Modern Monday - a framed relic from A&G

This was an eBay purchase that arrived in the first few days of 2022.

Card Number 911: Allen & Ginter framed mini-relic, 2021; #MFR-TG

The mini card could be popped out of the frame if one so wished to do that. The swatch is a dark blue that could be a Padres uniform from the latter end of Tony's career. The photo is an interesting choice because it isn't the photo used on the Allen & Ginter base card or mini in 2021. Here's a reminder of what that card looked like.

The relic card looks like it has been rendered off the photo used by Topps for the Stadium Club Chrome card in 2020.

I haven't got an explanation why Topps switched out the photos for the mini-relic card. The eBay win included a 2021 Allen & Ginter relic card of Trent Grisham as well, and that used the same photo as his base card. That was a full-sized relic card, though.

The back looks nicer than the average Allen & Ginter card. The card acts as a guarantee of the genuineness of the cloth swatch, except...

... below the logo, it says the memorabilia isn't from "any specific game, event or season". So, what exactly is it from? 

Topps have produced relic cards for Tony for the last few years and I'm beginning to wonder how they are doing this. Surely at some point, they will run out of articles of clothing that Tony touched. This is beginning to feel like the trade in religious relics in Europe in the Middle Ages, when there were enough venerated bits of wood, all supposedly from the cross that Jesus was crucified on, to build a large structure. All those holy relics, ranging from bits of bone from long-dead saints to items touched or blessed by Jesus himself or his mother, often had very vague provenance. Topps seem to be following a similar path in terms of guaranteeing the genuineness of a relic while issuing a subtle disclaimer.

Total: 911 cards