majority of collectors have already gotten their boxes...