2014 Topps 1st Edition Francisco Liriano
When these popped up I went to Cardboardconnection.com to educate myself a little more. It turns out that the 1st edition cards were a prize in the Spring Training Access in 2014 Topps Series 1. Each collector that found a Spring Training access pass was given a complete set of the 1st edition cards. Only 10 sets were made of the over 600 card set!
Needless to say a handful of these sets were broken up and put on eBay. Of course big names like Trout and Harper went for huge bucks. Deals could be had on the lesser know guys. This is where I come in.
The seller I bought the Liriano from must have been breaking up close to an entire set as he had a slew of Pirates for sale. Being that many of them had low bids, I started bidding on all the Pirates. While I didn't get any of the star Buccos I did end up doing pretty well.
The big win for me was the Wandy Rodriguez as it was my favorite Pirate card from 2014 Series 1. It had fun cameos of Marte, Harrison and Burnett. I don't remember how much I spent as this auction was won around the holidays, but I'm guessing most of these went for less than $5. I remember putting an aggressive bid on the Cole, but still came up short.
In the end the cards I did win better suit my style. When it comes to parallels I really only like to spend money on the silver frames and acetates. For me it is always fun to find rare cards of Buccos that don't get much love on cardboard.
So if you are ever on eBay and come across one of these 1st edition cards, snag them up. It might be a cheap way to get a card with only ten in existence.
Thanks for reading!
I remember when these came out. I picked up a 1st edition card of a Yankee for a trade package and promptly shipped it off.
ReplyDeleteThe Wandy card is a really nice shot. Congrats on the sweet additions!
Thanks Tom. That was a nice card to add to a trade!
DeleteOf course I knew nothing about these (put on your surprised face). Congrats on getting most of what you wanted.
ReplyDeleteUnless you open a ton of Topps or really follow Cardboardconnection it was pretty easy to look past these.
DeleteWow, nice job landing all of those. I haven't decided if I'm gonna chase the Clayton Richard card or not, but in the end I probably will!
ReplyDeleteNow that Richard is a Cub it might cost 10k!
DeleteI got the Howard for 5 bucks, I waited 3 cycles until the price went from 10 to 5!
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good deal. If I recall only Cutch, Cole and Marte went for more than $10 on the auctions I saw. Although the guy I bought from had great descriptions and titles that helped him explain what how rare these are.
DeleteAre these numbered?
ReplyDeleteSadly, they aren't! It's one of those Topps "Trust Us" moments.
DeleteThat could suppress the price they go for, especially as people might confuse them with the 1st edition stamped cards they put out in the early/mid 00s.
DeleteFor the cards to sell well the seller really needs to put up a good description of the card.
DeleteI snagged a copy of Matt Harrison for my PC when I saw it. I didn't know anythign about it at first (especially that there were only 10). I'm glad I did - I learned shortly thereafter that there weer a limited quantity and I haven't seen another one since. I wish I would have followed your route and picked up as many of the Rangers as possible!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've seen any Pirates since I made this purchase. Topps helped us collectors out by not numbering these. You make these standout more than the regular issue and the cards would probably cost 5x more than what we spent.
DeleteWow those are cool. Never seen those before
ReplyDeleteIf you blinked you would miss these. Kind of an obscure promotion.
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