PWE, Japan-style

Our resident Luis Torrens collector is currently on a trip to Japan, in case you may not have noticed. I had this giant stack of Japanese-born player cards to give Zippy Zappy for his trip to Japan, but I was lazy and by the time I finally got around to mailing it, it was too late. D'oh! It would have provided him with some good trading fodder for his trip.

Luckily, he didn't hold it against me, as three PWEs found their way to NJ from Japan this past week!  I would never even think to send PWEs across a large ocean, but ZZ, of course, had other plans.

Each PWE he sent came with three cards, and all this was the centerpiece of each one:

That is a 2003 Topps Kanebo Tino Martinez. A card I needed, and now own three of!

From what I gather, although in the 2002 Topps design, these were actually issued as part of a 54-card set in Japan in '03. It feels more like a foil-less Opening Day card, which I'm cool with. I love adding Tino cards that I'd never find otherwise, so this will take a prominent place in my collection, despite being from Tino's forgettable Lost Years.

The envelopes themselves were a bit different than what we're used to seeing in the US. The best comparison I can make are envelopes you get from the bank after getting cash out. They fit three Ultra Pro soft cases perfectly!

I hope that ZZ didn't go to too much trouble to track these down, but I do appreciate it! I'll show off the other 7 cards he sent in a future post.

Thanks, ZZ, and safe travels!