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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Jean-Claude Van Damme and I are Upset

If you read my drivel on a semi-regular basis you are likely aware of my love for the silver frame parallels from Topps.  At first these were /20.  While rare, they tend to pop up on a regular basis since everyone opens up flagship Topps.  My focus mainly is on more obscure Pirates that don't get a lot of cardboard love.  

This Cervelli is right in my collecting sweet spot. Cervelli doesn't get much love in the way of higher end cards so this is about as good as it gets. Prices tend to fall in the $5-$15 range for middle tier players. It is the perfect balance of rare enough to where you have fun hunting them down and cheap enough to not hurt the bank account all that much. 

Here is where things start to get a little annoying....


Once 2016 flagship came out I read that the silver parallels were going to be numbered to /16. It really wasn't that big of a deal, it just seemed odd to produce four less of a card.  At first pricing was a little higher, but after the initial eBay rush most of the silver frames were selling around the same area as the /20 version.  No harm no foul

Here is where Topps starts trolling my collecting habits.

In 2016 Series 2 the silver frames are 1/1's.  Ughhhhhhh.

Here is a reenactment of me reading the checklist of Series 2 and finding out the silver frames are 1/1's. 

This is essentially pricing me out on most of the players that I would want to chase.  The weird thing is Topps still has the platinum 1/1's too.  Just for a pricing frame of reference I saw a silver frame Chris Ianetta sell for over $60.

In the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal.  It is just a little upsetting to have something you enjoy collecting taken away for the sake of scarcity.   At least they haven't changed the clear acetate cards to 1/1's yet. I'm half scared to read the checklist for Topps Update....


Thanks for reading! 


8 comments:

  1. Someone in the finance department probably told the higher-ups that they were spending too much money on metal frames. So the solution is to produce a few thousand less cards and then increase the price of a box by a few dollars. Next year the silver framed cards will be redemptions that they will fail to fulfil and will be substituted with an Alejandro de Aza sticker auto in 2019.

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    1. These had great secondary market value too. They must have been a pain in the ass to create. I can't think of anything else that would justify the move.

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  2. Whew, Kennys Vargas is in series 2, I'm glad I am just doing the 2015 rainbow.... But seriously? is the price of metal so high now?

    Blech.

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    1. That is the upsetting part for me as the Series 2 checklist had a ton of Pirates that hardly ever get cardboard love. I guess I'll have to focus on the acetate cards.

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  3. Seriously, some consistency would be nice. I was definitely warming up to the framed versions and now there's only one copy of each? F U Topps! Kumite! Kumite! Kumite!

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    1. I just can't think of a reason why they would make the change.

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  4. Topps dropped the ball on this decision. They should have kept these numbered @ 20... which is a tough pull... yet it gives 20 player/team collectors a chance to pick up something special for their collection.

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    1. Cards /20 in flagship is perfectly reasonable. Since so many people open boxes the majority hit eBay at some point.

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