One card only - Naturel's Project 2020 card

I wasn't intending to add to the three Project 2020 cards of Tony I already had, but this came up in an eBay lot of three Project 2020 cards all by the same artist, Naturel. 

The lot was competively priced. And here we are.

Card Number 640: Topps Project 2020, 2020; #40

I think it's quite clever how Naturel used triangles to represent letters and yet the word 'Padres' still feels quite obvious. Depsite the pop-art cubist stylings, this card is the truest to the original that I have purchased so far.

The back has a bit of detail about the artist, otherwise it's basically the same as every other Project 2020 card.

However, this was the first of these cards I've recieved still in a plastic bag with a green verification sticker on it.

That proved a bit of a hurdle to opening the mag case and scanning the card. In the end I decided to cut the bag before doing my usual trick of carefully peeling the sticker seal back on the case. These cards are for my own personal collection, anyway, so I don't feel too guilty about vandalising the stickers.

I don't often talk about how much cards cost me, or how much they are worth, but as one third of my eBay purchase, this works out the second cheapest Project 2020 card that I've bought. It's also the one with the lowest print run that I have acquired so far - just 2,319 were printed. When I entered it on Trading Card Database, I was shocked to see it listed at an average price of $65. Someone has paid a lot more than I did for it.

I wouldn't stake much on the prices on TCDb being reliable, although they are supposed to reflect the prices that people have actually paid for cards, rather than what a dealing house thinks they are "worth". A card is really only ever worth what someone pays for it. Even so, that $65 took the total "value" of my collection listed on TCDb to over $1000. (I'm sceptical it's worth anywhere near that.)

I'm hoping to sell on the other cards, which are of Sandy Koufax and Frank Thomas, or offer them for trades. I'm not looking to make a profit on them, and hopefully they can bring some joy to other collectors.

Total: 640 cards