It's Here!!!!!! 2013 Gypsy Queen Ryne Sandberg/Ernie Banks/Billy Williams Autographed Relic /10

After close to a year of waiting for the redemption to get filled, it's finally here! I purchased the redemption for this card last March, and decided I was willing to wait patiently for it to be filled. After all, only 10 of these will be made, and with as many Cubs collectors as there are out there, I was certain that once these were sold, they would be kept by those who purchased them. So, I waited...and waited...and waited. Then, one day in December, I just happened to check my Topps redemption account, and was pleasantly surprised to see that this card had shipped out!

Then, my patience would be tested again. According the the tracking information provided by Topps, the package shipped out Dec. 27. Unfortunately, things then got REALLY cold. I was originally promised a deliver date of Jan. 4, then Jan. 7, then "N/A." Uh oh. They were basically telling me, "Look, you'll get it when you get it and that's all there is to it."

Well, sure enough, it finally arrived today.

The card looks amazing, and the couple of fears that I had about it turned out to be for nothing. First of all, I was afraid for the uniformity of the stickers. While most current stickers that Topps sends out are clear, they do have some older ones remaining on a silver foil. I have seen some with two clear stickers and one silver sticker, so the fact that all three of mine were the clear variety was a good thing. Secondly, there's uniformity in the relic pieces. I was hoping for one of two options: either all three pieces be the same type of relic, or all three different (i.e. bat, home jersey, away jersey). I love that all three are bat pieces, and especially that the wood grain is going in the same direction.

The card, serial-numbered 6/10 seems a little cramped, but it's a necessary thing with all of the elements it contains. There has to be plenty of space for the signatures, which take up a little more than half of the card surface. Then there's the player images and bat pieces that are forced to compete for the remaining space. Still, I absolutely love this card.