Showing posts with label Topps Finest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Topps Finest. Show all posts

Monday, July 29, 2013

1993 Topps Finest #118 Refractor


Card Review: 9.1  If your into price guides, this is probably the most valuable Wallach you'll find listed (a couple others aren't listed "due to scarcity").  20 years later these '93 Refractors still demand a premium.  Even I, a self professed hater of Topps Finest and the "premium" baseball card, can't deny that this is a pretty neat card.  The "refractor" element of it looks really cool.  The '94 and '95 Topps Finest refractors lacked this sort of shine.  Though the '03 and '05 refractors may be even more impressive than this one.  In any event, I only have one of this card and don't really anticipate having anymore in the near future.  Despite allegedly being extremely rare, I see this card show up for sale on a regular basis, but usually it's in the $50-$100 price range.  And for now, I'd much rather have the 500-1000 1987 Topps that that kind of money will buy than one of these.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2014 update: n/a
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: n/a
2019 update: n/a
2020 update: n/a
2021 update: n/a
2022 update: n/a
2023 update: 2


BONUS POST

I've tempered my disdain for graded cards since their inception.  I can see their value as a safe guard against forgery when buying high dollar vintage cards online .  However, why anyone would pay to grade a card made in the last 30 years is beyond me.  This card came to me in a PSA case.  I only have a couple other cards that came in graded card cases, and I didn't bother to crack them.  But this Wallach needed to go into my binder where I keep one copy of all the different Wallach's.

So I took to youtube and watched a couple of instructional videos on how to open the case.  It looked very easy in the videos.  A couple of twist with a little screw driver and the case neatly popped into two pieces.  I didn't have that kind of luck, but I did free the card unscathed.




Monday, February 18, 2013

1995 Topps Finest #62


Card Review: 2.4  This card kind of epitomizes everything that went wrong with baseball cards.  Over priced, over produced, over slicked, and just phony.  Did Topps really think that collector's would sit around peeling the completely unnecessary protective coating off the front of these cards.  Some disgusting comic book guy peeling away saying; "Gee, I'm sure glad this coating was here to keep the card from getting dirty in it's vacuum sealed pack."  No, it was just another dirty ploy to drive up the prices.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 7
2015 update: 10
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: 13
2019 update: n/a
2020 update: 15
2021 update: n/a
2022 update: 17
2023 update: n/a
2024 update: 19
2025 update: n/a
2026 update: 20


Sunday, February 10, 2013

1994 Topps Finest #61

Card Review: 4.5  This card didn't scan anywhere near as well as it's refractor counter-part did.  I'm just not wild about these Topps Finest cards.  They feel less like a baseball card, and more like some sort of lame toy you'd buy packaged with a pin or some other gimmick.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 2
2014 update: 4
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: 5

Saturday, December 8, 2012

1993 Topps Finest #118


Card Review: 4.9  This card and set, kind of epitomizes everything that I think went wrong with baseball cards.  In my mind "cards" implies "cardboard."  This may "card" may technically have been made using some sort of card stock, but it feels more like a piece of Tupperware to me.  "Baseball cards" aren't supposed to be shiny pieces of plastic.  I'm not saying this isn't a very nice looking item when you have one in your hand, I'm just saying it's not really a baseball card.  It's got more in common with a Starting Line-Up figure than a baseball card.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 4
2014 update: n/a
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: 6
2019 update: n/a
2020 update: 8
2021 update: n/a
2022 update: n/a
2023 update: 9